Working full time

[FlamingoPleated]

I'm about to go back to work FT and am feeling really overwhelmed. I worked FT with my first but the company was more flexible, I left earlier and had family helping out so I never felt I didn't spend enough time with him. Now with my second it all seems like too much for both of them. I've been working a bit for the past few months and they have been ok about it but not great.

I also don't know how I'm going to stay on top of cooking cleaning etc.

I've for some reason got real anxiety that it will be awful for DC which I know is wrong. But at the moment I get back just in time to put my youngest to bed and it feels really strange.

Any tips on how to manage or just similar experiences?

do you have a partner on the scene to help out?

Me and DH both work full time Monday to Friday. DS is 20 months now and has been full time at nursery since 10 months.

We leave the house at 7.30am and return at 5 pm (very short commute).

It was hard at first (been back a year) but we've got into the routine and DS loves nursery which helps.

My tips would be:

Choose childcare that you are completely happy with to give you peace of mind while working.

Agree between you and your partner (assuming you have one) who is picking up and dropping off when so that there's no mix ups!

Consider online shopping for food - I do most of mine online now and it saves lots of time.

Can you afford to send ironing out to be done? I do this as I was really struggling to keep on top of it.

I did a big 'spring clean' before going back to work and keep on top of it through the week - means I don't sit down much during the week but leaves the weekends free to do things with DS.

Keep meals as simple as possible - I batch cook some things during holidays and weekends so that we can have them during the week. Otherwise, stuff that requires little preparation time e.g. tonight, we had fish done in an oven bag from asda with new potatoes and broccoli - literally 5 mins prep and done in 20 mins.

My biggest thing is that I always tidy the kitchen and put the dishwasher on each night as I can't stand getting up to a messy kitchen.

Good luck with your return to work!