Your Schedule / FLYing while WFHing - Page 2

[EdnaMarie]

I know the carts but the stuff for the 3 people in my household fits in one.

For two weeks?

HOW? Mine was piled high for one week last time. And the pantry is already stocked and we have meat at home so that was only dairy, vegetables, fruits, and some other grains like granola.

I shop at Globus.

Maybe because I cannot spend time organizing the items in there with a baby trying to escape / run away / whatever every five minutes.

[madskye]

I only have one DD, she is five, and I've had some kind of daycare/childcare/preschool and now kindy since she was 3 months old. Now I work from home 30 hours a week and this has basically been my routine for the past 3 years. I am a sales and marketing director, so I manage reps in the field and create materials for them, like catalogs and sell pieces and organize trade shows, etc.

Basically, I just clean as I go and I do one big sweep of the living area before dinner.

Here is yesterday:
5:30 AM DH leaves
7, wake up, let dog out, have my own coffee, check work email, pack DD's lunch
7:30 cook bacon and eggs for DD's breakfast. Put pot and pan in sink to soak while we eat.
8am get DD dressed and toothbrushed
830am clean the pots and pans and breakfast plates
8:45 go out to wait for bus
9am-3 start working from home in earnest, maybe do some laundry, take a shower, run errands, walk dog, unload the dishwasher, waste time here.
3:15 DD returns from school, we have a snack together. Put cups and plates immediately into dishwasher.
4pm DD throws screaming tantrum, spend the hour trying to recover. This has been a pretty regular occurence for the past two weeks so I am thinking she actually needs a nap after school or some incentive for quiet time.
5pm DD either has TV TIME or goes outside to play with the neighbors. I relax a bit, drink a cup of tea, or walk my dog again.

5:30 I start to cook dinner. Again, clean as I go. Before we sit down to dinner 90% of the pots are clean or soaking. This is my DH's concept, and I have to admit, it really helps a lot. I think I'm a good cook, but I cook pretty simply. Last night we had rigatoni with broccoli and pesto, and pesto and white wine chicken tenders on the side, because DH doesn't eat meat. So, one pot, one pan, one big pasta bowl and three plates to clean up.
6:15 DD and I do a quick clean up of the entrance way and living room, so that when DH walks in all is tranquilo. I do not, however, greet him with a martini while wearing an apron. I just find we get along better if I don't have to hear him puffing and sighing about DD's toys all over.
6:30 pm DH returns home and we eat
7:00 ish clean up dinner/take dog for a walk (she's only 10 months old and is a crazy black lab.) or put DD in tub or shower.
7:30 get DD ready for bed.
8pm stories and lights out.
11pm--set coffee with timer for the next morning.

A lot of people say working from home is the worst, but it really works for me I actually do feel pretty balanced. I am hoping to do some PTO work with DD's new school. Kindy is all new to us. Keeping the dog exercised is probably the most work. DD is also starting ballet next week, one day a week, so we'll see if that makes us crazy on Tuesdays. I would not sign up for more than 2 activities a week though, she obviously needs more down time than she has now, even.

I don't do a lot of mopping--I probably hit the bathroom and the kitchen for a deep clean once per weekend, and I change the bedsheets about once per week. DH handles 99% of the outside stuff.

Editing one last time to say, I'm sorry about your marriage too. I love my DH, but I think being married is really, really difficult even when both people try. Hang in there. I agree that routine is a working moms best friend.

[hakeber]

Oh Ednamarie,

We also severely limit the junk. Each kid has about three toys they play with in a regular basis. The rest are in a box on a high shelf (out of sight out of mind).

I rotate them out periodically, but DS's favorite is the Thomas the tank train set (lots of pieces but I count it as one toy as it all fits in one carrying case.) and Emily's is this crazy lamaze elephanty thingermajig.

DS has his tracks all over the living room once a week, on the weekends only, otherwise he has to play in his room and he can do whatever he likes as long as he doesn't block the doorway and there is a clear path from his bed to the door in case of emergency.

