Working mums, How do you do it?

coco1980

munkiemunkie81 wrote: »

Right...

I'm a natural whirlwind of chaos generally so i'm not sure I will be able to offer any advice!! Flylady is unfortunately not for me - for starters - i'm not that bothered about having a shiny sink!! lol

I work full time 8am - 5pm Mon-Fri. 3 days in office, 2 days at home.. (well I try!)

A normal working day goes like this...

I get up at 6.30am, invariably waking up DS (2yrs) when I fall over thin air!!

I have quiet argument with him to play in his room for a little while mummy has a shower. Usually at some point halfway through the shower just when I have lathered up he'll shout that he needs a poo. I clamber out of shower nearly breaking neck run the naked gauntlet to grab him over the gate plonk him on the toilet, back in shower, wash shampoo out of hair and shave one armpit, jump out dry myself scruff hair and then wipe his bum. Use towel I have just dried myself with to drag along the floor with my feet mopping up the mess I made running the gauntlet. Remember about the other armpit shave that one too!

Now cuddled up in my dressing gown, we go downstairs. DS shouts want eeeryooohs mommy, want weetbix mommy, want yoghurt too mommy. I say ok, fling a bit of milk in a cup, slop an assortment of breakfast on his table. He shouts want 'else' mommy. I say tough - eat it up or go hungry. He shouts - want cup with lid mommy - I say I've thrown the lids away, have that one. nooooo, right well mummy will drink it then. noooooo. Want beebies on mommy - OK have beebies on.. Now I make the dash while he is occupied to run upstairs slap my face on and dry my hair. Grab some clothes - NEVER ironed - everything in wardrobes is crinkly ironed as needed, run down stairs, turn iron on, shout to him to eat up or we'll be late for nursery - he ignores, we then have what I can only discribe as a game of tennis , me lurching to and from the telly threatening to turn it off if he doesnt eat up and various balls of breakfast flying around the room.

Iron clothes, put his on the floor run upstairs tell him to get dressed when he is finished and get myself dressed, teeth brushed and then remember deoderant, white marks appear on top... waft baby wipe at them carelessly in hope they disappear shrug and give up.

Back down stairs - he's still eating grrrr. Grab extra spoon and start shovelling into his shocked face!! When theres just a bit left I shout finished and we then have a tug of war me pulling the dishes one way him another saying he wants more. I win

Throw dishes in sink with half hearted attempt to clean up sloppy milk mess left in a 2m diameter area from his seat. He takes clothes off screams that its cold - I say do some running - fling breakfast soaked Pj's in laundry basket. Throw clothes on him, take them off again and put them on the right way this time, shoes on, teeth brushed coats on and into car - by now my alarm on my phone is hurling abuse (through the means of loud horns) at me to hurry up - i'm already 15 mins late.

Drive up the road, realise I dont have his nursery bag, reverse scarily up the road dash into house, grab bag, this time i lock the door on the way out. 10 mins driving later arrive at nursery with a childs head poking through my crotch and a pair of hand determined to pull my jeans down, prise boy off throw at girls with an air kiss and run for the hills. Get to work 5 mins later - only 40 mins late today - not bad at all I think smirking to myself!! lol

Work work work, mse mse mse, work, mse mse mse. At about 5.30pm I decide I have worked over enough and make the dash home! Pickup boy he falls asleep in car, get home wake him up and wish I hadn't. Boy wants to spend the next hour whinging it seems. Whilst i'm trying to empty dishwasher the boy randomly comes up requesting yet another thing to eat. Every dish I put away I have to get back out again. Finally kitchen is in a clean state to mess it all up again for dinner.

Bath time give boy a scrubbing brush to help my efforts at cleaning the rest of the bathroom, he does a good job. Tidy up his room, brush teeth, stories then to bed - AND RELAX, might have a glass of wine!

Who needs dinner anyway, i'm just going to sit here and CHILL!

Half 10 I realise I haven't eaten a proper meal all day, make toast. leave dishes.

Go to bed sometime around 1am sleep and start all over again.

You could say I cope very well!

Sorry but this had me giggling, reminds me of when my ds was younger. my routine was pretty much the same, I remember nursery phoning me at work asking if I could please come back with ds bag as it had nappies, milk etc in it, lucky I had an understanding boss:)

Poodlecrazy

I also get home from work anytime from 7 -8:30 ish and my DD's bedtime is 7:30. On the nights I know I'm going to make it back before 7:30 I literally do the most important bits to us i.e. bedtime story and put her to bed. On the nights Iknow I'm not going to make it back my mother or childminder will put her to bed and do the feeding etc and I then do things like shopping and gym as I wasn't going to see her anyway. I try and time my work so that I have a couple of late nights in the office where I well and truly miss the 7:30 cut off and then one or two nights where I leave bang on 5 rather than rushing in at 7:20 every night!

