Q. for full timing working mummies, When do you do your housework?

[wangle99]

I have successfully got the job that I went for last week am delighted but this is the first time I've been working full time since before DD (who's 10) also have DS who's 4. and DH who might as well be the child for amount of use he is in the home lol

Do you draw up plans for housework? Do you do it in the evening/weekend? Can't afford a cleaner at the moment so we will have to do it.

How can I get through to DH now that I'm working full time I CANNOT do all housework too?

Any advice, tips etc gratefully received!

Try and do a wash once a day. Online shop. NO WAY do you want to waste weekend in a supermarket. Do a couple of hours on a saturday morning.

THAT'S IT. Flat is pretty grubby.

What was that word again? H...hh....housework?

I couldn't do the "one big push" thing once a week - prefer to do little bits every day. It does mean that something needs done every evening but only for 15 mins or so. One night I'll clean the bathroom, next night dh will hoover etc.

My 3 most important rules

1. Everything is shared 50/50 with dh (and small jobs for dc dep. on age)

1. Standards kept low - no hoovering behind furniture or cleaning stuff that's out of sight

1. No ironing if at all possible - I choose clothes that will not wrinkle and I hang up washing very very carefully. Dh irons shirts but I have not ironed anything for ages.

Couple of hours at the weekend. Disaster control during the week. Low standards. No ironing.

Ideal solution = cleaner

Ha - nearly forgot my 4th most important rule...

Load of washing every other day. I spent about two years trying to get all my washing done at weekends. It doesn't work. So I put on the machine straight after work and hang it up after dd goes to bed.

cant help you on how to get dh to do fair share im afraid - mine does stuff all, tho i work ft.
so....we have a cleaner once a week now but she is rubbish and am plucking up courage to fire her as could use the money. before i had a cleaner the routine went:
morning before work: put last night's washing in dryer (not essential but saves time pegging out if you've got one). 20 mins a day on jobs that can be cheerfully done in company of baby, a different chore a day (eg clean sink and bath while ds plays on bathroom floor; hoover living room while ds bothers dog; water plants and dust while carrying ds if necessary). surprising how much you can get done in short bursts: this way bathroom/loo gets cleaned once a week, so does kitchen, rooms at least get hoovered. more than that, it's over ambitious to achieve.
pm just before you go to bed: stack dishwasher after dinner and put it on (i know not essential but it bloody helped if you can afford one, else make your dh do all washing up), wipe down kitchen surfaces, put a wash on overnight (daily wash keeps everything under control). shove all toys in toychest to prevent anyone breaking neck. basic tidy eg chuck newspapers in recycling, pile stuff on stairs that's meant to go upstairs.
NEVER iron. dh irons own shirts (painstakingly, one at a time each morning, in man fashion). laundry gets chucked on bed in spare room, folded, and sorted when there's time (eg when ds has grown up and left home). nobody has cleaned beneath sofa since we moved in, i think.
once a week bins and recycling out. normal people make their dh do this.
on train on way to work: make shopping lists (shop online for food and all kid essentials like formula, babywipes, bulk buy stuff you constantly run out of like looroll and toothpaste), pay bills, household admin.
look helpless a lot in front of MIL and hopefully she will decide you are domestically incompetent and needs her help.
in general: lower standards drastically, rope in the dcs (a 4yo could clear own plates after dinner, fold laundry, pick up own toys) and accept any and all offers of help. try and avoid doing any housework at weekends - bar the last thing at night routine - as this is your only time for fun/family stuff. what hasnt got done by start of weekend in our house hasnt got done. tough. (i make an exception for gardening cos i like it.)
prepare to have an endless to do list that carries over from week to week looking exactly the same. do NOT get a puppy, or a house that needs doing up, or think you might write a novel in your spare time (or is this just me?)
good luck and enjoy the job! it IS manageable and nobody will die if you dont clean the windows.

I used to do all mine at weekends but now my dd is 6 and started telling me I didn't spend enough time with her.. now I do about 30mins to 1hr each evening once she's in bed and the change has actually made my house so much cleaner & tidier then when I used to cram it all into weekend .

I do what neds doing when it needs doing, that's my only rule

Wangle - presumably part of going FT is getting paid more? If so, regardless of what plans you already have for the extra cash, the first think I would do is to budget for a cleaner.

Now, I know you said you couldn't afford one - but perhaps you are just not prioritising that spend enough

I really think, that any extra money you bring in should go first to things that make working easier for you all as a family. Unless you are paying off substantial amounts of debt, then please do think hard before you decide you can't afford it

Congrats! I have recently gone back to work full-time and I plan to get a cleaner. Although in saying that the cleaner will not do washing, ironing, packed lunches etc so me and DP share all the chores. We do most of it on a Saturday morning and this seems to work fine. He goes gorcery shopping on a Sat morning and takes the kids. I stay at home and clean, wash and get everyones stuff sorted for the following week. We then have the rest of the weekend to relax. During the week, DP cooks dinner whilst I get the kids ready for bed (they have their dinner at my mums) and then when they are in bed, we eat dinner, have a quick tidy up and then relax for a couple of hours.

It is pretty full-on when you both work but if you share the chores then its not really that bad!!!

We just do ours between us in dribs and drabs. The house doesn't really get all that dirty when you're not around for most of the week anyway. Our house is always clean and tidy and yet we don't have a cleaner and nor do we spend ages hoovering etc. What I find useful is to do things immediately and opportunistically - ie wash, tumbledry and then fold and put away immediately (none of this ironing nonsense for us)/give the bathroom a quick wipe around when the kids are in the bath/hoover up any crumby bits straight away/tidy up the kitchen as you go etc

agree, you need a cleaner. wy should you work ft and do it with no help from the other adult in the house?

Well have completed my first full time week - first time I've done that amount of hours since March 1997!!!!

House is a tip, washing was done by DH but not hung up so became stinky and needed rewashing again. AND DH was off work for 3 days looking after children arghghg

Am going to look into getting a cleaner!!!! However I bought my sister a KFC for dinner and she's coming to clean my bathroom tomorrow - good deal or what

However am loving the job and definately the right move to make.

Wangle99............I have done more housework in the past month that I hae been working than I did when I was on ML........the less time you have them more you do!!!!!!!!!

I do mine at teh weekend. Sunday pm is hoovering time.