So how do I work out writing and housekeeping?

CatMuse33 said:

I just convinced hubby to take over laundry duties yesterday! Because the washing machine is in the basement, which is not babyproofed... so until it is, I can't watch the baby AND do laundry.

Dawn

Click to expand...

Oooo, that's kinda evil.

My laundry room is my craftroom, so I just have to keep swatting the pointy objects out of my toddler's grasp. Though usually I can keep him occupied with a booklet of cheap-o award stickers that he applies all over himself.

Hey - I finally vacuumed the floor! Yippee! The dust bunnies were getting dangerous. I shortened my Swifter down to toddler size and my boy ran around the house picking up random bits of fluff while I dug all his toys out of the couch.

I was just reading something in Real Simple that suggested you could get your whole house clean in a week by just tackling one room a day. (Great if you have exactly seven rooms, I guess.) Sounds like a plan. But then the one room I'd have clean wouldn't be clean even 3 days later, so it kinda sounds like a big cleaning rollercoaster that you can't get off.

Sounds like typical 'guys talk' to me. Yes, he doesn't know what writing will mean, and thinks you'll have free time.

And honestly, you will. You won't have to drive to work and do all the other things work required. You'll have more free time. You are choosing, instead of sitting around, to write. Which is cool.

I assume when your guy retires, he won't do so because he wants to get more house work done.

Instead of the 'he said/she said' game, why not solve the problem by making plans? Get out a house chore chart and make a plan with everyone that will be fair to everyone involved. You could rotate chores so people do not get bored with any one things.

You could also figure out ways to simplify cleaning and the things you need to take care of. There's some books out there on how to simplify your lifestyle, on speed cleaning, and organization that could save your entire family so much time at home. It's some extra work initially, but you could make everyone happier in the long run doing that.

It might take some extra work in the beginning, but working out a comfortable schedule for everyone, including working in your writing time, will probably solve most of these issues.

Well I don't have a husband to worry about and my solution has always been to let my house look like a pigsty. A person has to prioritize.

http://www.flylady.net/


I don't follow the program fully, tailored it to my family.

Unless you're living in a huge McMansion with a dozen hairy cats shedding all over the place, I don't see what the hang up on housework is all about. No "housewife" spends all day cleaning and cooking... eventually, you're gonna run out of things to clean!

You've never mentioned what kind of limitations you're dealing with - if you're on disablitiy, I'm guessing you have mobility issues or a problem with fatigue? If that's the case, you shouldn't be spending all freakin' day cleaning house anyway!

I would suggest maybe giving the house some attention first - spread over a couple days maybe - to get it in order. Then delegate some chores to the kids and set a schedule to keep the house tidy with just an hour each day. And set some rules if you haven't already: no shoes in the house, everyone takes their laundry to and from the laundry room, hang up their own freakin' coats, take school bags to their rooms...(oh, am I channeling my own problems again?)

I know that I have days where I only do household chores, but that's because I let it pile up. I usually use the "baby foot" method of timing floor cleaning: if I pick up the baby and his feet are gritty, it's time to vacuum. I've been tempted to get him one of those Japanese baby dust mop suits...

Some magazine I was reading (Parents? Real Simple?) was talking about how stressfull it is to look at clutter. The solution was buying bins for everything so you can gather up crud and not have to look at it. Like a bin for the kid's school stuff, a bin for soccer gear, a bin for toys...that sort of thing. I like the bin idea, but my toddler just thinks its fun to dump out the contents.

I only clean on Saturdays from early am until noon. I also rotate what I do. Now that means that from Wed-Sat my house is a wreck.

Denise-

Reading this, I feel like we're living the same life! I'm soo instituting the no-shoes rule. Especially from the garage to the kitchen.

Checking out the Japanese dust mop suit now...

Dawn

I hate it when my kids track SAND in from the backyard sandbox. I'd like to hose them down on the back porch, but you can't really do that in the cool weather months!

I second denise's suggestions to get rid of clutter. I've taken this one step further... instead of keeping stuff in bins, I just get rid of stuff. For every book I acquire, I give one away. But I'm kind of a crazy minimalist.

I do 30mins of chores before lunch and before dinner, then have a longer chore day on the weekend. If stuff piles up during the week, so be it.

No shoes is a good rule, though my tootsies get a bit cold...but I guess that's what slippers are for!

Wake up early!

nickncindy said:

Since it appears that my 23 yrs. plus teaching career is at an end - disability retirement - I have been working now for over a week to get freelance writing jobs.

My purpose is to get my feet wet, get some experience, then move on to some print materials, and write the novel which I have outlined.

Over the weekend, my dh said something to the effect that now that I'm going to be home all the time, I can keep the house clean. Ummmm, he doesn't realize that I'm not going to be sitting on my backside eating bon-bons and watching tv all day. I plan to be up and writing every day, just like I was going to a job outside the house.

His expectations just make me feel worse. I'm finally fulfilling the dream I've always had of being a writer. I think he's a bit jealous. His dream was to play in a professional orchestra, and he has taught school for over 30 yrs. His time for his dream is over, because of his arthritis he can barely play well enough to teach the kids.

I know his problems aren't my own, but it makes me feel so bad. He throws these zingers out, and when I protest, I'm just too sensitive. No wonder I'm on so many medications!

Anyway, back to my original ? Do you try to keep up with all the household chores during the day while you write? How do you organize your time and responsibilities? Our kids are (almost) 12 & 13, so there is no child care issue.

Click to expand...

I suggest wake up early in the morning! It will be a pain in the beginning. You will be surprised at how many hours that you have left at the end of the day.

Most writers either start early in the morning or work late at night.

Don't get stressed out! Just do a little here and there. Your house doesn't have to be perfect!

But when I wake up early...I fall asleep early. No hours are gained!

Sorry about the medical problem you have. Hopefully, the doctor can fix it. If you would like post a reply to keep us updated.

I hope you have a nice day!

I hope the surgery is able to fix your problems! You know, you might want to try brain storming and doing rough drafts with a tape or digital recorder until your arm problem is fixed. Or maybe look into voice reconition software that can "type" for you. I think Windows has a version that's built in, but I never tried it because I didn't want to go get a microphone.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/moskowitz_02september23.mspx

Go read that link above and see if might work for you.

Also, glad to hear that reality is setting in about the housework. I haven't had both holidays at one person's house in a long time. My kid's grandparents live in two different states, so we have Thanksgiving with my hubby's family and Christmas with mine. It used to be a three state affair, but the Christmas Eve part of the family moved to far away!

Cleaning the house and still writing is hardly beyond the realm of being pretty darned easy. Millions of us do it everyday. Many of us, in fact, have a ful-time job, write a fair number of hours each week, and still keep the house clean.

A clean house is easy. Just stay ahead of the work. It's only a problem when you let things pile up and go undone for too many days in a row.