Hth
Px

Valli

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Share school pickups with a friend.

I work P't and am a fully paid up flylady and having a nosey at this thread.

THAT^^^ posted by bouncy HAS to be one of the biggest timesavers IMHO - when DD was at nursery I was down to school and back 3 times a day , morning drop off, pick up end of morning pick up DS end of day - sharing pick ups saved me hours a week and it also meant we each had someone available and known to school able to pick up in an emergency.

Now...

I try to batch cook (ie double up and freeze half), and I portion chillis etc for me. When I TD I do fold and put away (but I like ironing so I do it...)
And a massive massive help is decluttering - I have got rid of lots of clutter and can clean quickly.

Oh and although the American Flylady site insists on a shiny sink (and shoes and make up apparently, but I might be muddled up there) the Flylady thread on the Old Style board doesn't

saver_007

Hi have kids 2 and 4
work backshifts opposite OH (meaning whenever i come home at night all my good work during the day has been undone!!!) and whatever i can't get done during the week i certainly will not do at the weekend! That's my family time me, OH and kids, yes my house is chaos by the time we get to sunday night, but have enjoyed my kids so what the heck! They won't want to come on days out with us forever.

spender

I think when you are a working mum sometimes you just have to accept that not everything is going to be done or spotless, a lot of people fall into the house must be spotless because otherwise I am not a good mum, and the others into "life too short to wield a hoover". Me I make sure I keep the washing and ironing up too date. I would rather iron for 20 minutes each night if necessary than 2 hours solid at the precious weekend.

I also keep it tidy, if it is tidy you don't notice the dust so much or the fact you have not washed your skirting boards!

Never forget one day your kids will leave home and the house will be the same as you leave it each day, know I would rather have a little dust and time with the kids than a spotless house with no time for the kids.

My mum compulsively completed housework when we were kids, we were scared when she came home in case the rug was moved or an ornament was out of place. Unfortunately that is my overriding memory.

OrkneyStar

As a SAHM I work as hard as I ever did when I worked full time.
Although working mums are at work all day, and therefore cannot do chores etc, some people forget that although a SAHM may be at home, a lot of her time is taken up simply caring for the child, in this I am referring mainly to a pre-school age (or perhaps a disabled older) child. I think all mums need to be supportive to each other, and remember that once we have kids, rarely is our time our own!

saver_007

HERE HERE! Orkneystar has it spot on. The key is not to feel guilty about what your not getting done and focus on what you are !!

skintscotslass

spender wrote: »

I think when you are a working mum sometimes you just have to accept that not everything is going to be done or spotless, a lot of people fall into the house must be spotless because otherwise I am not a good mum, and the others into "life too short to wield a hoover". Me I make sure I keep the washing and ironing up too date. I would rather iron for 20 minutes each night if necessary than 2 hours solid at the precious weekend.

I think this is v good advice. Little and often rather than devoting your whole weekend to cleaning. I'd also recommend meal planning. Sounds a bit 1950s Good Housekeeping, but it keeps me on the straight and narrow. You might find some useful thread over on old style.

Valli

OrkneyStar wrote: »

As a SAHM I work as hard as I ever did when I worked full time.
Although working mums are at work all day, and therefore cannot do chores etc, some people forget that although a SAHM may be at home, a lot of her time is taken up simply caring for the child, in this I am referring mainly to a pre-school age (or perhaps a disabled older) child. I think all mums need to be supportive to each other, and remember that once we have kids, rarely is our time our own!

Well said Orkneystar!

When I went from being a fulltime working mum-of-one to a SAHM mum of 2 (toddler and babe) and then a part time (evening) worker I remembered, with envy, LUNCH HOURS when I was full time.
Three quarters of an hour of me time to eat my lunch in peace, browse through a magazine, read, whatever...
But yes, when you have small children at home you just do not get a BIG chunk of time to work in - it's all snatched bits of time...

SugarSpun

I'm a working mummy with an almost six month old baby.

I have a cleaner who does three hours a fortnight (the evening before she comes and that morning I clear surfaces so that she can clean them before stuff drifts back onto them).

I do not iron, unless we are in a hotel in which case I get OH to take care of it. Clothing requires a lycra content in order to be eligible to go on my person, because body heat causes the creases to drop out. Fortunately the baby's clothes generally don't require ironing either.

Dishes get done as and when and normally put away while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil/microwave to ping. Laundry takes two minutes to put in, two minutes to transfer to dryer and five minutes to put away. Not a problem.

The main problem is keeping things tidy - and looking around I'd have to say that we are unilaterally crap at that. But the mess is mostly kid stuff and the baby is smiley and happy and seems to love us. We're good enough.