Balancing Work and Home Life

It's hard and how hard depends on many things, including the ages of your kids, but it does get easier as they get older and become more independent/able to help.

I found that strict organisation was the key.

I prepped the slow cooker and rice cooker most mornings, so food was ready when we got home, leaving me a short time to play with the kids / take them for a short walk / help with homework and so on.

I did a quick tidy and vacuumed the downstairs each evening and Saturday mornings were for cleaning/tidying/doing laundry. The kids either played or 'helped' when they were small and they helped properly as they got older.

That meant we could chill on Saturday afternoons and do fun things on Sundays, whereas evenings after the kids bedtime was 'me time' for the adults.

Youcan also look at what you do and decide what to prioritse, and also think about how you are sharing the jobs which need to be done.
For instance:
How much do the children help out? Depending on their ages, they can help with stuff such as laundry, cleaning, meal prep etc - even wuite small children can leanr to pick up toys, lay a table etc, and older ones should be able to do a bit more so that everyone in the family is sharing the work which needs doing.

How do you and your partner/spouse (if you have one) share the jobs which need doing? It's very easy to fall into patternswhich worked at one time but don't any longer - for instance, if you sp;lti he housework etc the same as you did before children, but one of you is also doing school / nursery runs / afer school clubs / homewok supervision and making lunches and/.or two separate meals in the evening then maybe you need to review who is doing what.

Decide what is most importnat to you. making time to spend just enjoying eacho others company / having fun with the children / relaxing may mean that you have to make a conscious choice not to do something else - whether it is chosing to vacuum slightly less frequently, get a take away once a week instead of cooking, decide to iron fewer items or whatever it takes. Or it might mean making a choise to spend more money on (say) paying someone to come in to clean or iron, and hav less available to spend on other things such as holidays.

Guest101 wrote: »

2.5 hours? I'd be wanting more than 10% of my time as free time to be honest (but I get that too so..

Yeah, I agree. I'm exhausted. But that's what you get when you want to maintain your career and have two small children

Edit: I think I may have done myself out of 30 mins there. I work 8-4.30pm, with a 1 hr break for lunch. Which is 7.5 hrs + 1 hr lunch. So I've actually got 3 hrs free time per day - Whoo! lol

running a home doesn't take much time once you discard all the things that aren't essential, a couple of hours at the weekend should do it. eg cooking, ironing, washing can all be done simultaneously whilst watching tv.