Morphing into a Wage Slave...

[Mrs. Hermit]

I have been a stay-at-home Mom for 30 years, and for the last 3 years a graduate student. I have been offered a 3-day a week internship that (hopefully) will develop into a regular job by the end of the year. I am excited about the change, but I need some advice though. I have been used to structuring my home chores, cooking, etc. without regular outside commitments. So, what are some good tips on time-saving ways to get it all done?

[Tradd]

You might be interested in FlyLady. She talks about routines, spreading your weekly house cleaning out if you work (one task a day), deeper cleaning on a schedule. Helps me.

[Tammy]

we downsized into a 650 sq ft partment,iin steps, as the kids left which occurred as my career grew. Now that I'm working full on 50 hrs av week, I have very little to do at home. And what little is left is usually done by my husband who works 30 or so hrs a week, and sets his own schedule. The other big thing that helps is we live 2 miles from my job. 5 min commute.

[Tussiemussies]

Best wishes to you Mrs. Hermit with your internship. I hope it all goes very well for you. Keep us updated! Chris

[Tradd]

Mrs. Hermit, I'm single, but the same methods will work for you.

Keep your home as clutter free as possible. Clear spaces are so easy to clean! :) Keep meals as simple as possible, or cook extra on the weekends and freeze. Whenever you make a meal make extra to freeze. Do laundry as you have a load, so you don't create Mount Washmore. Use your "convenience" appliances - the dishwasher, the dryer, if they make your life easier. It amazes some people that I'm single and actually use my dishwasher. I hate washing dishes!

You can let some things go if you need to. I don't consider making my bed necessary!

If things get really crazy, just remember the three Ds - Dinner, Dishes, Duds. :)

Remember to make time for yourself, whether it's a hot bath in the evening or a half-hour reading each day.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

[Rosemary]

Good luck in your new position! And report back to us after you figure out how to manage everything!

[try2bfrugal]

Good luck in the new job. I am not good at keeping up with housework, but I do agree that getting rid of all possible clutter helps.

[redfox]

Make sure your family contributes as much as you do for housekeeping. That's a given for me no matter who works outside the home.

[pinkytoe]

What helps me is to do little household chores on weekday evenings rather than saving it all for the weekend. Grocery shopping on Monday evening when the stores are not crowded, a load or two of wash during the week, etc. I have found over the years that I am actually much more efficient when I am working more hours.

[frugalone]

I am the world's worst housekeeper so I have not much advice in that area.

However! I want to extend my best wishes to you on your new endeavor!

[fidgiegirl]

I want to echo what redfox offered. When my mom went back to school she arranged with my dad for him to take on a much bigger piece of the domestic pie than he previously had been doing. He started doing all the cooking, and it was manageable. I don't know what we would have eaten otherwise! My mom hates cooking! :D I don't remember if your kids are at home still, etc. but I think this is part of the equation. Easy to let it fall to the stay-at-home person, male or female, when they are at home and presumably have more flexibility than those going to outside employment. Simple inertia/lack of noticing would make that hard to change, I think.

Let us know how it goes!

[Mrs. Hermit]

Thank you for all the well-wishes. I am looking forward to the job. It will be a very interesting challenge, I am sure.

I like the idea of doing a bit around the house every day--that has been some of what I have been doing during grad school. But the idea of handling grad school AND work is still intimidating.

All but one of our kids is out of the house (except for college breaks when they come back to roost). The one left at home is in community college, so she takes care of herself and grandbaby usually. So not too much kiddo work left to do.

I managed homeschooling 6 children while running a farm business, but that was all work at (or around) home since we lived on the farm. With this job I will be gone 9 hours a day. That is a change for us. Hubby is on board to help as much as he is able. Cooking and laundry, however, are not his strong suit. Those may have to stay under my charge!

[Mrs. Hermit]

Well, plans have changed--it looks like instead of starting the internship in July, I will be starting next week! Ok, the fun starts soon!

[try2bfrugal]

Well, plans have changed--it looks like instead of starting the internship in July, I will be starting next week! Ok, the fun starts soon!

How exciting! Good luck on the new job.

I second the suggestion on getting everyone in the house to pitch in with chores. We have a chore chart and everyone has their own tasks they know they have to do each week.

[Spoony]

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[rgwhitaker]

The good thing is you're starting off with baby steps in that the internship is only 3 days per week at first. That'll be a great way to get your feet wet without it being too overwhelming all at once.

Do you have family at home who can help out on the days you work? Husband? Children?

If so, a little delegation is in order.

The good thing, too, is that you have the other days to get things done.

Start planning things like shopping and errands on the days you're NOT at your internship.

Internship days are simply that: internship days.

The other days of the week can be dedicated to grocery shopping, errands, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Hope that helps.

[Mrs. Hermit]

RG: The problem with doing things on the other days of the week is that I am a full time grad student too. I am glad the internship is starting with 3 days a week. I prefer to start things slowly, so I will get a slow introduction to full-time work in addition to grad school.

I still have one college student at home, he will be leaving in August. My other 2 children who are at college are only home during breaks. My youngest daughter is still at home, but is busy planning her wedding(!!!! in the middle of this transition we will be hosting a wedding!?!), so she is somewhat busy too.

I did interview some house cleaning services. I was thinking that would be one job I could outsource. But cleaning ladies were servants my mother and grandmother had. I never thought of ME having a house cleaner. Depending on the stipend I get from the internships, a house cleaner might be sanity-money well spent, as a dirty house really bugs me.

Cooking is way different now. When we had all 6 children at home, working on the farm, meals were huge. Now with only hubby and I regularly at home for meals, I don't have to cook so much or so often. After both children currently still here leave, I can already see the hubby and I will be eating a lot of leftovers until I learn to scale down the amounts I cook! I appreciate the idea of cooking a few times a week for the rest of the week. That would be quite helpful.

Slow and steady, getting ready....

[chrisgermany]

Re. meals: spend some time to think about good organization of your freezer.

I have one in the chest style, but keep the food in 3 layers of 4 baskets. Some baskets are itemized (ice cream, bread, frozen veggies, frozen fruit).
Whatever goes into the freezer is put on a list that is attached to the top of the freezer, with date of entering the freezer.
All food bags and boxes are labeled and dated.
So DH can easily find his next lunch without going through mountains of mystery bags and boxes.
2-3 times a year I take inventory, print a fresh list and put the food that has to go first into a special basket.
The baskets make it very easy also when it comes to defrosting.