to never wash up, vacuum or iron ever again?

[MalibuStacy]

OK, so this will shortly be my day:

Commuting & school run: 4 hours
Work: 6 hours
Park & helping with homework: 1 hour
Cooking, preparing lunches & general tidying up: 1 hour
Running my small business: up to 3 hours.

That doesn't actually leave any time at all for anything else, does it? DH can't really help as he works more hours than I do. But I can't do it all. Money is a bit tight for us right now, but I am hoping things will improve.

I can't afford to get a cleaner in every day, so… I am thinking of employing a range of different household gadgets to take the pressure off. This is my list:

Roomba
Dishwasher
Tumble dryer (so I don't have to iron)
Slow cooker.

Is there anything else? I would love to hear from other stressed working mums about ways that they have reduced the workload also.

None of the soon to be 5 of us have wardrobes. We have trofast but only one box allowed out at time and they clean their own. DD2 does it as soon as I sing the nursery tidy up song!

Hmmm did you threaten to take the toys away if no tidying? Dd just completely ignores me when I ask her to tidy up! I love the laundrette, ironing is appalling :)

They have been in nursery since tiny babies they are instituionalised from birth. You cant get anything out in nursery unless you tidy it away after

I haven't vaccuumed or ironed anything in over a decade. I got rid of my rugs and now sweep the parquet floors with a swiffer, which is much easier and quicker. I also don't have that pain in the arse of wrestling the Henry out of the box room (I gave it to ex in the divorce).

When the washing is done I hand it out more or less straight away on clothes horses. They dry flat and don't need ironing. (My work shirts I deliberately bought in the "crinkle" style, and the t-shirts etc are smooth enough from the clothes horse. DS's school uniform is hung out to dry on hangers and also thus doesn't need ironing.)

I remember the first time I took DS to playgroup (he's now 12) he had absolutely no idea what the wooden play iron and ironing board were for!

Sadly no space for a dishwasher, but that's the one chore I don't mind all that much.

I hoovered today and it took an hour. I live in a 2 bed flat with a lounge/kitchen/diner, a square of hall and 2 small bathrooms. We have an utter bastard of a deep pile rug in the lounge area which takes at least 20 mins, a toddler who drops more food than he consumes, i am moulting long dark hair, our bedroom opens right onto the terrace and DS insists on wheeling his buggy in and out covered in wet leaves onto the cream carpet. That's not including the 45mins it took me to pick up all the crud off the floor before i even started. Altho i will concede it would take me less time if DS wasn't hell bent on 'helping' by; riding the hoover, pulling when i am pushing, turning it on and off and laying in the middle of the floor pretending to be a rug so he gets hoovered too.

And after this thread I have decided i am going to get a little hand held vacuum for all the crumbs DS leaves in his wake. I'm sure he thinks he's hansel

I don't know how you guys hang your washing but mine doesn't look fine after being hung on the drier. I took my neatly hung t-shirts off today and marvelled at how creased and shit they looked. But instead of ironing them, i fold them and pile them on top of each other and put them in the airing cupboard with some heavy towels on top then leave them for 48 hrs. They still look shit, but just less shit than before.

We do have a steam mop which is great, so much better than a mop and bucket - and easier with a toddler.

We do have a steam mop which is great, so much better than a mop and bucket - and easier with a toddler.

Erm, 'steam mop'? Do I need one of these?

You sound like you do too much in a day OP are you working to live or living to work?

Getting the work life balance right would be a far better strategy than trying to trim time off to gain leisure time.

caruthers, we are flat broke. I have no choice but to do 2 jobs, unfortunately. We have been using credit cards to get through the past few months. I need to ramp up my business and get some more money coming in.

However, I can't do everything, which is why I am looking to introduce some labour saving devices to help.

A work-life balance is a luxury for other people.

Don, t waste your money on a Roomba!

I enjoyed watching mine dance around while lying on the couch till she stopped after a few weeks and found out I had to send off for a new battery from China at a vast cost!

Much prefer dancing around with my hoover LOL, at least I can choose where I go!

Happy house cleaning!

Oh, and remember the Lama who said:

No one will be on their death bed saying I wish I had kept a cleaner house and ironed the clothes or spent more time in the office!

Get a cleaner once a week, not every day! The cost of all those additional white goods would pay for a cleanerfor a long time. Getyour husband and kids to help with regular tasks. I do find a tumble drier indispensable though, and it hasn't added to bills much at all.

Wouldn't be without my tumble dryer. I rarely iron anything as long as it is taken out of the dryer quickly. How do you manage without one?!

A steam mop looks like a slim upright hoover. You fill it with water (like a steam iron) and plug it in and wait 5 seconds then run, it over the floor. It also does soft furnishings and shallow pile carpets. It dries almost instantly because of the heat and is great for stubborn dried porridge or toddler debris.

I'm also exhausted. So:
I haven't ironed anything in years. Or folded anything either. Not necessary.
Dust and vacuum the house once a fortnight unless someone drops a packet of cereal or something.
Clean the windows every 2 years.
Eat a decent meal at lunchtime at work/school and make something easy in the evening, eg beans on toast.
You get the idea

"she stopped after a few weeks and found out I had to send off for a new battery from China at a vast cost!"

You were ripped off, then (having got a faulty one to start with). My Roomba battery has lasted 10 years with nothing more than a couple of re-conditioning cycles that you can do at home for no cost beyond the electricity and the Roomba being out of use for a few days. When it does finally conk out a new battery is about £50 and you don't have to send the machine off anywhere, just order a new battery and swap it over.

I got my tumble dryer from gumtree for £70. It has been a total blessing since having dc2. As soon as the clothes are dry, I take them out and shake then fold or hang them away. They look fine. Like someone up thread said, other people must have better folding techniques to get clothes to dry crinkle free on a clothes horse! The only things ironed now are DH's work shirts because I kept shrinking them in the dryer.

Do people hoover every day? Or week? Oh dearie me, I am a slob!

Me too, Stiffstink.

Get one of those re-chargeable carpet sweepers, I can't live without mine., I have one for up and one for down.

Agree - hang straight from the washing machine, I never iron.

Get a dishwasher

Get a slow cooker, but you might not use it much in summer. In any case, fry up loads of onions and freeze in portions, then you can just literally bung it all in and turn it on.

Get some hot water in the kitchen!!!

pleaseaffixstamps that's a genius idea re the crinkled work shirts. I'm definitely going to nick that idea!

If you iron I find the steam generator irons save time and i get ironing done very quickly. i like things to be ironed but it's an individual thing.

Roombas are only good if your floors are clean anyway. If there's clutter on the floor they won't be able to do their job in the background.

I do love these "It only takes 5 minutes to vacuum" comments. I could do it in 5 minutes if it was sloppy and didn't move furniture to vacuum under it.

That said, everything else on that list is a must. But even with a dishwasher and dryer work still piles up because you get into a routine that allows you to slack more.

Dryers only make clothes just as wrinkly if you let them sit in it hours after they're done drying.