Childminders Club: A question about your cleaning............

[HellyBelly]

Me again

Please help save my marriage!!!

DH and I had a massive row this weekend and it's all about stress in our lives. Loads of different things going on and we've been reducing what we can to make things more bearable.

Still......big problem is the amount of time I spend cleaning. I've told him it's all part of the job and things have to be kept very clean but yes, it's taking up a lot of time in the evenings and dh thinks I'm mad. My mum also stayed recently and said I was doing more than needed and also thinks I'm mad.

What I want is a rough idea of how much time all you guys spend doing this to see whether or not I'm doing more than I have to. I really want to do this job but it really is causing a lot of problems at home (either I'm stressed and get annoyed when he's vegging on sofa watching tv and I'm working like mad or he helps and gets fed up, also, we don't see each other much these days)

In my house.......

Mindees are all gone by 6.30pm
Get ds ready for bed
Ds milk and bed
Washing Up
Tidy Toys
Hoovering all downstairs
Cleaning the floors (bit of a waste as the second mindee and mum arrive, the floor becomes dirty from the wet outside - our mat is rubbish, need a new one!)

Usually done by around 8pm as long as dh is helping in some way. Then it's time to make/eat dinner.

Sunday's - spend about 4 hours cleaning entire house but save it til the afternoon/evening so doesn't get yucky again iyswim.

This is probably the same for all of you but I want to settle this arguement with my dh!!!

Thanks

Hellybelly as a mother who uses a childminder I would say that I am not that bothered about some level of mess/dirt. And also I would be happy for you to involve my child in tidying up toys (in fact would appreciate you doing it) and for you to wash up the pots used during the day/clean the floor round the table while he is around. My childminder has a shoes off policy for the kids and I try not to go in too far when I have wet shoes. This might help to cut down on your work-related chores in the evening. Then you and DH could perhaps alternate cooking dinner and putting DS to bed?

As a working Mum (only do 3 days though) I do understand the issue of having to do chores in the evening and some nights hardly seem to see DH because of it.

Here is info for you Helly. Because you only need water to clean there is no surfactant residue to attract dirt so things - especially floors - seem to stay cleaner and just sweepable for longer. Great for allergies/asthma too. I keep a cloth for each room and wash them all nightly. Tesco sells cheaper ones but they dont look so sturdy - haven't used Tesco ones though. I've got a mop on order too

Thanks Bozza, it's nice to hear from a parents point of view.

I accept sacrifices have to be made when you have children but dh is finding it all a bit much. He loves ds but finds toddlers exhausting and blames everything on his age!!! So, I'm only nearly 30 therefore I'm full of energy and CAN be supermum and do everything!!

The funny thing is he hated me working nights (used to be a Virgin Vie consultant) so I gave that up so I'd be around in the evenings. I think he's just a bit disappointed that it's taking up more of our life than we expected

Great Goosey - will look at that!!

E-Cloths - Netto do a similar one for about 75p different colours for different surfaces

Have read the thread and will have a chat when we meet for lunch. I just have to say that dp is the same, will do things when asked but only when asked. He glares at me waiting for me to ask for help at 10pm when i am still mopping but wont get off bottom to do it unprompted. He has been off this week so has seen what it is like with the kids, (he always goes back to work for a break)

Hi Hellybelly

I set aside all afternoon, choose some fab music, and start cooking!

I always do a minimum of 7 different meals, normally 3 at a time though or I end up with Carrot in the Cauliflower Cheese I cook both lunch and dinner and have actually bought a seperate freezer specifically for the mindees and my own DD's food, mainly because I cook all organic food for the children, but not for myself or DP...far too expensive!

Joe

Blimey artyjoe - you seem very organised!!!

I'm still new to childminding so am just trying to find my feet a bit. I used to cook a lot more and freeze the food for ds but I must admit this has slipped a bit since c/ming as I've been soooo tired (as my free time is spent building websites, another new business). I think my problem was I filled my spaces really quickly and in a blink of getting my certificate, I was looking after 5 children (only used to the one). Anyway, I've reduced this as it was too much too soon (for me). Things are a lot better now but I just need to sort out the cooking routine as I cook each evening at the moment. I'm going to be getting a freezer for the garage purely for home made food as mine is tiny!

Don't suppose you'd give an example of what you might cook in your allocated afternoon?? I'd really appreciate it!

Hi Hellybelly

It varies each week but last Saturday I cooked;

Spaghetti bolognese (with added berlotti & kidney beans)
Cottage pie (with hidden courgette)
Liver casserole & mash
Cauliflower cheese
Lentil casserole
Tomato & pepperoni pasta bake
Tuna neopolitana
Chicken, asparagus, carrots, cauli & gravy

Hope this helps...second freezer is a must in my opinion!

Good luck - Joe

Doesn't this entire thread just prove that we are not the sitting-around-drinking-coffee-babysitters that some people think childminders are!

My childminding work takes over our entire house (boarded loft to house zillions of boxes of toys; high chairs in kitchen; buggies in hallway; utility room/kitchen awash with shelving full of messy play activities; this week's toys/activities in lounge, dining room, hall and kitchen; travel cots and stairgates propped up against walls; files/filing systems for the required childminding paperwork everywhere; dirty great minibus parked on drive; and car seats anywhere there's a spare bit of carpet). I have no small children of my own at home anymore, but you'd never know that (unidentifiable stains on my carpets prove the presence of small people!)

Yes, we work from home but it's certainly not the soft option, and don't our families have to suffer for it!!

artyjoe - thanks for that! Do you really get all this done in a single afternoon!!! I need to organise myself better!!

Hi Hellybelly, the secret is in choosing the recipies wisely so you can cook more than one meal at a time. Spag Bol and Cottage Pie are always cooked on the same hob as the mince and onion is done in the one pan before being split, while the mash for liver, cottage pie, chicken is in another I cook the cauliflower for the cauli cheese and also the chicken together and I soak all the beans the night before...it's just preparation and good music! I have a fab hand chopper gizmo which means I can do onions, peppers, courgette, etc in seconds, the only thing that still takes me forever is peeling the spuds!

I think fast music helps, I tend to listen to Dixie Chicks or seventies music to keep me moving fast!

Sounds good to me - will work on this What's this hand gizmo then??? I really need something as it's the prep that take me ages and ages when doing stews etc!

It's like a normal hand blender but the 'blender thingie' twists off and you then replace it with other gadgets so it works as a hand blender, processer, chopper, whisk etc. I got it from Tchibo a few months ago but I'm sure any food processor would be a help...I didn't realise quite how fast these things really were!

Good luck, happy cooking -Joe

When I was going around interviewing CM's, the 2nd one I went to had the most amazing house. Cream carpets, white kitchen tiles. I had just walked across the park in boots and felt awful just walking in. Especially the buggy wheels, they were covered in muck. She was really nice and was ever so organised. Bet she cleaned the carpet after I fled her house it was soooooo clean. Frightened the f**k out of me. I am clean but not cream carpets IN THE HALL FFS clean.

Know what you mean UCM, my entire downstairs is laminate flooring so it can have mud traipsed all over it, buggy tracks and muddy shoes, and then looks great again the next day!