To ask how do you work full time with kids and NOT get knackered by midweek!

[OhThisLife]

I've just started working ft. Thank fuck it's only temporary. I'm in my 7th week and I can feel myself getting more and more tired earlier in the week.

I do have 3 kids- including a one year old who's still waking in the night but damn it - there's loads of mothers in the same position- how do you do it!

I can barely do anything in the evenings bar the odd bits of laundry etc.

I'm definitely getting a cleaner in as soon as I can!! (We just moved house). I reckon that's a "luxury" you deserve if you're a full time/nearly full time single parent!

It’s tiring but if you are fit and eat well, not overweight that helps a lot.

Thanks for this thread. I've worked full time with 1 hour commute each way since my DD was 7 months and I actually find it more tiring now she's a toddler then when she was younger and not sleeping through. We have a weekly cleaner and eat dinner at 9pm most evenings. I feel like there must be some sort of routine or life hack I'm missing out on to get everything to run more smoothly.

@Moomin12345 it's good to see you're living such a fulfilled and well rested life that you come onto a thread for full time working mothers late into the evening to disagree with their life choices...someone who is secure and happy in their own life choices does not do that. But you crack on, whatever fills your void.

I am a single mother working in an ok job with a long commute, but sometimes with long / extra long hours.
A live-in nanny and a full-service cleaner make my life bearable (although financially I am in the red). I don't know how to manage otherwise.

I have a 2 yo and we both work full time with a 1.5 hr commute each way.
We're out the house by 7:30am, back at 6:30pm, play with toddler for an hour, bath, book, bed by 7:30/7:45pm. DH and I scoff a quick tea and bed by 9:30pm. We don't do ANYTHING during the week. All shopping, cleaning and tidying is saved for the weekends. Do everything first thing on sat morning so done and ready for the weekend by 9am. The only thing left is folding the washing and put away on Sunday night.
DH and I are permanently knackered but Saturday morning he gets a big lie in, Sunday I do not that my body lets me sleep

I’m horrified by the length of commute that so many of you are enduring. Are you all down south, and forced out of your work area by house prices? It must be gruelling, and you have my sympathy (and admiration).
I was a widowed single parent, working as a hospital doctor, from when my two DC were babies. They’re now grown up, but I well remember the exhaustion of those years. I was 250 miles from my nearest relatives, who also worked full time so were unavailable to help me out. Life was a treadmill of work and chores, not helped by the stress of DD1’s autism, her severe depression and her two attempted suicides by hanging.
But at least I only had a 25 minute commute, so could get stuck in to cooking dinner relatively early, and always had time for bedtime stories with the DC after their bath.
I did most of my gardening, shopping, housework and DIY at weekends, (there was no online shopping in those days!) and also took the DC out on trips then, so I never actually had any respite.
I did get one childfree weekend in 18 years, when my ILs came up and minded them for me to get away for a city break.
All I can say is don’t sweat the small stuff. As long as your kitchen hygiene is ok, it doesn’t matter if you have dusty bookshelves or your clothes aren’t ironed. Try to carve out a sliver of time for yourself - a hobby, a sport, or even just a guaranteed spare hour to curl up with a book.
And hang on in there- the kids will grow up eventually, and you will get your life back! I’m currently enjoying retirement, the kids have moved to the city for work, and the house is very quiet without them. I rather miss those hectic years of parenthood- but not the exhaustion!

Babdoc I moved out of a 2 bed flat in London to buy a 3 bed house in the Midlands, which means it now takes me about 2 hours each way to commute (including a walk to the station). I don't mind too much because I'm able to work from home for half of the week and it was worth it so I could have a nice house with a garden plus I needed to be near family for support and help with childcare. I think a lot of people do long commutes, most people in my office of the generation in their 40s/50s, very few of them live in London, they mostly commute an hour or more on the train each day. I think it's pretty normal. Flexible working policies are becoming more usual which I think is good!

Jesus i work 2.5 night shifts a shift, each 12.5 hours with no sleep before or after and im exhausted. Im assuming from this id be nackered doing days so thats a bit of a relief lol.

My commute is 1.5 hours each way. I work in Newcastle city centre but live in a town in Northumberland. A combination of childcare drop off, traffic and ridiculous roads lengthens what should be a 35-40 min drive.

5 DCs, ft demanding job, and like you I am knackered by midweek. I stay afloat by ensuring that my precious downtime is not taken up by visitors etc, and letting the housework slide. This year I am staying home to spring clean while the family go on holiday.

Its taken nearly 11 years for me to back to full time hours. Be kind to yourself