Busy mums - what is your routine?

strawberrypud

I have said it before but I am constantly chasing my tail with two under 3's in the house and this annoys me because I like to be organised (though I lack discipline ).

I'd love to undertake some sort of course so I can start to work part time when the baby is a bit older (I have a degree but it won't help me get a part time job without further study) and now is the ideal time to do that if I could just make the time so....

Please could those of you who are busy mums please spell out for me how you fit things into your week, all the tips and tricks, routines and schedules you have learned over the years to make your lives run smoothly.

:beer:

donnaessex

strawberrypud wrote: »

I have said it before but I am constantly chasing my tail with two under 3's in the house and this annoys me because I like to be organised (though I lack discipline ).

I'd love to undertake some sort of course so I can start to work part time when the baby is a bit older (I have a degree but it won't help me get a part time job without further study) and now is the ideal time to do that if I could just make the time so....

Please could those of you who are busy mums please spell out for me how you fit things into your week, all the tips and tricks, routines and schedules you have learned over the years to make your lives run smoothly.

:beer:

I have two under 3's too (15 months apart). Monday to Friday its like this:

05.20 Husband leaves for work
06.15 Wake up, get washed and dressed and put the kettle on, empty dishwasher
06.40 Wake the two monsters up and get their clothes out ready
07.00 Breakfast for those two, pack their bags for the day with their food, milk, snacks, comfort blankets, nappies etc
07.30 Get them dressed
08.00 Out the door to the childminders
08.30 Leave for work
17.00 Leave work
17.20 Pick children up, go home and get their dinner ready for 6pm
18.00 Dinner on table, I start preparing dinner for me and my husband and twice a week I batch cook a big meal for the kids - spag bol, chilli, chicken casserole etc
18.30 Husband comes home from work and takes kids for "run around upstairs screaming hysterically time" then bath! I get our dinner on and tidy up the house, put the washing on, hoover etc.
19.00 We all sit and read stories upstairs or play quiet games while they get their pj's on
19.30 Bedtime for them both!
19.45 Both get showered and hopefully dinner is ready by 20.30
20.45 Tidy away dishes into dishwasher and put it on ready for the morning
21.00 Sometimes sit down to watch a bit of TV!
22.30 Bedtime

Saturday and Sunday we have the day separated nicely (husband works on Saturdays too):

08.00 We all get up
09.00 Go to the park or swimming or softplay etc
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Baby naps, I do my weeks ironing (Saturday) or clean the bathroom and kitchen (Sunday)
15.00 Creative play of some sort - making cardboard box cars etc!
17.00 Dinner
19.30 bed

Its hard work having two little'uns! But I love it. I'd love love love to work 3 days a week though instead of full time.

ETA - my big tip is batch cook! I freeze them into kid sized portions and get home from work, grab a bag from the freezer, and you're nearly done. Here's my kids favourite recipes:

Their favourite food starts out with a basic tomato sauce which is as follows but changes sometimes according to what is about to go out of date in the fridge! I make this about once every 6 weeks.

(Makes about 16 toddler portions)

3 x tins of chopped tomatoes
1 x 1 litre passata
2 x finely chopped onions
3 x chopped garlic cloves
8-10 mushrooms, grated
3-4 carrots, grated
6-8 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
various herbs - rosemary, basil and oregano
half teaspoon of mild chilli powder

Use small amount of oil to fry off the onions and garlic until they start to soften. Add in the tomatoes and passata, along with the balsamic vinegar, chilli and herbs. Once bubbling, add the rest of the oil, mushrooms and carrots and cook for another 5-10 mins until everything is soft.

This is then used as the base for many dinners including spaghetti bolognaise, ham and sweetcorn pasta, tuna and tomato pasta (with one spoonful of philadelphia cheese added in at the last minute) and it can also be whizzed down to make a sauce for pizza bases.

It takes around 20-30 minutes to make a massive batch and I then leave to cool and freeze the sauce into freezer bags in individual portions. When I get home, I grab a bag out of the freezer, blitz for 60 seconds in the microwave, then pour the contents into a saucepan and reheat that way while pasta is cooking. Dinner is on the table in about 15 minutes.



