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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how full time workers how they hell they can stop spending all their weekends doing bloody housework?

289 replies

therewillbetime · 30/09/2018 18:40

Boring but serious question- work all week, leaving house at 7.30 and getting home 6.30 ish. DP, who also works all day gets home slightly earlier and always cooks, feeds cats etc. He does his own ironing.

I do little housework during the week apart from those everyday things you have to do or course as a) I’m knackered and b) I frequently have work related paperwork to do or study (I’m studying for an MA part time as well). I also go to the gym most nights so I admit that I cram a bit in.

This weekend I thought I was pretty much on top of things at home. Dp and I did all the food shopping yesterday but still I realise that this weekend I’ve done tons of washing (I have a teenage son), ironing, tidying, hoovering, dusting and cooking. I’ve been to the gym but combined this with my college work (reading on the treadmill) and we did relax and watch a movie last night. Dp did a load of stuff in the garden.

I am just really interested in how full time workers manage it all with the result of saying they had a weekend, or most of a weekend to do stuff not related to the home. Or maybe, everyone lives like this and I’m a whinging git!

OP posts:
Bamaluz · 30/09/2018 18:43

People get cleaners if they can afford it.

HelloSnow · 30/09/2018 18:43

Get your teenage son to do his share?

MeanTangerine · 30/09/2018 18:43

Lower standards
Having a cleaner

MrsMozart · 30/09/2018 18:44

Either alternate various things, so only a quarter of the weekend gets used up on chores.

Have food shopping delivered.

Get a cleaner of you can afford. Ditto gardener.

BrownCurls97 · 30/09/2018 18:45

I tend to get up hour/half hour early before work and do abit then.

DuchessofManchester · 30/09/2018 18:45

I have Saturday as chore day then nice day out on Sunday so I feel I've had a break.

MrsStrowman · 30/09/2018 18:45

I used to do bits in the evening so there wasn't a huge amount to do at weekends other than gardening etc. I know this is a horrible MN cliché but we got a cleaner, and my life is my own again. Still have to do the odd deep clean and the gardening/laundry between us but she's given me my free time back

Coldhandscoldheart · 30/09/2018 18:46

Well, it has to be done, so the answer, if you’re not employing someone else to do it, is to do it during the week.
I find this is easiest with washing, if you get it sorted as it goes in - so lots of laundry bags, or piles, you can just pick up a pile & chuck it in.

Nightmanagerfan · 30/09/2018 18:47

Have a cleaner. Outsource as much as you can. Buy clothes that don’t need ironing. Batch cook. Takeaway on Fridays. (Caveat - as long as there is spare cash.)

Iruka · 30/09/2018 18:47

I have a little whiteboard with a checklist of weekly housework jobs. As long as I tick them off at least once during the week then it all gets done. I like it because I can look at it while cooking dinner or similar and then just do one job off the list while something is simmering or similar. Then on my day off there usually isn’t much left.
**also, lower standards 😂

RiverTam · 30/09/2018 18:47

Cleaner
Online shopping
Lower standards

Thebluedog · 30/09/2018 18:47

Cleaner, £20 a week, means that once a week the house gets hoovered, dusted, floors mopped, kitchen and bathroom cleaned, then I can do stuff as hoc if I need to

DelurkingAJ · 30/09/2018 18:48

Laundry put on in the morning on a timer and hang out or shove in drier when I get home. Yes, we have a cleaner. DH does his share. DSs will once they’re bigger (5 and 2).

HalloumiGus · 30/09/2018 18:48

Check out The Organised Mum blog and / or get a cleaner if you can afford it. I'm in the same boat - working, studying, parenting. Shit's about to get real between now and Christmas! I will be massively lowering standards and having lots more beans on toast type dinners.

ButDoYouAvocado · 30/09/2018 18:49

My kids have jobs, rewarded with pocket money. Theres some stuff i like to do myself but hoovering and dusting etc is their job

Bluewidow · 30/09/2018 18:49

Do it in the week as you go along. So that oh I will leave the hoovering until tomorrow - do it there and then. If you notice a mark on the wall that needs to be cleaned do it there and then. If there's a laundrette nearby use it. Get all clothes washed and dry in one day and don't have to do it again all week. Yes it costs but if there's a lot of washing then it's worth it.

ScarlettJo · 30/09/2018 18:50

I cannot wait til I can afford a cleaner! Hopefully in the new year. 🙏🏼 I'm a single parent, work full time. I also sometimes end up working on my laptop at night in the week.
Yes I have lower standards. I do try and keep Sunday free and only usually do ironing. I was thinking of getting a cleaner to come do a deep clean every so often and then just try and maintain.
ALL my friends have cleaners. I hate them 😞

sheard · 30/09/2018 18:50

I work full time and apart from cook laundry empty bins and pots it all gets done on a weekend I do food shop one evening per week and cook in slow cooker for Monday's tea or get up early to try and cook a few proper meals in the week !.hubby helps Hoover but I alternate doing bedrooms one weekend and bathroom deep clean the other you have to drop standards else you kill yourself!!!I let husband Hoover through downstairs and I cut grass front one week back the next I have teenager also that does nothing and I don't have a tumble dryer so keeping on top of laundry a must soon learnt cleanings not everything and just do the best I can!!!

theunsure · 30/09/2018 18:50

I’m out of the house 13-14hrs a day, we have a weekly cleaner, dishwasher, tumble dryer, don’t iron and food shop online.

blueskiesandforests · 30/09/2018 18:51

Kids do a bit, we have a cleaner, I have fairly low standards...

The boys tidied up and unpacked the dishwasher this morning and dd hoovered before we got up (DD amusingly shushed her brothers while hoovering Grin ) but that was as a suprise Grin ... Erm...we don't have a quiet hoover... They aren't usually quite that good!

ScarlettJo · 30/09/2018 18:51

I also time my washing machine so that laundry isn't crazy on a weekend. But there is just two of us.

AllPizzasGreatAndSmall · 30/09/2018 18:51

If you're hardly at home presumably you can't make much of a mess?

Get the food shop delivered, tidy/clean as you go during the week, only iron things that really need it and don't cook complicated meals if that stops you from doing more enjoyable things.

Littlechocola · 30/09/2018 18:52

Another vote for the organised mum method. I work 13 hour shifts and although my home isn’t perfect, this really helps.

Orchiddingme · 30/09/2018 18:53

Cleaner, just gone back to online shopping.

Do dishwasher/load of washing daily in the week.

Try to cook simple meals.

The weekend can feel a bit like a washing, cleaning, cooking extravaganza though, especially if you are trying to fit in other stuff like enjoying yourself or going out.

I watch TV shows whilst doing chores too to try to distract myself from how boring it is. Get children to do dishwasher...

Bluelady · 30/09/2018 18:54

If you can afford it get a cleaner. I absolutely loved it when I had one.