How to more efficiently delegate/outsource tasks I don’t want to be doing & enjoy my kids more
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
I didn’t know this! |
Anonymous
| I stopped trying re: dinner. Kids do get protein+veggie+carb; but veggies raw, protein bought pre-cooked (for example super market rottiserie chicken or take-out) and carb is rice or bread. Adults eat big lunch at work and salad for dinner. |
Anonymous
| I agree you need to pick somethings to “care less” about. If things like holiday cards or gifts for extended family or hosting thanksgiving are too much, it’s okay to just say so and stop. Same with cooking, you can scale back while still cooking at home. Look for ways to simplify or just eliminate tasks. |
Anonymous
| Outsource laundry and cooking and you’ll free up some time. On the weekends, you can focus on the family and not have any chores. |
Anonymous
She also works full time and has a deadbeat for a husband, give her a little grace. |
Anonymous
| Is this a joke? You have a nanny FFs unless your shitty husband just doesn’t do anything I don’t see an issue |
Anonymous
She’s talking about household chores and kid related tasks. The nanny is just outsourced childcare for their work day hours. |
Anonymous
| By 4-6th Grade, kids can be making their own dinner. It's good for them. Good for them not to be waited on all the time. |
Anonymous
| A few things. It helps to really lower your expectations for meals. Each meal doesn't have to be gourmet, Have a menu of five simple things everyone can eat and make those things only. If your husband is a griller, make him plan a meal once or twice a week that you can eat and have leftovers. Everything you make should be enough for leftovers the next night. If people won't eat leftovers, they can fend for themselves (this will get easier as your kids get older). Laundry - buy enough clothes so that you only have to do it once every two weeks. Husband can do his own laundry. The kids will soon be old enough to put their laundry away if you set it up so that they can reach things. Mine has been putting hers away completely independently since she was in 1st. Outsource everything your husband "says" he does so that he can help out more. I know you said you don't want to get into a discussion about that, but my husband said the same thing, and the "chores" he was doing were not priorities and we both agreed on that. And we outsourced the ones that were (i.e. yard, etc). He now cooks at least once a week, does all of his laundry and puts it away, and we take turns juggling weekend sports and grocery shopping. |
Anonymous
This is so sad |
Anonymous
NP but I don’t understand your comment. What is so sad about the post? I have a feeling you are REALLY going to dislike me… my kids ate Kid Cuisine (frozen dinner) on the way to volleyball / gymnastics practice last week! The horror! |
Anonymous
| The most cost efficient way to do it is to get rid of your cleaning company and hire an individual to come to your house 8-10 hours/wk to do laundry/cleaning/meal prep. |
Anonymous
|
Do you use all your annual leave every year?
I take a day off and spend them with my kid, once per month. That day is focused on bonding/happy memories and I do not do chores that day (other than of course I feed her). My husband sometimes joins sometimes doesn’t but we have a day where we swim or go to the big park or the zoo and it’s focused attention for her and something we talk about while I’m stressing on the commute the next day. I think enjoying our kids only happens if we prioritize it. |
Anonymous
|
Hey OP I run a local nanny/household manager agency. What hours do you currently have your nanny and what hours do you and DH currently work? Happy to take that info and offer some suggestions.
FWIW, I'm also a working mom of a 4y and 1y and my DH travels for work so I feel this post! |
Anonymous
|
Here are the things you listed and my thoughts on each:
cooking healthy meals for my kids, meal planning - As people suggested, make a rotating list of things that everyone likes and the ingredients you need for them so that you're not constantly reinventing the wheel every week. It really is ok to have a handful of meals and to rotate through them. Also, we make certain items every week that can be made into a ton of different things. For example, we make rice, black beans, ground beef, grilled chicken and steak, grilled peppers and onions, and guacamole. With that plus cheese, sour cream, salsa, and tortillas or chips we can make burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, nachos, and fajitas. (Obviously we love Mexican food). Another good one is rice, noodles, chicken, scrambled egg and tons of veggies that can be turned into fried rice, stir fry, pad Thai, dumplings, etc. We have several sauces (soy sauce, stir fry sauce, Gochujang, Szechuan sauce, Sriracha, and teriyaki sauce) and can mix and match those with protein and carb and vegetables for a ton of different Asian dishes. grocery ordering and shopping - Why are you both ordering and shopping? Just order and have it delivered, or have your nanny pick it up (she should be able to do that with the kids in the car because they bring it right out to you and load it in the car). You could also have your nanny do the ordering during the day because it's something that could be done while kids are napping. If you end up doing it, do the talk to text. Seriously, once I realized I could do that and stop typing in the foods it saved me time. cleaning up after cooking for everyone - Here you need to either decide how clean everything needs to be (yes dishes are in the dishwasher and others are hand washed and put away, but do you really need to clean every inch of the countertops off after every single meal?). I am a total Type A, OCD clean freak, but eventually I decided that I was just going to really wipe the counters down (as opposed to swiping them generally dry) a few times a week, instead of after every meal. Also, don't use plates that don't go in the dishwasher. (I also have a lot of friends who use paper plates and such, although I don't but we run the dishwasher every day, so that's another option). And think about how you can batch cook things like pasta sauces so that you're just cleaning up after that stuff once a week instead of multiple times. clothes shopping and returning - Pick four times a year to do this and do it then and only then. Have your nanny handle the returns. Seriously, little kids are fine to go the post office these days. You could also let her go early one day to give her time to do the returns on her way home (and I'd pay her for the mileage or offer to fill up her tank or something). holiday planning - Maybe you're just feeling this now because the holiday season is coming up, but this isn't something that should be happening year round, right? So if your husband isn't going to help with this then decide what YOU want to do and plan that. Let the other things go. Also, simplify. Your kids are young, so if you took this whole year off you'd still be fine. |