Can you do OS and work full time too?

xx_Jo_xx

Hi there,

Congratulations on the job! Im a single mum, work full time and volunteer - but you can do it! I promise!

You dont say old the other two children are - old enough to help??

I follow the weekly flylady thread too which I find helps enormously planning and upkeeping the house...leaving my weekends free to spend with the little one/other things. It focuses on one room per day. A typical day looks like this -

I get up at 6.30ish, go downstairs and empty the WM from the night before and refill it with another wash I left waiting the night before.
I pop whatever dinner is in the slow cooker, if there is lots of chopping, peeling etc, this is in a box prepared the night before.
I take the lunchbox contents out of the fridge and make the pack ups or I heat our food flasks and micorwave whatever I took out of the freezer the night before.
I get little one up for school and pop him in the shower and then get out breakfast and quickly go round one of the rooms picking up toys/general detrius, quickly dust or do some other 5 minute job.
I get little one dried/dressed/sat down to breakfast then go for a shower and get ready. We leave at about 8ish.

When we come home from work, I take out the washing I put on in the morning before I left and put on another wash if need be.
I serve tea (cos its in the slow cooker and ready to go!) Or if its something we have rice with etc. or something that is being reheated/ovencooked, I would pop that on and let it cook while I hung up the washing.
I fill the sink with hot water and leave the dishes in the sink while we do homework/activities etc.
Ill go back and clean the kitchen etc from dinner and prepare dinner/lunches etc for the next day and remove necessaries from the freezer
After little one is in bed, I hoover/clean one room and aim to finish by about 9 so that I still get some time to relax before I go to bed.

When I go to bed, I put a wash on and leave another wash in the kitchen and will put cleaning stuff in another room for the next day.

HTH xx

Dazi

Ok there is only me and OH but I find it difficult. I never know if he is coming home or not, so its do I get stuff out the freezer or not?

I cope ok with my lunches, tend to make a big batch of soup up. Have always got chilli portions or bolognaise in the freezer I do batches of that and freeze.

Its just never knowing if OH is going to be home or not, he could be out all week, or could come home one night and then says lets have tea out, so we do and when I get back am annoyed at what we have spent and how much stuff I have in the freezer!

Apart from the food, I still find it difficult to get all the housework and washing, ironing done, !!!!!! we only live in a tiny bungalow but by the time I get in from work I am shattered, all I want to do is check up on internet and read my book. Weekends seem to be us chasing our tails.

Love hearing how others cope, please send me some of your energy xx lol

LittleLauz

Wow Jo, I idolise and admire people like you!
I honestly think you're amazing to be able to do all that. I work full time also and try to be as OS as possible, but the difference is I only have myself to look after!
I still find i'm exhausted though, after working all week and the mostly just cleaning and batch cooking on the weekends. I can't find the energy to clean after work. I'm too drained, I work in a busy hospital pharmacy. So I thought managing to do all my stuff at the weekend was an achievement until I'd read your post!
I feel super lazy now, I'm honestly and totally in awe of you.

xx_Jo_xx

LittleLauz wrote: »

Wow Jo, I idolise and admire people like you!
I honestly think you're amazing to be able to do all that. I work full time also and try to be as OS as possible, but the difference is I only have myself to look after!
I still find i'm exhausted though, after working all week and the mostly just cleaning and batch cooking on the weekends. I can't find the energy to clean after work. I'm too drained, I work in a busy hospital pharmacy. So I thought managing to do all my stuff at the weekend was an achievement until I'd read your post!
I feel super lazy now, I'm honestly and totally in awe of you.

God please dont! Its not as easy as it looks when you write it all down - I know its hard. But I started following the weekly flylady list, i dont know, forever ago!

The house was a pit, totally cluttered and like everyone else, by the time I got home, cooked tea, sorted out little one, I was too tired for anything else and spent all weekend cleaning!

Like someone else said, you end up totally drained cos you cant remember the last time you did anything else!

Instead of sitting down every night though I would set a timer for 15mins or half an hour and that would be all I would clean for....Its amazing what you can get done in that time. The way I saw it is, if I did just ONE thing, its one thing more than I would have done otherwise, right?

I also followed the mantra Pen Pen mentions further back about 'Dont put it down - put it away' and 'Never go up or downstairs empty handed' you quickly get into the habit and it makes lots of difference in my house.

I started just doing the first levels every day and soon they become habit, then you start doing other things every day....the first time it takes a while cos your wiping away weeks worth of dirt (or longer ) but the next week when you come to it, its only a quick swipe and your done!

It may sound like Im wonderwoman but I can assure you I am not! :rotfl: If there are any others lurking here that follow the lists, they can vouch for me...

xx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi there,

I have enjoyed reading this thread, it's great to know we are not alone.

I work ft over 2 jobs and OH works 7 days a week over 3 jobs.

We have kids and I am determined to cook everything from scratch, including cakes for lunch boxes and make it as healthy as possible. We very rarely have ANYTHING premade. I manage this by being organised with meal plans and lists of what is in the freezer and cupboards (both are always kept well stocked). The SC is used about 3 times a week and I honestly don't know how I managed before I had it, I put it on before work and return to a lovely meal. This could be chilli, spag bol, cottage pie, stew/casserole or a whole chicken/joint of meat. I usually cook enough for 2 meals, ie Wednesday's chilli became tonight's enchilladas. Mince is bulked out with grated carrots, lentils and oats. I tend to bake a lot at the weekend for the coming week and again double up the quantities as it is just as easy as making just the single quantity. I find all of this very rewarding as the children all love my cooking and enjoy their food.

