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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find that the lockdown means more housework and cooking?

49 replies

Notcontent · 30/03/2020 23:22

I probably wouldn’t mind so much if I wasn’t working but I am working from home and seem to have very little of the “relaxation” part of the lockdown... I am a working lone parent and normally have a cleaner and a lot of our meals are eaten at school/work and maybe a meal out at the weekend. Now the house is being very much used as we are at home (so constant mess) and there are so many meals to prepare...

OP posts:

Missanneshirley · 31/03/2020 00:32

Absolutely the same! Relentless work / kids/cooking/cleaning. Knackered! Have been working tonight cos can't get a minute's peace in the day. However i am well aware it's a small price to pay as we are all currently fit and healthly. My only sadness is for my kids who don't seem to be getting that whole board game/den building lovely experience that Facebook would have me believe everyone else is having

FrenchBoule · 31/03/2020 00:49

Yes as no school lunches.
Supermarket restrictions are good to stop hoarders but discriminatory to those with families.
I ditched housekeeping except essentials, house is messy but not dirty(except kitchen floor as kids in and out in the garden all the time).

Blankscreen · 31/03/2020 00:55

Out house is a bit of a messbut do you know what I'm actually quite liking it.

No chance of anyone popping in and no stress of keeping it just so.

The bloody food prep is annoying me. We normally get 1 take away a week and eat out both days at the weekend and now all we are doing is bloody making food and clearing it up.

We are however saving a bloody fortune.!

ohtheholidays · 31/03/2020 01:32

It does mean more cooking and cleaning but I'm actually quite enjoying it(in all fairness I could have lost the plot for all I know )

I've started redesining our back garden and once that's done I'm changing the front garden and we're going to decorate our DC's bedrooms as well.

Our holiday was cancelled because of the virus so all of the spending money we would have used on holiday we're plowing into the house and gardens.

I'm going to do some home baking with our DC so we have some homemade puddings for after the next few days dinners.

Canuckduck · 31/03/2020 02:45

It’s relentless, boring as hell and expensive. I feel like it’s just a conveyor belt of meal - snack - nagging to do schoolwork which I have no idea has any value- meal- clean up- snack - clean up- meal - bed. Both parents trying to work all day. Week 3 here and I am so, so sick of it.

dinodiva · 31/03/2020 06:14

Yep. More cleaning, more cooking, more feeling like not doing any of it well enough. I have a full time job, DD4 and DS nearly 2. The juggling and mental load is much bigger than usual.
I will come out of this a better and more mindful person....I will....

user1493413286 · 31/03/2020 06:22

Yep, if we don’t fancy cooking we can’t just pop out to grab something easy and are trying to make sure we make use of the food we have in the best way.
I saw someone saying their home had never been tidier but I’m finding with young DC it’s worse than ever as everything is coming out

Natsku · 31/03/2020 06:26

Yup. I'm used to DD having a hot lunch at school and toddler DS always eats leftovers for his lunch and I'd usually just have toast for myself but now I have to make a proper lunch each day.
OH also decided to go vegetarian for some reason but at least he decided he would cook his own meals (by which I mean heat up vegetarian ready meals in the microwave)

On the other hand, I'm doing less laundry as we've stopped changing our clothes every day as we're not going out so less laundry piling up.

Hooleywhipper · 31/03/2020 06:33

Couldn’t have written it better myself OP, constant juggling act. WFH, cleaning and catering, along with the refereeing. I envisaged having an hour in the afternoons to do yoga or learn crocheting. Still my aim!

sneeuw · 31/03/2020 06:36

I make packed lunches the night before and have a "picnic" on a blanket in the kitchen or sitting room if I can be bothered a few extra steps. Minimal washing up and no need to clear all the schoolwork off the table.

There are suddenly dust bunnies everywhere though, a day or two after hoovering.

yearinyearout · 31/03/2020 06:47

Agreed, I've got an extra person here as well so feels like I'm running a bloody hotel!

