Weekend chores

[waverly]

How do you manage all the weekend and weekly chores? For example we decided to try insta cart for grocery delivery but she ended up swapping maybe 7 items and I am getting all these text massages with no time to really look at the item I just say ok send it. I didn't realize so many things in the website were different than what the store has. I would almost prefer peapod maybe but I think h might like insta cart better. It might end up being better than a 1.5 hour trip Sunday at 5 since H is a procrastinator.

I know many of you do laundry during the week. But I usually can't get to it. Any creative ideas for laundry besides a load a day.

[indyrowergirl]

Housekeeper every other week for anything but wiping up.
Grocery pick up on Friday night (on the way home from work.) Meal plan/Order those groceries Thursday during my lunch break.
Errands as much as possible throughout the week, but otherwise on Saturday. (Or Amazon.)
Sunday is designated laundry day. I buckle down and do it all at once.
Sunday is also food prep day. I do a crap-ton of work on Sunday to make the rest of the week go smoothly.
And honestly, the motto around here is no surprises. If it's not on the calendar in advance (so I can prep for it over the weekend) it likely isn't going to happen. Not ideal, but it's the only way I can keep the ship afloat.

[waverly]

Jul 15, 2017 15:10:06 GMT -5 indyrowergirl said:

Housekeeper every other week for anything but wiping up.
Grocery pick up on Friday night (on the way home from work.) Meal plan/Order those groceries Thursday during my lunch break.
Errands as much as possible throughout the week, but otherwise on Saturday. (Or Amazon.)
Sunday is designated laundry day. I buckle down and do it all at once.
Sunday is also food prep day. I do a crap-ton of work on Sunday to make the rest of the week go smoothly.
And honestly, the motto around here is no surprises. If it's not on the calendar in advance (so I can prep for it over the weekend) it likely isn't going to happen. Not ideal, but it's the only way I can keep the ship afloat.

Groceries were already delivered so I do like that part. Friday night or Sat is better for me than Sunday because then we have food for the weekend since my meal plan goes until Thursday/ Friday. I only do things once a week too so it's less likely that I will grab something during the week. 1 drugstore run otherwise everyone is out of luck (unless needing medication).

We do Sat/Sun laundry and do a crap ton on the weekend to make the week go smoother but it would be nice to not work so hard 7 days a week. Like have an actual weekend. Is that just not possible until the kids move out?

[twinmomma]

We basically only do laundry on weekends. I just can't seem to get in the groove of weekday laundry. We usually try to get it all washed and dried, then it sits in baskets until Sunday night when DH and I catch up on our couple of shows and fold it all. Makes the chore feel less miserable.

For groceries, only one of us goes to the store. The other tackles house chores or bringing the kids wherever they have to go. I meal plan and make my list categorized by aisle. Super type A, yes, but makes the trip go much faster that way.

We end up with down time because DH is adamant that we divide and conquer. We don't do chores or errands together, ever. Sometimes it really grates on me because it means we're always going in opposite directions. But, it's kind of a necessary evil right now.

[twinmomma]

Oh, and I often do my big house scrub on Friday night. Then I wake up to a clean house for the weekend and it's not looming over me.

[sunbutter]

We survive. We have a messy house that always needs to be vacuumed. Accepting that helps.
My big weekend chores are meal planning, groceries and laundry.
Laundry never bothers me. I feel like I can do it while I am doing other things.
I do pretty detailed meal planning and my list is also organized by store floor plan.
I have been trying to only go shopping for a big haul every other week. This helps a lot. I also was annoyed by the nonstop message from instacart. I use Amazon Fresh. Can't get everything but I can lean on it when I can't get to the store. Like when we go away for the weekend. I can place the order while out of town, have it delivered before I wake up one weekday morning and put stuff away before I leave for work.

[billie]

I do laundry everyday, throw in a load before work, hang it up when I get back, DH usually gets it down from the line. I don't really have a choice because we don't have enough clothes/enough clothesline space for laundry only on weekends.

I make a plan with DH for Saturdays for all the errands. We divide and conquer so it goes faster and then we can usually have the whole day Sunday for fun family stuff. We also usually don't take the kids on errands so it goes much faster.

[frozenpeas]

Ha - we do pretty much the opposite of what everyone else said.

