Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellien C  Low standards, man!
My towels and sheets are only laundered once a month at best - or when someone pees on them.
It's not unusual for a weeks worth (or maybe just 3-4 days) of dishes to be in the sink.
Dh does grocery shopping on weekends. We have a cleaners who does floors and bathrooms every 2 weeks. They don't dust and they don't clean a lot, but they are cheap and it helps.
I cannot function on less than 8 hours of sleep and 9 isn't unusual. I don't wash my hair or shower every single day (esp in the winter) and I work in a formal office. My daughter only gets a bath once or 2x a week.
I just don't do a lot of the stuff other people seem to find essential.
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Yeap, lower standards, that's about all you can do. My youngest DD does not get a bath every night - though she'd love it, by the time we're all in the house and settled, dinnered and all, it's time for her to go to bed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dawningmama I'm at work (haha) so here's my quick list:
~routines, routines, routines
~prioritize. Clean house is not so important to me. When they were babies I never wore make-up or did my hair and I wore no-muss no-fuss clothing. Sleep was the priority.
~delegate. When someone offers help, take them up on it. When my mom came to visit, I put her to work doing laundry or helping with the chores we didn't get to.
~make a list of what you think needs doing daily and make a set of lists---A Morning List of 3 or 4 things that must be done before leaving for work, an Evening one of a similar number of things that must be done before bed.
~meal plan. This seems like a big job, but if you get into a groove it really isn't and it's a very good way to break up teh cooking and meal-clean-up. It will save you time, energy, money and heartache.
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Meal planning is a big thing, so it, I'd say a crockpot. It SURE helps to have dinner ready to go as soon as you get home.
Lower standards, that's how it goes. DH and I both work out of the house. We're basically gone 7 am to 6 p everyday. Once we get home, there's about 2 hours until DD needs to get to bed. She doesn't always get in by 8. We scramble to get kids' homework finished up (fortunately they usually do this at the babysitter's house, but sometimes they wait for our help), get dinner made, eaten... By that time it's usually 8 and youngest DD needs to get into bed. She loves baths, but rarely gets them unless by some miracle she's in there before 7:30.
Really, we don't get anything clean. Most of the time, our house is a mess. We recently got a dishwasher so we can at least keep abreast of plates, bowls and cups (and it sure helps). But we have pots and pans that sit for a long time waiting for attention.
I've been trying to squeeze in little bits of work when you can.
For laundry, throwing in a load after I get out of the shower in the am. That way I'm downstairs between 5:30 and 6 am. I get dinner prepping/crockpot stuffing/lunch making for DH and me started, if not on a great roll. I wake up the kids at 6, so after that it's all a race to get out the door as close to 7 as possible.
I'm starting a new who-cares policy for putting laundry away. Big Kids clothes go into their own laundry basket and so long as I don't have to wash somethign clean, who cares if they put it away. Heh. Our laundry will just stay in the baskets. At least towels are easy.
My oldest DSS will be responsible for his own laundry as of this weekend. DSD is a little too short yet to start.
There's no time for family fun, and rarer yet time for exercise. At least we have our weekends. I can't help but think that this isn't a healthy way of life. Really, it makes it feel like the best hours are spent away from family, and the worst hours are spent bossing people around and rushing. Some days I wish I could cut back on my hours in order to reduce this craziness. Or at least had a shorter commute, which would help life a bit.
My standards were much lower when I had babies/toddlers.
