Stay at home mums getting organised in 2010

rainbow81

Good morning! Brrr isn't it cold?? I know I am stating the obvious. I wore my xmas earmuffs today, I think I might look like a plum but I don't care! My ears are still intact.

Today I will:
- [STRIKE]Put the washing on[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]put dry washing away and hang up wet washing[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]put out old magazines and toilet rolls for recycling[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Change my bed[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]wash dirty bedclothes and hang them up to dry[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]afternoon washing up[/STRIKE]
- evening washing up
- [STRIKE]go through food cupboards and throw out anything I'm not going to use and make an inventory of what I've got[/STRIKE] results - I have lots of baked beans and a fondness for buying stuffing mix and never using it. Now overflowing cupboards look bare but are nice and clean.
- [STRIKE]take more (!) recycling when I pick DS up from school[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- send some rubbish off with ex-OH as he has a communal bin and all this clearing out has filled mine!
[/STRIKE]
DS is going to his dad's tonight so I don't have to do packed lunch or any of that stuff. Was going to go to the cinema with a friend but I nearly froze on the school run so not sure.

I_want_a_baby

My best top tip is scheduled TV only.

I.e. watching 1 episode of your fav programme or giving yourself 15mins/30 mins etc of TV in reward for chores.

I find if i have just the radio on I get lots done if I have the tv on i just sit and watch it (then go oh s**t its 5pm!!:o).

LOVE the shoe organiser idea - where can i get one? is it see through or canvas?

ragz_2

GobbledyGook wrote: »

Can I join? Not completely a SAHM because I work a couple of days a week, but I am on my own with my 2 girls and pregnant with my 3rd and I need to get organised. Not sure if it'll be financial sense for me to go back to work after the 3rd due to the hours/pay.

I have one of the stair baskets mentioned before and it's great. Just chuck things in then take it all in one go.

My other organisation trick/tip is to have a couple of those shoe organisers, the ones with pockets that hang over a door. I've got one in my hall and in a pocket I have a set of hat, scarf and gloves for each of the girls and I. Saves faffing about trying to pair up gloves etc. In the summer I change it for sun hat and sunglasses. They go straight in there when we get home.

In my eldest daughter's room (she's 5) she has 1 and in each pocket there is pants, socks and a vest so they can just be grabbed in the morning. In my youngest's room they have vest, nappy and socks. When they were babies I mostly dressed them in babygrows so when sorting the washing I'd put a vest, socks and babygrow into each pocket so their whole outfit was to hand. It also saves on having 10,000,000 drawers!

What a fab idea!

Tell me something lovely ladies.....how do some of you never iron? Am I missing something? All our stuff is so creased I don't see how we could get away with it! xxxx

Erm, guess I just look like a tramp lol! Well, OH is a gardener so no shirts to iron, kids aren't at school yet so no school clothes and they go to preschool in jogging bottoms (for ease of toileting). My TD seems to make stuff pretty uncreased as long as it's folded fairly quickly. If I line dry stuff in the summer sometimes it is very creased but never botheres me enough to tempt me to iron! Guess cos my Mum never did it it doesn't occur to me.

Laundry is my biggest woe too. though it's always in the right place when it's dirty and gets washed regularly, as soon as it's clean I lose interest in it so I end up with heaps/bags of clean washing that I just cannot be ar*ed with folding and putting away. I tend to wait until the mountain is sooo big all our clothes are in it, then tip it onto the bed and spend an hour sorting it out!

ragz_2

Curious_George wrote: »

if your happy doing it that way then thats great, but just 2 short years ago the advice was to do it my way (9 years ago when i had DD the advice was to make up the bottles with the milk and store them ready in the fridge... people would have you believe your abusing your child if you did that now :rolleyes:)

the rules change every 5 minutes and the HVs have to keep up with it all and chastise you for doing anything different, i used to listen to what mine said then pick through the nonsense!

for instance... when pregnant with DD i practically lived on ham sandwiches (i was always a little queasy) and when pregnant with my DS i was VERY sick... but ham sandwiches seemed to stay down,
well about halfway through my pregnancy the "rules" changed and packaged ham was added to the ever growing list of things you shouldnt eat...because of the minutest chance of listeria :rolleyes:

oh and as for what your baby is drinking opposed to what the box says,
remember...your bubba hasnt read the box! she wants what she wants... and thats fine!
its hard enough being a mum without trying to colour inside the lines all the time

Ooops, didn't know about the ham, not that I really care. I still eat brie and runny eggs from local unclean chickens, though draw the line at pate but then i wouldn't eat that anyway!

