Working Full time please give me your tips?

[FortyFacedFuckers]

After being a stay at home mum and then working part time I am now going to be working full time. I know lots of people do it but i’m feeling over whelmed please give me your best advice/tips on how to be organised & get housework etc done, tips for quick healthy meals also massively appreciated!

Once you get into the swing of things it will be fine. I do a deep clean every Friday night or Saturday morning. Sometimes cook the night before such as shepherds pie. Or stir fry or fishfinger sandwiches It’s a juggling act but when you’re at work you can’t do house things. When you’re at home don’t think about work.

Thank you i’m sure I will quickly get into a routine.

Clothes laid out the night before including yours....

Do you have a dp?
Be clear from the beginning what expectations are regarding how the workload will be split.
Be quite firm if it takes a while to "adjust" to a different division of labour, when you are probably both very used to you doing the majority of housework and admin. Stand your ground, it would not be fair for you to work full time and still do most of the work at home

Make life easier with batch cooking, or by buying "shortcut" ingredients etc.

Little things to streamline your mornings, like try to build a work wardrobe where it is easy and quick to grab an outfit in the morning... Eg If there's a top which goes really well with a particular skirt/trousers, hang them together in the wardrobe.

Never let your car get below 1/4 of a tank of petrol....fill up well before you need to (saves last minute trips to the petrol station on the way to work etc.)

Get shopping delivered, meal plan and cook double the quantity of things like lasagna, stews, Shepard's pies, curry etc. and freeze the rest for another meal.

Keep a bit of cash in the house.

Buy a selection of greeting cards, also a few spare gifts, wrapping paper, cello tape and stamps. Nothing wastes time and money than rushing out to buy friends gifts last minute.

Keep a diary and make to do lists.

One big house clean a week (mine is usually Sunday morning) bedding change, towel change, Hoover, sweep, wipe down surfaces and clean bathrooms. Then during the week keep house tidy, stay on top of laundry & dishes.

Lay clothes out the night before (also ensure shoes are by the door, coat ready and handbag & keys ready) pack lunch the night before.

I come in and immediately sort my outfit for the next day so I don’t end up running around at 10pm. My work outfits are simple and easy to coordinate. I lay everything out in kitchen for breakfast, even measure out my porridge - every second counts! I do laundry daily, keep kitchen and loos clean and every day add in an extra chore; shower clean, floor mop, sheets change as I don’t want to spend my weekends cleaning. Everyone pulls their weight and don’t socialise with judgy people!

Thank you, that’s very useful & a lot of things I haven’t thought of!

My work wardrobe has a lot of dresses as it’s only one item to consider.

Online shopping can be done during your morning commute/ lunch break.

I also agree with the poster above who said about the stash of cards/presents as this is so helpful.

When we’re pushed for time an evening meal consists of omelettes and potato waffles which can be popped in the toaster.

I either over cook (volume wise) or do a bit of batch cooking on a weekend and freeze child and adult size portions. The microwave is your friend 😂

And get a cleaner, at least I know that once a week the house gets a good clean

I pay for hot school lunches, so in the evening there is no need for a full on hot meal for the children. They can make sandwiches, salads, toasties etc if they're old enough.

I get up early enough to be able to leave the house as I would like to find it when I get home. This may not be practical for everyone but for me it was essential for keeping on top of daily bits and bobs. Also on a Sunday evening dh and I chat through the week ahead and organise who is doing what eg pick ups, sports etc. Also encourage dc to be as independent as possible.

Thank you all I guess the hardest part is going to be getting DP & DS to help out when I have previously done everything and been available to run when they have forgotten something.

Hire a cleaner! Best thing I ever did. I'm clearly not as organised as the other posters I don't lay clothes out, batch cook or do sod all the night before. But we muddle through!

Get an ironing service!

