Do You Really Think I Can Do This?

pixie1

This may seem like a bizarre post but pls read on.

Me - a highly motivated business, career orientated successful kind of gal.

Hubs - as above

Ive always wanted to be OS, to look after my Hubs, cook from scratch and have a home that others would be proud of, but due to long working hours / stress i have never really made it to where i wanted to be. I have a SC and use it regularly to batch cook, i invested in a BM but couldnt master the art. So its all very much baby steps for me.

Two months ago i had a huge health scare which thankfully turned out to be nothing as major as my consultants has originally scared us both with, but the experience has made us both reevaluate our lives. We are now in the process of moving to Oz, something that we were in the planning stages of doing prior to me being told i had a bladder tumour and are very much looking forward to our new life down under. I have now lost the will and drive to be that hard women in business that i was before and after talking things through with Hubs we have both decided that it would be best if i only worked part time from now on.

So this is my chance, my chance to learn how to cook, to learn how to clean and manage a house as its meant to be and to be honest im so excited but also scared that i wont be able to do it i dont like to fail and fear that in this case i will.

Do you think after years of doing the basic minimum around the house and just surges of cooking i can do this? How do you all fit everything in? I dont know how i can be a fly lady and cook ect and work even if its part time?

I dont expect miracles, i know that im not going to be making quilts next week, i just want a super clean home, a couple of veggie plants and to be be able to serve up home cooked food that i know are good for me and hubs?

Im sorry for posting this, as im not sure what im expecting people to say in return, i suppose im just a little frightened of the mamouth taste in front of me yet a little excited for the change (for the better) that im going to be making to our lives.

Thanks in advance for all the silly questions that im going to be asking, because I WILL be asking for a lot of help,

Pix
x

p.s. i will also be on a very tight budget due to the smaller income and i find it hard to menu plan and budget as it is - i feel doomed but want to face my new challenge head on. Thanks for reading x x x

tomterm8

pixie1 wrote: »

Do you think after years of doing the basic minimum around the house and just surges of cooking i can do this? How do you all fit everything in? I dont know how i can be a fly lady and cook ect and work even if its part time?x

Yes, although i would advise just changing one thing at a time. For example, this weekend buy a packet of lettuce, a pot and some compost and start a little lettuce pot. Takes a few minutes, and you've done one thing.

You don't need to change everything at once.

As for cooking, the secret is to cook larger quantities of things you can freeze and reheat. Ready meals for OS

Cheery_Daff

Hi Pixie1

Yes you can do it! I'm sure more knowledgeable people than me will be along soon

Work at it slowly... don't try to do everything all at once!

And if you're doing the flylady thing - remember, 15 minutes at a time, and one thing at a time!

Maybe pick one thing to concentrate on first. Shiny sink? Meal planning? sticking to budget? And stick at that for a few weeks... decide what your priority is. If you're working part time then you'll have plenty of time!

Good luck, and glad your troubles didn't turn out to be as serious as they thought

Daffs
xx

maggie111

Course you can do it!!!

I have been trying this for years - slowly slowly catching monkey.

You have had your own business so you're well able to work 20 hours per week to cook, clean etc.

The question is - deep down, do you really want to??

I've found it very difficult to reconcile changing habits of a lifetime.

Having tried to follow Flylady - I will go against popular opinion and say to ignore it for the moment. I tried once and I failed under the weight of not being able to do half the things because I was already under the weight of utter chaos.

What worked for me was to concentrate on things at a time... I really wanted to be home-makey in the kitchen, make my own jams, cakes, bread etc etc etc.... So I started trying that. Some things I kept up with, some I realised that for now will have to wait and convenience wins until slowly I will get to the place I want to be in.

Want to have a perfectly tidy house? Fine - avail yourself of cupboards and things to fling stuff into and keep an eye on keeping the place clear, then you can slowly work around organising each room, each drawer etc.

Want to be organised? Don't feel like you'll manage it in a day - arrange each room and BE REALISTIC. No matter how hard I try clutter follows me - so I work systems in having places to put my clutter that can get put away often. Don't expect by month 2 you'll be living in the house of your dreams.

Just try and remember you are unlearning habits you have picked up for many years (going back to our formative years in childhood.) The tidy, clean and supremely annoying people have been living this lifestyle for years and you simply can't walk into it.

Pick your battles. Decide on the SMALL area you want to work on first and tackle that till you're happy with it.

