Can somebody please give me ideas on how to keep up on the household stuff before the Dust Bunnies and the Laundry Mountains form a coalition and attack?

[BloodRedTulips]

Ok so I don't work but i do have three children under 5, am studying science with the OU and am treasurer of the playschool managment company. As well as this we live in the back of beyond (5 miles from closest town, 45 mins drive from anything decent like tesco) so i spend a fair few hours a week in the car driving to shops/hospitals etc.

What time i have at home not taken up with kids/course work is uaually taken up by barely keeping my head above water with the laundry, cooking dinner or other endless day to day jobs.

I just don't seem to be able to eke out time to do the big cleaning jobs and it's driving me mad as the house is in a state.

I only manage to get two loads of laundry a day done which means i have piles of dirty stuff waiting to be done constantly, not to mention a pile of washed and dried stuff on top of the drier reaching most of the way to the ceiling that needs to be folded and put away.

So please, can you all please tell me how you all manage it? I know the problem is me as i know plenty of women with full time jobs and more kids who don't seem to have this much difficulty with the basics!

Slatterns thread for me.

I have a daily list of basic stuff that I do every day and then add to it as needs be.

When I do get piles of stuff building up I do 15 minute jobs where I will spend 15 mins folding clothes or filing papers then another 15 tidying toys etc.

With laundry I try to put it away every day but often fail on that so tip it all onto a bed and sort it into piles then put it all away and don't let myself get distracted!

Hi tulips Well im home wit my 2 Ds's (3yo and 19months) and im constantly running after myself and constantly guilty about the lack of time i spend playin wit my boys cause im cookin and tryin to get a bit of cleaning done... One thing i find helps me a bit is cooking for two days at once, i Make a double sized stew/casarole /lasagne etc then iv dinner sorted for today do sumit diff tomorrow then the next day dont hav to cook dinner and can do a diff job instead... My washing is constantly mounting too but wat iv started to do (cause of advice on here) is sometimes if its jus a little mark on eg my Ds jumper il spot wash it by hand instead of jus chucking every single thing into the washing basket and iv actually seen a big difference in how quick the basket mounts... By da way Fairplay to you for managing to study and gettin involved in other stuff too, hope someone more helpful comes along be i get a few tips too

Hi Tulips

Like Clairy i use the slatterns thread to help keep me motivated (and Kim and Aggie )

I agree with Poohbear wrt bulk cooking. If you can cook several meals at the same time it really cuts down cooking/washing up time.

Also write a list of jobs that need doing each week (mopping/change sheets/hoover etc) and then if you get a spare moment, just look at the list and see what you have time to do. One thing that is helping me is making sure everything has its own home. Otherwise you end walking round the house with the same thing in your hand looking for somewhere to put it.

HTH

thanks all, sorry i couldn't get back to this yesterday.

i looked at slatterns but tbh the last thing i need is the temptation to spend more time on MN

i try doing 15 min bursts alright which keeps me on top of the daily stuff... it's the big jobs that i find it hard to get time for, especially with the clingiest baby on the planet hanging off my leg sobbing... not exactly helpful if i need to mop the floors!

what sort of things do ye bulk cook? my lot are so picky i can't do lasagne, chille, shepards pie, loads of things that i think of as tyical bulk cooking meals. i do make double every time i do spag bol but theres a limit to how often i can serve without everyone getting bored.

If the laundry is really getting you down concentrate on getting on top of that for the next week.

Once you have done that work out how much washing a week you have ( can you cut down?) and then work on how many loads a day.

Have a day for bedding
a day for towels
plus how many other loads you have

that way you think "Oh it;s wednesday must put a load of washing on)

The day after put the dry lot away ( or same day if tumble dried). and then never get off he treadmill otherwise the washing takes over

find systems that work for you. i do a light or dark wash whenever there's enough clothes to fill the machine and having 3 boys, wash only dirty/smelly things - if only a small mark live with it. laundry is sorted once a week and put away - wastes too much time to do it daily. iron as little as possible. i have a list of meals for the week. if people don't like what i cook then they don't have to eat it, but they don't get anything else. food shopping done online, unless i fancy mooching round shops. house isn't quite as hitlerish as it sounds! and if you can afford to get a cleaner. i use the slow cooker loads - sling things in whilst having breakfast. frozen veg quicker than fresh

think about when your energy levels are best - when i was on maternity leave i wizzed around in the morning and sorted the house etc then went out. if i tried to do work when i came home it took for ever as i was tierd.

internet shopping here!

also, see if there are ways you can reduce your laundry.

