Endless endless jobs

I am also so fucking sick of putting things away. I feel like there is a tide line of crap in the hall which washes in daily but is never the same!! Right now it’s drifted to other rooms as I’m ill so we are down to bare essentials being done.

Was about to go to bed but thread just reminded me to do an online shop as my fridge is bare

Yes but I write them down. When they're written down they're out of my head until they need doing, loads of people think I'm really chilled out and don't give a s* because I'm not stressing about what day they start swimming and if they need a packed lunch but I'll deal with it nearer the time. Today I'm doing x, y, z. I really recommend it, I have a week to view planner and write it out every week

I relate ! Since my earlier message I have remembered our front door squeaks and it's so annoying it needs to be sorted. Wd40 job hopefully
Then the hoover broke so I need to sort that out asap too

It's madness !

Here's another example- leave to go to school to pick up ds. My key fob which is a leather thing that was my grandmothers, it's very special to me as it's the only thing I have of hers and it's probably 60 yrs old, has almost ripped. I need to get some wonderweb and a piece of fabric to repair it before it breaks permanently. Then, my brand new coat has a sticky zip, I need to locate some wd40 and spray the zip. That's probably 20 minutes of jobs added to my list and all I was doing was leaving the house.

Oh yes…I woke up at 5 this morning and thought I may as well get up to start food planning so I could get cracking on the food shop as soon as I’d dropped the children to school…but now have a poorly DD, so will have to go after kids are in bed at 8pm 👍

My least favourite thing to do is: finding a home for the never-ending stream of shit that seems to enter the house. I’m so fucking sick of putting stuff away.

Genuine question, would you describe your life as stable tho? I'm an excellent planner but life threatening illness with a family member, helping my mum to adjust to life as a widow etc has massively impacted my ability to stay on top of things. I know many people have it much, much worse.

I always think of how people can have immaculate houses. It's not the actual cleaning and tidying, but how do they have the time to do everything? Immediately? No pile of stuff for later, no backlog of anything, every single thing in the house with not only its own place but you having the time and motivation to actually do it every single time. It blows my mind.

I think this time of the year is the pits for this. The list of background jobs and commitments goes through the roof while my entire body feels drawn to a state of quasi hibernation.

Absolutely. I’ve checked game time for one child Friday, worked out logistics with dh for dropping and picking up from school and childcare and at two disco times and one basketball which overlap, downloaded registration from for dc2 basketball team, sent it to work to print tomorrow, made 2 older dc do their reading and write in reading journals, checked on sat plans, thought about Christmas food, bought present for dc1 from grandparents, updated to do list, found business card for appt I need to make, got cash for cleaner, looked for wetsuit top for dc1 for summer holiday, it’s midnight and I need to go to bed but realised I haven’t hung out the load of washing I put on. I also haven’t made my lunch or checked dc uniforms for tomorrow, or done anything I’m behind on at work. So much overwhelm

I wonder when people ever get time to do all the little unseen jobs. This week I've done things like wash some curtains, cleaned the dishwasher filter, cut the hair off the hoover roller, wiped all the finger marks off appliances, cleaned some lampshades! Things like that seem never ending. I genuinely don't know how people have time to do it all, unless they have a cleaner. When you add it onto the normal day to day chores, it really mounts up. I am never on top of it all.

I agree about prioritising your own well-being, but renewing passports every 10 years is hardly onerous

Yeah and every time you think you will get free time 10 other things come up, its constant and tiring.
I have just filled my January 2025 diary with a load of jobs etc... dog groomer x2 dogs, hospital appointment, dental appointment, garden fence replacement, birthdays x2 so need to get cards and gifts for that. Hairdressers appointment and eyebrow wax. Will need to order dogs medication at the vets and special diet food from amazon and wait in for that to arrive. Dog needs spay operation as well. This all happening first 2 weeks of January.
I like christmas and bank holidays because my time is mostly mine to relax.

This 100% plus a 3 hour commute. Agggrr!

Yes. oh man. Passport renewal, driving license renewal, insurance renewals, car shit...etc. endless endless things for school. I have not started any christmas shopping.

But a wise person told me that when your life gets crazy that is the time when you most need to prioritise time for yourself and fiercely ring fence it. I go to the gym without fail twice a week after school drop off and often I think, "gees I should really be unloading the dishwasher right now / cleaning the bathroom / doing overtime at work etc" but then I push that from my mind and just get my exercise done, and I feel so much better when I do, and I come home feeling ready to tackle life with renewed enthusiasm, having had some time out for myself first. I will always put myself near the top of my to-do list!!

But how do good planning habits reduce the sheer volume of things to do?

I'm extremely well organised. But I still have a massive list of things to do (admittedly not helped by the 30 odd medical appointments per year for each of my ND DC).

I group things together, I optimise "dead time" (e.g. waiting during the medical appointments), I have severely decluttered our house and I rarely buy new things except food and toiletries (thus cutting down on shopping time, finding places to store new things etc).

But my to do list is still long.

Not me. It is simply a question of good planning habits.

Yep I'm with you. I'm a single parent who does the daily graft, I get up, get ready, get DD ready for school, breakfast, tidy up and make beds, get school things together which are always prepared the night before, walk DD to school, walk back, work until 2.30pm, pick DD up, quick pop home, change, eat, then run her off to whatever club, carry on work until she's finished, pick up, dinner, reading/homework, tidy up, wash up, DD bath, put a wash on, get DD to sleep, hang up wash then prepare whatever for the next day. Usually 9pm by the time I'm sat down. That's on top of ferrying around to activities and parties at the weekend and deep cleaning the house at the weekend. I'm exhausted 😩! But, I know DD appreciates it. Her Dad is a Disney dad and splashes the cash on expensive activities etc, he doesn't do an eighth of the things I do and DD recognises the sacrifices I've made and how much I do. She's a really smart, astute girl and will have the wherewithal to get on well in life :) x

I do find that if I go on social media I feel even more frazzled. I need to break my MN habit.

My father, a few years after he retired, confessed he had no idea how he managed to fins time to go to work as there was so much to do.
Kept him busy for almost 25 years.

I have a really silly hack I use, it sounds pathetic, but I pretend I'm a third stew in 'Below Deck' and that I have to get everything ready for obnoxious rich guests. It genuinely helps a bit.

But that's the point! It all takes our lives over and is relentless

Yes. All that PLUS a FT job = complete overwhelm.

Kids at Uni.

I am 50 and taking a couple of years off work.

Letting all the adults in my house take on more of their own life tasks.

Started MJ so I am now the winner of who can wait the longest til someone sorts dinner!

Lidl and Aldi within 10 minutes walk from the house so I no longer do big shops because MJ has freed me from being a food slave. They can all get their own.

I remember what you describe well and honestly, I don’t know how I managed it!

Yep and also I just feel like I can't do anything quickly anymore. I swear 5 years ago I could whizz round my house with the hoover, tidy up, put washing away etc all super quick and now everything seems to have slowed right down.

And don't even get me started on Christmas,
Get decs from loft
Sort everything
Tree is potted outside- need to go to get soil
Get tree indoors
Decorate
Landing is now covered in boxes need to go back into the loft
Loft is full of boxes of stuff - mental note that in January I am going to hire skip and/or set fire to loft
Untangle a million sets of lights
Need batteries
Find box of batteries with all spent ones mixed in
Test 100 batteries
Order batteries on Asda shop and wait til next day
Find mini screwdriver set
Do battery lights
Etc etc etc

I swear a few years ago I would have created bloody santas grotto one handed while drinking mulled wine and this year it's took me four days to decorate a 4ft tree 🤦‍♀️