Going back to work full-time - HELP

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mitziemia

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Hi All,

I am (thankfully) going back to work fulltime (an exciting new job and a slight career change)…however, it’s only my DH and I at home (minus Mitzie and Mia our two Siamese kittens) and I keep a very clean and organized home. Dinner is always ready and I feel like I run to the grocery store daily to prepare this recipe or that. We recently bought a freezer so I could have my blueberries all year round…lol…

So here’s what I’m asking - any suggestions for some great make-ahead meals/crock pot dinners? How do you working people find the time to do all the shopping, clean the home, have dinner ready (DH will likely even be home before me), balance a job…and well, we are trying to think about having a family…I have three of the most amazing step-children, but at 39, I can’t pass by a BabyGap without having a hot flash…

HOW, without getting totally overwhelmed with everything, do you manage?

This sounds stupid, but any time-saving advice would be well appreciated - I have started making extra or doubling recipes for things like chili, manacotti, stuffed peppers, etc…so I can freeze them, but I’m already getting overwhelmed with the thought of housework not getting done…

THANKS you all for your prayers about the job!!!

Blessings,
Holly
 
mitziemia said:
Hi All,

I am (thankfully) going back to work fulltime (an exciting new job and a slight career change)…however, it’s only my DH and I at home (minus Mitzie and Mia our two Siamese kittens) and I keep a very clean and organized home. Dinner is always ready and I feel like I run to the grocery store daily to prepare this recipe or that. We recently bought a freezer so I could have my blueberries all year round…lol…

So here’s what I’m asking - any suggestions for some great make-ahead meals/crock pot dinners? How do you working people find the time to do all the shopping, clean the home, have dinner ready (DH will likely even be home before me), balance a job…and well, we are trying to think about having a family…I have three of the most amazing step-children, but at 39, I can’t pass by a BabyGap without having a hot flash…

HOW, without getting totally overwhelmed with everything, do you manage?

This sounds stupid, but any time-saving advice would be well appreciated - I have started making extra or doubling recipes for things like chili, manacotti, stuffed peppers, etc…so I can freeze them, but I’m already getting overwhelmed with the thought of housework not getting done…

THANKS you all for your prayers about the job!!!

Blessings,
Holly
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Hi Holly–congrats on your new job!

I work full time, and usually arrive home around 5:30 sometimes earlier…depends. My husband works odd hours…and weekends, so it’s sometimes just the kids and me, and I’ll make some quick healthy meals that don’t require a lot of prep time. I started a thread on this very subject a few months ago…called ‘healthy quick meals.’ You might find it helpful.

My husband LOVES to cook–he should have been a chef, and when he’s home, he does the cooking. And he also cleans on his days off…It’s not that he is helping me out. I don’t really like that terminology. We both share a home together, and both work now, so he does the chores, and doesn’t look at it like he ‘is helping me out.’ He lives there too!:o

I do the grocery shopping and cleaning on Saturdays, and the kids now that they are older, help out when they get home from school. (light dusting, unloading/loading the dishwasher, etc)

Somehow, it all works out! There are some days, when getting a maid does sound tempting though.

Good luck to you!
 
Going straight to that thread now!!! Thank you!!!

Hate the idea though of cleaning on my weekends, however, really when else…? I work 8-5 (so 7:30 to 5:30), as an Executive Assistant to an international CEO of an International Human Tissue Company (no stem cell anything), in Detroit so I’ve got a 40 minute or so commute, then after work, I will be picking my step-son up at Laurence Tech University - adding an additional 40 minutes to my commute…so in all reality, I’ll not get home until about 6:45 or so, if not 7.

DH is the Quality Manager with Ford Flat Rock (let me know if any of you have any problems with the Mustang or Mazda 6…lol) so he’s up at 4am, work by 5am and home by 6pm.

Luckily, he’s such a worker, he can come home and immediately go to work on finishing our basement and LOVE THAT, or help me out as well…

Just the thought of having to do floors and toilets on Saturday just bothers me…I love to get up and go to the Open-Air Market in Detroit on early Saturday mornings with DH…have a big day of play stuff then a nice dinner out after Mass…Sundays - we’ll be at the Lions game (can you believe we are still fans???)

I’m venting and being selfish, I guess…I am soooo thankful for this job…

UGH, I didn’t even think about laundry…
 
Shoot, Guy - even if I was calling the plays from the stands…they didn’t listen…and could we just make ONE tackle on the FIRST try? Not the FOURTH…
 
Well Mitzi I’m a bigtime Packer fan (it happened way back when I was boy in Virginia with no team close to pull for, they had Bart Starr so I went that way. I’m prolly the only fan in Alabama)

The Packers are why I took out cable and went DirectTV so I could watch them EVERY week.

But I’ll say this, if you took the head coaching job, they’d prolly be better off. Never saw a team that can implode the way the Lions do.
 
Have you considered hiring one of the maid services to do your floors and bathrooms once a week? I’d do it in a flash if I had the money…

Ruthie
 
mitziemia said:
I keep a very clean and organized home. Dinner is always ready and I feel like I run to the grocery store daily to prepare this recipe or that.

HOW, without getting totally overwhelmed with everything, do you manage?
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You don’t. You adjust your expectations. You compromise. And, you don’t beat yourself up over the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” stuff.

Your house is no longer “very” clean nor is it organized nor is dinner always ready. Sometimes you eat scrambled eggs for dinner and you settle for getting the dishes into the sink and washing them tomorrow.

You do what you can, and you become satisfied with that.
 
Regarding recipes and cooking, I like the cookbook Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook.
 
1ke said:
You don’t. You adjust your expectations. You compromise. And, you don’t beat yourself up over the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” stuff.

Your house is no longer “very” clean nor is it organized nor is dinner always ready. Sometimes you eat scrambled eggs for dinner and you settle for getting the dishes into the sink and washing them tomorrow.

You do what you can, and you become satisfied with that.
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AMEN!!!

Oh to have all that time back that I wasted fretting about everything not getting done…

Holly… give the kids chores, get a crockpot and a good cookbook for crocks, have everyone pitch in… (when I do chicken and noodles for example, I put chicken and water in the crock before work and turn it on, when kids get home from school they add the carrots and wash the potatoes, when dh gets home he checks the water level and puts on the potatoes, when I get home I thicken it up and make mashed potatoes while kids set table and dh gets me a diet coke)
 
1ke said:
You don’t. You adjust your expectations. You compromise. And, you don’t beat yourself up over the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” stuff.

Your house is no longer “very” clean nor is it organized nor is dinner always ready. Sometimes you eat scrambled eggs for dinner and you settle for getting the dishes into the sink and washing them tomorrow.

You do what you can, and you become satisfied with that.
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:bowdown2: as usual–sage advice from 1ke.

I’m a natural born slob, though–for me, my house is neat now.:o
 
whatevergirl said:
:bowdown2: as usual–sage advice from 1ke.
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I don’t know about “sage” advice, but I just think it’s important to stand up and say “there isn’t a secret.”

There isn’t a secret that some women know and others don’t.

I know so many women who just beat themselves up constantly for not being able to “do it all” as if **they **are defective.
 
1ke said:
I don’t know about “sage” advice, but I just think it’s important to stand up and say “there isn’t a secret.”

There isn’t a secret that some women know and others don’t.

I know so many women who just beat themselves up constantly for not being able to “do it all” as if **they **are defective.
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exactly–I agree!🙂

when did cooking and housework become an exclusively female job, anyways? My husband has always just done his part, like I do mine…and the kids, now that they’re getting older, do theirs. I have never had to ask my husband to ‘help out.’ When I stayed at home full time, I did the house stuff. But, now that I’m working, we both do what needs to be done…
 
1ke said:
I don’t know about “sage” advice, but I just think it’s important to stand up and say “there isn’t a secret.”

There isn’t a secret that some women know and others don’t.

I know so many women who just beat themselves up constantly for not being able to “do it all” as if **they **are defective.
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I agree completely!! Both DH and I work full time. I’m taking a college class b/c I plan on changing careers. I also volunteer at church. It’s impossible to do it all.

Honestly, I just try to keep the house reasonably clean. DH and I each do our chores. The thing I do sometimes beat myself up over is dinner–I’ll feel guilty that I’m not always providing a real homecooked meal. Then I realize I’m just being crazy.

I just try to have a repertoire of quick, good meals–pizza, breakfast for dinner, pasta, crockpot stews, etc. I love my George Foreman grill, crockpot and breadmaker.

There’s also nothing wrong with using frozen foods or some pre-packaged foods. I don’t like to eat them all the time, but there’s nothing like having some rice-a-roni to quickly prepare, or a nice Stouffers meal if I don’t feel like cooking. Stouffers makes these bagged meals that are wonderful. They’re $5 at Wal-mart, easily feed DH and I, and taste great. Soooo nice for a quick meal.

I’m also big on preparing ahead–if I’m making hamburgers, I’ll make 3-5lbs worth, freeze them in 4 or 5 hamburger servings. Then I can pull out one dinner’s worth (DH will eat 3 or 4, I’ll eat 1), defrost, pop them on the Foreman grill, and we have dinner in 15 minutes.

Congrats on the job!
 
mitziemia said:
,I’ve got a 40 minute or so commute… I will be picking my step-son … adding an additional 40 minutes to my commute…so in all reality, I’ll not get home until about 6:45 or so, if not 7.

DH’s …up at 4am, work by 5am and home by 6pm…

…Just the thought of having to do floors and toilets on Saturday just bothers me…I love to get up and go to the Open-Air Market in Detroit on early Saturday mornings with DH…have a big day of play stuff then a nice dinner out after Mass…Sundays - we’ll be at the Lions game (can you believe we are still fans???)…

…UGH, I didn’t even think about laundry…
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How you want to spend the weekends sounds great! Downtime is so important, also enjoying time with your husband, and the open-air market on Saturdays is a healthy chnage from being indoors in the office all week.

But you are right to wonder how you will fit in the housework. You won’t be able to do those good things on the weekend unless you plan how you will get all the housework done before the weekend. And if you want to get a decent night sleep before work every day, including winding down for the last hour before bed, it will take some planning for sure.

I highly reccommend putting aside some of your income to pay someone to clean house for you. When I was teaching, before I had my son, I came home and did all of the cooking, cleaning, shopping, dishes, laundry - everything, all by myself. I did it all by cutting back on my sleep and depriving myself of any downtime. (Time with my husband - now ex- was not in there because attempting to get him to enjoy time with me would make him angry).

I did keep a nice house. But after a few years it did get to me and one year when I had a good pay raise I realized more than anything I wanted help with the housework, and paid a woman from church to clean 3 hours every Friday. I got the idea because the other teachers had housekeepers and they didn’t seem as tired and overwhelmed as me.

So on Thursday nights I got everything picked up so that all she had to do was clean. By Thursdays I was tired, but I was motivated for a thourough clean-up, knowing the job was going to be finished for me. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to come home after a very busy week to a clean, shining house for the weekend! It was awesome! What a contrast, because normally by Friday I would be coming home tired from a very full week, to a house badly in need of cleaning. My house would be blaring to me, “Here’s your next job! When are you going to get started?” Not relaxing! No, the house wouldn’t look relaxing until Sunday night, when I was too exhausted to notice, and would, next morning, be leaving the house again every day…

I also had a long commute - about 45 minutes in good driving conditions. So thats an hour and a half to 2 hours less a day you’ll have to clean than if you worked nearby. Its significant.

So I’m sharing that because in hind sight, hiring a house cleaner once a week was the best choice I made and I should have done it sooner. Also, my church friend was a stay-at-home Mom of teens and was very glad to have the regular work and still stay home.

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/MESLatCU/AH360/Large/NGA/A0000133.jpeg
 
WOW - thank you to everyone! Some great ideas…

1ke - I really do have to let go of my expectations - I know that I will beat myself up and feel guilty if everything isn’t perfect or DH’s lunches aren’t made etc…I have to realize that I can only do so much in a day and my sanity is part of it…

I am thinking that I will try for a while to keep this home up myself, but really, for my piece of mind, I’m going to take the suggestion about perhaps hiring someone for a few hours. It’s only dh and I at home, and we’re both pretty neat…

Today is my first half day - this afternoon…I’m geeked, but of course exhausted because my brain couldn’t shut down last night enough to get a good night’s rest.

I made chicken and broccoli fettucini (a huge portion of it) with leftovers that I froze in single serving containers…I used fresh noodles, so I hope it freezes well…and that’s how I"m hoping to get ahead on lunches for us…

Blessings to you all so much…I’ll keep you posted as to how overwhelmed I get and how I’m likely going to rip my hair out and cry with frustration…lol…

And my darling step son just told me that his classes don’t end until 5:50 - sooooo, great, now I’m going to have to hang around to pick him up for 1/2 hour…you know, maybe that would be some nice prayer time - put my rosary CD in the car and just talk to God for a bit…

Have a great day!
Holly
 
I’m single with no kids and I have a hard enough time taking care of myself so I can’t really offer any guidance in that vein:D

I do have a fabulous crockpot recipe for smothered pork chops that’s super easy.

Get some pork chops and cut them into bite-sized pieces, put in the crock pot, pour a can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings over the chops. Cook on low for six hours. (Optional: if you like okra, about 30 minutes before you serve, pour some frozen okra on top).
 
mitziemia said:
And my darling step son just told me that his classes don’t end until 5:50 - sooooo, great, now I’m going to have to hang around to pick him up for 1/2 hour…you know, maybe that would be some nice prayer time - put my rosary CD in the car and just talk to God for a bit…

Have a great day!
Holly
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Well, considering what traffic is like coming out of Detroit at rush hour, it might take you 45 minutes to get from New Center to Southfield on some days. You might not be waiting around as long as you think. 🤷

Hang in there. You’re going to work for a good company in a cool part of the city. Take it from someone in a dual-income household: you don’t have to be Martha Stewart all the time. Heaven knows I’m not. Sometimes you’re going to eat canned soup and grilled cheese for supper, and sometimes you’re going to say “screw it, we’re ordering pizza”. It’s okay. And leftover pizza makes a tasty lunch the next day. 😃
 
do have a fabulous crockpot recipe for smothered pork chops that’s super easy.
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Does Dixiebell get any pork chops?

What about fish sticks? Every Catholic born pre VII knows about fish sticks every Friday. Of course they must be Gorton’s anything else are not true fish sticks.
 
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