Prepping for the week ruins my Sundays.

[Anonymous]

Do you work from home at all?

[Anonymous]

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

+1. I can't bring myself to spend my entire Sunday meal prepping and doing chores. I spread laundry throughout the week and make easier dinners.

[Anonymous]

One of the many reasons we really scrimp to afford a good nanny. She does all this stuff plus grocery shopping. Because we have two in school, nanny also does meal prep for us and DH handles the rest of our dinners.

My weekends with my DH and kids are my own.

[Anonymous]

Can you do some of the petty stuff during the week? Wipe down the bathrooms while the kids are taking a bath for example?

Organizing drawers and bed kinens get done every week? Wow.

I don't understand why you're complaining? Your dh tuckered out the kids all morning, you got a lot accomplished, and now the 1 kid is napping and the 3 yr old is content.

And you still have time for yourself.

Families divide and conquer all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the many reasons we really scrimp to afford a good nanny. She does all this stuff plus grocery shopping. Because we have two in school, nanny also does meal prep for us and DH handles the rest of our dinners.

My weekends with my DH and kids are my own.

How much does it cost to have your nanny?

[Anonymous]

Cleaning service if you can afford it. Otherwise buy a roomba. Clean bathrooms with Lysol wipes. You can do this during the week. Why are you reorganizing drawers every weekend? Too much stuff or small space? Ruthlessly purge stuff. No more toys in the main play area than you can clean up in 15 minutes. Use bins that the kids can sort toys into. Hope you don’t fold their laundry—those hanging closet shelves are great for kids clothes and require minimal folding. If the muffins save you time and worry later, then you can’t cut that. But maybe you can bake and freeze? Then they can be baking during a weekday dinner time and you don’t have to lump it into the Sunday prep. If allergens worry you, can you buy the nice Amy’s organic gluten free whatever? To have a shortcut meal on hand (honestly asking—maybe your kids’ allergies preclude that—but thought it could be a good compromise).

[Anonymous]

Bed linens get changed first thing upon waking on Sunday mornings. Dirty linens go to the laundry room and get washed at some point during the week to be used the next Sunday.

Laundry is run every single day. The loads are small, they take a few minutes to fold after dinner. I have a new machine that does a good job sensing the load and doesn’t waste a ton of water.

Dishwasher is run every single night. I don’t care if you can fit a few more bowls in. Run it overnight and put away in the morning. You can probably use half the clean dishes for breakfast anyway.

Wipe down surfaces as you use the rooms. Kitchen after dinner. Bathroom during bath time or after I brush my teeth at night.

Floors are cleaned twice a week, but only mopped once. I vacuum, swiffer, then mop. I enlist DH to perform the swiffer portion and that allows me to mop right behind him. I then set him off to do a quick dusting. Whole thing can be completed in less than an hour during nap time if you have help and keep it moving.

Meal prep…you gotta let this go a bit or get a deep freeze and dedicate a day per month to it. I’m in the process of making and freezing 48 biscuits right now, so I feel you. I would even consider taking a day off work each month to tackle this without losing your weekend. Search around Pinterest and you’ll find hundreds of complete dinner recipes that can be made and frozen.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a dream to be able to get all that done without children underfoot!

I keep multiple sets of sheets so I can wash during the week after the kids go to sleep - it’s easy to run a load and switch while finishing work. Definitely better to do this throughout the week than tackling all at once.

For meal prep, I hire a baby-sitter one Saturday for about 6 hours. There are four freezer meals I make, and I prepare them all in bulk. That doesn’t take the whole six hours so I have time to get other tasks done.

We also have cleaners every other week so I don’t have to deal with cleaning chemicals while watching a four and one year old.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s baloney. You definitely can skip the muffins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s baloney. You definitely can skip the muffins.

She says she can’t. Stop pretending to know what another’s needs are. It’s so boring, PP.

[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?

Involve your children in these things - the older one at least. A 3yo is definitely able to clean their room, with assistance. Also, what does your husband do, chore-wise? Someone watching the kids while someone preps for the week could work, but it sounds like he gets the fun parts and you get the laundry and bathroom cleaning.

Maybe you'd like to be playing Candyland right now, instead of feeling exhausted.

[Anonymous]

Make triple batches of the muffins and freeze them.

[Anonymous]

First of all, I don’t see how you can be “splitting” the weekend chores when your list has meal prep, laundry and cleaning. What the heck is he doing? So my primary response is to check your chore balance cause it must be off.

Beyond that:

1) Try breaking up the day a bit. Day of endless childcare? Slog. Day of endless chores? Slog. Day with some of each? Much more appealing.
2) Lower your standards. There have been a few great threads on this lately. I think it applies to you. A lot of what you’re doing is optional if you really think about it.
3) Specifically, I would only wash linens monthly.
4) Get a cleaning service for as often as you can afford, and even if that’s monthly, STOP cleaning in between besides post-dinner cleanup.
5) Throw away or donate half the toys. Then put half of what’s left away and rotate toys out monthly. Picking up and putting away every toy in the house with two kids those ages should take 10-15 mins max.
6) Simpler dinners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s baloney. You definitely can skip the muffins.

Oh hey someone without a highly allergic kid! So great to see you! Good thing you’re here to be irrelevant!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bed linens get changed first thing upon waking on Sunday mornings. Dirty linens go to the laundry room and get washed at some point during the week to be used the next Sunday.

Laundry is run every single day. The loads are small, they take a few minutes to fold after dinner. I have a new machine that does a good job sensing the load and doesn’t waste a ton of water.

Dishwasher is run every single night. I don’t care if you can fit a few more bowls in. Run it overnight and put away in the morning. You can probably use half the clean dishes for breakfast anyway.

Wipe down surfaces as you use the rooms. Kitchen after dinner. Bathroom during bath time or after I brush my teeth at night.

Floors are cleaned twice a week, but only mopped once. I vacuum, swiffer, then mop. I enlist DH to perform the swiffer portion and that allows me to mop right behind him. I then set him off to do a quick dusting. Whole thing can be completed in less than an hour during nap time if you have help and keep it moving.

Meal prep…you gotta let this go a bit or get a deep freeze and dedicate a day per month to it. I’m in the process of making and freezing 48 biscuits right now, so I feel you. I would even consider taking a day off work each month to tackle this without losing your weekend. Search around Pinterest and you’ll find hundreds of complete dinner recipes that can be made and frozen.

Np here. I feel like I need you to help streamline my life