I do laundry mostly on weekdays, but really whenever something is overflowing/running low or whenever I have time. There is pretty much always some category of laundry that can be thrown in.

We have only one car, so we do not divide and conquer. Saturday morning is grocery shopping for the whole family. Sunday after church/lunch is a rotation of whatever other store we have to go to that weekend (Target, Home Depot, etc.). This isn't always necessary since I Amazon Prime wherever it makes sense. Then library later in the day.

Weeknights are busy, so we do very simple meals, leftovers often, and minimal cleaning. Once every other week we do a more thorough job of picking up the night before the cleaning people come.

We work pretty long hours during the week, so we run errands together on weekends as part of our family time. This may have to change as they get older and more involved in activities, but it's working for us right now while they're young.

[sdlaura]

I'm on maternity leave now, so I'm getting stuff done during the day when I'm home with just the baby.

Normally, though, we have the housecelaner every other week, so the only cleaning that gets done is straightening/wiping down the counter and quick stuff. I do a mix of laundry during the week and on weekends, so it's only a couple loads per weekend. I do almost all grocery shopping and target runs during the week either during a lunch break or on my way home from work. We also do Blue Apron - I get two-person meals per week and usually make one on a weekend and one on a weeknight after kids are in bed or if they're watching tv or something.

Alsomy standards really just aren't that high for house stuff or home cooked meals every night

[indyrowergirl]

waverly - I feel you on wanting a real weekend. (Real = only fun stuff, no chores or errands to run.) Those are rare these days, and I generally end up paying for them the following week, but there are some times I just have to say forget it, and take the weekend "off."

[erinshelley21]

I have also accepted a dirty house as part of life right now. My priorities are spending time with my H and kids and trying to live a healthier life with exercise and our food. I just don't have time to clean like a mad woman and do all that. I wipe down the counters and sweep the floor in the kitchen every once in a while, but that's it. The cleaning lady is my saving grace.

Right now laundry does get done whenever I get to it. I'm considering moving it to a weekend job, but DH's weekends are not the same as mine.

Groceries get ordered Saturday night and picked up Sunday morning. We have a Kroger family store that has ClickList and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

My biggest struggle is that DH works a rotating shift, so we can really get into a routine since his shift days are different every week. Like this week he works Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday then next he will work Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. It makes it hard to say "we do this on this day and this on that day."

[waverly]

Unfortunately we don't have a cleaning lady to save money. I clean about 2 hours a week so not super terrible. That doesn't count dishes and daily pick up. But it all adds up.

Laundry I took back over from H because he is always doing yardwork or bills or work on the weekends. So I have that now as well. He helps occasionally and I could maybe give that back in a the winter when he has less outside work to do.

Unfortunately we don't have Kroger by us because I have heard good things. We are going to try PeaPod next week and compare.

[erinshelley21]

waverly do you have one within driving distance? I would drive 30 minutes one way for it.

[waverly]

It's probably more like 45 min drive and unpredictable due to traffic. Bummer!

[indyrowergirl]

I forgot to add that we hired out the yard work. Between the cleaning lady and the lawn service, DH and I got several hours back each week to do stuff with the kids. It's worth the money to us.

[waverly]

The grocery delivery is turning out to be huge. Right now H would be taking 1-2 kids (his choice) to the store come home at about 7 put away all the groceries and laundry, mad rush to make dinner and get kids in bed. Instead he is able to finish up the yard.

As far as major money outsourcing, I have to wait until the budget is under control. Plus sometimes it's more work to manage contractors than do it ourselves. I always hire the leaves out and last year they scalped the grass off in the back yard. That was the plow and mow or whatever it's called. We tried Task Rabit and that went poorly as well. It's work sometimes to find good contractors. But even paying extra for delivery saves us 1.5 hours of our time to grocery shop. So definitely worth considering.

I came up with a new way of doing laundry and I am liking it. Kids pull their stuff out of the dryer, put it in their own basket, take it upstairs and put it away. Usually I would sort and bring the baskets up. And either put away or supervise putting away. Instead I typed this.

[twinmomma]

waverly we don't outsource anything either. It's just not in the budget. My house isn't spotless because of it, but we do the best we can.

