Balancing things

[Franticdad92]

Between working a 60 hour working week and balancing a two year old toddler / 8 week old / a 60 hour working week there just isn't enough to time get anything done between myself and partner, who's is currently on maternity.

By the time you catch up on washing, ironing and do the food shopping the weekend has gone and your back on the hamsters wheel !

Do I lower my standards or are there any useful tips anyone can provide to help keep on top of the basics ? The house hasn't been cleaned for weeks and I would love to have time to redo my kitchen and cloakroom one day but not a chance currently 😂

I can’t speak to your exact situation but broadly, yes. Lower your standards.

if you can afford it the alternative is to pay for a cleaner, even if just once every couple of weeks.

but you both definitely have your hands full with two small ones and a job with long hours. But in terms of hopes for redoing spaces, the kids with consume less of both your time as they get older so that will help.

the only tip I have which I did which helped me is, if your washing machine has a delayed start function, then putting a wash load in to run overnight so that you can hang it up before work on a weekday really helps free up time at the weekends.

also, it’s hard when you’re exhausted, but the mantra “don’t put it down, put it away” helps so much with the general clutter and tidying which can make the house feel dirtier/messier than it is AND reduces the lift on a lot of other tasks.

hope that helps, the 8 week old will eventually start to sleep more. And one they sleep a good chunk at night then the daytime naps can be used to catch up on bits and pieces. Fully appreciate that at this stage your partner will be needing to ‘sleep when baby sleeps’ as much as possible with a toddler!

good luck!

I could never manage the ‘lower your standards’ thing because living in a dirty house made me miserable. My solution was to outsource as much as I possibly good. We got a cleaner for 2 hours a week just to keep on top of the basics, which really helped my mental health in those early days. Decorating jobs did wait until the children were a bit older though!

Thank you both so much !

You've got your hands full! I remember those days and it's tough. We had 3 dc, all two years apart and dh worked away. Of course you don't get to live in a spotless home when you're in the trenches like that. We had slow cooker dinners every day for years lol.
I used laundry baskets a lot! It's easy to tidy a room into a laundry basket so you can then hoover/wipe down. I also kept a basket at the bottom of the stairs for anything that needed to go up. If you don't get time to empty the baskets, leave them til the next day, at least your floor and surfaces are clear.
I also used to clean the bathroom whilst the kids were in the bath. Not the actual bath obviously, but it helps to keep on top of things.
I would also switch to online grocery shopping rather than going to the supermarket.
As the previous pp said, putting a wash on every night ready to hang dry in the morning will help free up some time at the weekend. You could put baby's dirty bibs etc straight in the machine as you use them, then just switch it on in the evening. HTH

I think with a two year old and an 8 week old, you have to lower your standards to a point. You work long hours, but your partner is still recovering from giving birth and has a 8 week old and 2 year old to look after with what sounds like very little support from you in the week, so no wonder things have slipped.

One load of washing a day. Set it up the night before on delayed start, then hang out in morning.

Stop ironing.

Order food shop to be delivered online or click and collect.

Get a cleaner if possible. If not possible, have a quick tidy up (like literally set a timer for ten minutes) each day and a cleaning schedule to break stuff up. E.g:

Monday: Clean kitchen.

Tuesday: Dust.

Wednesday: Hoover upstairs.

Thursday: Hoover downstairs.

Friday: Change bedding.

Either clean the bathroom while toddler is in the bath, or do a tiny bit each day, Like clean the sink on Monday while brushing your teeth, bath on Tuesday, toilet on Wednesday, mop floor on Thursday. Use disposable wipes to make life easier for now.

Alternatively one of you run around for a couple of hours on the weekend and get it all done then, but you're both probably too shattered atm, so little and often is probably best bet.