Another of their favourites is chicken curry - this one makes about 8 toddler portions

4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 small carrots cut into matchsticks
2 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized chunks
2 tbsp korma curry paste
1 tbsp mango chutney
1 tbsp tomato puree
handful of frozen peas
300 ml coconut milk
2 chicken stock cube dissolved in 300 ml boiling water

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, helvetica]Heat the oil in pan and fry the onion and carrot for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for half a minute. Then add the apple and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and stir fry for 4 minutes[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Add the korma curry paste, mango chutney, tomato puree, frozen peas, coconut milk and chicken stock and simmer for about 10 minutes.[/FONT][/FONT]

RoxieW

Lol will be watching this with interest as I'm in the same boat. Trying to fit in work, a one year old, two school children (with a school who expect a lot of home interaction, open days every half term, assemblys etc), the house work and all of the organizing for Christmas and holidays etc is a never ending battle. At the moment, unusually, my house looks quite tidy as, with the weather being bad, the past few weekends we have stayed home and I've blitzes as area at a time. I'd say this is probably my tip. I'm assuming you have a partner? If so, I leave my big housework jobs till the weekend as it's near impossible to get hinge done with the 1 year old in tow. I shut the kids in the lounge wi hub, put some music on and get busy. Then it's done and not hanging over me all week, although it obv gets messy again quickly at least I know that it's clean.
My weekday routine normally goes like this -
Up, breakfast, dressed (so breakfast spills go on pjs), wash teeth etc.
I test the older boys spelling while little one is having breakfasting this highchair and getting a cup of coffee down me.
School run
Playgroup or similar
Pick up any bits of shopping on the way or run any town errands.
Home, do dishwasher, washing, tidy around while little one watches tv, plays or similar (normally tired after playgroup)
Lunch (if we haven't had something out - the playgroups often do food/snacks)
Little one naps while I work from home
Little one wakes and hopefully plays while I do any errands online (emails, ordering etc) and I browse mse
School run
After school club or home
Homework while I am prepping tea (I normally give the little one colouring /play dough to do)
OH is home (three nights a week)
Dinner
Tidy up after dinner while OH hopefully entertains the lo.
OH takes older boys to clubs while I get lo ready for bed, or he does it while I tidy up.
Hoover while lo has bedtime milk.
Story/reading books
Bed
Wine lol

On a weekend I blitz my big jobs ie bathroom, Hoover and tidy upstairs, deep clean kitchen, deep clean lounge (ie dust, windows etc), ironing. I normally do a couple of off this list one weekend and a couple the following. Takes me a couple of hours. As well as that we will do something fun with the kids, either an outing or if not a family film or game so that the older boys have a bit of quality time.
I also do a big online shop about once a fortnight.

Lookingat that I'd say my top tips are
A good calendar to note down deadlines, parties, school events etc
Shop online and get it delivered
Iron minimally (I iron about once a fortnight - a big one for about 2 hours. Anything I can get away with not ironing I do lol)
Eat when out if you can ie my LO has toast, fruit, cheese etc at playgroups so I don't have to do lunch.
School dinners - this crosses making pack ups off my list in the morning
Make friends with other parents! With the boys clubs we usually will take them and another parent bring them back or visa versa.
Blitz it! I find this better than a little and often approach as I actually feel like everywhere in clean and tidy and that sets me up for a week. I then just do the basics during the week.
Be disciplined! As soon as my LO goes for his nap I start working. If I start sorting the washing, or browsing the Internet then before I know it an hour as gone. That time is work time and no matter what else needs doing it's tough. You would have to take a similar approach to your study time. Maybe if your LOs go to nursery that could be your time? Or when your OH gets home from work he takes over for a couple of hours. Just don't bank on doing it on evening because I found out that it just doesn't work. My brain is too tired to function at that time, especially after a busy day with a one year old (mentally draining as well as physically) and you need some you time to relax and recharge!