AutumnLeavesSeptember · 31/03/2020 06:51

Nighmarish here too. With DCs so young we have to work early and late to get our hours done. Feel like I've aged 10 years in the last fortnight and the kids are likely to be our of school until September .

Amtopm · 31/03/2020 06:55

Yup the one that's at school is getting stuff out all day. The toddlers being a toddler. All they want to do is eat, eat, eat. They are bored though. Its raining today. I think I'll take them for a walk! I've not been yet.

TheLongDarkBreakfastTime · 31/03/2020 07:02

Yes. I’m planning, shopping for, preparing and serving up about 30 extra meals a week. Without a reliable food delivery or takeaways, and with some help on the clearing up but none on the mental load. Cleaning is shared out between us as no cleaner, but it’s another couple of hours a week. Trying to work from home when lots of colleagues are off sick and need cover, and others need my time and support in these very difficult circumstances.

Constant tech support / oversight for DC so they can do schoolwork and online activities safely (I oversee any time on a device with internet access - I know others don’t but I think it’s risky otherwise). I don’t get my tablet to deal with all the emails pouring in from family and friends or to do the endless shopping for food and stuff to support schoolwork until the kids are in bed, as youngest doesn’t have her own device and she really needs one.

It’s both boring and wearing, and I’m so behind on a lot of things - like buying birthday presents for youngest dd, who is so upset about no party and not seeing her friends, and I feel so guilty that I’m not doing my usual volunteer work (which has gone online).

testing987654321 · 31/03/2020 07:10

It's one of the problems with food snd other supplies in shops. All the catering suppliers must have excess stock as cafes/canteens etc aren't in use. Most people are having to buy more than normal.

speakout · 31/03/2020 07:12

Same here OP.

I am a carer to two family members, another is now home from Uni, OH is still out at work.
I run a small business from home, and orders have skyrocketed in the past few weeks.
Everyone wants fed, cosntant round of cooking dishes etc.
I see my neighbours taking walks, gardening etc.
I am more overworked than ever.
I don't have any free time right now.

pingbloodyping · 31/03/2020 07:13

Yup! But DP and I are splitting most stuff and the kids, 7&9 are doing more more too and have ‘chores’.
On the plus side laundry had gone way down.

Stuckforthefourthtime · 31/03/2020 07:19

My only sadness is for my kids who don't seem to be getting that whole board game/den building lovely experience that Facebook would have me believe everyone else is having

Me too! 4 very young DCs, DH and I both WFH full time (in jobs where taking unpaid leave will be the first step to unemployment, right before a global recession), and we are barely keeping heads above water. We're lucky to have jobs and our health, but I feel like sobbing or shouting at least once a day and am so sad whenever I see those 'this will be such a great memory for your dcs' memes....

adriennewillfly · 31/03/2020 08:39

We have a 3yr old and a 6 month old. DH is working from home, and I am on maternity leave. We have no time at all to relax from 6:30am until the kids are asleep. And as the 3yr old has dropped his nap (and is out of nursery), we are really not finding it easy.

Holdingmybreath · 31/03/2020 19:17

I am doing a lot of washing up as my DD fails to do any when I'm at work.
I am not however doing much other house work on my days off as I got out into the garden and started painting the hall.
I will get DD to hoover on my next day at work as it has all ramped up this week so she has promised to do more.
I am knackered mentally and physically and we're only at the start.

formerbabe · 31/03/2020 19:18

Agree op. I can't even clean my sodding kitchen because there's always another meal to prepare. It's very tedious

copperoliver · 01/04/2020 00:26

More housework, but am enjoying decluttering. More money for electric and the food bill is astronomical

On the plus side doing more baking and cooking from scratch
Going to do a rota tomorrow of cleaning jobs than need doing everyday, every week and once a month so I can keep on top of everything.
When things finally return to normal. X

NemophilistRebel · 01/04/2020 00:28

Dishwasher seems to be running constantly

Pipandmum · 01/04/2020 00:34

Absolutely. I'm now catering for lunch and dinner. I usually have a cleaner too. But taking the opportunity to declutter and get the jobs done that are all to easy to put off.

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