overwhelmed

maman

Sorry to hear you're feeling overwhelmed.


I think that if you take some of the steps to get organised it'll save you time. When I worked full time I found that by having a meal plan, and a good shopping list and shopping only once a week I saved myself huge amounts of time. No wandering around the SM wondering what to get, no wondering each night what to have for supper, no wasting time (or money) nipping into shops for a 'few bits'.


Well done on sorting out your stores. Do your meal plan from that and only buy absolute essentials to make meals from it.


Oh and definitely give up ironing except perhaps formal shirts.

tootoo

Hi.
Thank you all for your comments.
I'm feeling much better. I think I was trying to do too much.
I'm concentrating on the groceries and meal planning and also laundry this week (snd the usual dust and hoover etc).
I think I'll pick up a little note book today to pop a daily list in.

MummyBobble

You have my sympathy tootoo. I look at my house and just don't know where to start DD and DS are teenagers :eek: but can be useful from time to time (usually when they want something ).

I don't work on Wednesdays, and they're at school, so my thinking is that I'm going to write myself a list of things that need doing and will only take 10 or 15 minutes rather than one mammoth task that will take hours (I'm hoping to be able to break the mammoth task down into small bits that will mean it eventually gets done!). That way I'll be able to tick lots off my list and feel like I'm getting somewhere. I'm also going to try to do just two or three small jobs each day (not easy when you have two hormonally challenged teenagers who always seem to have some crisis or drama going on...)

I have to confess though to being an ironing freak. I buy non-iron school uniform but iron it anyway because I don't want them going to school with their uniform not ironed. Maybe I need help :rotfl:

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, I can completely relate to your post. I have teenage kids (one of whom has serious health problems), have 2 part time jobs and a husband who works long hours. I am constantly moaning that there arent enough hours in the day and it really gets me down when the house is a mess.

I think mealplanning takes a bit of practice. I have two lists, one is all the meals that we like and the other is everything I every buy at the supermarket. I sit down once a week and make a list of teas for the next week, taking into account what we are all doing. Then I see what I need to buy using my shopping list and whats in the cupboard. It makes life so much easier.

I am a big fan of the flylady principles, which is just about doing a little every day. I break the chores down something like this:
Mon: Living room, hall and stairs
Tues: Kitchen and utility
Weds: Bathrooms and study
Thurs: Kids bedrooms
Fri: Our bedroom and landing

Then even if all you manage to do is a quick dust and hoover in these rooms every day the house gets cleaned.

I also think its important to prioritise. I love baking but there isnt always enough time so that goes out of the window and I buy cakes and biscuits quite often.

I have little routines that I do every day too. I never go to bed unless the sink and draining board is clear and the living room is tidy. When I get out of the shower I use a cleaning wipe to swish the bathroom and I do a sweep of the house every day for any clothes that need rehoming or washing.

Oh and I find that 15 minutes in the tumble drier after being out on the line makes clothes a lot less creased.

Good luck.

YORKSHIRELASS

MummyBobble wrote: »

not easy when you have two hormonally challenged teenagers who always seem to have some crisis or drama going on...)

Oh yes, I can relate to this one!!. Or as last night one of them needs ferrying to an indoor football competition 40 minutes drive away from home for 2 hours, so its not worth driving home again and your whole evening is gone. Then when you do come home at 9.30pm you find the other teenager and OH have left the kitchen like a complete bombsite ....

tiredwithtwins

when my three teens were littlies, my house looked constantly like a bomb had hit it!! I worked, was at uni and had to trek cross town to get kids to nursery/school and me to work, with no help from OH (now ex-OH!!)
but the house was clean, albeit untidy (followed the 15 min baby steps cleaning on flylady), we ate well, and I established a routine that I didn't deviate from! so shopping, washing, meal planning etc was done on set days ... allowed me the time to do the important stuff in the house, with the kids and also fit in studying.

now my kids are older and life has changed so many times I cant remember, I wish id kept the routine thing up, it makes life so much easier!!

good luck with it all, this forum is a gold mine of info

sue xxx

terra_ferma

tootoo wrote: »

Thank you for all replies.
some good tips which I will try and implement.
I do have a dh but he works five days a week so feels I should do all the house work
he will help out washing dishes and a quick tidy downstairs but nothing which helps greatly.
will have a look at the happiness project - thank you cly.
X

I think maybe it would be useful to look at the amount of hours you both work in and outside the house, including travelling times, childcare, cooking, diy jobs, admin/finances etc.
Sounds a bit clinical but this way you would know that work is split fairly (you don't say how many hours he works, or how much other work he does to the house, so maybe it's already working out OK).

I have a similar problem in a way because I work from home and I'm seen as a 'housewife' simply because I'm at home instead of travelling to the office. When I got fed up with doing most of the cooking, housework, cleaning etc we sat down and did a bit of calculations. It's still fair that I do more because I don't have to commute, but now it's shared more fairly.
(we also counted the DYI work and gardening which I don't tend to do, so that all contributions are equally valued).
In my opinion a relationship is not just about what one person thinks, it's about both people being reasonably happy with the arrangements, and I can say now I am .

E2006

I too know how you feel. I have 2 little ones (youngest is just 11 months) and I work condensed hours over three days which means I leave the house at 7am and don't get home until 7pm. When I returned to work I was feeling really overwhelmed, but have got myself into a few little habits now that I find really help.

I don't iron anything after washing - I put it straight away and we iron only if necessary when we need a particular item. On a Sunday I iron DS's uniforms for the week. PJ's etc I don't iron at all (and tbh when dried on the line/tumble drier I don't find they need it).

I never go up stairs without taking something with me and putting it into its 'home'. I find that by putting everything in its place straight away, not as much builds up and its easier to clear because you don't have the mammoth task of tidying first. On my days off I find hovering and polishing and washing the kitchen floor take no time at all if the spaces are clear.

I food shop on a Saturday and don't go back during the week unless Im really stuck for something.

All paper work is sorted straight away. I have a drawer for necessary paperwork. Junk mail and things I don't need to keep have the addresses ripped off and put in the shredder box (and I then shred them once a week) and the left over paper is thrown into the recycling bin. I used to leave things for weeks and it would build up and become a nightmare to sort - my DH is still a terror for leaving post, envelopes and all, lying around but I'm working on him!

I do little jobs as I'm going, for example, wipe the bathroom over with an anti bac wipe on a morning when brushing my teeth. It gets a proper clean once a week, but this way doesn't get dusty/toothpaste all over which just makes it feel a tip. I take DS up to his room 10 mins before bed and we tidy his toys away together before reading a bed time story etc

Baby is awake now so have to dash but if I think of anything else I will post again.

HTH x

[Deleted User]

Morning TOOTOO I'm really pleased for you that you're feeling more in control of your 'situation'. It's pretty helpful to stop and take stock of things and then work out an action plan that will work for you, well done love, you can give yourself a well deserved pat on the back and then start working out your strategy for coping from now on. Proud of you pet, good girl!!! Lyn xxx.

tiredwithtwins

ive found that getting the kids into a tidying up habit very early on helpful - means when they get older its routine rather than a chore!!
when they were kinda 8-12 ish I used to write the various jobs they could do on post it notes and they were on a heart shaped pin board on a cupboard door. each child had a cupboard door with their name on it, and every week they would pick one or two jobs to do and put the post it note on their door ... when they had done the job theyd put the post it note back on the heart and had a tick on a little chart. the tick equalled a treat

now they are all teens I wish id pushed them more as they got past that age to do more, as now they are lazy swines :rotfl: