To think there is never time to relax on weekdays ?

im not saying I care…I’m just saying I notice it.

Get a cleaner or a robot hoover. Don't iron

Exactly this. Are there actually people walking around sneering at people with unironed clothes? How very odd. Most of my clothes don't need ironing, I wouldn't dream of buying linen which is wrinkled the moment you put it on anyway. But mostly, I don't care what people think of my housekeeping. Like me or don't but I can guarantee if you're judging me for not having starched collars we wouldn't be friends anyway.

Don’t ditch the ironing @LanaL people say it makes no difference but I can tell those who by looking those who iron and those who don’t…

Yes but why would any sane person really care that much whether a random stranger can tell if their clothes are a bit less flattened than someone else's? When you think about it, it's a pretty odd thing to care about.

I'm a bit perplexed about the ironing too.

My DC all use drawers and their trousers / school jumpers / polo's all live in drawers without creasing? I lay trousers in half, polo's and jumpers flat in drawers (for x3 DC). I dedicate an hour / 90 minutes a week to ironing and then we're sorted for the week (we have one set of uniform for each child for each day. But supermarket polo tshirts / trousers and I've gone second hand or hand me downs for their logo'd school jumpers as this cuts down on need for washing and ironing)

Do kids need to be bathed every single night? At this time of year every other night is fine surely?

Same with washing, surely you don't need to do a wash every single night?

Is there nothing that fits your dietary requirements that can be made in advance? Even if you are able to pre-prep a few lunches or dinners a week it would make a difference?

Don’t ditch the ironing @LanaL people say it makes no difference but I can tell those who by looking those who iron and those who don’t…it’s way more obvious than ppl think!

Full-time teacher here and single parent.

If you say it's all too much, pick your battles. I have to hoover certain spaces daily because my pets are messy (not the type you can train out of it), I cook and wash up daily but that's about it for daily jobs.

Laundry only ever gets done weekends. Load machine last thing at night, hang out first thing in the morning, ignore until the evening. Bathrooms and toilets get cleaned on a need-to basis, I only ever touch an iron if I'm on a creative sewing project and the rest gets cleaned as I go.

Family meals are 30min prep time or less during the week (don't mind if I can then ignore it in the oven for a while) and while my kids get daily lunchboxes, I either make a pasta salad I can then give them 3 times in a row, a salad that lasts 2 days or sandwich fillings which, again, I don't have to think about more than every other day. The rest is stuff like pieces of fruit, veg, crackers or other bits that can just be chucked in. I food shop once a week, during a weekday.

Saturdays can be busy if a club is on and we go to the library, but Sundays are MINE, even with the kids around.

Does the house ever sparkle? Nope. Does it need to? Also nope. It's clean enough. The garden gets done with the kids. I still get leisure time every day.

You don’t “have” to iron, hoover and polish every day, you’re choosing to. Most children’s uniform doesn’t require ironing. If you do iron it you could do it one load and hang it over the back of a door, in your own wardrobe, anything to stop the nonsense of getting an ironing board out every day. Batch cook. Online shop once a week. Hoover every other day instead of every day. Doesn’t sound like you’re entertaining guests in the week anyway? So who is going to care about a bit of dog hair on the carpet? If it’s literally unbearable then limit the number of rooms the dog is in.

Talk about making life hard for yourself!

Do you have a meal prep service in your area who could deliver lunches for you and DH? Or maybe just have a protein shake for breakfast or lunch a couple of times a week? Super easy.

When I go low carb, I tend veer towards something in a parcel. Chicken or fish en papillote with vegetables in the paper too. Very minimal prep time and no washing up from the cooking! Just add rice or pasta for the kids if you all eat together.

I understand the frustration. I have to vacuum daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day when my dog's moulting and it does get relentless. I also iron, but I make that one of the relaxing jobs - I put Spotify on, sing along to the songs as I iron.
My bugbear is that everyone else seems to have time for themselves at the weekend and my 2 days are for catching up the housework, changing beds, batch cooking for the week, batch shopping for the batch cooking etc.
No advice as such, but for me it's a choice I make (I could not do it, order takeaway and watch Netflix) so unless we change our choices there's little point getting upset about it.