Sadly we live in the back of beyond and tesco don't deliver here [sob]

I have to make that trek (and tbh, it gets me out of the house so i sort of enjoy it)

Laundry is reduced as far as it can go, dp and i rewear clothes til they really need washing, as do the kids if their clothes last but dd and the baby tend to wreck an outfit a day... ds1 is the only one who regularily manages to rewear clothes.

Beds don't get changed too often (probably not often enough tbh but a superking, 2 singles and cot sheets take a few loads up all by themselves so tough.

Towels are the same, they're aired between showers/baths and only washed when i consider them to be in need.

Scarily we still seem to produce 2+ loads a day although tbf one load every 3 days is nappies.

dreamingofsun, your methods sound eerily similar to what i already do with regards food and clothes... do you have a routine for hoovering/mopping/major cleaning or do you squeeze it in when you find time?

i like the slow cooker idea... wonder could i convince dp that i need one?

Hi Tulips you would be very welcome on the flybaby thread - we started again today so its a great time to join in. If you like we will even tell you to get off the computer and do something constructive

If its not your thing I would agree the 15 mins per job and then move on idea. There is also a Home Blessing link from the flylady site which might help

Link to flybabies here

Home Blessing & other flylady stuff here

I'm also thinking about a slow cooker. Maybe Santa will bring me one (and a new bread maker please!)

have to confess i have a cleaner as i work 4 days a week, 3 kids, dog and husband who's away. she blitzes one morning a week and this is what i'd do if i did it. looks a mess the evening before but amazing once done. also i think of quickest way of doing everything and children have jobs. you are remote if tesco's doesn't deliver! guess you can't have a milkman either? our washing machine broke recently and we got one with a larger drum which is great. be ruthless and do what works for you

no milkman, and the closest shop is 5 miles away, i've racked up over a thousand miles on the clock just since the end of september

agree about the larger capacity washing machine, our broke in august and we upgraded to an 8kg one and it has made a differance, as had investing in a dryer (sorry environment)

i think my biggest issue is the big jobs like mopping and big clear outs.

I've made a list now and stuck it on the notice board of about 10 big jobs that need doing and any time i have a spare hour i'll tackle one.

easier said than done... this morning for instance i thought i had free but got a call at just gone 9 asking me to meet the playschool commitee in town to sort out some banking stuff at 10... had to rush to have a shower, get baby dressed and leg it in for that and while i was in town anyway i had a few other jobs that needed doing... i've just gotten home now and had breakfast and now i have to get a load of washing and drying on, get kids lunch, do a few hours study (baby's mood permitting) and then go back into town to finish the shoopping as the baby fell asleep earlier and i didn't want to drag him back out of the car to go to the supermarket.

yesterday was the same; drop kids off at school, study and do and experiment for my asessment while entertaining baby for a couple of hours, collect ds1, do a few jobs, go to resource centre to sort the playschool staffs paycheques, do a few more jobs, collect dd, drive an hour to the vaccination centre for their flu jabs, 2 hours there and then an hour drive back picking up chipper food on the way back as the kids were too sore and crancky and it was too late to cook, then dd was unwell most of the night and the baby was antzy too.

an hour to spare sounds like a miracle at this point!

makes me tierd just reading this! can you offload your kids to a playgroup or friend (doing same in return) and focus on cleaning at set time each week and blitz it? Or see what you spend most time on and conc on reducing that - sounds like driving might be your timewaster???? 'Nos' quite a useful word too. are there no local farmers shops or veg box deliveries? then you could buy tonnes of non-perishables once a month? i'm facinated as to where you live - thought supermarkets delivered almost everywhere

west of ireland, our closest tesco is 45 mins drive away and i'm outside their delivery area. no one else over here delivers shopping.

i think the best advice i've had is to try and get it done when my energy levals are highest, the baby is calmest in the mornings so if i set aside an hour each morning to tackling house stuff and focus on studying in the evenings when there are less distractions from kids i might get more on top of things.

the older two are at school and playshool each moring, it's the baby who makes things difficult then. he's spoiled rotten as he was in scbu when born so i've gotten into the habit of having him in my arms 24/7... i was much tougher with the older two which is probably why i never had this problem with getting stuff done when they were tiny, there's 18 months between them so realistically it should have been far harder to get things done then than now with just one baby in the house!