To think there is never time to relax on weekdays ?

[LanaL]

Is it just me ?

No matter what I do , my evenings from getting in from work to going to bed are just non stop ?? I don’t stop from the minute I walk in until I fall in to bed !

Im a teacher . I leave work around 430 ( I’m a supply that’s the only reason I’m leaving that early lol ) . I get home and have to then vacuum , tidy breakfast bits , do a general daily clean , make lunches for the next day , iron for the next day ( children have drawers instead of wardrobes so I can’t do it all in one go on the weekend ) , do dinner , baths , showers , then it’s bedtime ! My husband gets home about 6 and he helps too so it’s not like I’m having to do it all myself but he works a lot longer hours than me and he works 6 days so I think it’s fair to take a bit more on myself . It doesn’t help that we both do Keto so lunches for work and evening meals aren’t a case of making sandwiches or throwing something in the oven , But even before we did that it was still as manic . I like to be in bed by 9/930 as I’m up at 530. Mornings are just as manic - I put a wash on overnight so I can put it out to dry first thing so it dries during the day and then I take it all off and put it away in the evening - another job . We also have a dog so have to fit in dog walks and we like to go to the gym but I can never find time or energy in the weekdays ! We go on a sat and sun and usually squeeze it in on a Monday too and we like to try to go again in the week - that’s always the plan- once the children are sorted , my eldest can watch them and it’s only 2 min away so realistically even just 40 mins we should be able to do but after Monday we’re usually too tired !

I am not moaning - I make choices to do a certain diet, I choose to go to the gym and I choose to do chores throughout the week so that weekends are relaxing . But even then the weekends are filled with bigger cleaning jobs or DIY , the weekly shop , activities for the kids etc … I usually have a Saturday night where we chill out but that’s it ( however our weekends are always productive and I enjoy them so I wouldn’t change it ! ) .

I count down to the school holidays - but as a supply teacher I’m not salaried so don’t get paid for holidays so therefore have to work a bit in them too ( I do only do 2 days a week in holidays as I need the time and I want to see my children so I’m lucky to have that time off but it’s no different to full time workers having annual leave ) . My poor husband gets no time off really - he’s agency , a good paid job , but agency, he does take some time off so we can do things but having no holidays it’s hard so he tends to feel guilty doing that knowing he loses a good chunk of money by doing it. We’re not poor , but we aren’t rich and we have debt so it’s a luxury for him to be able to take time off .

As I say it’s not a pity post - I’m grateful for everything I have and I have lots that many don’t have ( for a start I have a husband I can’t even imagine doing it all alone )

But am I alone here ? Does anyone else feel like it’s non stop ??

Oh God, how predictable. 🙄

Also a teacher & know I don't have the hardest job in the world. I like my job, otherwise I wouldn't do it. My DP works bloody hard, my friends work bloody hard, but I can also say I work bloody hard, which is why I need at least a bit of time on the sofa to switch my head off. OP needs to sort her priorities. Stop shit stirring.

I understand the frustration. I have to vacuum daily, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day when my dog's moulting and it does get relentless. I also iron, but I make that one of the relaxing jobs - I put Spotify on, sing along to the songs as I iron.
My bugbear is that everyone else seems to have time for themselves at the weekend and my 2 days are for catching up the housework, changing beds, batch cooking for the week, batch shopping for the batch cooking etc.
No advice as such, but for me it's a choice I make (I could not do it, order takeaway and watch Netflix) so unless we change our choices there's little point getting upset about it.

Do you have a meal prep service in your area who could deliver lunches for you and DH? Or maybe just have a protein shake for breakfast or lunch a couple of times a week? Super easy.

When I go low carb, I tend veer towards something in a parcel. Chicken or fish en papillote with vegetables in the paper too. Very minimal prep time and no washing up from the cooking! Just add rice or pasta for the kids if you all eat together.

