Can you do OS and work full time too?

nickiboop

Yep

but pick and mix old style! As newlywed said its the mealplanning thats the life saver.
I also cheat and use the tumble dryer but no washing would ever get sdone otherwise!

Meanymoo

My top tips for OS with full-time work are:

1. Meal-planning, obviously . I spend half an hour on a Saturday morning planning meals for the next week, based around that week's veg. box. We then go shopping for what we need. Very quick and painless and leaves the rest of the weekend free.
2. Keep an ongoing shopping list on the fridge door. I keep 2 of most things (washing-up liquid etc.) in the flat, and when I open the last of anything I add it to the list and it gets bought during that week's shopping trip. Not exactly rocket science, but when you're working full-time you don't want to get home at night and realise you have to do an emergency run to the supermarket for loo paper!
3. Make friends with the Met Office website. I check it most days and try to do my laundry when it's going to be dry for at least 24 hours. That way the washing can dry outside and you don't have to worry about it getting rained on while you're at work.
4. Do your washing up every evening! I'm still amazed how little time it takes to do this every night and I love getting up to a clean kitchen in the morning.
5. Don't pay any attention to colleagues who think you're mad for spending half an hour making a batch of bread dough and making a packed lunch in the evening - do the things that are important to you and enjoy them!

frogga

Of course you can Chippsy!

I work from 9~3 , 5 days ( ok , not stricktly Full time!) and have 2 Tadpoles and 4 dogs and Mr Frog to look after and a house to run , and I'm VERY o/s.:T

It's all about organisation, and it helps if you don't need much sleep!:rotfl:

I'm up at 4am most days as that's when Mr Frog goes to work. In the 2 hours before the Tadpoles are up I usually do the washing, hanging out and ironing. Cheep electric at that time~ Nice and quiet so as not to wake the others;)

Once the Tadpoles are up and sorting themselves out breakfast I walk the hounds. When back from walking the dogs I make the bed, put away clothes, shower, hoover round upstairs and clean the bathroom and toilet. The Tadpoles are FANTASTIC and really help out. They will do each others lunches and one for me too!:T They get their own brekky, make their own beds and no.1 will feed the dogs while no.2 sorts out her guinee pigs. By this time it's about 8am so I quickly wash up while Tadpole dries and I do a whiz round with the hoover, wash the kitchen floor and we're out the door.

I walk Tadpoles to school , then bike to work (. I work until 3, then straight back to pick up tadpoles from school:T . I then have about 1 1/2 hours to walk dogs and get tea ready. When I cook tea I make extra portions and freeze them. I cook everything from scratch and shop at MrT late at night (it's open 24hrs here) as I get lots of reduced items at that time.

I guess it helps that the Tadpoles are so terriffic and help out and do their bit. I have them well trained!:rotfl:
At the weekend I do alot of batch cooking and the tadpoles like making their own buns and flapjakes et.c for their pack lunches.
We have a chalk board on the fridge that people add to when they use the last of something and I'll pick up a replacement on the way home from work or at lunch time I'll walk into town and get a few bits.
I watch all my fav telly progs but ALWAYS get up in the ad breaks and do a little bit of washing up, putting away or general tidying up. I do tend to do things very quickly and I'm certainly not a daudler!
I stick to the flylady thread so I do a bit of housework each day , which keeps it under control and always manage to get to level 3!

I always clean round before I go to bed and get things ready for the morning. Usually in bed at about 11pm then up again at 4am. I hate too much sleep as it makes me feel groggy and am happy to get no more than about 5 or 6 hours ~ they say it's a sign of high intelligence, WELL OBVIOUSLY!!

Good Luck to you , it might be like a military operation but I like it like that!;)

newlywed

frogga wrote: »

Usually in bed at about 11pm then up again at 4am I hate too much sleep as it makes me feel groggy and am happy to get no more than about 5 or 6 hours ~ they say it's a sign of high intelligence, WELL OBVIOUSLY!!

What you trying to say about everyone that needs 7 hours sleep then???

If I got up at 4 am I'd stand there going "er, eh, duh" and not be able to do much right at all!!

