What do you honestly do all day…

[Thechatteringofthebirds]

If your a Sahm with dc at school?

Not a bashing thread, as this is sort of me and curious what others do

My Dd has just started school full time, so those days of being together all day, play date meet ups during the week daytime, days out etc are now gone 😩
I do work, but only two evenings per week and one weekend morning at the moment.
On a day of the week I plan for the times I teach, aside from that, I drop off, walk my dog, some tidying and washing (have a cleaner every fortnight) watch tv, read…then pick Dd up, go to the beach, walks, do her reading, dinner, bath, school things etc. What else do you do?
In September I’ll pick up more days and hours, but for these last few months I want to make sure I make the most of it.
What do you do or would do if you could?

Clean the kitchen every day
Tidy up downstairs every dsy
Put laundry on, then dry it fold it and put it away
once a week-
clean the bathrooms
change the beds
do the food shopping

Also, exercise, do life admin, do other shopping that’s needed

I struggle to fit it all in every day; 5 hours is not much!

I’m not a SAHP but I work a shift pattern that gives me a lot of days off when the kids are at school (both at secondary). I spend my days off going for very long walks.

@legallyblond I think if you have time you end up taking more time! I remember this with my mum who was a sahm, now looking back I realise she just got slower at doing things as she had time to do them. When you're working on top of everything else you just power through!!

I work 4 days a week and on day 5 I catch up with housework, meet friends for lunch, walk the dog. I love having one day off a week as it gives me some time to catch up and then I've the weekend to spend with the children.

I now home educate my youngest but for a few years I had two at school and the school days to myself. It was lovely! But actually quite easy to fill the time.

I used to hear readers at the school one day a week. I became a school governor so sometimes there would be meetings to attend. I joined in with short courses that my local community centre sometimes ran such as a six week one day a week cookery class. One morning a week there was a coffee morning at the school and I made some good mum friends there. And sometimes I would just chill out at home and watch movies. I miss those days sometimes!

Work and clean

I have two days off a week whilst mine are at school. I drop kids off at school, go to the gym, clean, meet friends or my Mum for coffee, get school work done for the week ahead (teacher), garden, shop, decorate. Basically, I make sure most jobs are done so we don’t have to do much at the weekend!

I'm a sahm of school age DC.

I get home from the school run by 9.

I have a coffee, listen to the radio and maybe eat.

Then clear the breakfast stuff away and tidy kitchen.

Go round all bedrooms and make beds, gather up washing. Put on some laundry.

Then depending on the day I might hoover, clean bathrooms, change bedding

Hang out laundry and put on another load.

Prep dinner

Do the food shopping or run errands

Empty bins

Do the ironing

Day goes by very fast...

I'm part time with 3 days off a week plus weekends.

Tomorrow, an off day, I've got washing just done to hang out, art class and then gym/swim/short spa session, I'll do the weekly shop on drive home, bring in washing and then cook tea. I'll call my elderly Dad for a chat. I'm his main responder of 3 too so at any time in the day he could page me and my plans might have to.change.

You guys must have lovely, free weekends! As a working parent all of the chores get done then.
Not that I would ever want to be a SAHP (especially of school age children) but each to their own I guess.
My husband, on the other hand, would give anything to be one!

I work 12 hours a week over 2 days and before that was a SAHM however I do this due to child with aditional needs so I'm also really poor so its mainly napping, mumsnet, grocery and household shopping and sitting in a darkened room whilst the blue glow of the Barclays apocolypse eagle stares at me from online banking.
If I had any spare money at all, I'd have nail appointments, piano lessons and coffee out.

I home ed now but when ds was at school I did school runs (2 minutes on foot) then-

did whatever I wanted.

tv

read

paint

go out shopping/lunch

have nails done

spent a lot of time with my best friend and her younger kids

just doss about doing whatever I fancied!

I only ever was a SAHM for a few months between jobs, when DS was in Year 1 but I wrote my first novel, taught literacy in a prison on a voluntary basis, and decided staying at home wasn’t for me.

