What am I doing wrong at the weekend?

[Mybloodycat]

Just to start, I am a single mum and I work almost full time and I am too poor for cleaners/ironing ladies etc

What am I doing wrong at the weekend?

I have spent today working solidly to catch up, shopping, cleaning, washing (loads of washing despite also washing in the week), ironing (loads of ironing), batch cooking some stuff, just endless, I’ve been on the go since 8am.
Tomorrow I have a shit load more to do, and it’s all stuff I need to do just to keep us functioning.

Everyone I know is off doing things, lots of people are out at weekends with their kids then have nights out planned.
Despite cleaning through the week and washing through the week, my weekend is still full of this shit.

I don’t seem to have any time for myself at all.

I’m shattered and I know something has to give. I don’t have massively high standards, but I do need to clean, and my clothes always need ironing, no matter how I hang them. I’ve done loads of ironing today and obviously I need to shop. I know I could swap to online shopping but I often need the reduced section as I am on quite a budget, so I like to go myself.

Any tips? How do you all free up your weekends?

Sounds like your eldest needs to majorly assist with the laundry. Little and often even it means doing behalf loads - use colour catchers to bung darks and lights together.

I can usually wear my work dresses a few times, hang them up to air in between.

I agree your DC could help more but then I know what that’s like too ( hard work)

Not sure if anyone has already said or I’m teaching my grandma to suck eggs - but one thing I do with shirts is take out of the washing machine straight away and give them a really good shake , then each one goes on a hanger. I hang them somewhere like the door frame of the bathroom ( heat rises so higher up is warmer) or inside the airing cupboard if you have one - it means that when they dry they are less creased . The other thing I do is put things like socks and undies over the airer at the same time in the same room when I have the dryer on ( which I use only for towels or sheets)
Lastly as a PP said bedding wise it’s often easier to head to the laundrette use a big machine, one wash then big dryer if that’s affordable.

But it builds up across the weekend with the clothes worn on those days, and then across the week too. I can't bear the thought of a whole weeks worth of laundry just sitting there waiting to be tackled at the weekend.

Me neither. My stress levels rise when I see a laundry basket full!

My tip for laundry is to have a washing basket for each person and do each person’s separately before you start the next. With the exception of say towels/dish cloths/tea towels etc which you can do altogether.

I also try to group loads into stuff that can be tumbled first as it quickly gets a load washed and dried and out of the way.

I rarely iron. Wear clothes at least two days (obviously clean underwear and socks), usually 3/4 days for trousers and jumpers. Your kids should all have their own jobs lists, don’t get why you’re doing everything.

I'd put the 14 year old in charge of cleaning their own kit, that would relieve a bit of your burden at least.