What & How

[Sosogoodagain]

Hi All,

Kids back to school next week and I'm in serious need of some tips to help life sail a little more smoothly. Its been a trying summer for me and id really like to clear my head of the spaghetti that has been clogging it up for best part of a decade! I seriously don't know where to start. So i need the what and the how, if you like!

I want to

1. Schedule in constructive exercise time for me. I've two evenings in the week when the kids are at their dads. I have 6 stone to lose.
2. Schedule in meal planning
3. Schedule in little jobs around the house/garden This overwhelms me

I'm 42, single parent of 3 working full time. My confidence is still pretty low since the separation but it has grown, and i think addressing the points above will help. I could be wrong though and would be grateful for any suggestions.

Can anyone advise? I'm super stuck

In your free evenings

1 hour exercise

1 hour meal planning until you've got it organised and don't need to spend so much time on it.

List the house and garden jobs, do one per evening until all the list is ticked off.

I too have dreams of being super organised and my children are all adults now and have partially left home!!

My suggestions would be (and depending on ages of children!)

1. Schedule in organised classes for the two week nights you are child free but also add an hour (first thing in the morning worked best for me) to get up early and go for a brisk walk for half an hour. Also evening if you can persuade kids out as well but make it a brisk walk for you

1. Meal prepping and planning first thing on a Saturday (everything seems so positive on a Saturday morning to me!!) so you can shop either Sat afternoon or Sunday then cook and freeze (if you decide to)on Sunday afternoon

1. just do one job per day for example. Monday evening spend half an hour hoovering, Tuesday evening, half an hour cleaning bathroom, Weds evening, half an hour tidying etc etc. disclaimer I tried this and it didn't work but it seems logical

1. Either find a local group on one of those evenings or get an exercise DVD/youtube workout and give that a go. Or simply go outside and run - Try the walk/jog method, couch to 5k etc.

If you get a workout routine (online, youtube) you could be doing it whilst watching a program.
Sit ups, press ups, starjumps, high knees, burpees, weights, leg raises, squats, lunges. Do a set of 10 reps, pause 10-30 seconds, second rep, pause, next exercise. To build up, do 15 reps, then repeat 3 times.

2. Meal planning - cook double what you need for a normal evening meal and freeze into individual portions. There's some good ideas on the meal planning board about using the same ingredient (ie pasta) 2 days in a row in 2 different dishes.

3. Depending on the job, advert Olympics? So whatever program you are watching, don't sit through the adverts, get up and do a job (washing up, hovering, tidying, clothes away etc)

If they are bigger jobs then when you have a spare hour or so ( on your other free evening? ) set a timer, put them in a hat and get through as many as you can. Once the timer is up, finish the job you are currently doing then relax.

Putting them in a hat works, as with a list you tend to look down and decide not to do the harder ones!
Pulling them randomly out of a hat means you have to do the ones you really don't want to do (cough mow the lawn cough)

These are brilliant! I'm distracted and upset today because finances are in tatters, ex is becoming a total wanker and my job isn't secure.

It's a hellish place to be. I figured I'd be best to focus on what I can control, and that's me.

I didn't realise there was a meal planning board. That's what I get for hanging round relationships and AIBU !!

for your ideas, and for taking the time to reply

It’s the food/recipes board, but also if you search for ‘meal planning’ then lots of threads come up.
Most of these tips I got from the ‘life hacks’ threads!

I do my own weights workout whilst watching tv, constant arm weights until an advert break, then rest for the adverts (or vice versa depending on fitness)

Thanks nesssie

Arm exercises are high on my list. Bingo wings are a curse

1. find a 20 minute workout (there are loads, but people often start with the shred). Or google Tabata and download a timer.