You have plenty of time to read or watch TV if you wanted to. Nothing you list takes you anywhere near 6 hours a day.

I worked part time. Night shift over the weekend so I didn’t work Mon to Fri.
I met friends for lunch
Met friends with toddlers pm if my youngest not at school
Housework the bare minimum
Dog walking
seeing my Mum
shopping
So much to keep me busy TBH

@Notlikeamother How did your OH (if you have one) feel about you - in your own words - "Just dossing about doing whatever you fancied?"
Assuming he wasn't doing the same?

Not a bashing thread, as this is sort of me and curious what others do

😁😆😆

Yeah…

I got to experience this a bit when I was off work poorly for a long while - i was well enough to do some stuff tho too poorly to work. I did a lot of cooking/baking, also got an allotment and worked on that. And I read a lot. And spent time with my husband who is self employed and doesn't work 9-5 hours. We went round a lot of charity shops! It was nice in a low-key way.

With my time and not working I usually do:

Cleaning, grocery shopping, batch cooking, swimming every evening, organising the house (gone from working 60 hour weeks to not working so have a lot to declutter) seeing friends, reading, doing online courses, laundry, attending appointments, browsing the internet!

I try to keep a routine and I don’t have much money but try to socialise at least once a week so I don’t go crazy. I find I’m actually so busy that I don’t sit down till late!

My biggest worry is getting sucked into too much time online so I’m trying to limit my screen time.
I sometimes worry I’m not doing anything constructive… I might go out and try to find Kate 😂

I work evenings so I have the time between the school runs 'free' and honestly it flies by.

Drop kids at 9, go to exercise class for an hour, shower and home, 11-13 mani. cleaning/shopping/admin/extra stuff all in a two hour window. 13-14 lunch with WFH DH (as I work in the evenings this is our only daily time together) 14:00 get everything prepped for dinner because I won't have time to do it later, then go pick up the kids.

I appreciate that I have time for exercise and to see my partner which I know not everyone gets but certainly don't feel like I have time to sit around.

There's always extra 'stuff' that needs doing, preparing stuff for Christmas or Easter or birthdays, or the holidays or world book day or a school play, or a dance show, or cleaning the oven, etc, etc, that I keep thinking 'once that's done I'll have some time to myself' and it never comes because there's always something!

Watch tv
housework
life admin
exercise

...that's it really. The time between school drop off and pick up goes quicker than you think!

Gym, swim and spa 5 days a week after school run (youngest DC still in secondary).

Lunch after gym with gym friends a few times a week.

Shopping on way home then make myself lunch if not had out.

Do any housework that I didn’t do before school run - hoovering, another load of washing on, mop floors if needed. Household admin.

Watch a movie if time.

School run again.

Day flies by!

I work part-time. I’m also an artist. Honestly, there are never enough hours to complete my unpaid work.

Tidy and clear up the house
Read
Exercise
Sort out lunch and dinner and next day's breakfast
Run errands (groceries, returns, etc)
Review investments
Plan family schedules
Volunteer
Meet up with friends

Time whizzes past really quickly.

Have always had time to do leisure stuff during the day if I wanted - I have a friend in same position as me and she insists she's always busy. She's not. She just faffs endlessly.

Before I because more restricted due to pain:

Met friends for coffee
A fair bit of volunteering at kids school
Helping a friend with her toddlers when she wasn't well
Cleaning / tidying
Stuff like Xmas and holiday prep etc
Studied for a maths qualification
Walked the dog
Read
Went to the beach

Now I work 3 days from home but on the other days I clean and tidy the kitchen and downstairs mainly and try and do 1/2 'jobs' like decluttering a cupboard or cleaning the oven for example. Sometimes if my pain is very bad then I don't do much.

Long time ago but I was a SAHM for many years. I was widowed so had to do everything around the house myself, usual housework and admin, all the decorating, all the gardening, made all curtains, cushions and blinds, volunteered in the classroom 2 days a week at my children's school, learned 2 languages, always did various adult education courses eg computing, calligraphy, various other crafts. I definitely broadened my mind and skills during that time.