You don’t “have” to iron, hoover and polish every day, you’re choosing to. Most children’s uniform doesn’t require ironing. If you do iron it you could do it one load and hang it over the back of a door, in your own wardrobe, anything to stop the nonsense of getting an ironing board out every day. Batch cook. Online shop once a week. Hoover every other day instead of every day. Doesn’t sound like you’re entertaining guests in the week anyway? So who is going to care about a bit of dog hair on the carpet? If it’s literally unbearable then limit the number of rooms the dog is in.

Talk about making life hard for yourself!

Full-time teacher here and single parent.

If you say it's all too much, pick your battles. I have to hoover certain spaces daily because my pets are messy (not the type you can train out of it), I cook and wash up daily but that's about it for daily jobs.

Laundry only ever gets done weekends. Load machine last thing at night, hang out first thing in the morning, ignore until the evening. Bathrooms and toilets get cleaned on a need-to basis, I only ever touch an iron if I'm on a creative sewing project and the rest gets cleaned as I go.

Family meals are 30min prep time or less during the week (don't mind if I can then ignore it in the oven for a while) and while my kids get daily lunchboxes, I either make a pasta salad I can then give them 3 times in a row, a salad that lasts 2 days or sandwich fillings which, again, I don't have to think about more than every other day. The rest is stuff like pieces of fruit, veg, crackers or other bits that can just be chucked in. I food shop once a week, during a weekday.

Saturdays can be busy if a club is on and we go to the library, but Sundays are MINE, even with the kids around.

Does the house ever sparkle? Nope. Does it need to? Also nope. It's clean enough. The garden gets done with the kids. I still get leisure time every day.

Don’t ditch the ironing @LanaL people say it makes no difference but I can tell those who by looking those who iron and those who don’t…it’s way more obvious than ppl think!

I'm a bit perplexed about the ironing too.

My DC all use drawers and their trousers / school jumpers / polo's all live in drawers without creasing? I lay trousers in half, polo's and jumpers flat in drawers (for x3 DC). I dedicate an hour / 90 minutes a week to ironing and then we're sorted for the week (we have one set of uniform for each child for each day. But supermarket polo tshirts / trousers and I've gone second hand or hand me downs for their logo'd school jumpers as this cuts down on need for washing and ironing)

Do kids need to be bathed every single night? At this time of year every other night is fine surely?

Same with washing, surely you don't need to do a wash every single night?

Is there nothing that fits your dietary requirements that can be made in advance? Even if you are able to pre-prep a few lunches or dinners a week it would make a difference?

Don’t ditch the ironing @LanaL people say it makes no difference but I can tell those who by looking those who iron and those who don’t…

Yes but why would any sane person really care that much whether a random stranger can tell if their clothes are a bit less flattened than someone else's? When you think about it, it's a pretty odd thing to care about.

Exactly this. Are there actually people walking around sneering at people with unironed clothes? How very odd. Most of my clothes don't need ironing, I wouldn't dream of buying linen which is wrinkled the moment you put it on anyway. But mostly, I don't care what people think of my housekeeping. Like me or don't but I can guarantee if you're judging me for not having starched collars we wouldn't be friends anyway.

Get a cleaner or a robot hoover. Don't iron

im not saying I care…I’m just saying I notice it.

I always spend time with them on the weekends and half terms are full … it may be manic for me with everything else but I always make time . In the weekdays in all honesty they just want to go in their rooms and play their consoles after school / college !

I do only actually do 5 loads a week - I put it on overnight then in the morning I put it all on the airers / radiators then after work I’ll take it off and put it all away then repeat . I loathe that job ! But if I don’t I’ll have piles of washing at the weekend 😟 we don’t have a tumble dryer - we did in our old house and I didn’t do barely any ironing but here we just can’t fit one in . I do have a brick shed in the garden that has electric - we have a freezer in there for all the things we bulk buy so I might look into getting one in there actually!