[akafred]

We don't outsource either. Honestly our house is probably too messy to outsource the cleaning. I hear you have to clean before the cleaning person comes. Ha ha, that doesn't happen. I mean it's very lived in. We do clean the bathrooms and the kitchen regularly, but we also have toys everywhere and papers and we really need to get better organized. I'm hoping that will happen with the new house, but of course moving in has created a lot of clutter. Oh well someday. But like others I prioritized time as much as possible so we just live with clutter.

As far as laundry goes, we don't have a sick day. Charlotte goes through a lot of clothes, and I usually wear work clothes and then change into pajamas and so does DH, and while we reuse some of the pajamas, it adds up pretty quick even with just three people. So we end up doing a load of laundry at least once every couple of days. What usually happens is my husband will put the clothes in the washer and maybe move it over to the dryer and then when I got home I put it away. Or sometimes that's in reverse and I run the load and he puts it away after I'm in bed. Same thing with dishes. Usually one of us remembers to run it, and the other person discover super clean and put them away. He does the yardwork, and I do DD's lunches. He usually goes grocery shopping, and I do the fancy stuff like vitamin shopping at whole foods or target or Amazon and that kind of thing.

[akafred]

Yes, vitamin shopping at whole foods is fancy.

[mommyatty]

We have started devoting 15 minutes every night to cleaning up clutter. Toys get put away as does my mammoth clutter. I admit to being the major clutter bug in our house. That 15 minutes has done wonders. We don't now have to spend hours on a weekend sorting out a toy war zone and clutter bomb shrapnel.

DH does one chore per day during the week when I'm at work. Even if he ends up going back to work, I think we could do this pretty easily without hiring a housekeeper, which has been hit or miss for us (mostly miss). Like one day he vacuums. The next he mops and dusts. Another day he does bathrooms. Another day he cleans the kitchen counters, which also get wiped every night after dinner.

Our entire 20 years of being married, he's been in charge of laundry. He does it almost daily, which I think is ludicrous. Honestly, if he would let me do it, I would do it on Sundays and Wednesdays. But he chooses to do it, so I'm not complaining.

[campermom]

I'd like to thank this thread for convincing both myself and DH to start an Amazon Fresh trial. There are not many grocery delivery or pickup options for our location but Amazon Fresh appears to be one.

Brought to you by an "easy" trip to Walmart with only 2 out of 3 kids. It was just me but You know, Saturday after other errands but before lunch/nap meltdown. Or so I thought.

I was slapped in the face with a flip flop, Baby Love dumped my (cold) coffee cup on the Produce Floor, and shrieked so loud that people stared. Also, he reached around and grabbed random items from the cart and Hulk Smashed them on the ground.

Did I mention this was an easy trip, that I left my 8 year Old at home.

We checked out Amazon and both agreed to throw $ at this problem!

[covergirl82]

My mom (is amazing) and does the kids' laundry once a week (including changing their sheets) when she and my dad come down to take care of the kids every Friday.

I do my laundry when I have time during the week, and DH does his laundry when he has time.

Grocery shopping is done either on my every-other Friday off or first thing Saturday morning. I haven't gotten to the point where I want to do grocery delivery/pick-up because I like to pick out my own produce.

Other chores get done sometime on my every-other Friday off or on the weekend. I have been considering getting a housekeeper for a while, but can't seem to bring myself to pay for it. (Especially now that the kids are starting to do chores.) I'd rather use $50 every other week to pay down debt and deal with having to clean it myself (although DH will often help with vacuuming).

I do fee like we need to institute a 15-minute pick-up every evening. I would like to do one small chore on weekday evenings, but that will have to wait until August because we have something pretty much every night for the rest of July.

[twinmomma]

mommyatty, We do the same. We actually got into the habit of picking up clutter nightly when we had a Roomba. We had to, or it would get stuck on stuff left out when it cleaned overnight. One of us loads the dishwasher, wipes counters, and picks up while the other handles the bedtime routine.

[HeartofCheese]

Get divorced and do your cleaning and chores on the days your X has the kids. You'll also get a better tax return to afford a lawnguy. And less laundry.

[justcheckingin73]

We typically do everything on the weekend. I WFH so I have the opportunity to do laundry during the week but I only do that if we're going to be away for the weekend. Since I changed my hours to 6-3, I am able to do more around the house before the chaos of dinner and nighttime chores happen.

We typically clean up the dishes each night but there are times I just leave them in the sink for the next day.

