To not understand how people have an evening.

Thanks for the advice, but unfortunately we don’t have fridge or freezer space for big shops or batch cooking

oh and we have a robot hoover! Can be set off from anywhere via an app on our phones.

Our dishwasher broke and I felt like this, after 6 arduous months we got a new one and it’s helped us get our evenings back. In addition we don’t live in a spotless house and leave some dishes on the side for the morning etc. I loathe making lunches as they seem to drag me back into the kitchen for ages so I now have a system and can make them in 10 mins if I’m not faffing about.

What is your 8 year old doing in all this? 12 year old is doing what the 8 year old is more than capable of. My kids were emptying/filling dishwasher at 5, there’s lists you can look up if age appropriate chores and usually they’re capable of more than what’s suggested.

Scrap the food shop on the way home. Get a delivery early on a Saturday morning that will do the whole week, plan the meals and batch cook/double up.

Nope
It dries in my utility which is toasty as the boiler is in there, its the warmest room in the house

Quick TD anything still damp
Summer I hang it out

Same here OP - get home from work (knackered, and usually food shop on the way home), usually DC have sports/clubs to be taken to, then homework (can be challenging to get them to do it), prepare quick dinner, get DC to bed (can be challenging), then we have anything we didnt get done between getting home from work and then: our dinner, washing up, laundry, lunches, bins, pets, cleaning, tidying, preparing for work & school for the next day etc. By then I’m too knackered to do anything except sleep, often I’m too tired to eat dinner, lucky if I brush my teeth 😫
Money would help reduce chores - cleaner, buying lunches etc - but we’re absolutely skint

Why are your clean clothes on the floor?

Where is your husband?

Washer dryer. Life changing. I can’t believe people are still titting around with wet washing in this day and age!

Sounds extremely unhealthy, stressful and exhausting. Today's way of both parents working all hours is horrendous.

Couldn’t read this and all the replies without jumping in to say I feeeeeel this!

currently it’s 8pm. My youngest is nearly in bed. I picked kids at 6.30 after getting an early train home from work, got home and came straight up to do bed. Usual battles due to asd/adhd, it’s 8pm and I still have one child to do. Hopefully out of her room at 9, downstairs, clear up chaos from the day while cooking, do dishwasher/washing as needed while cooking, eat hopefully by 9.30 and then collapse at 10. Can’t go to bed any later as I have to get up at 5.30 to do lunches etc and make up for the hours I inevitably miss because I have to do the school run and am late to the office…..😳 it is relentless. And I think my husband and I will never have a non exhausted and irritable conversation again 😂

How does it dry overnight on an airer in the winter? If I put wet washing on an airer in the Summer indoors, it still wouldn’t be dry by the morning? Ive got 3 bathrooms with several towels in each, 3 sets of bedding (us sbd the kids) you cant air that overnight 😂 You must use your tumble dryer alot.

My little one is younger, hes only 3. He goes to bed at 7.30 and then once hes asleep we have the evening to ourselves pretty much. We have our dinner, I cook while my partner settles him to sleep and then we eat and watch tv etc. All chores I do during the early evening while son is still awake. Then all we have to do is pop our plates in the dishwasher after we've eaten.

Or we could all accept that everyone has a different evening and everyone has a different idea of what needs doing daily.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have posted the original question as everyones family/house is different. Our kids are not particularly into clubs but I have friends with kids doing clubs who are out till late in the evening, juggling meals in between clubs. I wouldn’t want that but friends with kids who are passionate about a particular sport do it. Some families have both parents home by 5, some are WFH and can get things done in a lunch break and some are juggling with one parent till late in the evening.

I’d say I like the house/clothes etc very clean but thats me and i’d rather lose a tv programme than lower my own personal standards (I do relax properly at the weekend and always get plenty of outdoor time). I wouldn’t judge others though on how they run their house though.

OP - if you feel you are doing what you want to do everyday and you are happy, then dont worry. If its making you unhappy not having evenings to sit down, then there are plenty of tips in this post. I suppose it all depends on what you feel you want to do for your children every day/what you would want to drop doing?

Yup. You ask the household to put their dirty stuff in the wash and they scoop up whatever’s on the floor (often the clean clothes waiting to be put away) into the washing basket.

I agree.

People make such a rod for their own backs and it seems to make parenting utterly horrific.

It’s an unpopular opinion, but it starts with no routine for babies, co-sleeping, baby led weaning, pandering to every fussy eating whim, rocking to sleep, over-stimulated toddlers who expect constant attention and entertainment.

Then it turns into excessive after-school clubs and activities, hovering around homework, unnecessary washing and cleaning, not saying no, letting kids rule the house, cooking different meals, not calling out poor behaviour, not setting chores.

My kids thrived on a bit of neglect and I actually enjoyed raising them. Now it just sounds so miserable.

Also I think you misunderstood my post. I said I wouldn’t wear a top 2 days in a row. I don’t give a shit what you do!

Wow, never heard of it, thanks! 🙄

Nope still not doing it!

My point was that the daily washers end up doing more because they are looking for stuff to wash.
Mine is done on a Friday pm, on the airers in the utility out of sight finished and away by the time everyone stirs Saturday am
No huge baskets or laundry everywhere.
I love that time actually ,quietly folding with a coffee , Bliss 😊

I use deodorant. It’s excellent and preventing sweating and body odour. Why not give it a try?

I don’t think so, if you read it carefully she did 90 mins when she got home inc w break, she did nothing between 6 snd 7.15 when she had dinner, her husband then did the clearing up between 8 snd 9.30,

I think they don’t just get things done, they take breaks, then because they finish at 9.30 they say whol evening gone, but count breaks and eating dinner as part of the chores,

they do a normal amount they just spread it out, take ages, take breaks, instead of just rolling their sleeves up, and getting it done together,

You’re doing too much. Your house must be a show home! Are cooking a 4 course meal from scratch every night and dusting the skirting boards?

DC make their own packed lunches (have done since Y3).
I put washing on before work, DH folds the dry stuff and hangs up the wet stuff to dry when he gets in
I meal plan at weekends and try and get a couple of meals ready.
We rely a lot on fresh pasta, jacket spuds and casseroles (prep in the evening or first thing, put in the oven on a timer before we go to work)
DH does the cleaning on Saturday mornings when I’m out with the kids. We’ll do wipe rounds etc during the week. Ok so cleaning could be better.