organised mums - your tips please

[squirmyworm]

I'm going back to work soon and will need to be really organised if I am to remain sane and continue to enjoy my time with ds.

any tips on how to cut down on the time I seem to spend doing those necessary but dull household/life tasks? I'm sure there are some corkers out there - help me out please!

My cleaner gets £7 an hour, paid directly to her. She is not only worth this, she is worth her weight in gold. We couldn't cope without her.

I always clear up etc when I am on the phone to other people, so I never sit down and do just one thing. I also iron etc while having 'time off' watching TV. Dh does his share, and he baths the kids while I clear up.

I go out to work, and I try to peel the veg I need for tea, before I leave for work.

My number one tip....get dh/dp to do more. Takes a while in the training but worth it. This is from the woman whose dh once put a loaf of bread in the tumble drier to defrost it

Dinny, I'm on the edge of Wimbledon too. I have always had a cleaner, even when I was an impoverished student! I am just rubbish at cleaning, and it brings me down to do it. We pay just over £20 a week - which I have always felt worth it (I used to cut back my drink intake accordingly when I was a student in order to afford it!).

Both cleaners we have had in this area we just put an ad in the local newsagents window and had to fight them off. There are loads and load around. I had to get the newsagent to remove the ad because we got too many responses!

I second the tip about planning your menu for the week in advance, it helps financially because we don't throw anything away or call for takeout because we are too tired to think!

That's another trick I used to do, too: prepare all the veg for tea first thing in the morning. On Sunday nights I used to even scrub & peel potatoes and put them into a tub of water in the fridge, ready to go for the next 2-4 days.

I definetely agree with the planning the meals thing and doing a bit of housework at a time..

read somewhere once if you set yourself small goals, ..ie.rather than thinking must have the house clean from top to bottom every week...concentrate on a room a day AND NO MORE...spending even half an hour tidying/ dusting/ cleaning the loo each day (with w/e off of course)..the work gradually unfolds before you...

Have been working nearly 5 days a week for 2 years (sometimes 4) do not have a cleaner and probably won't get one...it is possible to do it if you don't mind a bit of dust and just keep plodding on (and of course get dh/dp to help) put it this way I have only just removed cobwebs very high on the stairs that have been there since we moved here over 5 years ago...tbh...dh doesn't mind he knows I try and it can't be perfect (cleaner would be nice though)...just find it less hassle to do it self.

The other thing I would say, your squirmliness, relates more to work - build slack time in. I know your dh will be doing the daytime childcare but even so he may go down with a lurgy or suchlike. I always, always, argue for as long a deadline as possible (especially as work only four days a week) and then come in under that if at all possible; that way, if I do need an extension, I've got 'credit' in hand and a decent reputation for timekeeping usually (I'm freelance, but I think it applies across the board). It doesn't always work, of course - some deadlines just can't be negotiated and too many things crash on top of each other - but is a good rule to stick by.

Similarly, do NOT schedule things in for every moment of the day. If you have 'do washing' fixed in your diary for 8pm you will only feel guilty as you slump exhaustedly on the sofa with a nice glass of red wine. Far better to accept that you need to recharge for a couple of hours if at all possible, and slump in self-righteous glugginess instead.

Oooh, Fisil, wonder if we have bumped into each other... How old is your child/ren?

Here's my life as a solo Mum who work's full time.
Have a bath at night after dd in bed. Make sure I get all other things tidy like dishes in dishwasher, washing folded.
In the morning as soon as I hear sounds from dd, jump out of bed, prepare bottle of milk for dd (she's nearly 2 but mostly gets by with a bottle of formula for breakfast - as she get's fed almost on arrival at nursery) and maybe some cereal for me.
If she still sounds like she's waking up (talking to her toys in the cot) I get dressed and do make-up and maybe feed the cat.
THEN I go into her room, open curtains, give her milk while I change and dress her.
Then we're out the door quick-smart with no chance to muck around and I drive her to nursery (I have a carpark at work). I'm VERY lucky in that she often sleeps past 8am.
I must admit I do have a cleaner - 2.5 hours once every 2 weeks.
I'm also a lazy cook - and much prefer to cook something that we can both eat (too much effort to cook two separate dishes). I'm quite big on pasta (she loves gnocchi), macaroni cheese, stir fries and fresh fruit like melon.
If I'm unlucky and she wants out of the cot before I'm dressed etc I bring her into my bed with her milk and she lies there and drinks while I get dressed (helps if she's still in her "gro-bag" as she's less inclined to try and get off the bed).
I probably sound a terrible mother...