Oh God, how predictable. 🙄

Also a teacher & know I don't have the hardest job in the world. I like my job, otherwise I wouldn't do it. My DP works bloody hard, my friends work bloody hard, but I can also say I work bloody hard, which is why I need at least a bit of time on the sofa to switch my head off. OP needs to sort her priorities. Stop shit stirring.

If you finish work at 4:30, I'm not sure why you can't find any relaxation time in the 5 hours before you go to bed (unless you have a massive commute).

If it was me, I'd keep a diary for a week writing down what I was doing and for how long, then reviewing what I could do differently/more efficiently. Or post on here if you're brave enough!!

This is a stealth boast post I assume.

i can only dream of having time to go to the gym and iron endlessly…,

I don’t iron and do the bare minimum cleaning. Have a robot hoover.

As single parent teacher I’m up at 5.30, out at 6.30 and home eleven hours later to throw food at my child before bathtime. If it takes longer than five minutes to cook it’s too long.

By the time small child is asleep, I sometimes have half an hour to get more jobs done before falling asleep. I have a thyroid condition and sleep badly, so usually in bed myself by 9.

I hate that I’m living for the times when my ex has kid so I can get more jobs done without the guilt.

Yes, OP, we get it. You're a teacher and they have the hardest job in the world

I think that's what you wanted from this thread?

This.

I too like a clean, tidy house, cook from scratch, do shopping in person etc, but as soon as kids in bed I'm on that sofa with DP & a cuppa catching up on.a drama. It may only be 90 mins, but my sanity needs it.

But bed by 9/930 is unrealistic for me. I suppose I compromise on sleep. I'd feel like I was a child myself going to bed at that time. Up at 530 sounds a bit excessive- can you sort it so it's 1030-630?

We are usually done with 'tasks' by 7 at the latest. We are home about 5.30 and between us cook dinner (usually mostly from scratch), clear up, packed lunches, homework (eldest is high school so doesn't need help, youngest's school is quite light touch with homework tbh and can do it with minimal support whilst we clear up after dinner) house doesn't need a lot of tidying in the week as we are all working and at school?

DH goes away for months at a time for work and it's not much different during those times, tend to pull the kids in to help out more with clearing up after dinner and usually opt for school lunches for those stints.

Even when the kids were preschool I've never had that "haven't sat down until 9" moment, I don't understand what I should be doing!

Another teacher here, althoughI'm usually home by 6.
Dc are tween teens so it's brief hello to them. Tea usually by 7. Then couple of hours work. Then wind down around 9. Up at 6 and repeat. Throw in a couple of activities for the kids during the week and gym for dh and I and there's no time for housework. That's for the weekend.

You asked ‘Am I alone here?’ and the answer from many is yes!

Im a teacher so have a lot of work to do out of school. I don’t want my children to see life as being on a hamster wheel. Evenings are busy with tea, washing etc and then schoolwork and their clubs. You get home at 4:30 which isn’t too late at all to get things done and spend time with your children.

You’ve got a dog so why can’t you go for a family dog walk in the week? Sometimes it’s putting things down and focusing on living a good quality life. So you miss hoovering one night? Surely spending family time together is more important?

Well, ok, you keep martyring yourself if you keep choosing to do time-consuming and unnecessary things.

You have more time off then if are only working part time. I think it’s a pure indulgence to be shopping in individual shops every week! Ridiculous.

I am assuming you have every schooI holiday to relax?

Could you get a clothes rail and use it for the school uniform, this would prevent it getting creased and a rail can be picked up cheaply.

I'd also be using the Easter holidays to sort the FC bedrooms and ensure there are not clothes stuffed into drawers that are not being used.

Could the DC have some simple jobs in the week? If there is not much clutter around they should be able to dust and polish and older DC hoover. It may not be perfect, but enough to keep on top of things in the week.