Last night I got home from work, kissed my husband, fussed my dog, changed out of my work clothes and went to bed.
No, I wasn’t being lazy and going to bed at 6pm. I had stayed late at work, and by the time I got home I barely had time to relax for a few minutes before calling it a night. El Granto had foraged for dinner himself, and with the boxes on the counter I can see he relished on chicken fingers and tater tots.
I missed putting out the trash before the garbage pickup came. The dishes from last nights dinner (Portuguese BBQ which I picked up on the way home from work) still littered the counter. My tools and supplies from the weekends half finished projects covered the dining table. The floor had dog hair tumble weeds rolling past. The fridge contained only condiments and beer, and my thawing backyard is a minefield of a winters worth of melting dog turds. Tired, I walked past it all, changed into track pants, tossing my clothes on the ever growing laundry pile and headed for bed.
At the rate I’m going, we will be eating takeout and wearing mismatched socks for the foreseeable future.
As a thirty something couple in an fast paced urban environment, I can’t help but feel like we can’t be the only ones facing the same situation? How do successful women work long hours and maintain a home? Seriously? Because I would really like to know.
When both parts of the couple are working high demand jobs and putting in long hours, how does anyone find the time to mind the home? Put (homemade) food on the table? I can’t even imagine adding kids to the equation. With relaxation and spending time with my loved ones a top priority for my free time (also, wine, hot baths and Netflix). Dusting has fallen to a pretty low priority.
So you, my ingenious readers, can you offer me any advice on working hard, playing hard and still getting the laundry done? Because a girl can only wear mismatched socks for so long.
Hiring cleaners was one of the smartest things I ever did. Now I just need to get them to come back.
love the Restoration Hardware shelf made with the gas pipe; one question: how did you darken the pipe? I assume it was galvanized? (are you able to answer by email?)
grazie!
The pipe we used was black gas line pipes. They are usually available in both black and galvanized.
From one half of a 30-something couple living in TO with a puppy… if you figure it out please let me know!
Sincerely,
Guy wearing mismatched blue socks
Sometimes busy lives just come down to chicken fingers and tater tots. Ebbs and flows, going with the flow…or you just collapse all together, once in a while. Hopefully you don’t confuse a fur ball for a tater tot along the way. Many of us empathize with your urban plight. Makes me wonder if there are days when farmers mix up now and then: giving pig food to the chickens, chicken food to the cows, and sandwiches to the pigs. Cheers, Ardith
Prep food for the week in advance. Sunday night is cooking night: fire up the slow cooker, the over and everything else and make as many meals in advance as possible (soup, casseroles, etc). If you have enough room in your freezer make multiple casseroles and freeze them, or chop and portion ingredients to cook later. This doesn’t work for salads or fresh items, but it means that you can feel a bit better about what you are eating.
Also, buy more socks.
I feel you!
I went way more minimalist with my belongings to mitigate this a bit, and it helps, it really helps, but, life still happens and unfortunately life makes a mess. I currently have a (supposedly temporary) 21 year old stepson (who does not understand ‘putting things away’), two cats, my hubby and me in a two bedroom Toronto condo. Oh, and this weekend, for the next 4 days, we have two of my husband’s cousins camped out in our living room. We just moved my MIL into a nursing home, and we have boxes of her stuff to be dealt with in the dining room. And all the old light fixtures that we replaced last weekend sitting in the coat closet till we can get rid of them. If I think about it too much, I get all stressed. But, I tell myself “this too shall pass” and remember that life is for living and if i have to trip over someone’s shoes for the next week, i will (probably) survive.
No-one remembers dust (or dusting, actually). The dog hair won’t kill anyone. If I have to make a choice, I go back to an old quote (from Anne of Green Gables, should i be embarrassed to admit that?) “what will I be glad I did today when I’m 80?”
Honestly, hiring a once-a-month housekeeper was the best decision I’ve ever made. I still do the daily maintenance of wiping up spills etc, but have freed myself from the vacuuming, scrubbing, and dusting tasks that I both hate and choose not to have time for because I’m doing other things that bring me joy. It takes her less than 2 hours to clean the place top to bottom, and the time I freed up (certainly more than two hours!) is worth every penny I pay.
Agree with Mel; divide and conquer the laundry and fur tumbleweeds. We manage to squeeze in a load of laundry somewhere around getting ready for bed with the last one to bed throwing it in the dryer = clean clothes in the morning.
Also slow cookers. typical weekend morning: dog walk; breakfast; laundry load; groceries; laundry switch to dryer; prep veggies/meat from groceries into freezer bag meals meant for the slow cooker all week. then relax time or DIY time.
I don’t have real advice for you, just stopped by to commiserate. I choose shenanigans every time over dusting. And there are weeks that we eat too much takeout. I think accepting it helps. Life is not the picture perfect-ness we see on blogs. It’s dog hair balls in the hallway and a closet door that breaks off and we haven’t fixed yet. And that’s ok.
You hit the nail on the head Heather with the “Life is not the picture perfect-ness we see on blogs”. With the deluge of perfect snapshots of life on Instagram, and the “my house is perfect, my kids are adorable GAP ads, and my life is super organized” blog personas everywhere, it does drag you down the rabbit hole of “my life pales in comparison”. However, I bet those Instagrammers and bloggers just threw all the laundry in the closet or under the bed for those shots! Either that, or they are not balancing both work and life to get those beautiful shots.
My advise: give up the notion that you CAN get it all done. Oh, and have hubby do the laundry, no joke.
I love the “giving up the notion that you CAN get it all done” that is absolutely fantastic advice! The laundry idea is also a pretty good one! He can iron a mean shirt.