I get up at 7 unload the dishwasher, make breakfast for us all, put the packed lunches from the fridge into a bag, then go. Come home from work, don't sit down just make tea (or dish up if it's already in slow cooker). Then while tea is cooking I make packed lunches, check what needs to defrost for next day. After tea I bung all in dishwasher and switch on. Then sit and watch some telly etc

OH cleans, dusts, hoovers and does most of the washing too (usually he cleans and hoovers other rooms while I'm cooking tea) - he works 4 days a week.

bobbadog

Frogga, you amaze me!

I work full time - up at 6:30 with OH, leave house at 8:40 and get home at 7:10pm (bloody Central London!) - I also do freelance work most evenings for about an hour. It's just me and my OH, no little ones, and we do live in a TINY 1 bed flat, so whilst it makes it easier to clean it isn't possible for me to have a bread maker and things, purely as there's not enough room...

So to be as OS as I can be, I plan. Meal plan every Sat, batch cook once a month, check things like prices etc online and do 'special' shopping trips during my lunch-hour. If we're having say, sausage and mash for dinner i'll have the potatoes peeled and chopped before leaving work. I do washing when I get home from work, and usually leave to dry in tumble dryer whilst we're in bed (rented house - I don't trust the old washing machine to be left on overnight, but the TD is ours and quite new). Sometimes have a batch ready to be put on, so OH can turn the switch when he gets in.

I'm far more likely to do a lot first thing in the morning than when I get home, as it's all I can do to cook dinner most days and flop down at the computer!!

Best of luck with your new job, chipps! x

overlykeensaver

Yes I think you can do it but you just have to get yourself organised. We make our pack lunches the night before we need them (one makes lunch packs the other washes up which is nice and sociable too).

I am with everyone else on the meal planning and adding to your shopping list as you go through the week. There is nothing worse than getting home from work and having no idea what to have for dinner.

We tend to do a bulk cook at the weekend (every month or so) so we can have lots of casseroles/pasta sauces etc in portioned bags in the freezer. It is great when meal planning to write down - bag of beef casserole on one day and then bag of chicken curry the next!

This also saves on the franticness of trying to get lots of things done when you come in after work.

We wash most of our clothes on a 30 minute (ish) cycle so a couple of times a week will put the machine on in the evening and get them drying over night. Everything else gets washed at weekends (Of course in summer it is much easier as things dry much quicker)

Ladygrim

Its only me and Lordgrim - but I am still SOOOOO BAD at organising my day/week. I tend to end up cooking something from scratch at the last minute, (or if Im really bad - getting take-out). I so need to get a schedule that works.

Here's my outline - I work 30 hours a week over 4 days. Hubby is 45 hours over 5 1/2 days (he chooses to do overtime on Saturday mornings).

Anyone wanna share their daily schedule with me?

LG

Meanymoo

overlykeensaver wrote: »

We make our pack lunches the night before we need them (one makes lunch packs the other washes up which is nice and sociable too).

That's the sort of thing we do too, and I think it's a really good point about the sociability of it. Being OS is part of our lifestyle and we're both far more inclined to spend our evenings talking than gawping at the telly (usually - unless one of us is having a REALLY bad day:rotfl:), so pottering around the kitchen fits in well with this.

stressedoutmumof1

frogga wrote: »

I watch all my fav telly progs but ALWAYS get up in the ad breaks and do a little bit of washing up, putting away or general tidying up.

LOL!! I thought it was only me that did that I challenge myself to how much I can get done in the ad breaks

I'm the same as Frogga (well the working 9-3 bit ). Unforunately I don't have the :A you have. I have 2 very lazy tikes :mad: I struggle if I'm honest with you. I always ensure that all the ironing is done by Sunday - as I used to always do it in the mornings :eek: Packed lunches are done the night before and I use my slow cooker often!!

Not much help I'm afraid - I'd kill not to have to work.

Ladygrim

stressedoutmumof1 wrote: »

............Id kill not to have to work.

Id rather marry rich and keep my 'bit on the side' (Well I do love him:D )

LG