How do you manage your time/house chores whilst working full time? Any tips?

[Memyself212]

So I work full time but it's more of a hybrid job which requires me travelling 2-3 days a week and 2 days working from home. I am newly married and love spending time with my husband especially my evenings and weekends. However, I still cannot get my time management sorted in terms of domestic house chores cooking, cleaning and mainly the ironing etc. Any tips?

Do you guys wake up early to get these things done e.g. cooking before work or what? Please give me some advice.

I want to continue working after having a baby too and me and my husband are thinking about childcare but I am still conscious how to manage my time and 'have it all' really. I need to get my time management 'locked in' before I have a baby.

I really love working so please dont say to leave my job. My husband helps me around too around the house but like I said I cant get my time management sorted.

Maybe its the newly wedding feeling :)

I'll be reading this thread for myself!!
My quick wins are
Slow cooker
Cleaner for busy areas and bathrooms
Window cleaner
DH sorts washing
I do must of the shopping but with a scanner (brilliant!!)
I also don't sweat the small stuff like dusting (rare!), cleaning cupboards, ironing (rare!) get kids to help ;bribery)
DH does do his fair-ish share too

That's it I think- so open to other suggestions as my life is manic 🤣

We have a cleaner once a week. Also have a robo hoover one of runs once or twice a week (I like to do it in a Teams meeting as it makes me feel super productive).

I put a wash on in the morning, my husband hangs it out whilst I’m making dinner.

We do all our shopping online.

Husband loads the dishwasher after dinner and tidies the kitchen. I empty in the morning if wfh, or whilst cooking if working in the office.

My husband does the bath/bed routine with the toddler whilst I cook, often with a glass of wine watching Netflix.

We then sit down to dinner around 2030-2100 and catch up.

That’s all we do, neither of us does any housework at the weekend, we like to get out and about with our toddler. I don’t feel like I spend my evenings doing chores either. We both work full time, approximately 10hrs a day each.

Your husband doesn’t help. He lives there too. Why is it your responsibility? If you’re thinking like this now God help you when kids come along! He should be doing 50%, even if you feel like you’re managing (which you’re not as you’re asking) as most men start off better than they end up. Once kids are on the scene it’s so much harder working and doing chores, aswell as picking up from childcare or school, doing homework, running around after kids

I wfh 8-4 or 9-5, and much prefer doing housework in the mornings so I can laze about at night / weekends. Dinner is done anytime from lunchtime to evening, depending on what it is.

It’s just me and my teenage daughter, which makes life relatively easy. An hour or so every other morning keeps my weekend free.

This morning I was up just before 6am - unpacked dishes, wiped down kitchen counters and floor, cleaned bathroom floor/ taps and mirror, folded clothes washed last night and swept hallway.

Tonight’s dinner was marinated last night, put in the oven earlier so will be ready by the time I get back from picking her up in half an hour. That will cover tonight and tomorrow’s dinner.

After dinner I’ll clean kitchen, shower and put my feet up by 8/830.

I wash a few times a week, and will iron while Netflixing at night.

My daughter cleans her room and changes her bedding on Saturday, occasionally irons her uniforms (I’ll help her if she’s had a busy week) and her other clothes as she goes.

Little and often.

I cheated.

I hired a cleaner bi weekly - a decent one for 4hrs.

Robo vacuum that runs at night time just have to sweep down counter tops.

My DH is the laundry man (we have two small children one with reflux - for mums who know - we go through a lot of clothes)

Declutter regularly

Honestly establish good habits now with an equal division of labour, otherwise you're making a massive rod for your own back - you have no idea how tiring small children are, even if you think you do.

You work full-time, he works full-time - household chores should be 50/50. Simple as.

Having a penis is not a disability.

He helps you as in does a 50/50 split without needing to be told or you redo it or he helps as in "I've just vacuumed for you babe in our shared home that I equally make messy, I deserve a nap or a blow job"?

Don't have kids yet if you think your husband 'helps' OP.
I was in this mindset due to my upbringing and went back to work part time after dd was born and end up doing fucking everything as we had both got used to this while I was on May leave. Madness. I can't even pin it on DH as I'd run round doing everything while he was at work.
DH and I now sit down and run through a daily list of what there is to do. I WFH so will do a wash etc and put dinner on while he's doing the nursey run, but it's not all ok me and my days off are for DD childcare with an appropriate amount of housework, not to get absolutely every little thing done.
No way in hell will DD grow up thinking it's her responsibility and her husband is helping her out.