In line with meal prep and batch cook, the slow cooker is your saviour. Prep a few different meals in to freezer bags and keep in the freezer ready. Just pop them in the slow cooker in the morning when you leave for work and it's perfect for when you get home. Use pre prep frozen veg along with meat and marinade/sauce etc. So easy and delicious, stops over relying on fish fingers and chips!

My DP is brilliant but it took him a while to get used to how the balance changed when I went full time
All great now but just be aware especially if you’ve been part time for a while
Don’t try and squeeze too much into weekends
I did this for a while and utterly exhausted myself
If you can batch cook and freeze meals that is a godsend
And try and get everyone in the family on board with pulling their weight

Already been said but meal planning batch cooking, cleaner and workwardrobe where most things match each other school bags and work bags packed might before

Thank you all! I have never batch cooked or frozen meals before, are there any particular meals that you can do this best with?

How old is DC? When I moved from part time to full time I sat both my DC down and said that I needed them to help out. So they were now expected to pack their ownbags for school (list up on fridge which we used to check before going but they soon coulddo it without), get their own breakfast and put dirty dishes in dishwasher (to be fair they were mostly doing that already) and also they needed to let me know the night before if they didn't have any clean uniform and/or they needed to bring in an eggnog for school etc . Basically last minute morning dramas were not allowed! Obviously you cant do this with preschoolers (mine were 6and 7). We already had routines like,before bed, the dc put away toys, while DH and I cleaned the kitchen and hovered if needed. Now DC are older we've acknowledged that we all hate housework so we have a hour on a Sunday morning when we all pitch in and blitz the house.

Mines are teens so shouldn’t be hard but unfortunately I have always done everything for them all (including DP) so it will be a big shock to us all!

Huge serious talk and constant repeat discussions with DP to re-establish his new responsibilities and my new boundaries. Clear division of tasks. You’ll need to do it with your teens too.

Batchcooking, Cook meals etc so I don’t cook all the time. DP can cook as often as he’s used to but you will want to do less.

Ocado 1-2 times a week, get a smart pass.

Cleaner.

Generally I refuse to get up earlier than everyone or do more housework in the evening to ‘fill the gaps’ caused by me going back to work. Don’t fall into the trap.

Definitely advocate a serious talk with the teens and partner. Repeat as necessary. They will all need to help you.

I have a FT board level job, 2 teens and a DH who works away. Things that help me are:

Cleaner - she also changes bedding

At least a load of washing every day and use the dryer if you need to. Yes it's better for the environment to dry clothes on the washing line but it's not always best for my sanity.

Sunday night meeting so everyone knows what they need to do, where they need to be and what admin / jobs need to be done. It's known as the "Sunday night summit " in our house.

Talk about "house jobs" rather than them "helping you" so "someone in this house needs to empty the dishwasher " not "please can you empty the dishwasher for me?". Subtle but important.

Food wise I batch cook something at the weekend and save one portion for later in the week or I cook a double sized roast dinner and just microwave reheat it on Monday nights.

On Sunday evening I make everyone help me prep at least three more meals. I've invested some decent food storage to make this work. Usually these are:

Veg for roasting (peppers, red onion, butternut squash, courgette) to be served with meatballs, hummus and flatbreads or some sort of fish or meat or halloumi

Veg for a stir fry

Veg to go with either a small joint, a pie or roasted chicken

The batch cooked meal makes a 4th meal and the fifth is always skinny pizzas (tortilla base pizza)

This means weekday meals are easy and virtually effortless.

The teens and DH cook on Saturday and I do a roast on Sunday.

It's a bit predictable but it gets us through the week.

We have a big family diary on a table in the hall (our experience was that a calendar in the kitchen was just ignored). If it isn't in here it's not happening.

Family WhatsApp group. Useful for involving the rest of the family in picking things up that are running low.

Keep a stock of neutral cards and gift cards for gifts.

Thank you all! Looks like being tough on dc & dp & batch cooking are definitely the way forward!

Oh god yes - a stack of presents/cards/stamps, and a big cheap diary that lives in the kitchen