The Modern but Old Style Homemakers Club

majjak

Hi !

Is there room for another one?

I'm a SAHM and have been since the children were little (now 17, 13 and 11). I have recently started work but only part-time (16 hours) as I want to ensure I'm still here for the kids in the hols/sick etc. I'm very lucky and have a great manager who always ensures my kids come first so if I need to swap shifts or need time off, it's not an issue.

Personally, I've loved being at home and seeing the kids grow up - long may it continue !

I grow my own veg and enjoy cooking from scratch. Mealplans and lists galore spread all over the office desk :rotfl: but I couldn't live without them :eek:.

Today is going to be quite a busy one!

Shopping (I'm a bit like old mother hubbard at the moment )
An hour or so in the garden - a few crops have finished and need pulling/tidying.
File/organise this weeks post/paperwork.
Pay the monthly bills (ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh !) :mad: (I hate this task, can you tell ! )
A bit of 'me' time with my book - maybe in the garden if the sun keeps shining.
Start cleaning DDs bedroom (she's away at Guide camp this week so I can get in there and de-teenage the room !)

Look forward to getting to know you all :beer: xx

jetbag

Morning,

I don't think many things are more OS than being a homemaker, it is a very traditional role for many women.
I love the term homestylers it sounds glamorous, I think I could get motivated by this and get my home much more organised, and I would not do something so glam in my PJ's.
I follow the flylady thread which gives me some structure and I don't then feel bad that I have not cleaned every room each day, I can happily manage 1 or 2 rooms a day.

Right all family members have now left the house for their working day so I am going to go and get dressed and make a start on my day.

squeaky

juliapenguin wrote: »

I know, I know - and it's certainly true that several people have posted on both the threads about it having helped them to read the discussion about the dilemmas involved around voluntarily and involuntarily staying at home. I've found my own thinking becoming much more clear over the last couple of days as I try to decide how to proceed myself.

I hope we've been staying more on-topic!

I posted that as much as anything to say that as your own forum grows you are going to find that members will want both options with regard to chat/info and then you as owner will need to put together guidelines and/or organise things to meet the two needs as best you can.

And Old Style is just one of the many boards on MSE.

We have more freedom in the way of discussion than many boards because OS is as much a life-style as it is about saving money (the prime purpose of the MSE site) but the Forum Team do still require us to stay on topic and be moneysaving.

parsniphead

Morning Everyone

I find it strange when people comment negatively about being at home and I do think it's generally jealousy. I hope that I wil be able to carry on with it full time after february but have a feeling work will be beckoning me back due to funds. I have applied to reduce my hours to 3 days but feel this is a huge amount of time to be away from the baby.

Right must get off this forum now and go and get some work doe before 'baby club'.

Have a good day. I will be back being nosey soon.


P

frugaliciousness

Good morning and welcome

I think your Gran at the doorstep was probably doing quite an important 'job', holding the fabric of society together - I bet she gave lots of comfort and advice to neighbours with difficulties, kept an eye on children playing out, kept other 'elders' from feeling lonely and isolated. I suppose the women at home functioned almost as social workers in a lot of communities.

sorry couldn't direct quote your words juliapenquin for some reason.

I think you're spot on there actually and thanks because it's put into place what is wrong with me today - loneliness and boredom.

I am in these 4 walls every day doing the same thing, no real challenge. Being part of a society, a community is vital and currently what I am doing is living in a house and popping to the local shop every now and then with the odd 'morning' and smile to strangers as I walk there. I live in a house, I would like to live in a street

juliapenguin

frugaliciousness wrote: »

Good morning and welcome

sorry couldn't direct quote your words juliapenquin for some reason.

I think you're spot on there actually and thanks because it's put into place what is wrong with me today - loneliness and boredom.

I am in these 4 walls every day doing the same thing, no real challenge. Being part of a society, a community is vital and currently what I am doing is living in a house and popping to the local shop every now and then with the odd 'morning' and smile to strangers as I walk there. I live in a house, I would like to live in a street

We're onto something here. What you need today, frugaliciousness, is to go to the (literally) corner shop to buy tuppence ha'pennyworth of baking soda and to bump into all your friends and neighbours en route. After a nice chat and maybe even a quick cup of tea somewhere, you'd go home quite happily and get back to your homestyling.

I'm exactly the same - except I live in an apartment building where at the age of 47 I'm the oldest resident by at least 15 years. Everyone is out at work all day.

lessonlearned

juliapenguin wrote: »

I
I think your Gran at the doorstep was probably doing quite an important 'job', holding the fabric of society together - I bet she gave lots of comfort and advice to neighbours with difficulties, kept an eye on children playing out, kept other 'elders' from feeling lonely and isolated. I suppose the women at home functioned almost as social workers in a lot of communities.

My gran - this was in the days before the NHS - grew all her own herbs and used to make all sorts of concoctions and potions, treating not only her own family but the neighbours too.

She delivered babies and helped with the sick. "Laying out the dead" was also a duty she performed. All for free.

There was no free medicine, treatments or social workers - this was back in the 20's and 30"s. A visit from the doctor was something that working class people just couldn't afford.

She was a wise old bird and a great student of human nature. There must have been thousands of women like my gran, helping their neighbours, offering support and advice. I know she would take new mothers under her wing with advice about breastfeeding, weaning, colic, childhood ailments etc.

I must have inherited her genes because I have a keen interest in natural medicines. As a trained beauty therapist I make all my own potions and use aromatherapy oils in treatments and around my home.

I just wish granny had written down some of her recipes.

Off to paint one of the bedrooms, also had a skip delivered this morning to turf out the garage.

So we can add healers, decorators, house clearance to our list of jobs and accomplishments.:D

juliapenguin

Further to our discussions yesterday about how we all deal with avoiding slobbing around in PJs half the day, I can report that I was up and dressed with the bed made and the bathroom wiped by EIGHT THIRTY!!!! How good am I?

It's definitely a good thing for me to treat homemaking as a job - a very gentle job which allows me all the time I need to get well, but a job nonetheless. If I could be up and dressed by 7.30 it would also allow the possibility of doing some last-minute supply teaching, but I'm not ready for that just yet. Maybe I'll try to bring my 'ready' time forward over the next couple of months, so that I can develop a routine which works long-term - but I'm not up to that just yet. Routine is good for anxiety prevention in my experience - but it needs to be a gentle routine.

purpleivy

juliapenguin wrote: »

I'm in Manchester - anyone else from this neck of the woods?

Meeeee, on the south side of a town beginning with W in North Cheshire!

juliapenguin

purpleivy wrote: »

Meeeee, on the south side of a town beginning with W in North Cheshire!

Can you see me waving? :T