Batch cook so minimum one night a week you can get something from the freezer.
Online shop for regular/bulky items.
Reduce ironing as much as possible. Buy quality non iron shirts, buy non iron casual clothes eg Rohan, fleeces etc, and non iron bed linen.
Do a major declutter and organise so everyone knows where things belong and rooms can be tidied and cleaned easily.
Delegate some specific jobs to DH. For example washing kitchen floor once a week, hoovering stairs and hall, buying fresh fruit salad bread and meat or fish on a specific day, loading dishwasher every evening. Also discuss and split other tasks. Share cooking and clearing up.
Always do some specific jobs on the same day every week. I clean my en-suite and tidy and hoover our bedroom on a Monday every week. You don’t have to do this with every task but with some it’s helpful.

Cooking: i’ll do more elaborate meals when I wfh and on days in the office, quick ones such as burgers/stir fry/pasta bake.

cleaning: partner works shift so sometimes he will do the cleaning on his weekly day off or i would normally use my lunch break to start some cleaning and finish after work.

groceries: get an annual pass and get this delivered.

washing: most of it done when wfh other wise schedule your laundry when in the office so you come home it’s ready. I also bought a washer/dryer recently, saving my life in winter.

90% of the time it means no household chores over the weekend unless little diy projects

I say your husband needs to work on his time management and sort out all the cleaning, cooking and ironing. You can help him with it a bit. If he can't cope, he should give up his job to devote himself to looking after the house and his wife.

Get how wrong your thinking is to most of us? Where did you get these ideas from?

Both my husband and I are awake before 5am, I shower, do makeup and get dressed.

Before work we clean* *the house, dishwasher gets loaded, all surfaces wiped down, hoover downstairs and bathroom upstairs/downstairs loo all get cleaned daily before work.
Our evening meal depends on the kids hobbies but if I cook things like a bolognese or a curry I make enough to freeze so we always have a decent meal ready to heat up on extra busy nights.
Laundry is never ending, my husband is currently folding the second batch of dry laundry today.
Any other life admin (hate that phrase) gets done on my lunch break at work.
If you want to 'have it all ' unless you can afford a massive amount of help something will have to give, in our case it was sleep we gave up.

Aw congratulations on your recent marriage OP.

I try and do two quick jobs every morning, and spend probably 10 mins on chores every morning, including the breakfast tidy up and kitchen wipe down.

So, for example I’ll strip the beds, and take the bins out on my way out to work. Or do a quick round with the mop and chuck something in the washing machine.

I make lunch the night before.

I clean the bathroom on hair wash days, so every 3-4 days, when I’m already in the shower - I take all the cleaning things in with me and give it a good scrub and bleach as I’m getting out.

Order groceries online. Chuck away any old food the night before the groceries arrive so you’ve got space to put things away.

And I’ve given DH dog walking, dog feeding, gardening and he is supposed to deal with the dishwasher but he doesn’t bother so that’s something else I do every morning.

I am pretty selective about ironing, not many things really NEED ironing, and if they do, I give them a super quick once over.

I don’t really struggle, but I don’t work long hours, I’m only out 8am-4pm, plus the nanny usually does the baby’s laundry for me - bonus!

edited to add: no, I don’t wake up early, I get up at 7am, and get me and baby both up dressed and fed, do my chores and leave for work at 8am. I cook every night, and we eat at 5ish with the baby. Us adults will have a posh ready meal like an M&S lasagne a couple of times a week and I cook quick meals the rest of the week like fajitas, steaks, salmon.

How much mess and how much cooking can two people make?
Do it as you go. Clean the kitchen after cooking, clean the bathroom after showering/bathing/while cleaning your teeth, tidy your bedroom before going to bed, stick the washing on when you have enough for a load.

I really love working so please dont say to leave my job.

No one is going to tell you to quit your job!

i don't mean to come across snippy, but number one priority would be to expect your husband to pull his weight and do his fair share. This is not him 'helping around the house' or doing housewok for you or helping you out. He is a grown man who needs to do a reasonable amount of household chores. Sit down together and look at the chores and who should do what and when. the general rule is that both of you should have equal leisure time. definitely get this sorted before you have children.

Totally agree - declutter regularly. Have fewer things to ‘manage’.