I am one of those terrible mothers who did everything wrong, didn't even bother sterilising with second one, never did him any harm though...

rainbow81

ragz wrote: »

I am one of those terrible mothers who did everything wrong, didn't even bother sterilising with second one, never did him any harm though...

Ha ha I love it, I remember a HV giving a talk about weaning at playgroup and yabbing on about sterilising spoons. Meanwhile my DS was busy in the corner chewing one of my shoes (which we had to take off for fear of filth). I got the irony, needless to say the HV didn't. :rotfl:

ragz_2

rainbow81 wrote: »

Ha ha I love it, I remember a HV giving a talk about weaning at playgroup and yabbing on about sterilising spoons. Meanwhile my DS was busy in the corner chewing one of my shoes (which we had to take off for fear of filth). I got the irony, needless to say the HV didn't. :rotfl:

Exactly :rolleyes:

ManOnTheMoon

carlamagee wrote: »

first off, after skim reading posts, can i point out, esp to MOTM, not much point buying brand bread = Kingsmill make bread for Tesco own brand (and also their new cheaper range!) using same "Kingsmill" dough, jusr different packaging! (Father used to work in Allied Bakeries! - inside knowledge! )

Top Tips; dont bring OH/children shiopping with you!!!

Really? I've always found cheaper bread far more heavy and stodgy. We like Braces bread. I didn't know Tesco had a new cheaper brand. May be worth a risk.

Always taken kids with me. They can ask for things, but they help me alot too. Don't mind treating them. It's more about keeping them involved or they get bored, so they can pick the non breakable things off the shelves etc!

ragz_2

Kids have come back from preschool more full of cold and whingey than when they left. Have stuffed lunch of cheesy beans on toast into them and stuck them in front of a DVD, under a blanket, eating choccy biccies (bad mummy).

Have shoved a chicken and a load of wrinkly looking veg in the oven, so dinner's half done and as a bonus the kitchen will warm up!

ManOnTheMoon - Just read your signature - 7 girls! You are a very very brave man! And your new GF must be pretty brave too lol
any tips? I'm expecting my first girl after 2 boys and have no idea what to expect. All I remember is being one of 3 girls and fighting with my sisters from the moment they were born until I left home!

andrealm

Today I have already

1. Done laundry and hung it up.
2. Posted letter to Student Loan Co
3. Got DD1 to nursery on time.

Still in the process of sorting out clothes , need to do the bathroom and finish sorting cupboard in lounge. Still to do thank you letters ( want to finish these by end of week)

Tomorrow OH is to take the tree down (I always leave it up until Twelfth Night) and make sure everything Xmassy is consigned to the loft. Then we need to clear out the understair cupboard as every time I open the door something falls on top of me!

tiamai_d

ragz wrote: »

ManOnTheMoon - Just read your signature - 7 girls! You are a very very brave man! And your new GF must be pretty brave too lol
any tips? I'm expecting my first girl after 2 boys and have no idea what to expect. All I remember is being one of 3 girls and fighting with my sisters from the moment they were born until I left home!

For weeks you will get a fright at every nappy change over whats missing and how weird it looks :rotfl: I still do it!

She will need loads of dresses and you may develop an ebay addiction

My boys are great with DD, though they can be a little rough and DS1 did comment that her 'boobs were growing' because she has a wee Buddha belly and boobies :cool:

And she really is a spoiled little princess, more so because we stopped at 2 after being told too by my consultant so she was a shock and a lovely surprise after the first horrible weeks when we were told to terminate. Always said I would never dress a girl in pink... so she has some lilac too! :rotfl:

Do I need to do stuff today? I've finally done the ironing, packed it all away and put away the folded stuff. So the rest of today is what we will call....

A mental organisation day. Organising stuff in my head is hard work so I may have to sit with a few :coffee: and some biscuits