Best tips for juggling life!

[laurdi]

Hi all

I'm a single mum of DS age 6 and DD age 7 months.

Please send me your best tips, hacks, advice because I am just at a loss at how and when I'm supposed to do everything?!

I'm breastfeeding, baby is super clingy.
How do I juggle school runs, washing clothes, putting laundry away (rubbish with this), weaning, reading bedtime stories, bathing both kids, keeping house tidy, mowing the lawn, cooking decent meals, hoovering, baby groups, food shopping, showering, emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, changing the bedding,
Oh my god the list is endless.

DCs dad sees very little of them and contact is not regular or reliable so I am rarely without at least 1 child!

Help

I go back to work in October when mat leave ends and I just have a feeling life's going to be a bit of a shambles!

It’s really hard, but this stage doesn’t last forever. Can you afford to get any help, eg a cleaner once a fortnight? If I could, I definitely would.
When mine were your age I found routine was everything. Bedtime became fairly streamlined- bath together, read to both together while feeding the baby to sleep, baby in cot then trot big one off to bed or have half an hour watching TV together.
Wash on first thing etc.
The main thing is to get enough sleep yourself. It all went out of the window when I was tired. And on those days, I told myself it was fine if the house was a tip while I prioritised sleep.
It’s hard, but your children are very young. You’ll find your rhythm in time.

Be kind to yourself and expect domestic life to be s bit chaotic which is fine. Only focus on what you can control :)

Have 2 dinners per week when you can eat meals that are easy to whack in the oven like a pizza or 3 for £10 M&S ready meals that can be put in the freezer.

Your DD is young still so give it time. I found it easier going back to work part time as I got a rest.

When you go back to work will you all be out of the house eg at nursery/childminder? Because if you are the house will stay as tidy as it was when you left it, so there will probably be less housework to do overall!

My best advice is lower your standards and just care about you, your children and survival. Everything else can wait. Prioritise having a nap over doing laundry whenever you can! Take care of yourself. Don’t iron.

My tips are
Lower standards and get rid of as much stuff as possible...

Now I just need to take on my own advice...

My tip is to try and do something each day for tomorrow you. Tomorrow you will be very grateful! Anything from putting a load of washing on when you are knackered to prepping two meals so the next day your life is a bit easier.

I do a lot of picnic style teas as well as they are quick, healthy and suit everyone’s tastes.

I became a single mum when my dc was much older than yours but dc also had mh issues so it was not easy and I worked away a lot. Some good tips here already but here's a few I think helped:

1. Lower your standards, if dinners are beige and the clean laundry is in a pile on the bedroom floor for ages let it be. It's not important
2. The less stuff you have the easier life is. If you don't love it bin it, then you don't have to wash it/dust it/put it away
3. If you can afford to outsource something then do - is there a local enterprising teen who will cut your grass for £5 for example?
4. If people offer help take it. This is not the time for pride
5. Food shop online. You do not need to go to a supermarket
6. Efficiencies - eg both kids in same bath. Shared bedtime story. Story in bath if necessary. Do they definitely need a bath every day?

Eventually it gets easier and then the beige dinners and laundry pile reduce and you can batch cook to start to buy your future self some more time

It's a lot! I've only got one DC. On the weaning I'd say deffo baby led weaning. I wouldn't have had time or energy to make separate food / faff around with purees etc. I do batch cooking every now and again and stock up the freezer with dinners. Also interested to hear others tips! x

I was a single parent for17 years- I had to always have a plan and a set routine, especially when working.
Each evening I wrote daily lists for the next day that prioritised the most important stuff, going down to least important. Anything less urgent not done that day was moved to next day. The 6 year old can perhaps begin to do little chores to help you for rewards and they will become more independent as time goes by. It's not easy and can get seriously overwhelming at times, but its much more manageable if you can keep ahead with with prep & organisation!
Some good advice above and it's very important to look after yourself. Remember the inflight advice - if the plane's going down, sort your own lifejacket before the kids', same theory applies in life!

Oops meant to start a new thread!

The less clutter you have, the less time it will take to keep a tidy house. These are the hacks I acquired over the years.

0. You need to put yourself first sometimes, an exhausted parent finds it far more difficult to cope. Self care is very important, you need to be ok and strong as you are the one who keeps the boat afloat.

1. You need your sleep as much as your kids, the most important thing to do to avoid exhaustion is to build a solid, no negotiable bed time routine. They go to sleep before 8 and you too, not much later.

2. Batch cook, every time you cook something cook twice as much as you need and put half in the freezer straight away, once you build up a stock, that’s what you eat when you are too tired to cook.

3. Tidy each room before you leave it

4. Do toy rotation, ask them to choose their favourite 5-8 toys and put the others out of reach, repeat after a week or two when they get bored of them. This will reduce the mess in the house a lot.

5. Give a good clean to the bathroom while the children are in the bath

6. If you are exhausted at the end of the day, do not try to tidy up/clean, just go to bed and sort it before the kids wake up.

7. wake up an hour before everyone, if you are ready for the day before the kids are up, preparing them for the day and leaving the house is a breeze. You all will have a better day if you are not already frazzled by the time you leave the house.

8. Teach your kids to take turns, everybody has the same right to be at the front of the queue from time to time and that includes YOU.

9. Always have long life milk in the house and start using frozen vegetables, this will save you not only many trips to the supermarket but save you a lot of money by reducing waste.

10. Menu planing can save you £100s

Hope that helps 🙂