I have a house cleaner too and though I sometimes hate having to declutter before they come, it's a good thing for me. I don't think too much about what to do with the items - I just get them out of sight and everything looks so much better. I'm also working on a deep decluttering but we've had such busy weekends its been tough to do.

Grocery shopping - I have tried the Walmart ordering online and Peapod as well but I run into issues when they don't have certain brands and/or flavors that we like, not to mention the required planning ahead part of it. I end up going to SuperTarget every Saturday, alone, which is something I usually enjoy. Plus, I take advantage of Cartwheel and have a RedCard and I like to see those savings.

[kimberlybb]

I do a load of laundry every day. I usually get behind on folding but I make the kids put away their own laundry which saves some time. I pick up my grocery order Friday over lunch. Friday night I meal prep. DH usually deep cleans the first floor while the kids and I are at the gym Saturday morning. I wipe down the counters and clean the kitchen floor after dinner. I try to vacuum our family room a few days a week before work. I amazon prime as much as I can. The area I totally fail in is bathroom cleaning. I absolutely hate it and am embarrassed how infrequently it gets done.

[jlaok]

The only thing we do during the week is dishes/cleaning the kitchen. I cook and DH cleans.

Grocery - I do Walmart online grocery and pick up on Fridays. I rarely go to the grocer store during the week. At the beginning of the month we'll go to Sam's and get bulk items.

Laundry - We do all the laundry on the weekends. We split it 50/50 except for during the summer months when DH has yard work.

Bathrooms - 2x/month. One time is a deep clean that we both do (I do sink/toilets, DH does floors/tub-showers). The second time a month is a quick wipe down of the sinks and toilets.

Floors - we have a Roomba so we don't regularly vacuum anymore. We'll sweep/mop the kitchen once on the weekends

[xctsclrx]

We use online grocery shopping. I use Walmart due to convenience. I pick up my groceries on Friday night on my way home from work. I cook every other night and we do leftovers or easy dinners the other nights. We eat out probably once a week. I prep my breakfast and lunches on Sunday evenings.

Laundry gets done on Saturday mornings to let work clothes dry. Before we got our cleaning lady, all of Saturday was spend doing laundry, vacuuming, dusting and bathrooms, We would blast music and clean from about 8 am to 12 with four people helping it went by fast. When it is just DH and I much slower. Now we spend 15-30 min the evening picking up and wiping down and our housekeeper comes in every other week to do the real cleaning.

DH usually does yard work after in the evenings during the week while I am putting little man to bed.

DH and I also have the added bonus of being gone one weekend a month so we have accumulated enough clothes to get us through two weeks of not doing laundry, but no one likes doing that.

[mellym]

We grocery shop once per week and I usually go because I like to pick produce/deli/meats out. DH isn't as picky of an eater. I've been trying to not take the kids or only one of them if I do.

Our washer has a delay timer so I try to throw a load in the morning and then fold it at night while watching tv. I try to do that 2 days a week and then finish the laundry on weekends. DH mows the lawn one week night and usually again on Sat/Sun morning.

We have a house cleaner come every other week so the only cleaning we do is wiping down the kitchen counter and dishes every night. The toys and random clutter that accumulates everywhere drives me insane. I spend probably 10 minutes a day just putting stuff back in it's place. DH just walks by it or steps around it and doesn't even think to put it away. Makes me batty! I'm slowly getting the kids to put their clothes in the hamper before/after bath instead of just leaving it lay on the floor.

[k3am]

Based on your prior posts in this thread, I'm no help.

We outsource. Cleaner once a week, gardener every two weeks. I have a cheap cleaner ($70/week vs. $120+/ week that the services wanted), so they get the basics/big stuff, and I spend some time on the weekends doing the nitty gritty or little things that really bug me.

I also do a load of laundry a day, two if I need to do towels (1x/week). It takes me 1 minute to put it in before I start dinner, 1 minute to pull move to the dryer, and then 5 minutes to fold after the kids are in bed. I would rather do it that way than be trapped at home all weekend waiting to do multiple loads of laundry.

We do a daily "how quickly can we put this stuff away" tidying before bed, and any messes or dishes are done immediately.

Our house is rarely spotless but we can get it presentable for guests within 5-10 minutes usually.

For groceries, I'll either stop buy with the kids on my way home or one of us heads over once the kids are in bed. Occasional grocery delivery, but I've never been too happy with it.