HTH

karren

Im so glad that the health scare was just a s scare, if you can overcome that you can overcome anything!
Get going and do what you can when you can, one day at a time.
This site is amazing and ive managed to get suppost in all aspects of my life, i joined it when i went part time after my little darling was born and now she is 6! and we get through things by scrimping and saving and looking at things from a @do we really really need that@ angle.
You can do it and you will
Good luck
xxxx

BlimusOreilly

You can definitely do this! :T
AS everyone else has said - change one thing at a time.
It's great news that your health scare wasn't as serious as originally feared and it has also had a very, very positive outcome in that it has made you re-think your lifestyle.
My sister had a similar situation as yourself but unfortunately she faced the worst possible scenario and she died less than a year after diagnosis. During that year she told me that if she were to survive then she would give up her highly successful and well-paid management job and sell-up and live simply and happily ever after...
Her situation also strengthened my resolve to enjoy my life and family. We may have a low, low income but happiness and contentment levels are generally full to the brim and I consider us filthy rich in other ways!
You won't fail if you don't set yourself unrealistic goals.
Enjoy your new lifestyle :beer:

Trinny

You can do it pixie

Just take your time and add OS gradually to your routine. Its taken me ages to get as far as i have and i am such a newbie in comparison to the "experts" on here.

The key thing is to take your time, make sure you get your health sorted out first - and then take some time to get used to living somewhere new. I am gradualy changing over - just on my first grocery challenge, and just done my first storecupboard inventory.

I dont own a bm or sc yet and i dont batch cook. Do the stuff that makes you happy. And remember you have nothing to prove to anyone.

Get well soon

Trin

Bitsy_Beans

BlimusOreilly wrote: »

You can definitely do this! :T
AS everyone else has said - change one thing at a time.
It's great news that your health scare wasn't as serious as originally feared and it has also had a very, very positive outcome in that it has made you re-think your lifestyle.
My sister had a similar situation as yourself but unfortunately she faced the worst possible scenario and she died less than a year after diagnosis. During that year she told me that if she were to survive then she would give up her highly successful and well-paid management job and sell-up and live simply and happily ever after...
Her situation also strengthened my resolve to enjoy my life and family. We may have a low, low income but happiness and contentment levels are generally full to the brim and I consider us filthy rich in other ways!
You won't fail if you don't set yourself unrealistic goals.
Enjoy your new lifestyle :beer:

Sorry to hear about your sister hug

BUT it's reminded me that money and material things are not the be all and end all of life. It's so easy to get sidelined by day to day living

With regards to OP. You can do it. Like everyone says it's all about the baby steps. Even if you look at the Flylady website she tells you to change one thing at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day after all.
I joined this site a couple of years ago. Its taken me that long to glean all my tips etc and to get where I am today. But life isn't a race and just change things at your own pace

Edited to add: I joined April 08. Only a year ago! how come it feels like much longer??!!!!!

dazzle21

Yes you can do it!! I had a successful career and everything going my way, after a terrible year in my family life i fell pregnant and decided i wanted to be old style and changed my job so i only work one day per week, everyone laughed as until then i could barely boil an egg and lived out of the chilled ready meal aisle, everything i had done until then was work related.. I treated going old style like a new job to start with, i wrote a daily list of things i wanted to get done, nothing to dramatic infact it started with something like: make a cake for tea, clean up after the cake baking, make dinner. (I think dinner was a m&s meal..!) I agree with the previous posters, try to do one thing each day where you will be able to see a result e.g plant seeds/bake cake/sew etc GOOD LUCK! x

absolutebounder

pixie1 wrote: »

This may seem like a bizarre post but pls read on.

Me - a highly motivated business, career orientated successful kind of gal.

Hubs - as above

1) take head out of @rse.
2) get rid of all yuppie gadgets and invest in a broom and dust pan and brush
3)Get rid of all precooked stuff in the kitchen.
4) find good greengrocer and butcher (not easy these days)
learn to make nice tasty food from just veg meat and a few herbs and spices.
5) copy your granny or if alive great granny.

Sarahlou_2

absolutebounder wrote: »

1) take head out of @rse.
2) get rid of all yuppie gadgets and invest in a broom and dust pan and brush
3)Get rid of all precooked stuff in the kitchen.
4) find good greengrocer and butcher (not easy these days)
learn to make nice tasty food from just veg meat and a few herbs and spices.
5) copy your granny or if alive great granny.

Love it! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: