Transition from 1 to 2 kids and a new job

snowflake2214

My maternity leave will be ending in about a month and I will be starting a new teaching position. I have a 3 yr. old and 3 month old. Over the last few months I have learned it's true two kids is somehow more than double the work. I know with a new job I will also have to devote some time weekday evenings for school work. I don't want to leave all the household stuff for the weekend but just not sure the best way to organize my time. Anyone have a good system for when to do laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. without taking up the whole weekend?

crsanchez87

I try to do all my errands during the week during my planning period. I leave the broom out and sweep whenever I pass it and seem like a have a little time. I leave big cleaning for the weekend. I try to get laundry done while cooking dinner and fold it after LO has gone to bed while I catch up on a show or two. We do cloth diapers so laundry goes on in our house a lot. I try to do as many crock pot or one skillet meals as I can to cut down on dishes and time I spend making dinner. I also know some people who follow this schedule

https://www.timewarpwife.com/elements/CleaningSchedule.pdf

Bigboobsmcgee

Can your H help with chores?

We have housecleaners come every 2 weeks which is the BEST money I have ever spent. For real. Plus H and I make sure to keep the house tidy every single day. Not deep cleaning, but tidy every day. No dishes in the sink when we go to bed, trash out, etc. We have 2 young kids so I know how hard it is so that's why I think it's so important to keep up as best as possible. Saturday is our shopping/errand day though. We try to make it fun by going to lunch or something like that. My H and I both work full time so it's not easy but we just had to find a routine that worked.  

WillyBean

Some things that help us:
-find a place for all of the toys, whether that's a basket, a bin, a drawer or whatever. At the end of the night, throw everything in there. We use an ottoman and our kids know exactly where to look for their stuff.
-online grocery shopping is amazing!!
-tidy every day like someone else said. I don't go to bed unless the dishes are done, laundry is put away and toys are picked up.
-do laundry with your kids. My kiddos love taking the clothes out of the dryer and handing me to fold. Then we put them away together.
-I do most of my errands after the kiddos are asleep. sometimes a relative or a friend will sit at our house while the kiddos sleep so I can run to target for diapers or go get stamps
-I'm not very great at meal planning like a week in advance, but I will try to keep 2-3 main ingredients fresh and ready then plan it out 1-2 days in advance. That way I have options but not so many options I can't decide quickly.

BabyHope2013

We only have one right now but will have a second in a few weeks. What I have learned is that I try to do a load or two of laundry during the week--this prevents feeling like it all builds up for the weekend. I have also learned to try and do as much online shopping online---Amazon Prime brings me diapers and a ton of other random stuff I find that I need, I have a Target Red Card and Kohls Charge for similar reasons. Even most of DS's clothes I buy online. Anything that can be delivered to me is a total bonus and I have learned how to get free shipping on pretty much everything. I do grocery shop still once a week--only once though and meal plan for the entire week each week. DS generally goes to the grocery store with me and has learned to be my "helper" over the years. I have thought about doing door to door organics to limit having to go to the grocery store every week. It's mainly produce that I need to go to the store for every week---and I still might consider doing that when I go back to work again in a few months after maternity leave. I also often wake up 20 minutes earlier than everyone else to meal prep for that night. It's a huge time saver to pull out the pots, pans and dry ingredients from the pantry that I will need that night for dinner. I even will chop veggies or meats, or make a salad and stick it in the fridge for that night. When I get home from work its pretty chaotic and I have limited time before I need to get dinner on the table for everyone so this helps a ton when all I have to do is basically assemble and turn on the stove/oven.