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?

Do what??

Hope it goes well OP. Have you spoken to your husband about the household duties he'll need to fulfil? Just so it's not a shock to him when the time comes.

The idea of ‘banking’ play date favours is genius! If I can build it up now so lots of people have my DC over to play while I’m getting used to my new routine, that will ease the pressure.

The unkind, snobby and verging on ableist comments on this thread are depressing. Ignore them.

I'd prioritise friends and batch cooking.

I could tie one arm behind my back and still get your list sorted in one day.

Can I hire you for the day?! 😀

But surely each of these things could be done an hour each night, so as to maximize your week off. Order the gifts and wrapping and Do it in the evenings, writing a Christmas menu list is hardly rocket science. Take a room each night and declutter. You work part time so what's the time spent on ? I would only spend a day batch cooking. The stuff can be prepped the day before so the actual cooking takes less time.

It's perfectly doable but don't run yourself ragged, there's no point.

As an aside, I thought 'life admin' ( not a phrase I'm keen on either) was things like making appointments, sorting out insurance etc..,

You'll manage , I'm sure.

I’m sure I could fit more in each day than I do, that’s certainly true. I do tend to sit down for an hour after the DC are in bed and watch TV or read a book, so if I used that time to declutter it would soon add up. I’m don’t really want to give up that hour of downtime, but may need to once I’m working more.

I work school hours currently so don’t have free time during the day. The rest of the time is helping with homework, making meals, washing, taking the DC to clubs, occasional evening meet ups with my friends.

I’d do all that in a morning 😂
but I’d also declutter as makes cleaning and tidying so much quicker

This was my plan when I had a week off two weeks ago...turns out I was waaaaay more tired than I had anticipated and pretty much napped most days and watched Netflix with my free time!

That’s what I’m worried I’ll do if I don’t have a plan of action in place, then I’ll feel cross that I didn’t make better use of the time.

I think it's important that, rather than doing it all in one go, you form long-term habits, otherwise you will spend your entire annual leave doing chores that just got left while you were working.

Don't stress yourself over batch-cooking. I tried it, and with the best will in the world it was more effort than it was worth, so it got ditched. I now make 5 simple meals during the week and 2 more time-consuming ones over the weekend. I cook more than is needed, so always have leftovers, which get frozen and only ever taken out on days when cooking from scratch really isn't an option - days I work late, days I'm so tired that all I want to do is collaspe in a chair, days I really fancy lasagne but can't be arsed with the faff, days I run out of money.

Deep-cleaning always sounds good, but is soul-destroying when you work full time. Saturdays I wash clothes and hang them out, add a load or two Sundays if needed. Less than an hour tops over the weekend; I never iron either and the kids tidy their washing piles away. The kitchen gets done daily or every other day at the most, the bathroom gets done on a Sunday morning after I've showered and the toilet whenever it needs doing in between (I keep those cleaners in the bathroom). I get my kids to hoover when it's necessary - usually once a week upstairs and every 2-3 days downstairs, but we have messy pets. All other bits are on a by need basis.

Events like birthdays and Christmas are planned as I go along and shopped for the same way - if I see something they'll like, I get it, put it in the back of my cupboard out of sight, and wait. Since I have a principle of a book, something to wear, something they'll like and something practical each, it's easy to keep tabs on what I still need. Cards are being made throughout the year as it's part of my hobby, so I'm never short on those.

Important dates - visits, renewals, cancellations of free subscriptions, parents' evenings, MOT, appointments etc are all written onto a physical calendar we can all contribute to.

And that's all there is to life admin, really. Don't stress yourself, enjoy your week off and stop trying to fill it with chores you can't sustain long-term.

@Skethylita I love your post! Very useful.

I know I’m not the OP but some of these comments are making me feel like shit! I suffer from executive dysfunction and no, I couldn’t actually defrost my freezer, declutter my whole house and then clean the oven in one day!! 😳

Least of all with one hand tied behind my back 🙄

I think some people are very good at doing things as they go along - I’m always trying to be more like that but it doesn’t come naturally to me.

I don’t suffer from anything, but I still think it would take me a good three hours just to tidy my desk and file away all the piles of paperwork on there. I always vow that I’ll keep it perfect from then on, by filing things as I go, but I never maintain it for long.

Im very organised when it comes to most things but keeping the house tidy and putting things away as I go has always been my downfall.

I am by no means perfect, but have improved a lot since I got my new house.

*I don’t suffer from anything, but I still think it would take me a good three hours just to tidy my desk and file away all the piles of paperwork on there. I always vow that I’ll keep it perfect from then on, by filing things as I go, but I never maintain it for long.

Im very organised when it comes to most things but keeping the house tidy and putting things away as I go has always been my downfall.*

But that's exactly what I mean. No point in spending 3 hours cleaning your desk when a few weeks later you have to do the same thing over and over again.

Now I just deal with what is in front of me at the time (the latest bank statement, for example), but instead of just dealing with the one new bank statement, I also file two older ones I didn't deal with before. The daily habit of filing my statements stays, but over time my desk is free of old paperwork, and then it's easier to keep going. It's only a very small change - the big ones never work for long and get you far more frustrated when you see the gradual decline again.

Now I just deal with what is in front of me at the time (the latest bank statement, for example), but instead of just dealing with the one new bank statement, I also file two older ones I didn't deal with before.

This is the type of approach we have. I tidy bits of paper while on less riveting work calls. DS with me or DH tidy toys right before dinner every night while the other one of us makes dinner. If a few bits get left then they'll be done the next night, but most importantly we aren't tidying once DS is in bed. I don't have time to actually do a full load of laundry most days, but I have time to put a load in the morning, hang it with DS "help" after school collection, with the dry previous load shoved in a basket of ironing (cleaner does that) or a non-ironing basket for upstairs, then the non-ironing basket gets put away at bedtime... and that just ends up being a load done each day. Could be clothes or towels or sheets, it's just whatever fits white / dark / colour. DH does the dishwasher at night with some washing up, then I put away dishwasher before breakfast and he does a bit of the dinner washing up with breakfast in the morning and the breakfast/ lunch stuff while DS has dinner. Bits get left between so the washing up is rarely fully DONE, but there isn't often much actually there and it fits in around life.