what are your tips for balancing work and home life?

Thank you all for the posts. So useful. Those who have cleaners, do they come on more than one day, or do a general clean one day a week? Also, when I attend classes regarding children etc, they dont do proof of attendance. Any ideas what I could do.

My tip, which I took from another mumsnet post was to clean whilst the kids are there and get them involved. So come 5.30 I get the kids to help me tidy, so when they leave I have a lot less to worry about. That has reformed my life. Then I can spend some time with my little boy when we're alone rather than run around like a headless chicken and not spend quality time with him.

I worked my "day off" into my week when the oportunity came up, I had a child leaving and asked the parent of the one child remaining that day if they minded switching their day. I gave them loads of time to change and then made it part of my working practice "as of x date my working hours are 8-6 Mon-Thursday. Friday is admin/emergency cover day" Nobody minded tbh.

I dont do weekly plans ,i use my own diary and childrens contact books for short term planning and individual plannig rather than seperate sheets. I also spent a large chunk of time about 2 years ago going through ALL my policies and procedure and planning tools and threw out anything that was not essential or used frequently. I had saved alot of "useful" stuff from forums that I kept meaning to use and got rid of everything i didnt need.

I then set up my own system, using what i liked and making what i needed if not already available - I ended up with 1 huge file with all my general paperwork and 1 file for each child plus a "professional development" file containing all my certificates, my SEF and anythig else that showed i was keeping on top of good practice, for example proof of attendance at a conferance. Everything in the general file has a "date last reviewed" on it and every year at the same time i go through and check everythig is still valid and update where required - obviously things like risk assessments need to be done more often.

Childrens files are checked and updated at least once a month using notes in my diary and their contact book, along with photos i have taken. I have a checklist to tick off to make sure all areas of EYFS are covered.

I have a newsletter every season for parents anda whiteboard in my porch with notices and weekly plans (this comes down at weekends)

It took time to set up the system but now its done it needs only regular maintenance, one or two hours a week.

Great idea for a thread Mum2bless.

I've only been a CM for a couple of months and it will be September when I am full 4 days a week.

Already I can see that I am going to have to lower my standards around the house. It is impossible to keep on top of things the way I could as a SAHM. I'mn shocked how tired I feel in the evenings. It's very intense being responsible for other people's children and I used to be a teacher so it shouldn't be such a shock!

I think a cleaner may come in useful at some point but also my DH is going to have to step up a gear too , maybe iron his own shirts!

I'm trying to get my own DC to help with tidying at the end of the day, in intense bursts where we all rush around for 10 mins rather than tidying up taking the hour before bath time.

I am trying to do bits of paperwork throughout the day and tidy it all away on a Friday so I can have a weekend without thinking about it, though this won't always be possible.

I plan to keep one day a week free so I can spend time with DS (aged 2) on his own while my other two are at school and no mindees for him to share me with. I've already agreed to a before and after school mindee on that day so from now on, for me the big thing will be learning to say no if I can't take on a child!

I agree with everything the above posters have said. MUM2BLESS I had exactly the same thoughts when I started cm 3 years ago, very very high standards of everything, and, sadly for me it just didnt work. I initially worked 4 days, but then in our area you cannot so much pick and choose which work you have, so now work all 5 days. I also have scaled back my paperwork, I also have a cleaner, but still not enough time for my family. Sorry that doesnt help much really, and only time will tell if you can keep it all up, I hope you can, but if not, prioritise and compromise. I do nowhere near as much planning and paperwork and my kids and my parents still love me anyway, even though I am sure ofsted will think I could do better

Hi Mum2bless. I scaled back my direct working to 4 days a week some time ago. working 5 days was too intense and gave me no time to get paperwork done or family stuff like dentisit or GP appointments. Sods law states that things crop up on my "admin day" but it does give me some breathing space and enables me to keep things at least up to date enough i am not constantly panicking and losing sleep over stuff.

I have also in the last year, scaled back the amount of paperwork i do which ,when I had my OFSTED inspection in October, the inspector complemented me on, saying to many childminders hears about all the things everone else is doing and do too much, rather than look at the needs of their setting and what is realistic.

I also made the decision to get a cleaner in as even with my "admin day" our weekends were being eaten up on chores and the family would be grumpy and arguing. My DH likes to find fault with the cleaner and makes "jokes" about me having her but i quickly told him wher to go as it is the money I earn that pays for her

I use the PC for lots of things including mumsnet but it does suck the hours away if i am not disciplined so i do need to set limits.

And on that note i have laundry to put away

hth

oh ouch. I was just kidding. Chill, nannyl.

Seriously, mum2bless, you sound pretty organised. I find my coping strategies often involve accepting defeat and lowering the standards. Like, DD keeps losing... well... everything. I'm just accepting it, painful as that is. But, if she is anything like her mother she will continue to lose everything for the rest of her life. So who am I to talk?

i hope you get more constructive comments soo mum2bless

how about a cleaner?
online supermarket delivering food?
a place to keep everything and try and keep everything in its place?

My top tip is to stay off of MN.