Can you do OS and work full time too?

Mamae

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Keep it simple and lower your standards is my strategy.

Home needs to be clean, warm and reasonably tidy

Meals - simple, cheap and easy - either batch cooked or slow cooked.

Dust and housework will still be there when we are dead and buried - so its important to live your life to the full, spendimg your free time with your OH and DD's - there will be plenty of time for housework when the children are grown up and gone

I like this philoshopy!
Thanks to everyone for their advice. It really has helped. If I get the job I may well consider getting a cleaner - any advice on how to find a good cleaner!

gratefulforhelp_2

DH and I work full time, and have DDs of 2 and 7. Meal planning as has been said, make lunches the night before. If they eat separately from you, do something while they eat (load the dishwasher, w machine, iron et.c)
Let it go, you will feel that you are doing neither thing very well at times, and that is completely normal.
be proud that you are doing the best you can for your children.
Discuss with your DH that you will need him to pull his weight (don't know if he does already) and delegate if he doesn't. Sometimes I think men are completely willing, but unsure of what needs doing, with practise he'll start to see.
eta even littlies can help (toys in toy basket, my 7 year old brings down her own washing et.c.)
eta again, and online grocery shopping!!

studentgirl_2

I must say now im no longer a student and now both I and DH work full time, I find it really hard. I simply except that my standards have to drop; no hovering everyday. I allocate jobs to the kids. I know that this is hard when the children are small but they can do small things like pick up toys and set the table. Meal plans are fab as this means i dont have to think at the end of the evening, take meat out b4 work. I put one lot of washing on per night, and shop on line. Good luck with the new job :beer:

Courgette

Great thread, loads of great ideas Have copy and pasted the best into a new word doc that I can refer to when it all gets a bit too much (which is quite often!)

gratefulforhelp_2

You're not alone, Courgette!

Rummer

I do my best to get the housework done during the week so that I can have the weekend off and relax. Clothes for the week are ironed on a sunday night so that I don't have to rush around in the morning. Meals are cooked from scratch but they are usually quick and simple things that I can make a bit more of and have for lunch the next day. Lunches are made while I am cooking dinner.

One thing that saved me a lot of time was ordering shopping both food and otherwise online so less of my time is spent traveling and browsing. I try to combine my relaxation time and housework for example listening to books on CD while ironing or cleaning the bathroom quickly while running the bath.

I also encourage my DD to help we often set a timer and see who can tidy up their room within the time and she loves helping out in the garden which we do as a family.

It is important to identify the bits of your life that you feel need your time and energy and then identify the bits that you are happy to let slip sometimes.

JennyJewell

Ooh hi all I have only glimpsed over this because I have lots to do today but just from my general skim over I got really excited! Am I right in thinking that this is a thread that believes in old fashioned values of growing your own, homebaking and making?
Ooh I hope so seriously because that's what I am trying to work towards
I am a mum of two boys aged 12 and nearly 16, I work full time in my local college as a Special Needs Support Worker I am also a Neals Yard consultant - they sell skincare products etc that are completely chemical free, love it (I am not trying to recruit just pointing it out because of it being chemical free so you get a picture of what I'm about)
I love homebaking and would like to do more of it, I'd love to start sewing - I have massive dreams of owning my own small holding and well that's another story because I could harp on about my big dream forever! (Basically I would love to live the Good Life)
If this forum isn't like this I'm so sorry for waffling on - just really excited,lol!
Jen x

MrsE_2

chickadee wrote: »

I know that many of you who post on here are SAHMs and SAHDs, or work part time. Lucky you, this is something I aspire to do in a year or two. However, I feel a bit downhearted as I am OS at heart and believe there are many benefits for both the environment as well as my pocket and I want my DS to be brought up to know the value of money.

Can anyone give me any tips as to how I can manage to be OS and hold down my full time job? My house is like a bombsite, I have three ironing baskets threatening to take over the house :eek: and the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is start cooking from scratch.

There must be some middle ground here but I am struggling to find it. Can anyone help me please?

I'm the same. Some of the OS ways are very much for the cash poor & time rich, but women who have families & work are very much time poor too:(

I decided to be OS in whats important to me for our quality of life & use time shortcuts where we can.

I plan to do a big Herb trough out of railway sleepers one day (I plan to put it where the shed is "sunny side" & I need to move the sheds to the bottom of the garden first - so I can't do that yet) & maybe when we do the garden & put a pergola right across the middle of our long thin garden we may use the bottom half for growing a few bits, as well as the sheds & washing rotary. But for now I'm happy to buy all my green stuffs as I haven't got the garden done (or even started).

I like cooking & I like being able to do HM bread in the bread machine, we love home cooked from scratch food, its far far nicer than shop bought. I do a weeks menus in advance, shop for them, throw all the meat for Tuesday on-wards in the freezer & take whatever we need for that night out in the morning.

I don't bother with all the cleaning OS stuff, I'm more than happy to buy convenience cleaning products, I have no time or desire to make washing powder & stuff.

I don't knit or sew, they don't float my boat.

My advice is decide whats important to you to be OS or home made & use time savers & convenience for what you're not too bothered about.

MrsE_2

Tondella wrote: »

I lurve reading the old style posts where everyone describes their old style days, however, the lives i read about are generally those of full-time mums and i just wondered whether there are any of you old stylers out there in full-time paid employment (as opposed to the unpaid full-time work most of you do :rolleyes: ) and how you fit old styling into your day.

For example, I'd love to be able to trawl the supermarkets for bogofs and bargains, but having only the weekend to do it in I can't get up to my "local" Lidl and get around the veg market etc. Also with work, I'm too tired to pop to the supermaket late in the evening to get all the reduced food. So how do you who are doing it, do it! And what old style tips do you prioritise?

I know what you mean.
My best money saving tip with shopping is to use your freezer to stock up on the things you buy regularly when they are on offer. Thats what I do.

brighthair

I work full time and live on my own so find it challenging sometimes, especially working shifts! I am not the tidiest person either :-) I try and clean as I go, and also clean as I see it, so if I walk past and notice dust on something I do it there and then. Everytime I get up, or go in another room I take something with me

Food - to eat homemade it's mcuh easier for me to bulk cook. Today I've just done sausage casserole (5 portions) and pea and bacon soup (4 portions). So next week on nights, I can just grab a single portion out the freezer and there's my tea
I also have a slow cooker so I combine that with batch cooking! I've just had a crazy ten days with no time to cook so I've eaten loads out the freezer. I also do a lot of it at the start of the month so if the week before pay day I am skint, I still have a freezer full of meals