Housework is mainly my domain (not my strong point) BUT DD1 and DD2 take turns each day to do the hoovering. DD1 (who is 16) does his own ironing and OH does everyone else's, everyone puts their own clean laundry away. DD2 sorts out the other laundry (towels and underwear). DD1 does rubbish, recycling and cleaning up after the dog. 3 days a week I don't start work til 10.30am so I run around like a mad thing getting as much housework done as poss with no-one else around, I really don't want to spend all weekend doing housework. Most cleaning is done with Stardrops and white vinegar and microfibre cloths. The washing machine is on half rations of Bold tabs (ie 1 per load). I do have a dishwasher which is a god send.

It's not easy balancing work and OS family life but we just about manage it and also grow some fruit and veg and have some quality family time, usually camping with friends.

Hth

321

mi_jardin

I don't have kids, but do have 5 dogs and a DH! I work FT, but over 4 days. I always cook from scratch, and on a very tight budget, and at the moment very low fat too (WW)!
I don't like doing all my housework on my days off, so I do it after work. I get home at 5.30 and tidy the kitchen and lounge to make sure at the very least the downstairs is tidy incase we have anyone visit. Other evenings I whizz the hoover round, again sometimes just downstairs and the staircase itself to keep up appearances! Then on my days off I can give the dogs and other things my attention.
Dusting is my pet hate, and with dogs and hard floors there is a lot of it! I try to flick a duster frequently, but it doesn't always happen!
Toilets/bathrooms I clean when I am in there anyway, so it gets done when needed without thinking about it.
Little bits all add up.
At the very least I keep the downstairs looking tidy, it makes me feel less anxious.

FLA27

I work full-time Monday to Friday and since today is the first day of the week that I can have a proper lie-in, I woke up early......

I got up, fired up the breadmaker on rapid setting (for mid-morning toast), made coffee and headed back to bed with my laptop to mooch around the OS board. I've never seen this thread before, so I spent a happy hour reading it.

I live on my own and don't have kids and, quite frankly, I don't know how the family-type full-timers cope! I can keep on top of most things, but since starting my new job last April, I will confess to having given in to the temptation of the condenser dryer on occasion. I was out-of-work for a few months in 2009-2010 and between job-hunting, I 'borrowed' my Dad's old wine-making stuff and learnt to make wine. Like Missycrissy (earlier in the thread) I am self-sufficient for wine and had many an hour foraging in my local neighbourhood for berries and wild plums. I also cooked everything from scatch and never went short.

Keeping it up in full time employment isn't easy, my garden has suffered the most. If there is too much to do, put the kettle on and write a to-do list. Helps to get things into perspective. Do the easy things and the important things first.

The good news for me, is that my working hours are being reduced! I will still be on the same pay, but I will leave an hour earlier. One of the benefits of working for a small private company whose bosses can decide what to do on their own. I will be upping my OS efforts this year, with the inspiration provided by some many who post here, of course.

zarazara

I think lowering expectations is a good place to start,downsize,either literally as in move to a smaller house and /or aim for cheaper food clothes and so on,make do and mend,value free time not material goods and spend one day a week doing something free and pleasurable with the children like going a walk and one day a week baking and cooking. I used to have allsorts,now I have a little cottage no microwave no dishwasher no toaster no holidays but I spend time with my children,who are noew grown up,my animals and my veg plot and am very happy and content. So start by deciding not to want stuff,and life will become immesurably more pleasurable.

Kirri

How true zara. I am finding a real need to cut down and simpify my life. The simpler free things are the best, something as simple as spending a day out in the sun, or even getting out in daylight at this time of year!

Am working full time, with pets and an allotment and I like to go to the gym on top of everything. So, I've had to try and declutter to make cleaning quicker, avoid shopping at weekends (once a week for food after work and that's it) and cut out all the unnecessary stuff, though the internet is supposed to be on my cut it out list!!

I do batch cook usually at a weekend and stick whatever spare in the freezer. I have to batch cook surplus veg in the summer too and this is a challenge after work... I use a breadmaker twice a week, usually do two loaves at a weekend and stick one cut up in the freezer to make sandwiches with. I also make one batch of cakes/biscuits to take to work, at the weekend.

I do sometimes feel I am forever preparing things for the coming days in order to eat foods cooked from scratch and I find I have too much cleaning at a weekend so I need to somehow fit in 30 mins on a weeknight but I don't want life to be too rigid - I really must stick to not watching the soaps to gain some time! Ideally I'd like to get it all done so I have the weekends more free to spend outside.

Spendless

For some time I have been fed up with tidying up just for it to look like I haven't bothered not long afterwards. I returned to work about 8 months ago after years as a sahm, and though I am p-time my hours doubled within 6 months, so it's taken a while to adjust/

I thought through a solution and on Friday I picked up in Home Bargains 2 baskets (£3.99 each). 1 has pink material/handles, the other blue. I have a son and daughter. Since then all I have done is thrown their belongings they've left into their baskets (or told them to do it if home). They are then told to take them to their bedrooms and put their stuff away before they are allowed on the xbox/wii/tv/playing out etc. Son (almost 11) has grasped very quickly that it is in his own interest to put stuff away when he's had it, otherwise it will result in a good tidying up session when he'd rather do something else. Daughter (almost 8) is taking longer but is putting stuff away.

Just in case the above helps anyone.