New Zealand has been in the grip of winter for the last 10 days or so. Snow dumps put the south of the South Island into chaos with power and telecom lines down and today more snow has paralysed the central North Island, at one point with no roads passable. Whilst you might expect winter [...]

Reflecting on my need for more definition and a plan, I’ve concluded that my immediate life as a domestic-executive is to deliver on three areas: house-keeping and social event management; overseeing the design and build of our new home in the country; and developing a future home-based business. Although sometimes, I feel that I’m simply [...]

Lots of people told me that I’d get bored being off work. I kept saying I wouldn’t and I’m not. To be bored is “feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity“. [The new Oxford English Dictionary]. There are so many facets to being a domestic-executive there is [...]

Oops, I almost missed Father’s Day yesterday but was saved by the 12 hour advantage so I could still ring my Dad and wish him well. Here in New Zealand Father’s Day is celebrated on the 1st Sunday in September so I was not reminded by the usual commercial fanfare. Realising my close call, it [...]

We chose New Zealand for its beautiful country, laid back lifestyle and English language (easier for finding paid work). We’d visited the country, did plenty of research and thought hard about what we wanted to achieve. But, nothing can prepare you for arriving in a foreign country. As a foreigner in a strange land you [...]

The rules for weekend work for a domestic executive are very unclear. Obviously it makes sense for the working partner not to be exposed to domestic work normally done Monday to Friday, but when does the domestic executive get a day off? So far, this has not been a hotly debated topic in the Treanor [...]

It’s been four months now since I swopped a place at the boardroom table for a full time role as a domestic executive. In that time, it’s been a roller coaster ride of change. Firstly, I had to pack up our home in the UK and ship our chattels to New Zealand. This was always [...]