Calling all working ~<MaMMa's>~

princessdon

I am rigid as technically not a single mum but feel it most weeks (as OH works away a lot), so have it all to do myself most weeks. My tips are

a) to do a lot the night before - Ie I use a slow cooker a lot and get it ready to pop in and switch on in the morning so it's ready when I come home. We use the slow cooker at lot as can just throw it in and be done and little washing up. Get all bags, pack ups, unform ready the night before.

b) I switch the dishwasher on overnight and empty in the morning.

c) I delay the washer to start at 6 am so at 7 am I can pop in the dryer so I was everyday and iron when kids are in bed.

d) I get the kids to help a lot. They do the dusting, hoovering, folding clothes and many other chores that are age appt. Their bowls are on the table with cereal for the morning.

e) I give myself 1 night a week off from housework and Sunday is family day (bar none essentials)

f) I have a room rota for cleaning.

g) Online shopping for food!

katiejones

Our situation is - OH made redundant 3 yrs ago. Couldn't get another job (engineering) and he is diabetic. 2 1/2 yrs ago I started work. Hours are 6am - 1pm five days a week. OH does breakfast, school run, housework and gets dinner prepared. I get in to a cuppa. I am thoroughly spoilt because i don't have to life a finger if i don't want to. On my days of i take over (Sunday and Monday). It works great for us xx

princessdon

katiejones wrote: »

Our situation is - OH made redundant 3 yrs ago. Couldn't get another job (engineering) and he is diabetic. 2 1/2 yrs ago I started work. Hours are 6am - 1pm five days a week. OH does breakfast, school run, housework and gets dinner prepared. I get in to a cuppa. I am thoroughly spoilt because i don't have to life a finger if i don't want to. On my days of i take over (Sunday and Monday). It works great for us xx

If you claim any form of benefit like Tax Credits you may want to look at Universal credits from April and see if this affects you.


Sorry just re-read and it didn't come out how I intended it.

As only 1 of you are working and not Full Time, it is worth looking at how UC may affect you, it may not affect you at all, but it's worth looking.

purplepardalis

I am a working mummy and my OH stays at home and looks after our 1 year old son. I am out of the house from 0830 to 2030 five days a week. My OH cooks every night and does some housework. He's pretty good at everything except clothes washing. The house isn't perfect but really, it doesn't matter.

LannieDuck

purplepardalis wrote: »

I am a working mummy and my OH stays at home and looks after our 1 year old son. I am out of the house from 0830 to 2030 five days a week. My OH cooks every night and does some housework. He's pretty good at everything except clothes washing. The house isn't perfect but really, it doesn't matter.

I'm in a similar position. I'm at work from 8-6. My OH does the shopping and always cooks in an evening. I take over the childcare in an evening and do the bedtime routine while he cooks.

He doesn't have time for much housework during the day because most of his time is spent with DD. Neither of us wants to do housework at weekends, so we have a cleaner who comes every other week.

barnaby-bear

*DaDa wrote: »

Thanks for all you replies,

With regards to OH cooking etc I feel a bit guilty aksing him as he did not ask me to work.. I chose too..He was made redundant almost 2 years ago and is really struggling to find work at all.. He has worked through a couple of employment agnecies but they end up messing around with his pay..I am weary of asking him to do so much simply beacause he may turn around and say Dont Work Then...We did go through this before I started work...And he did say I would struggle..Also the way he was brought up by his mum he didnt even have to take his dishes to the sink...So the occasional hoover and dishes and the changing nappies is a massive breakthrough.

I do feel he does help out alot though..I do find there is just too much to do.

I am thinking I may start batch cooking on Sundays and freezing everything and then ironing everyones clothes on a Sunday night.

Oh and if I refuse to cook or have a cant be bothered night its "Takeout time" which ends up costing me more or he would just go and eat at his moms which would still mean I have to cook and clean for myself an kids;);)

If he's too stupid to cook, surely he can peel and chop? Put out an array of vegetables with instructions and patronising diagrams of how thick to cut a carrot slice and expect the preparation to be done when you get in. If he's too thick, to cut stuff up to a specified size umm....

j.e.j.

barnaby-bear wrote: »

If he's too stupid to cook, surely he can peel and chop? Put out an array of vegetables with instructions and patronising diagrams of how thick to cut a carrot slice and expect the preparation to be done when you get in. If he's too thick, to cut stuff up to a specified size umm....

He's not too stupid, by the sounds of things. He just 'doesn't do cooking'. Some men don't. All their life someone (mum or wife) has done it for them!

bitsandpieces

j.e.j. wrote: »

He's not too stupid, by the sounds of things. He just 'doesn't do cooking'. Some men don't. All their life someone (mum or wife) has done it for them!

Presumably he would be able to, at least, chuck some veg, meat and water into a slow cooker in the morning. Whether he's willing to or not, though, is another question...

cazziebo

I'm a bit with Gibson here - looking after four kids doesn't leave a lot of spare time for keeping a pristine house so maybe you have to both look at what's essential and what's nice to get done and share the tasks that way? And chill out over what's not done. Honestly, seems like yesterday that my kids were toddlers and they're both now in their twenties. Wish I'd worried less about a messy house and spent more time messing it up with them..

I just don't get with the won't cook thing, though. My OH thought he'd get away with that one when we met. He'd been single for a long time, had never married although lived with someone for a short time. He lived on pot noodles and takeaways. He couldn't peel a potato (that's not a joke). For his birthday, I got him a one day cooking course ( I checked they could cope with his extreme lack of basic skills) and it was the best £80 I ever spent (think of it as the cost of two nights takeaway!) His repertoire is limited but he no longer "can't cook".

*DaDa

Hey lovelies briefly skimmed through your posts, Ive just about finished ironing 25 outfits, cooked and froze 2 batches of shepherd pie, lentil curry and chicken korma, manged to zqueeze in a quick bath and done most of the laundry .and cleaning..OH only slept 4 hours last night as did I and he is now nicely tucked up in bed though he did drive a mission of 180 miles today with three kids so I cant really moan.

I am also now more than ready 4 bed,,,I hope my planning in advance makes life a little easier, will see how it goes...

As for OH cooking Im not even going to risk it simply because deep down I know it not going to happen and I really havent got the time or the energy to battle it out with him..

So my lovelies good night and I wish u all a good week ahead..

xxxxxx