Get up 20 minutes earlier than you strictly have too (and go to bed 20 minutes earlier - to compensate for this). It might be a very early wake up time (mine is 6.00 when I've got a work day), but you'll feel less harassed

his thread really is a 'get a cleaner' thread, and I used to have one. But she left and I haven't had time to replace her. However we are starting to get it down to a fine art! At the weekend I insist that the whole house is done top-to-bottom, and dh has finally (after 8 yrs together) starting helping. I think having a complete eppy fit he has learnt that I NEED help!

Other organising tips are as said before:

dishwasher/tumble drier
Don't Iron EVER
Make food for more than one night/freeze in portions
Write a shopping list as you go through the week
Have a place for EVERYTHING! All my kids toys have various stacking labelled boxes, which makes tidying up easy, everything is simply thrown into the boxes. Also my kids know they aren't allowed to get out ALL the toys, they have to have just one or two boxes open.

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wow thanks for all these! you are all amazing as usual. will try the menu thing (been saving up recipes for ages so will get to use some of them rather than the 'toast again' regime I have been sticking to).

Mother Inferior you are either a mind reader or white witch - you put your finger on exactly what I suspect I'll do when I go back to work - ie stuff my diary so full I meet myself coming the other way. thanks for reminding me I MUST fight this!!

Flylady is fun!

oh and buzzy bee you sound like a great mum and I like your routine - just the sort of thing I need as it's all a blur at the mo

My life as a mummy slob

Don't overdo the cleaning, you'll just have to do it again soon.

Clean the bathroom while you're waiting for the water for your shower to warm up. Clean yourself and rinse off the bath at the same time

NEVER iron

Save washing floors for after painting sessions.

Tidy up and vaccuum while daughter is in the bath

Washing can be alllowed to slide as long as there is at lerast ONE change of child's clothes. Get child to 'help' fold clothes.

Develop a blind eye for dust.

I only do dishes once a day, in the evening. If the mess is too much I'll do some of them as I'm cooking dinner.

I tend to shop out of the 'reduced to clear' section of the supermarket, so planning meals is not practical, but I always have bacon, greenery, noodles, cheese, potatoes, onions and eggs in the cupboards. You can make an awful lot with that.

I have 'can't be bothered cooking' meals in the freezer and an effective microwave for defrosting.

I can confidently say that I have never overdone the cleaning, slug.

If you have to drop young kids off at childminders/nursery, always leave your dressing gown on over clothes until absolutely the last minute. After a few weeks of puke on every jacket I had I figured that one out.
Wear trousers not a skirt - less faffing about with tights/stockings.
When kids are older, always insist they are dressed before coming downstairs for breakfast. They can go to school without b/fast if necc (mine don't btw) but can't go to school in pjs.
Have a dh who does all the washing

I've noticed some of you say don't ever iron. I haven't ironed for a month, apart from school uniform, but I now have a huge ironing basket. What should I do with it? I can't bear to throw all clothes away and buy non-iron.

Droile, with shirts, if you get them straight out of the dryer while they're still warm and very slightly damp and hang up immediately, they won't need ironing.

Droile, just keep folding the clothes......I only iron DS's shirts.......nothing else!

oh and use fabric conditioner to reduce ironing. I too is emy integral garage as Laundry - dont have to look at it either.

sorry to be dull but I heard a couple of you say that you tumble dry clothes at night. Couple of years ago my tumble drier blew up and sent sparks all over the place. It was in the day so I smelt it immediately, but recently a family was wiped out in a house fire from - tumble drier left on at night whilst everyone asleep!!

blimey w

we have smokle alarms luckily....

I tumble dry during the day for that reason. Also, you don't have to iron if you get the clothes out immediately the tumble drier stops (if you let them get cool inside the drum then you get even more creases, unfortunately)

should have got one with an alrarm