One day's annual leave!

[Yogurtraisins]

One precious day of annual leave coming up this week. Children will be at school/nursery so I will have approx 8 hours to myself. I'm already sat here becoming overwhelmed at the possibility of everything I could do and would love to walk into it armed with a plan!
Current priorities
Getting ready for Easter holidays (we are going away for a week)
Baskets of clean laundry to put away
My car looks like a shed/bin on wheels
Clutter in every room of the house
Multiple different half started craft projects (knits/cross stitch)
Years of self neglect (haven't plucked my eyebrows since before the arrival of DD3)
Garden is weed city
Exercise (kids are my usual excuse not to exercise so with them out of the way....is it time to dust off my trainers?)

Oh wise mumsnetters please help me make the most of this one sacred day. It may be another 6 years before I get another 🤪

I would say do any of the important stuff on the evenings once's kids are in bed or at the weekend. And use your days leave to relax. Go to a spa, read a book, go for lunch or a nice long walk, binge on rubbish tv or have a bath. Just enjoy it.

Sounds like lots need doing at home so you need to get out the house to relax. For me a swim, or walk outside if sunnny, lunch and a massage, maybe a nap would be perfect. What helps you relax?

I would end up having a spring clean or organising some drawers or other items

Spend two hours doing the jobs (pick 4 and do half hour each) then spend the rest of the day doing as you please.

Do an hour of chores and then fuck off out for the rest of the day!!
boring essentials can be done in the evenings/after work, you can pack for a holiday with the kids around, washing can be put away with them there too. Car can take a maximum of 15 minutes, out there with a rubbish bag.
If I were in your situation, I think I’d do boring jobs for an hour, go to the car and bag up all the rubbish, drive it to a car wash place where they do inside and out, walk to the gym and have a spa for a couple of hours (or you could just walk), get eyebrows waxed while at the spa, have lunch out, pick up the car and go for a swim in the lake, be home for dc to come home.

Sounds like more than a day is needed to sort things at home, so spend 30 mins writing a to-do list for the remaining evenings before you go away and commit to doing those things then.

Maybe set a timer for 5 -10 minutes per room for a quick tidy - amazing how much difference just 5 mins can make.

Spend the remainder prioritising yourself. You’ve literally earned this precious day - make yourself Number 1 for once. Relax, read a book, have a walk, a nap, go to the cinema - whatever will improve your well-being the most - and don’t feel any guilt about that or about not doing chores.

I hope you enjoy your day!

I'd try and have dealt with the dry washing before your day off. First thing I'd probably do anything I needed to for getting ready to go on holiday (washing clothes people want to take etc), and tidy up one room enough that I felt like I could be in there and properly relax. Set a time limit of say 90 minutes as this could take forever. I often set alarms for every 15 mins or so so that I don't lose track of time.

Then I'd leave the house.

Can you drop the car off to be cleaned and then go e.g. to the pool while someone is cleaning it? Bit of a splurge but I don't enjoy cleaning it myself.

Pop to the shops if you need euros/insect repellent etc.

Then home and time for nails/eyebrows etc, preferably while watching your low effort tv of choice.

That's what I think I'd do, given the jobs you describe but how much it sounds like you need a break as well!

Nothing. I would absolutely do nothing. Well maybe the cinema or taking a bath, get my hair done or nails done. But otherwise nothing that benefits any other member of my family. The rest of the jobs will still be there tomorrow (and the next day and the next…) but your day off won’t be so make the most of it just for yourself.

Last time I had a day like this I said chores in the morning, relaxation in the afternoon… and within an hour and a half of getting home and mid-way through cleaning the oven the nursery called and said the youngest had been sick and I had to go and pick them up. Gutted was an understatement. I had one day off that turned into half cleaning an oven and looking after a puking child, then D&V myself for the next two days. I swore never again. The RARE days off I have for myself will be solely used for me. The family get me the other 364 days of the year.