The dream lol

I can say for a fact that if I turned up for work in creased clothes I would certainly be judged . It looks messy. I wouldn’t send my son to college in creased jeans that then look shorter , and t shirts that are creased all over . I can get away with not ironing my other children’s school clothes usually but not the polo shirts - the collars are all wrinkled and it does look messy . I just couldn’t do it myself .

I’m not doing masses of ironing every evening - but there’s always something . Even if it’s just one outfit . Now it’s getting warmer the dresses I wear for work don’t need ironing but usual outfits ( shirts , trousers , skirts ) really do . Believe me - I will get away with it if I can help it , I am far from a perfectionist , what I do iron is essential

Take my hat off to you - it’s a hard job and I find it hard with a husband !

I dont do a massive clean each day . I’ll vacuum downstairs daily - as that’s where the dog is and his carpet of hair ( it’s all laminate too aside from a big rug in the living room so you can see the hair ) upstairs and the stairs is on the weekend or sometimes in all honesty I’ll do it less often - but downstairs just has to be daily. I don’t really need to do the rug every day but it’s 2 min extra so I do, I can’t stand having any washing up in the sink ( my issue I know ) but on the back of this post I have now made washing up a chore for my son - I think it’s fair , he’s capable.

Bathroom - I do not clean daily , visible things like toothpaste in the sink etc I will .

in all honesty I could probably do it all quicker than I do but I’ll come in and have a coffee then I’m kinda just sat at the table thinking about all the things I have to do and wasting time thinking about it instead of doing it !

Thank you these are actually really good ideas that I probably wouldn’t have thought of ! I didny come on for solutions in all honesty - just a moan . I was having a bad day and now I’m out of that bad day I don’t really feel that overwhelmed . I’m very lucky I have a nice life - but those tips are helpful i would never have thought about dry cleaning .

Oh I love my dog ! He is amazing and he doesn’t create much work apart from the hair but when I step back and look at it - vacuuming takes 10 mins and he’s worth it . He creates no other mess , he’s just a lovely , placid , perfect family dog . I can’t even think about a time when he isn’t here 🫣 and I may have mentioned the walks as “another job” but those walks are lovely family times x

Why are you ironing kids school uniform? I literally wouldn't waste my precious time. Not sure that's the most important thing here, but it jumped out and I thought wtf? My dc only has drawers too. It's fine

I know I really should do this more !!

In all honesty being a supply teacher isn’t the best choice - financially- so that’s why I work some in the holidays too ( less though ) …. The fact is , I hate teaching . I don’t want to do it , I had a very bad experience in a toxic school and I’m petrified to go back to another full time . I’ve just started a long term supply to test the waters so to speak . I would do anything to get out of teaching but I can’t really take a pay cut or re train .

Im not really overly busy looking at it now . I just had a bad day and felt overwhelmed , it was 10 times worse when I was permanent and I would never have been able to go to the gym , no way could I have stuck to a diet and the poor dog wouldn’t have got walked either !

No. I’m a supply teacher so I don’t get paid for holidays so I work in them - but yes I do have time there as I only work part time in the holidays

I’m full time term time , part time in the school holidays .

Why is it ridiculous and an indulgence ? We eat a lot of meat , eggs and cheese . I do my shop in a supermarket for everything else but these things I get from the butchers because it’s cheaper . I can’t afford to do it all in the supermarket , I get a much better deal in the butchers and I do it to save money so the opposite of indulgence

About an hour.

I might do that actually not a bad idea !

I'm with you. Except I work full time, get home at 6pm and don't have school holidays either. Weekends are the extra curricular taxis and I do things like a Tesco or Aldi shop between. There is literally not a second of my day which is not utilised.

It just is what it is.

Yes that’s exactly what i wanted . I needed people to tell me that i was amazing for being a teacher and that im so hard done by , so what I did was make a post about something completely different but made sure that I mentioned I was a teacher .

I also thought that MN was the best place for this because clearly it’s known for people to agree with you on everything , give you sympathy and completely relate to you .

Finally, after wading through all of the comments , I found yours . Thank you . Maybe I can delete the thread now 😊