Prepping for the week ruins my Sundays.

[Anonymous]

I just finished making three dinners and two kinds of healthy muffin snacks for my 3 yr old and 1.5 year old. And did all their laundry and bed linens. I cleaned their rooms, organized their drawers, and cleaned their bathroom. I’ve moved on to getting myself ready for the week.

And I’m exhausted! DH had the kids outside and played all morning. Now the little one is napping and the older one is squealing with laughter playing Candyland with DH.

WTF am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

I know. It’s what they don’t tell you with all the “Make Your Weekdays Easier” articles.

[Anonymous]

Sit in the couch and watch a show - nice if dh to do that. You should have listened to a podcast or something to get some alone time in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just finished making three dinners and two kinds of healthy muffin snacks for my 3 yr old and 1.5 year old. And did all their laundry and bed linens. I cleaned their rooms, organized their drawers, and cleaned their bathroom. I’ve moved on to getting myself ready for the week.

And I’m exhausted! DH had the kids outside and played all morning. Now the little one is napping and the older one is squealing with laughter playing Candyland with DH.

WTF am I doing wrong?

You and DH need to split up the weekly chores!

[Anonymous]

I would skip two kinds of homemade muffins, if I were you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished making three dinners and two kinds of healthy muffin snacks for my 3 yr old and 1.5 year old. And did all their laundry and bed linens. I cleaned their rooms, organized their drawers, and cleaned their bathroom. I’ve moved on to getting myself ready for the week.

And I’m exhausted! DH had the kids outside and played all morning. Now the little one is napping and the older one is squealing with laughter playing Candyland with DH.

WTF am I doing wrong?

You and DH need to split up the weekly chores!

OP here. We do split up the weekly chores! And I still have exhausting Sundays!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would skip two kinds of homemade muffins, if I were you.

I SAH when my kids were little, and didn’t make two kinds of muffins for snacks every week. You need to prioritize the important stuff, OP. Your kids don’t care about homemade muffins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would skip two kinds of homemade muffins, if I were you.

OP here. I can’t. Picky eaters and allergies. Wish I could.

[Anonymous]

I get it OP. I actually structure my work week to avoid having to do all of this on Sunday (I take advantage of work from home and a flexible schedule to do most of it on Monday morning and Friday afternoon, and it generally only costs me a bit of extra work on Monday nights after kids go to bed). However, I am currently doing physical therapy twice a week as I recover from an injury, so I've lost that flexibility and am back to the Sunday crunch and it SUCKS.

But I skipped doing a deeper clean of their rooms (quick vacuum and got rid of some random debris, but otherwise it can wait) and just bought ready-to-eat snacks for the week. Sometimes you need to cut yourself a break. I'm going to take a bath this afternoon and read a book or something.

[Anonymous]

I know! Same here and I’m tired.

It also puts me in the workweek mindset so I lose a weekend day. I’m thinking about work and the kids schedules. Sucks.

[Anonymous]

The Sunday prep day is rough. One thing we started is rather than prepping meals on the weekend we make two meals at once on weekday evenings. It’s not much harder than making one meal and it doesn’t eat into the weekend as much.

[Anonymous]

Do your muffins freeze well? Double up on them next week and put half into the freezer. Same with a few easy to freeze meals next time you make them.

Or, buy an extra set of bedding for everyone. That way you can these during the week instead of washing and putting them right back onto the beds.

[Anonymous]

Use a cleaning service that does linens, there’s no reason for you to do them. Agree with a second set of sheets if you don’t already have.

I also have to do the homemade snack route so agree with doubling and freezing and if possible making two things simultaneously (muffins and oat bars made at the same time only add a couple minutes) I listen to an audiobook while baking.

Try to get into a week-day/night laundry routine otherwise laundry will eat your weekend. A kid old enough to play candy land is a kid old enough to help match socks and fold sheets. Otherwise folding is more audiobook time.

Bedrooms and playroom get cleaned once a week not counting the housecleaning day. It’s the same room/day and DH has each of the bathrooms on a similar touch up schedule.

Outsource as much of this as you can. No extra points are ever awarded to you because you scrubbed your own toilets, but more time with your kids does pay off.

[Anonymous]

Yeah freezer meals is a good suggestion. I don’t make separate dinners for the kids and I buy a lot of prepared grains and beans, frozen veggies, and pre made sauces and marinades. Not the most exciting food but I can make healthy dinner in 15-20 mins each night and then I usually give the kids one extra no prep side like fruit, yogurt or whatever.

I look forward to doing more elaborate recipes again someday when I don’t have two kids under 3….

[Anonymous]

+1 on the weekday night laundry.

I also do things like clean bathrooms during the week.