DD's toys just go in the play pen.

We had a major kull when we moved here and we plan to keep it under control this time.

[pupsnelda]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

For two weeks?

HOW? Mine was piled high for one week last time. And the pantry is already stocked and we have meat at home so that was only dairy, vegetables, fruits, and some other grains like granola.

I shop at Globus.

Maybe because I cannot spend time organizing the items in there with a baby trying to escape / run away / whatever every five minutes.

No, what I meant is, I do once a week a large shopping sessions and this stuff fits in one cart. And the I buy little thinks during my lunch break, like some bread, missing milk, a few vegetable here and there, next day some cheese and so on. Another point which I forgot to mention is that both children get lunch at school, which leaves me with breakfast and dinner to prepare as well as their snacks for school.

[EdnaMarie]

Oh, yeah, I can fit one week in. Another poster said she did two weeks at one time and I was like... maybe with the huge Fred Meyer mondo-carts, but not here.

I have to pack my child's school meals, not that that's a lot in terms of volume.

[EdnaMarie]

Oh, yeah, I can fit one week in. Another poster said she did two weeks at one time and I was like... maybe with the huge Fred Meyer mondo-carts, but not here.

I have to pack my child's school meals, not that that's a lot in terms of volume.

Too bad I don't get a lunch break now. Working from home I will have one four-hour block without kids. Every other waking moment it will be me and kids 100%.

[claras_mom]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

When do you prep meals? Bake? Who does the shopping and when?

I'm fortunate right now to have a kitchen that isn't huge but has a lot of well-planned storage space. So I keep a really well-stocked pantry. We also have a deep freezer for meat, extra bread, and some random other things. In other words, I keep stuff on hand for meals that are easy to cook. The hardest thing to remember is thawing the meat the night before. A pretty typical meal would be chicken or pork braised with root vegetables in a tomato based sauce, served over rice or pasta. Raw veggies on the side for those (dd1) who don't like cooked vegetables. Dh and I buy milk, cheese, fresh produce, good bread, restock staples, etc. as we go. When there's not a "big" shopping trip, it's a lot easier to do it with kids, or on the way someplace else. I bake infrequently.

We run the dishwasher as soon as it's full. Dh has also lately been doing the rest of the dishes--probably, it's driving him crazy to see the mess, because I don't always get to them.

anyway, here's typical day:

6:45 alarm goes off. Dh gets up/showers/dresses. If the baby is still nursing, I hang out until she's finished and/or awake.
7:00 we start working on getting dd1 up for school. Coffee, breakfast, making dd1's lunch, getting everyone dressed, and my shower all happen here.
8:00 out the door for school, daycare dropoff, and work.
8:30 I'm back at the house, having walked back after the bell rings for kindergarten. Don't know how long I'll have to do this. One morning a week, one of us takes a two hour shift in dd1's classroom.

Once the university term starts, I'll go straight from here to campus and be there until 4:00.

4-4:45PM - pick up kids at daycare and afterschool program

4:45 - 7:00 - Dinner, homework, nursing the toddler.

7:00 - 9:00 - dishes, baths, stories, bedtime, random quick picking up; maybe a load of laundry if it can't wait until the weekend.

I'm in bed by 10, because my sleep is still interrupted by dd2, and I don't function well if I don't have at least the opportunity for 8 hours.

Laundry, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, and all that happens on the weekends. We try to keep things swept up and picked up during the week. I have bins for toys, a trash can in every room, readily accessible laundry hampers. So it's easy to get the clutter up.

I've had the luxury in the last month of picking dd1 up a little earlier, which gives us time for homework/park/occasional playdates before picking up dd2.

Sometimes when the house is looking particularly unkempt, I try to do a 20 minute thing. I set the timer for 20 minutes and see how much I can accomplish in that time frame. And we do have someone else look after the yard.