What's your daily routine ...

bonnie_2

I've decided to get back into oldstyle, but where do you find the energy. I suffer from arthiritis and asthma and just doing the housework as me huffing and puffing.
I need to start by getting up by at least 7 to do breakfast and walk dd3 to school, but where did our grandmas get the energy from to walk everywhere, shop every day, wash by hand, iron everything and make food from scratch.
What are your routines.

thriftlady_2

Well, I fit it all in by

1) Not having paid employment

2) Not doing much in the way of housework

3) Being lucky enough to have good health

Usual routine

Get up 6.30 - put in a load of laundry, coffee and OS board till 7

Get breakfast, boys leave for school at 8

Hang up laundry and get another load in

Walk dd to school 8.45, followed by a mile's walk the long way home (sometimes do this walk later in the day)

9.30 ish back at home- hang more laundry then either a baking session, other cooking jobs, grocery shopping, housework, errands, French class, library

12.30-2 lunch

2ish -3.10- wasting time on internet again or reading cookbooks, making lists, meal plans (which I never stick to) etc

3.10 fetch dd from school

3.30- 4.30 cup of tea plus chat to kids as they arrive home and have a snack

4 -6 Making lunchboxes for the next day for kids plus OH, getting tea (Weds I take dd swimming between 5.10 and 6.30 ish)

6 tea

After tea I shower and then supervise dd's bedtime at 7.30 if it's my turn

Boys go up at 8.30 and then OH and I settle down to watch a DVD or occasionally the telly on the rare occasion there's anything good on.

10.30 -11.30 Bed:)

Exciting isn't it?:D

vivw_2

I don't fit it all in unless its the school holiday times, as I work full time and also bring work home. I often get really fed up with not being able to do it all but at least I try to do some. We very rarely have take aways or ready meals, we always have packed lunches prepared at home

poodlehorse

My grandma fitted it all in by a) not working outside the home, b) having meals that she could have bubbling away without needing checked much etc. Loads of soups that she would make a big pot of and last a day or two (always better second day) c) leftovers were very big in her world so she didn't have to cook from scratch at every meal d) she used to wash clothes only on a Monday - we really are a lot cleaner than our grannies were, e) her routines seemed to be little and often to keep on top of things. Hoovering got done once a week but she used a carpet sweeper in between times,

And she still managed to go golfing and bowling and have nights out. Time at hers was always relaxed unlike at my house where I always seem to be chasing my tail. She "worked" all morning in the house but in the afternoons we would go up the town for her messages or pay the rent or out for a walk or a round of golf or visit people. No I don't know how she did it either. She didn't have as much stuff and labour saving devices and I wonder if that has a lot to do with it actually and she didn't have masses of clothes. She knitted and crocheted and sewed. But she could do all that while chatting or watching TV. I guess her life felt a lot more leisurely than her mother's would have. I wonder what she would have made of me now?

crawley_girl

My routine is pretty [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] really... thank god for diaries, OS and flylady!

I think not working outside of the home makes a huge difference, also lack motivation doesn't help!!!

One of my grandmothers grafted all of her life and used to work something like 4am - 7am in a bakery and spent all of her life cooking. The other grandma was a lush and employed staff. Anyone ever seen 'Sunset Boulevard' - Norma Desmond was clearly based on her!!!!

longtimelurker_2

Well I'm not a mum for starters...

I work full time, OH works full time (but we chose different careers and mine is straightforward 9-5!)

6:30am get up, have breakfast together - I make mine and OH's lunch
7am - OH leaves for work, I get on with washing up, making bed, tidying up, washing etc or go to gym
8am - get ready for work
8:30am - walk to work
9am - work
lunch hour at work, I walk to post office/bank/market and pick up bits and bobs
5pm - finish work, walk past the supermarket to scope for bargains etc
5:45pm - get home
6pm - either have dinner underway (always have a meal plan so no faffing around) or have had driving lesson/been to gym. Faff around online/blog/freelance/study. Sometimes I cruise the local shop as it often has some good bargains!
7pm - OH is usually home, we eat
8pm - usually go a-visiting/see friends or do something at home - long baths etc!
10:30pm - usually asleep

I wake early on weekends (OH must have a bigger sleep debt than me) and get on with food planning etc. I like to do the gardening while he studies or writes or does whatever he does by himself. On a Saturday we'll generally have a 'blitz' where we whizz round the house and hoover and get things straight before we get on with the weekend. Sunday is bed and paper day I get up early and make my way to the bakery and newsagent (only a 2 min walk mind!)

Hope you enjoyed that!

p.s. I think the biggest reason we feel like we have a lot of time is that we don't own a TV!

elisamoose

I think the working outside the home bit is the key here. I work in a school and find in the holidays I can be OS without much problem.The mornings are for work and then the afternoons for me time. I can plan those big jobs like moving all the furniture around , decorating etc .

During term-time I am out of the house by 7.15 and back at 4 ish so at this time of the year it is dark and somehow housework in the dark just does not work for me !

Kelinik

My nan I have no idea, she had 5 kids of her own, fostered other peoples, always had a part time job outside of the home and a whole load of pets to boot. This was over the late 50's to the early 70's and even thinking about her daily routine leaves me exhausted!!

Myself I make lists, lots and lots of lists! If its not on my list for the day it doesn't get done and also having everything written down stops it all buzzing round my head when I'm trying to get to sleep.

Bunny200

When I worked full-time I HAD to have a rota to make sure every room in the house got cleaned regularly otherwise you go weeks before you realise that you haven't changed the sheets:eek: I used to do it so that it only took 1/2 - 1 hour each evening then a little more at weekends and OH HAD to do the same. Now I'm a SAHM I do all the cleaning and the rota is out of the window! I try to follow Flylady and sometime it works and sometimes not, depends if YD is at nursery or not. If shes here then very little gets done but the days she is at nursery are similar to Thriftlady. I try to get the bulk done on those days otherwise it doesn't happen although at the moment I'm feeling a bit chaotic and disorganised (FlyLady here I come!) in fact this afternoon I've had a bit of a go around and made biscuits & flapjacks just to stop the guilt!! I try not to do any cleaning on weekends and evenings otherwise I wouldn't get anytime with OH & kids. I treat the housework as my job (just don't get paid but at least I can't get made redundant or outsourced to India:rotfl: ) and don't expect OH to do much (bins, hoovering, polishing shoes!) as he works full-time.

purple_82

I don't know how I fit it all in to be honest, it just does. I work part time but feels like full time.

Up at 7, kids ready for school, breakfast then all in the car to take OH to work. Home for 15 minutes. Get lunch boxes into bags, sort kiddes hair, get my uniform together and put breakfast things into dishwasher, then take kids to shool for 9 then off to work for half 9 (takes 30 mintues drive)

Finish work at 2/2:30 go home to pick OH up (she's on short time, grrr to the credit crunch!) Then get kids from school, then home to cook dinner. This is when I usually do housework too.

I also go to college part time (2 evenings a week) so I have to fit this in and do mountains of coursework. My partner also helps out with cleaning and tidying, usually more on college days.

There are days I wish I could sit down and do nothing! I always look forward to weekends when everything is more relaxed