Also, ive had to realise that I'm not superwoman and cut some things out. The boys now do 2clubs a week instead of 4 and I've stopping going to the gym. I just didn't have the time/energy and so it's had to go for now. It's not ideal but there you go:)

Hth

Guinea_2

donnaessex wrote: »

I have two under 3's too (15 months apart). Monday to Friday its like this:

05.20 Husband leaves for work
06.15 Wake up, get washed and dressed and put the kettle on, empty dishwasher
06.40 Wake the two monsters up and get their clothes out ready
07.00 Breakfast for those two, pack their bags for the day
07.30 Get them dressed
08.00 Out the door to the childminders
08.30 Leave for work
17.00 Leave work
17.20 Pick children up, go home and get their dinner ready for 6pm
18.00 Dinner on table, I start preparing dinner for me and my husband
18.30 Husband comes home from work and takes kids for "run around upstairs screaming hysterically time" then bath! I get our dinner on and tidy up the house, put the washing on, hoover etc.
19.00 We all sit and read stories upstairs or play quiet games while they get their pj's on
19.30 Bedtime for them both!
19.45 Both get showered and hopefully dinner is ready by 20.30
20.45 Tidy away dishes into dishwasher and put it on ready for the morning
21.00 Sometimes sit down to watch a bit of TV!
22.30 Bedtime

Saturday and Sunday we have the day separated nicely (husband works on Saturdays too):

08.00 We all get up
09.00 Go to the park or swimming or softplay etc
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Baby naps, I do my weeks ironing (Saturday) or clean the bathroom and kitchen (Sunday)
15.00 Creative play of some sort - making cardboard box cars etc!
17.00 Dinner
19.30 bed

Its hard work having two little'uns! But I love it. I'd love love love to work 3 days a week though instead of full time.

I shall use this as my guide!!! :beer: Thank you!

RoxieW

Sorry please excuse my typos! My iPad does predictive and it really annoyingly often changes words!

RoxieW

Oh yes, menu plan! So you can get what you need out of the freezer in the morning and it also makes shopping easier too. We also eat together - I make the same for everyone, no exceptions -so I'm only in the kitchen and tidying up once lol.

Spendless

Only this w/end an extended family member with 4 kids (all now 30+ with partners and children of their own) told me that when hers were little fed up of tidying up a room to move onto the next only to have the room she'd tidied first messed up by the time she finished the next took to putting locks on the top of each door, so as she finished a room she locked it. That way the kids had to stay in just 1 room and couldn't mess up another whilst her back was turned.:D

RoxieW

Just realised in no longer peel potatoes! I used to but then my potato peeler went missing so I had to do mash / roasts without. If anything I prefer them that way and there is more goodness in the skin! So I don't peel them now

Multitasking!
In the last half hour I have been simultaneously cooking dinner, unloading/loading dishwasher, wiping down sides, supervising homework, tidying up lol

wildfrog

Shop online - mysupermarket.com is great!
Meal planning really helps me and I also spend less this way too.
I'm a fan of a rota. eg bathroom clean on Tues, boys room wed etc
I always wash and tumble dry the change of beds so the same sheet can go back on the evening.

Don't kid yourself that you are superwoman, delegate to OH, and accept the house will not be spotless all the time (hardly ever in my case!) Don't believe others are either.

Make sure you have time for you, all work no play makes you crazy!

Something I read on here (not sure who it was) but they do a "do 10"
Where you run around like a mad thing doing 10 things, eg put 10 things away. I find this great in dead time like waiting for the kettle to boil etc. Clutter is my biggest housework enemy.

Wipe clean clear plastic mat under dining table means I hoover dining room less as I can just wipe the mat over after tots have eaten (and lots has ended on the floor)

skylight

I have 2 under 3's. And 3 older ones and I am also studying part-time too. And the best tip is to Chill.

Stuff what you see on TV or read in a magazine. These people have home-help and its not the norm! Leave the housework deep-cleaning; develop a system that suits you. IE; clean the bathroom as soon as you get out of the bath - you are wrapped up drying anyway so giving it a quick clean whilst drying to do the 2 at the same time. Fold clothes as soon as they are out of the tumble dryer/line - it saves on ironing (sorry about the swear word!) and so on. Meal plan, prepare stuff and freeze it; even sandwiches for packed lunches then you can grab and go.

The biggest help is ensuring the kids have their routines so they know when bedtime is and they stay there (and I have always found that this is actually the hardest part of all!)

You need to find whatever suits you to make your life easier, not anyone elses!

msgnomey

pop over to oldstyle and check out the flylady thread! For me it all boils down establishing routine (like hoover on Monday, laundry weds and fri) and to little and often