I try to do 15 minutes everyday. Currently on maternity leave with DC2 and it’s hard juggling it all. DH WFH so he also tries to do the same.

There are jobs he tends to do (eg unloading the dishwasher) and there are ones I tend to do (cleaning the bathroom) just due to our schedules and others that are shared more evenly (vacuuming and laundry). We share the cooking fairly equally.

Looking after a baby is a full time job btw. And they don’t tend to come with a routine/schedule so whatever you work out now is unlikely to work when a baby arrives.

Good luck.

Lower expectations. You can't 'have it all'. Don't spend right up to your means so you both have to be full time after children.

You don’t help in your own home.

you do your fair share, and don’t rely on your partner in life to do more, cos you don’t like housework, and find it boring

you can negotiate, and play to your strengths, with one person doing all the laundry and the other all the food shopping and cooking and meal planning, and the sharing the rest, but it is shared equally.

He isnt helping you. It's sharing the work, he lives there too.

Have a look on this online tool https://www.starlingbank.com/resources/tools/share-the-load-track-and-compare-your-household-chores/ to work out his its currently shared and how to even things up. It also includes the mental load.

Your DH doesn’t “help” because, last time I checked, he creates just as much housework as you do, and it is not, in fact, 1965. My very strong advice to you would be to focus on your career and earning potential and outsource as many domestic duties as you can. So very many husbands are just lovely…..until they are not, and you become yet another thread on here, tied to a shit husband, by children and lack of finance. Don’t do that! Earn well, maintain your financial independence and BEFORE you have children, set in stone how that will look in terms of division of labour. And have a back up plan in case he doesn’t go with what you agreed.

Cleaning a house with two adults can't take long surely, as long as you're both considerate and keep things vaguely tidy as you go? Someone cleans the bathroom while the other vacuums, and everything else (kitchen surfaces, hob, general tidying etc) gets done quickly every evening/as you go.

When you say travelling 2-3 days a week, do you mean staying away, or long commutes? If long commutes, either your DH cooks or you cook something the day before and make enough for leftovers.

Ironing for just two adults also can't take that long, especially if split between the two of you. I don't iron but as a teenager ironing everyone's clothes was my chore. I'd stick a film on on a Sunday afternoon and get through it. That was for both my parents and 3 teenagers.

I don't really understand what's taking the time tbh.

*all of this is shared between me and dp

Washing: put it on an overnight wash and hang out first thing in the morning. Washing bed linen would be a weekend job.

Food: aim to batch cook on the weekend so there's always something in the freezer, have several quick recipes for week nights. I have one day off a week looking after preschoolers so do supermarket on that day, as it's an outing for us all. Take it in turns to cook the food. For lunch I usually take soup and crackers and DP just sorts himself out.

Cleaning: run the hoover around when we can, make sure washing up is done before bed as it's depressing coming downstairs to it in the morning. Do more cleaning when we can i.e. weekends - but generally have lowered our standards.

Childcare: each have 1 day/week at home with preschoolers. He does nursery drop offs, I do pick ups on the other 3 weekdays. Take bedtimes in turn. He does swimming lessons with older one.

Garden: weekend job, do what we can but keep it simple.

Other bits - washing cars - as and when- generally we each do our own, as he's a bit fussier about his. Managing finances - evening job - mainly me. DIY - mainly dp, weekends, any days off. Ironing - generally don't iron but few bits would probably be an evening job.

Generally we manage by doing what we can when we can, lowering our standards and being respectful that each of us are doing our best and nothings perfect.

Don't iron.

Get a cleaner. Mine comes on a Friday so house is lovely for weekend. Means I get to enjoy my weekend versus spending hours of my Saturday sorting! So worth the expense!

More than 30 years ago, we decided our time investment in the relationship would be equal. I took on shopping, cooking, doing the washing and changing the bed. I like cooking. DH took on lightbulbs, outside paintwork, bins, removing cat gifts. We share the dishwasher.

I wasn't brought up to clean. DH didn't want to. We hired a cleaner, who also did the ironing, and a window cleaner. We subcontracted things like oven cleaning, some gardening, even the Christmas trees.

As time moved on and DC arrived I took on the DC and school admin stuff. DH by then was quite successful and our input was still equal.

I went back to work when the youngest was settled at school and subcontracted some more.

TBF I had run my own home for 10 years before getting married and had a cleaner then.