How to organise everything in my life OS?

savingqueen

morning all,

I am a stay at home mum, youngest will be fulltime school come Sept . I am frugal in some ways but find it impossible to be thrifty in every area especially as I want to spend time with DSs, family and friends, do voluntary work in school, study etc! DH has long working day and is studying on top of full-time job. I often find saving money means spending more time. I hardly watch TV, though do read a little most eves before bed and don't go out in eves etc but still I haven't started doing stuff like baking bread and growing veg.

How do you all manage to fit it all in (or are you like me and don't?) and do you have any tips?

Barneysmom

First of all don't ever feel guilty for having a life :cool:
You have a lot to cram in already with a young family and you haven't got to do it all.
I remember when my 2 were little and I felt a bit like was a failure as I wasn't physicallly able to fit everything in plus look like a film star.

Do what you feel is best for your family, not what you think you should be doing.
The sun will be shining in a few months so you'll be wanting to get outdoors with your family. Enjoy them while they are young - you don't get that time back - and nobody will bother any if you don't do home made bread.

Just feed 'em healthily and get enough sleep, that's all that matters really xx

Kimitatsu

Savingqueen

I am like you, full time mum, studying, have loads I want to do, and I am OS for the bits that suit me, the rest of the time I dont!

Enjoy your children, as they grow up they will want to cook and grow stuff with you, so then you can have the biggest veg plot in the world, until then use the frugal bits you can and dont feel guilty. I have found as the boys have grown up, I have become more OS because I have more time to do so, and my organisation becomes better because I dont have to have 17 pairs of hands and 20 pairs of eyes so that I know what they are doing.

It will come

ubamother

There isn't a single OS goal, or level of frugality you should meet. This forum supports all sorts of ways of being OS that suit you and fit in with your current lifestyle; the forum is not here to judge your 'OS level' and admonish you for an 'unfrugal' takeaway instead of making your own, or damning you for buying a new fridge instead of asking on freecycle!

However, if there are particular areas where you want to be more OS and you're in need of inspiration you will get a wealth of advice and ideas.

valk_scot

Practice makes perfect as they say. But really, it's not necessary to do all the different OS money saving things if they don't suit you, your family or your lifestyle. Do the things you enjoy and which make most impact on the areas of your budget and lifestyle that you want to improve. Forget the rest. I grow veg, sew, knit etc, but I can't be a****d with baking regularly for example, so I don't.

It's a fact though that some (though not all of course!!) of OS moneysaving take more time. As a SAHM myself I'm constantly amazed at how fast my day fills up. It's a myth that SAHMs have time to lounge around on the sofa all day eating chocolate, or so I keep reminding my OH! Once again, you have to prioritise and do things to suit your own way of life. It's not a competition after all, and no-one's going to be checking up on you and awarding points!

[Deleted User]

basically do what you feel comfortable doing .none of us on here are 'domestic goddesses' but ordinary folk trying to make the pennies streeeetch a bit more.I am fairly frugal by nature and practice but I too don't go overboard to knit my own sandles or make my own clothes.It would be a waste of time and money as I am a rotten sewer,but the things I do want to spend money on I will as long as I think its a reasonable price to pay.I don't bother with newspapers anymore as for one I really don't have time to read them.but I can flit through the news at 6.00.p.m. on t.v. and get as much as I need or read it on the net
I do bake but only things that I know will get eaten.No point me having a tin of 20 scones when there is only me to eat them.Its all about organisation and enjoying you children whilst you have them They do go up extemely quickly and before you know it they will have flown the nest and you will wonder where those years went to so make a cake if you want to but then sit and eat it with the kids .

midnightraven3

unless you have the secret to 47 hours in a day, i echo everyone else:D

mine are older now, and its certainly easier now
i spent my days with them, some things you can incorporate them in, and baking and veg growing are two of the best ones to do it with!

baking, most children love, start off with easier things, cookies etc, they take no time at all, and you can do things like refrigerator biscuits, when they come home from school

growing, again get them involved
one evening make some paper pots, you can get seeds cheaply from lots of places, poundland does a pack of 6 different kinds, 1 grows the ingredients to make salsa for instance, red oinions, chillis, cilantro etc, start them off indoors, and then they can go outside in pots, if you have space, get them involved in a veg patch, once you get started, maintainance is easy and not as time consuming as you think, i grow loads in my wee garden, and i would rather do 10 minutes each evening than 2 hours at the weekends

once children start eating what they have grown, they seldom look back, peas and strawberries are good for children to grow too, and salad leaves grow very quickly, almost anywhere, a window box, even a section of guttering propped up (i did this attaching it to the low fence, the birds thought it was a buffet:rotfl:)

i also grow peas crammed together in a poundland cat litter tray (new) they grow quickly, and the tops are lush in salad, and once you have peas growing, you can use the rest of the shoots, empty pea pods, and a few of the peas to make 3 pea soup, delicious and made out of stuff most people compost!

sorry am rambling now:o

baby steps, they soon grow!

stiltwalker

Just do what fits in with your life, the best skills of a stay at home mum are also the ones of os - organisation and multi tasking! If making your own bread is something you really want to do not just something you think you ought to do be really organised and do it for a week or so after you're into the habit you'll find it takes less time and can just be fitted in, say kneading the bread while chatting to DH about his day and waiting for kettle to boil. As someone else said you can't and shouldn't attempt to do everything just cherry pick the bits that really matter and enjoy your family and your life

quintwins

i have 3 small kids and tbh my only goal each day is to try not kill them before bedtime and possibly tidy up after them, i know in a few years thinsg will get easier til then i just do what i can

rachbc

Get your ds involved in stuff like baking bread - give him a little dough to shape his own roll etc that why os work and play are combined!

He'll love planting seeds and growing veg come spring.