Working moms, when do you cook, clean, do laundry, work out???

[Anonymous]

I have been a SAHM for the past 8 years. My youngest is about to finish kindergarten. I did some freelance work this year from home (only about 15 hours per week). I continued to do what I always did, take/pick up kids from school and extracurriculars, made meals, worked out (a lot!), took care of the house in general. But I'm definitely craving that every day adult interaction of a job. But I'm thinking if I drop the kids and get out around 4pm to pick them up, then we get home by 4:30, help them with their home work, then get them ready for their extracurriculars, and we are back by 5:30 to 6:30 most days. When do you guys cook??? My family is used to roasts and stews, oven roasted veggies and salads, and all super healthy stuff. I feel like we would end up doing a lot of eating out instead of healthy meals. And I'm guessing my nights would be spent picking up and cleaning the house and doing laundry? Is that when you do the cleaning if you want to leave your weekends free? And I have no idea when I would work out! If you are a working mom with children that do a lot of extracurricular sports/activities, when do you schedule cooking, house up keeping, laundry, workouts?

[Anonymous]

Well, your husband would be expected to pitch in more, share with drop off/pick up duty, etc., of course.

[Anonymous]

OP here again. My husband is on travel about 2 weeks of every month, so I am the one that takes care of kids/house. He makes good money, but I just feel it is time for me to go back to work.

[Anonymous]

Then you and he need to hire some help.

[Anonymous]

Roasts and stews don't sound too healthy to me. That's very meat centered. Anyway do you have a husband? My DH does all the cooking, helps with laundry, etc. We don't eat out at all during the week. We have a weekly house cleaner. We do laundry once a week, usually in the evening. It doesn't take that long since (I'm not wading it by hand after all) and we can fold laundry while watching TV.

Working out has definitely suffered, but I also work full time. I settle for walking the dog and weekend exercise.

[Anonymous]

Omg keep staying home of you guys can financially swing it. I had to go back to work and I'm exhausted and its taken a toll on our marriage. 15 hours of flexible freelance is great. Can you up it to 20?

[Anonymous]

I work out at lunchtime. I make simpler meals--stir-fries, pasta/quinoa/farro salads, slow cooker meals, etc. We eat reasonably healthy--lots of legumes and veggies, very little processed food. We have Chipotle once in a while. I clean/do laundry after the kids are in bed or on the weekend.

[Anonymous]

I have a flexible job and work from home on Fridays. My DH does a ton around the house - dishes, garbage, laundry etc. He takes the kids to daycare and I work out right after they leave, then shower and go to work. We get Peapod delivery and eat simple meals during the week. We have a house cleaner every other week.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids under 6 and work full time. We always eat healthy and I work out 3 times a week.
When I cook I cook large batches. So after the kids are in bed I might make a huge pot of curry. I put some in the fridge for the next day and freeze the rest. My freezer is full of healthy homemade food: curries, quiches, soups, etc. I cook some weekday evenings but mostly weekends. My husband is around so after the kids are in bed I go to the gym. I may also take some time on the weekends to go for a bike ride or swim.

[Anonymous]

My H does drop off, I get to work at 7am, leave at 3:30 get home by 4. I cook from 4-5. I grill a lot and roast veggies. I marinade everything on Sundays so I only have to pull it out and grill it. I do lots of crock pots and soups in the summer.

I work at home 1 day a week. I put laundry in the night before, switch over in the am, another load in am. I am done my whites and colors by 10am. I do sheets and towels throughout the day because they are quick and easy.

I have a cleaning person ever other week.

My H does his own laundry and we tag team on the kids laundry. My H does the dishes.

Nobody is in the house all day and we have sports 2 nights a week and about 3 hours of homework a night, so it does not get that dirty. Kids pick up before they go to bed.

We run all weekend long so I don't do much cleaning on the weekend. Maybe sweep the floor.

I work out at lunch on my work at home day or in the am before I go to work. I run and do Bikram Yoga. I run when my kids have practice sometimes. I would say I don't work out enough.

I don't have a whole lot of "adult" time at work nor do I go out to eat, ever. So I would not work for those reasons.

[Anonymous]

To work out - I do it either at 5:30 AM or 9PM.
(so most of the time I do not get this in)

We menu plan and use the crock pot.

Have help for cleaning the house.

The kids go to before and aftercare so we can work.

Getting ready for extracurriculars happens the night before after homework and out in the car when we leave in the morning.

[Anonymous]

There is a reason OP is a SAHM

[Anonymous]

We hire a cleaner once a week, we resisted it at first, but it is wonderful - Try to keep the house neat for the most part, but sometimes it explodes. At least we are always forced to straighten up the night before the cleaners come.

We do laundry in the evening, on weekends, or I throw a load in when i work from home.

We cook fairly healthy, salads take almost zero time. Roasting veggies is a few minutes to chop and like 20 minutes to roast. For the meat it helps to marinate the night before then dump in pan and bake. I use the crock pot for things like roasts anyways - so it doesn't matter if you are there or at work all day.

[Anonymous]

Get a mother's helper when you husband travels

[Anonymous]

cook - most nights, as quickly as possible. I prep as much as possible the night before and rely heavily on leftovers, crockpot, and cook-once-eat-twice strategies.
clean - as infrequently as possible I pick up, sweep, clear surfaces almost every night, but true scrubbing? Not so much.
laundry - DH does 95% of the laundry. We fold our own stuff. He leaves my clean stuff in a basket and I fold it in between tuck-in and mommy come check on me
work out - at 5am every morning. It's literally the only time I get to myself.