You're a parent of two children, what's your daily routine

[bardosya]

I am trying to get more organised and prepared for my return to work post baby no2. I have a 3 year and a newborn & two dogs and would like to know your routines.

I will be returning full time and my working hours are 7:30-4:30 + 1h commute each day.

How do you cope with cleaning and maintaining a social life? I am finding it tough and I am still on maternity leave

Cleaning: Flylady techniques

Social life - After a couple of years getting shattered and grumpy DH and I decided we should each take 4 hours every weekend (half a day each) to do what we wanted - meet friends, go to gym/shopping/hairdresser etc, and have 4 hours together (usually Friday or Saturday evening) with a babysitter, so we could go on a date or out for dinner with friends. We tried to avoid dinner or pub dates when we were knackered and had no conversation. Instead we went to gigs or comedy nights, to the cinema or theatre so we had some new shared experiences instead of relying on memories of fun we used to have before DC were born.

We also always took DC out for at least half a day too most weekends and did something we'd all enjoy (go to the beach, take a boat trip down the Thames etc) so that we had fun as a family. And we also tried to take one child each while we got chores done - so one of us would take one child and do the weekly shop, the other one would have the other child while doing laundry and hoovering etc. Much easier to keep one child entertained while you work than two (until they are old enough to prefer playing together.)

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Mine are 3 & almost 6, I also work 12h shifts, getting up at 3am, not getting home til 1900, a social life isn't really a thing, plus i hate people so not really an issue for me. Hopefully a social person will help with that aspect.

I can however help with cleaning and general life organisation.
Most importantly, write shit down, either a notes app on your phone, sheet of paper on the fridge, diary...etc, whatever is easiest for you because you, my day to day is controlled my checklists and spreadsheets, I'd advise not being that obsessive but the odd list of daily to-dos does help in not forgetting anything

Prepare in advance, meal planning/prepping for example. Clothing; I got two over the door storage pockets from Amazon and every Sunday I put 7 days of clean clothing, underwear and pyjamas in each pocket for each child, no faffing trying to find school uniforms or socks in the morning.

You have a 3 year old, get them to help out, I give my DD a damp cloth and get her to help me wipe tables down after dinner, she'll follow me around the garden picking up the clothes pegs when I get laundry in, apparently it's hilarious when I drop them. You can turn almost anything into a game at that age.

Get a cleaner.