Canadians: $20,000 Kitchen Makeover can be yours!!!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dr. Oetker. All opinions are 100% mine.

How would you like to win a $20,000 Kitchen Makeover??? Imagine what all you could add to jazz up your kitchen with $20,000. It is easy to enter this contest, there is not entry fees or forms to fill in. All you have to do is to pick up a PIN from specially marked packages of Cass Di Mama Pizza and enter it in the website. Lo you will be automatically entered into the Dr. Oetker Kitchen Makeover Contest, the best thing about the contest is that there is no limit to the number of PINs you could enter. The more you enter the higher your chances of winning are.

Don't worry if you don't win the $20,000 grand prize you could walk away with one of the eight second prizes which include Whirlpool appliances: a fridge/ freezer, freestanding electric range, dishwasher and microwave. Then there are 2,000 consolation prizes which is a Cass di Mama Pizza or a pizza cutter. Like all other good things this contest too has some limitations. The first is that it ends on January 4, 2010. Secondly it is open only to Canadians.

While entering the contest it would be a great idea to become a member of Savoury Moments. The membership will entitle you a periodical newsletter full of fun information, more contests, tips and great savings.

Personally speaking the first thing I'd do with the $20,000 kitchen makeover would be to install fancy new counter tops, appliances and of course a large new refrigerator. This would give my kitchen a new look and also help me cook faster and better.

House Cleaning: My most hated task!

When I was at home in India, weekends would be a time of joy and enjoyment. I would look forward to Saturdays when I would set out with friends to explore the back country, climb mountains, trek in forests etc. I was happy and footloose because the housework was being taken care of by the maid and my parents. Now having moved to the US and living here since the past eight months, I have stopped looking forward to the weekend. Because Saturdays mean lots and lots of hard work. Vacuming the house, cleaning the bathroom, washing clothes, taking out trash, dropping newspapers for recycling etc.

I can manage tasks which involve going out like taking newspapers or trash out... but house cleaning is something that I would rather not do and spend time in front of the computer. How do I avoid this? There are many strategies to avoid this weekly cleaning torture. One thing I have learnt is that surface cleaning is easier than thorough cleaning. So when food drops accidentally on the floor, just take a napkin and wipe it clean. If there is dust on the carpet just push it aside or spread a mat over it and it will appear clean.

Apart from being a big pain vacuming consumes lots of power and shoots up our home electricity bills. So one of the reasons I avoid vacuming the home is to cut down on electricity bills. But vacum cleaners don't come with any such ratings and they just guzzle electricity like water. I have realised that picking up dirt whenever we notice would postpone my vacuming periods from weekly to fortnightly. And ensuring that dirt is not seen in the main open areas of the house will also help. What is out of sight is presumed absent so we won't bother cleaning and thus saving on energy.

The only way I feel that one can vacum regularly and still not get shocked by electricity bills is by adopting technologies which don't consume electricity. A recent innovation is the Dirt Devil vacum cleaners from AccuCharge. The Dirt Devil, Stick Vac and Hand Vac consumes 70% less energy. Do I hear "wows" and "aaahs", yes it does and you can use the savings to go out for dinner, fill up gas and go on a trip or whatever. This feature has enabled AccuCharge the first cordless cleaning technology to earn Energy Star approval.