How do you structure your hours/days/week? Whether simply ironing on a Sunday night or a full routine 6am Mon-10pm Sun I want to hear it!

[bramblina]

After having ds and not going back to work I just seem to "get by", doing what chores need doing as they come along (hoovering, laundry etc) and those I can put off, I really do . I have no structure, dh works away around 6 days per week, days change (we have a transport business) so we just plod along.

We do 3 playgroups and swimming every week, I have paperwork to do on an evening (which again, i put off till I have mumsnettedsometimes) and therefore end up doing everything at the last minute.

I'm currently 16 weeks pg and tired so even less is getting done. I need your help as I need to get organised before May for dc#2!

Help!

Oh Ive been here so many times before and although I have a cracking system at the moment I unfortunately lack the willpower to stick to it but here we go anyway!
mon vac upstairs & change beds
tues vac downstairs polish downstairs
wed clean windows doors and sills
thurs properly clean kitchen cupboards etc
fri vac & polish up and downstairs
sat/sun iron and hang up five sets each of clothes for me and kids (including socks and pants) for the coming week.
This saved me a huge amount of panicking and stress. Also a meal planner is great and I do stick ti this as I then know exactly what Im shopping for and it saves a fortune as Im buying complete meals and not hundreds of bits and peices
mon stirfry/pasta
tues pie night (sheperds or chicken etc)
wed salad night (omelette or fish etc)
Thurs stew or casserole
fri fish
Sat curry
Sun roast
Hope this helps x

It's been on here lots before, but for the mother of all routines have a look at fly lady

Really over the top, but it does work.

what is this "structure", of which you speak????

Huge tidy (top to bottom) lasting a day once a month.
Rest of the time it is easy.
I'd say 20 mins housekeeping a day.

I would love a routine but I am lazy and want a life. I'm a single mum and WOHM fulltime so everything is squished in to the weekend. Every week I promise dd I'll do it during the week so I don't have to do it at weekend but, alas, I don't.

I will clean the bathroom tonight - maybe.

Every day; do one load of laundry and hang up, wash up, do paperwork. Every week; change bed linen, cleaner comes, do ironing.
Every six months, do big spring clean and actually move furniture to clean.
That's it really.

you sound like you have an enormous amount to do, in fact TOO much, so I'm not surprised things get left til the last minute. I don't suppose there's any spare money you could use to get in a cleaner for a couple of hours a week? That would ensure the basics like hoovering and dusting are done which might make you feel better and give you more enthusiam for keeping on top of the other things.

No set structure so to speak, but tend to do beds on sundays

laundry every day - pesky kids!

second the meal planning - saves so much time and money!

floors mopped once a week

floors swept every other day

dusting?! Whats that?!

Hoover once/twice a week as not many carpets now we have moved!

kitchen deep clean once a week

bedrooms as and when!

I'm a single parent and work f/t too.
You make time for it so that your free time is not spent worrying about it.

Message withdrawn

If your children are preschool, and you don't have a cleaner, can I just ask how anyone gets anything done? I just can't do a housekeeping routine with dd (3) and ds (2)?

you do it when they are at preshcool

I work part time Mon-Tue-Wed and always take my ds1 to a playgroup on Fri. I try and get the housework done during the week so I have the weekends free but it doesn't always work out.

My general game plan is:

Thur Bathrooms, Kitchen sink and work tops (deep clean), shopping and hoover downstairs

Fri Change bed sheets, towels, hoover upstairs and cook a large batch of one meal for my ds

I usually wash Wed, Thur, Fri and Sat nights plus a Tuesday wash if it's a bad week. I leave all my paperwork until I can't see the desk and then blitz it for an hour. Ironing I leave until every 2 or sometimes 3 weeks unless we are running out of clothes!

I also make four plates of roast dinner up on a sunday so that monday dh and I also have a roast that can be just thrown in the microwave - makes life so much easier after work! I also advocate a meal planner as it is so much easier to do when you get home tired from work. And sometimes when I am feeling keen I might peel the veggies or get something ready for tea before I go out to playgroup - wish I could manage it all the time but it does make me feel good when I can do it.

This system keeps me on top of the basics but the house is no where near as tidy and sparkly as I would like but I prefer to take my ds to playgroup and cook him home meals than worry about a bit of dust. As long as the bathroom and kitchen are clean and the hall has been hoovered I can cope with a bit of mess.

However, I am now 10 weeks pregnant and due to go back to full time work in February so I think everything will fall apart then. I'll be back for some advice then!!!!

dog haev you and your h split?

Good God,no!
(Unless is canoodling with leggy Tajik lovely as we speak.)
Just mean that I am alone most of the time (easy than going into tortuous explanation.)