Can I fit this much life admin in a week?

[ChesterDraws4Sale]

I’m moving from part-time to full-time work in October and will have one week off between jobs.

I’m thinking this is my chance to get everything sorted in my life before I have no time. 2 primary age DCs.

I’ll have 6 hours a day, a total of 30 hours.

Heres the plan.
Batch cook dinners
Deep clean the house
See friends for coffees
Maybe plan Christmas?

AIBU to think that will fit into 1 week? Don’t want to set myself up to fail. What else can I be doing with my wonderful week of organisation time to make life easier once I’m working full time?

I would write a plan, how long to cook the meals, how long it usually takes to clean, if lots of cupboards etc would this double or treble the time? Plan the coffees with friends and write a plan for Christmas one evening.

Do you have groceries delivered or go to the shops/supermarket? I book delivery slots as far in advance as the website allows, so that I don’t have to give it head space every week.

What does plan Christmas mean?

When: 25th December. Same every year.
Menu: Turkey et al.
Who: The people you like and live with. Why make life difficult.
Presents: There's an economic crisis so don't go mad. Something edible each and socks.
Cards: Donate to a charity and tell the world via email.

Done.

By the way, decluttering and deep cleaning my house would most probably take most of the week 😳 🤷🏻‍♀️ So yes, depends what a mess your house is! 😉

*Hardly sneering

I personally can't understand why anyone under the age of 80 would struggle with that in a week

I'd be concerned if I couldn't do all the bits listed in a day or two frankly*

Fabulous. 🏅

@mumda

*When: 25th December. Same every year.
Menu: Turkey et al.
Who: The people you like and live with. Why make life difficult.
Presents: There's an economic crisis so don't go mad. Something edible each and socks.
Cards: Donate to a charity and tell the world via email.

Done.*

Excellent 👌 If a bit dull.

But guess what, everyone is not the same as you!

Amazing I know.

this thread is verging on bullying

We don’t know OP’s exact circumstances

@Greenapplesandpears

Looks like you don't understand the concept of bullying

It's laughable that anyone things this list is enough to take up a week

Let alone that someone things that working FT means you don't have time to batch cook and clean too

OP there are plenty of people on this thread who know what you mean and are happy to help. Ignore those who don't.

this thread is verging on bullying

If not a complete sneer fest of people who know better.

And I know " it's in AIBU "🙄

Surely you and your husband south's be sharing this stuff 50/50? If not why not?

It's* laughable that anyone things this list is enough to take up a week

Let alone that someone things that working FT means you don't have time to batch cook and clean too*

"laughable " only if you got nothing better to do to sneer at a question about time tabling. God Alive.

And does OP think that? I didn't see her say that. That's a very small minded interpretation.

She wants to get a head start.

I do understand the concept of bullying and this thread is getting very close to it

@pickledeggnog for you. Bold fail.

*And I will give DH two designated days to sort dinner. He’s perfectly capable but hadn’t bothered since we had kids.

He sounds like a catch.*

Yep " nice person" alert.

Why doesn’t your husband do all those things? My dad is nearly 80 and has trouble walking, but yesterday when I was there he’d been cooking, hoovering and was emptying the dishwasher as we were talking.

I’m not in the UK but the more I read the more I wonder why so many men in the UK are behaving like useless brats and get away with it. Why?

It's laughable that anyone things this list is enough to take up a week
It's bizarre that anyone can't see that all those things might take 30 hours. Especially a declutter (which would include tip/charity shop runs) and a deep clean

Let alone that someone things that working FT means you don't have time to batch cook and clean too
No one's saying that. But if you start off with a decluttered, deep cleaned house it's easier to keep on top of it, and getting ahead with cooking a few meals is a sensible use of time.

This forum was set up as a source of support. . It never ceases to amaze me how quick some posters can be to knock people down.

Leave some time to do things that you enjoy !

I work FT

I have a diary
Things that must be done, with warnings in diary that time is running out like insurances appointments, birthdays
Things that I would like to get done

I prioritise meeting friends over cleaning & cooking

Nobody died & said I wish I has spent more time cleaning or batch cooking

Buy a robot hoover

I have a few easy to cook meals if I don't feel like cooking "proper meals"
Soup
Omelette
Stirfry
Baked or boiled potatoes (cook more one day & use the next day in a different meal)

Xmas can be planned in eves or lunchtime

Good luck with your new job !

Oh you have a husband?

he has a charmed life doesn’t he.

how much thought is he giving to all this running of the household?

If they're good friends, then I'd invite them for coffee whilst I was batch cooking for example. Or I'd prepare food to go in the slow cooker some days instead of cooking it in advance. So all the ingredients for a stew or a curry in ziplock bags and freeze some of them. The night before take them.out of the freezer and put them in the slow cooker in the morning.

Write a list of everything you need to do and break them down into time needed. Plan them in a schedule and start ticking them off. See what you can do at the same time.

And op, I get wanting to have everything cleaned and sorted at home so everything is easier. I have a few days off and I'm sorting my house and garden ahead of the working week next week.

I would suggest not doing more than normal cleaning, not batch cooking (just double up on anything freezable) and planning some fun time in too.

I would take myself off to a nice cafe and concentrate on setting up a shared email address for family stuff with shared calendar and alerts, so both you and the other parent working full time get alerts for everything.
Shared shopping and to-do lists (if possible that alert by location), lists for Christmas.

Then: meal planning (two or three weeks repeating), saved online shopping lists, lists for Christmas.

Once you have a system in place, it’s easier to maintain, but you need a bit of peace and quiet to devise the system.

Other than the coffees that is two days of work max! You can easily cook 2-3 weeks of meals in a morning and once they are going start cleaning etc. good luck you’ve got this 🙌🏻

I love the idea of having friends for coffee while I cook - double up on time and I bet I’ll work faster with an audience.

I know a lot of people’s homes wouldn’t take the best part of a week to declutter and clean. Mine’s got lots of areas that do need some attention so hopefully it’ll be easier to keep things clean when I have fewer hours.

Lots of great advice, thank you everyone, I’m feeling now this is achievable and will set me up for a calmer first couple of weeks in the new job.

I realise lots of people get all this done day to day as part of their day (don’t get me started on my perfect sister!) but I do need a bit of a deadline/challenge to get things done sometimes.

Plan Christmas? You can do that on your phone sitting on the loo if you wanted.