If you work, when do you get the housework done?

[crazychemist]

Looking for a way to stay on top of things as I’ve been finding it a bit tough recently - I’m 29 weeks pregnant with twins so I do everything rather slowly!

I was trying out the Organised Mum Method, but I found it Impossible to get stuff done on working days - I get home from work, spend 15-30 mins playing with DD (she’s nearly 4), make dinner (always something quick, rarely more than 20 mins), eat dinner. DH plays with DD while I load washing machine and dishwasher and I get her bath ready. I usually put away any dry laundry while he does bathtime, then I do bedtime while he unloads dishwasher. I’m back downstairs at 8.30ish to hang up the laundry. Life admin normally done briefly at about 9pm.

Is this just what happens when you work and have a young child? How do you ever get any housework done beyond laundry and dishes?

I do have one day a week off from work, so I tend to catch up with things then e.g. vacuuming, giving bathroom and kitchen a wipeover, any general sorting (there always seems to be something). But I feel really guilty if I spend too much time doing that sort of thing instead of spending the time with my DD, especially as she’s about to have her life interrupted by 2 squalling newborns!

So when do you actually tackle cleaning? Does it just have to be done when DD is in bed? Or do I just accept that the carpet will always look a bit rubbish by the end of the week and the kitchen is just always going to look more grubby than I’d like?

I have a cleaner 2 hours a week and a DH who pulls his weight.

We put off getting a cleaner until our last child got 30 hours childcare, but good it’s made a difference.

Another one for never

I literally spent 4 hours for the past two days cleaning/ laundry.
Skirting boards, windows, sorting toys etc
House seems clean for now but i know i will have the hoover out again soon. Its never ending.

I am doing another deep clean next week (didn't do bedrooms or hall) and then hope to do the organised mum method after that.

I have 13 month old twins. Congratulations on you pregnancy!

We did TOMM when we were on parental leave (my husband got 6 months paid parental leave) because it was easier to spread the cleaning over a week.

However, when we went back to work at 6 months we couldn’t make this work. There was no time in the morning because it was such a rush to get them to nursery and get the train to work. Bedtimes were a two man job and by the time they were asleep we were shattered.

We don’t have the money for a cleaner so that isn’t an option. We currently clean over the weekend. My husband and I usually clean downstairs on a Sat (kitchen, living room and downstairs loo) around the twins. Give them a duster. They are fascinated by the hoover. On Sun my husband usually entertains the twins whilst I clean upstairs (two bedrooms, study, bathroom and en-suite). It doesn’t get cleaned perfectly but it is clean enough.

I might wipe the kitchen down and hoover the living room mid-week if it is particularly dirty.

I would save the life admin for the weekend and both do a bit of cleaning every night. Set a 20 minute timer and do what you can in that time. That's 40 minutes a night combined and will keep you on top of everything without disturbing your weekends x

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I just wanted to say that I do the bins, mowing and DIY, and they really aren't a big deal compared to the daily grind of cooking and cleaning.

TOMM is a great way of getting cleaning done efficiently but it won't give you time you don't have, and as you have twins in your future, you will probably be short of time for a while.

You need to sit down with DH and plan both of your time including free time for you both, and allowing for the face that you need more rest due to the physically demanding work of gestating two babies.

That might mean him spending time doing energetic play with DD while you do housework, but the most obvious solution from an outside point of view is that he spends 30 minutes in the morning cleaning the house.

I use an all on my phone called Sweepy. It reminds me to do jobs and let’s me know when the house or certain rooms get stinky. I just put in the basic jobs down for let’s say the bathroom - clean sinks, shower, toilet, brush and clean floors etc - you can set it up to suit you and even change as you need to and then you set some jobs to do daily or every few days or once a week whatever and just be reminded by the app to keep me on the job pretty regularly. Yeah I have days where I don’t do much or nothing but I just get more done the next day. It helps me stay accountable to keep things tidy. So if I’m in the bathroom I know it’s quicker to do a quick wipe and clean, pit bleach in the loo etc etc and log that in the app as done. I really like it and it helps me.

Oh yeah a do a few jobs this way across the week but as a family we do a big clean throughout at the weekend.

If you can afford a cleaner get one. It’ll buy you time which with three kiddos you’ll need.

We have a cleaner every 2 weeks to do the “big clean” and I/we keep on top of things during the week as much as we can.

We have 2 dc at nursery and both work full time hours (I work 4 days and have Fridays off).

I get up early every morning (usually around 530) and unpack dishwasher and put stuff away, go for a run, come back make tea and breakfast for myself (porridge in a thermos to eat at work), shower dressed before the dc wake up (usually). Dh gets ds up and takes him into the bathroom with him while he showers ds does toilet and teeth. I get them dressed. Then we go to work/nursery.

At lunchtime I put one day a week aside for some life admin if needed (meal planning, any nursery admin, house admin etc) Work until 5 walk to nursery pick up kids meet dh (he finishes later) go home playing bath bit of CBeebies bed. One of us does dinner. Eat dinner usually around 730/8 then tidy up one does kitchen one does living room.

Laundry in matching and on a timer for the next morning so it can be put out before work/in the dryer.

Dishwasher loaded and put on. Quick hoover downstairs if necessary or sweep floors.

It’s manageable. Especially when we are out all day. On weekends it’s tougher because we’re all in the house but we’re trying to encourage ds to help too (he’ll be 3 next week so sort ofgets it - Dd is 1 and is a wrecking machine....)

You are pregnant with twins. Live by the motto 'all fed, no-one dead' for a bit and get your DH to do more housework while you rest.

If DH is at home I do a v basic once over while he does bedtime. Consists of kitchen clear up, quick vacuum, spray mop and maybe a quick dust or vacuum upstairs if there's time. I would say it takes 30-40 mins.

If DH is out and I'm doing bedtime, I just do the kitchen and floors.

Laundry I tend to do while something is in the oven, or preheating or whatever.

The rest of the stuff gets done on DH's days off or the bathroom might get done after a shower one evening but I would like to hire a cleaner next year really to do the more time consuming stuff.

Bit of both I reckon. Our accomodation (I use that word as we moved to this house with DD and all our previous places were flats and houseshares) is much less tidy and also less clean than pre-DD. Cos we don't have as much time or as much energy. But I do recognise too that we have a lot more physical space to clean and tidy now in a house than we ever did in our one room houshares/one bed flats/ two bed flats.

I WFH 4 days a week now with covid. Two if my lunch breaks are full with looking after DD and a driving lesson, but I use most of the other two to get a few jobs done like some hoovering, dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom, dusting, whatever. I also get about 30 minutes before I start work after I've dropped DD off at nursery on 3 of those days so I usually put laundry on and tidy up the morning mess before I have breakfast. I often empty the dishwasher whilst I'm cooking the dinner. I also do laundry whenever on the days I'm WFH. Honestly WFH has made a huge difference, we struggled a lot with domestic labour when I was office based. We have to do a lot less in the weekends now than before.

Whatever I can't get done in the week DH tends to do at the weekends, usually a bit of hoovering and cleaning the kitchen. We tend to keep on top of my weekly tasks ok but it's the extras that very very rarely get done compared to pre-DD. E.g. extensive dusting, cleaning ovens and fridges, cleaning windows and cupboards, I hardly ever do stuff like that anymore . We would love a cleaner but can't afford one atm. Definitely intending on getting one in the future when our finances should be a bit improved.