Please give me your time saving tips working FT in an office

[Topofthepops9]

I'm going to be moving to an exciting new role in a few weeks with a huge pay bump, but after working remotely for 2 years this will be in an office again. I'm really looking forward to it, but a bit nervous about how we're going to juggle everything again now I don't have the flexibility of working around DD and doing washing on my lunch break..

Anyway, I'm looking for all your time saving tips. Best ways you've cut corners, so that I can spend as much quality time with DD now that I'll be working longer days. We've hired a cleaner that will come once a week for 2 hours, which takes care of the 'cleaning', and hopefully we can just tidy in between. DH has a day off in the week, so he will go and do the food shop/any other life admin tasks.

Anything else I haven't thought about?

Batch cook at weekends after kids in bed

Online shop in the evening, delivery at the weekend when you know you’ll be home

Have your hair cut at home in the evening don’t bother with salon

Get up very early and do exercise then whilst kids sleeping

Capsule wardrobe and whole household doesnt own any clothes that require ironing, makes everything easier

household planner shared with dh - everything goes in the diary!

Division of labour for household chores. Kids do their bit too according to age.

Multitask - you can do spellings and times tables with dc while you make dinner or peg out the washing. Dc can read to you or you can read to them while they are in the bath etc

Routine for keeping the house tidy every single day (declutter may also be helpful)

Curiously, I think it's just as easy to get stuff done when you're in the office, as your momentum just keeps rolling. Sometimes WFH can make your day very stop-start, which can make motivation difficult and procrastination too easy.

Things I do for my in-office days that definitely help my mornings and evenings run easier:

• Set my washing machine on a delay so it's ready to be hung out/hung up before work (assuming your comfortable with your machine being switched on when you're in bed)
• Prep on Sundays for the week ahead. For me, this means batch cooking a load of chicken so I have chicken for lunchtime salads through the week. I have those blue icepacks in the freezer so I can make up my little lunch box and it keeps fresh until lunchtime.
• I do a food shop on a Sunday so that I have things in for meals that stay pretty fresh through the week - check dates before you put it in your basket. This way, I don't need to go to Tesco on the way home every day which also saves me some money. However, my kids are teens and cook for themselves. I just need to make sure the cupboards are stocked, tricker if you need to cook a kids' dinner every night.
• Maximising your weekends is the best bet for making quality time through the week. The less time you can spend cooking and cleaning Mon-Fri, the better. It can make for rather dull weekends sometimes but for me, I get up early, crack out the boring tasks like cooking, cleaning, errands and by 11am, I can relax or head out for some fun.
• My kids have always done chores. Nothing strenuous; it started off at around primary 4 (around 8yo) with things like putting the dishes away, or sorting the washing basket into everyone's piles of clothes. They took days each. Now they're teens, they also have to walk the dog after school and take a daily turn of hoovering the livingroom. Whilst small tasks that don't elicit too much complaint, it makes my day far easier to have a couple less things to do upon arrival at home.
• I walk the dog/go to the gym early before work. This is because I value a relaxed evening more than a leisurely morning. My husband is the opposite but it works for our household. Find what works for you and don't be afraid to pursue the itinerary that lets you be your own person and not just mum.
• We have a keysafe at the backdoor (low down, out of sight). This was a blessing on more than one occasion when the kids got to an age where they came home form school themselves and forgot keys. Saved me rushing home from the office when they could just use the lockbox.

I'm sure more will spring to mind!

A colleague used to do all her online household admin - food shop, subscriptoon/insurance renewals, birthday shopping, etc - during her lunch break.

I used to save all my washing up for the weekends. Looking back, I think I'd try to get more done during the week to give us more family time at the weekends.

Make the most of your lunch break at work! Are you going to be in a city centre location? If so, do online shopping with click and collect in your lunch break (you probably won’t have time to do trying on clothes etc but can order things and then return after trying at home).

Do online food orders, perhaps order a delivery that’s for DHs day off first thing, you can have a regular order set up and you both can add to it as you think.

it might be easier to go into work earlier one day and get your hair cut local to the office than try to fit this in weekends/evenings near home.

if you commute by train/bus, use the time. This is life admin time.

oh and if you’ve not been in an office for 2 years, perhaps pay for a flu jab.

We send all towels and bedding to the laundrette. They go straight into a big bag, get collected by laundrette and brought back beautifully laundered and folded, ready to go into drawers. Before they offered collection, I would put the bag straight into the boot of the car and drop it whenever I was passing.

I've not had a full time office job since having children but doing the following helped.

I made little pouches to go on five clothes hangers. Each Sunday I would select and hang up five outfits for the week, with earrings and occasionally a necklace in the pouch. Shoes went on the floor beneath. It saved time in the mornings, and also prevented the dreaded non matching earrings due to being half asleep in the morning.

Batch cook where you can

call up now and ensure dental appointments etc are booked for after work hours

great you have a cleaner. Tidy every night before bed rather than leaving it until the day before they come. Don’t put it down, put it away!

declutter

ask DC to help with appropriate tasks

if I have birthday cards to write to friends I spend 20 minutes every few months and pre write, address and stamp the cards for the coming few months so I only have to pop them in the post nearer the time

have a stash of stamps, cards and the odd generic emergency present to hand to give to a dinner host/ kids birthday party.

i too set the washing machine on timer so i hang it out before work

ensure all bags and belongings are ready the night before. Don’t wait until the morning

slow cooker meals as they are then freeing up time in the evening and can make larger portions to save for another day