Working 7 days a week ? Exhausted

[mlc1982]

I have been feeling super stressed lately and have been learning to let things slide a little more. I've also been doing things a little differently with my time. For instance, I have created a rough meal plan. I will now go do a big grocery shop at the beginning of every month to pick up everything needed on my list. I will pick up fruits/veggies/milk as needed or hubby will stop on his way home from work when asked. Instead of feeling like I'm in the kitchen all day, I will make enough food for dinner that we can have leftovers the next day for lunch. I will do this with breakfast foods as well. If I'm making sausage or pancakes for example, I'll make up extras and freeze them. That way I can just throw them in the microwave again in a few days or so and it saves time. I have also stopped doing dishes after every meal/snack and will do breakfast/lunch together during quiet time and then do snack dishes with my evening supper dishes. I used to hate having dirty dishes on my counter but it works for now. I will do dishes and usually fold and put away some laundry during quiet time. Heck, sometimes I'll go lay on my bed for a few minutes and watch some tv. I deserve a break as much as anyone else with a job outside the home. I've recently purchased a stick vacuum that I keep charged in my kitchen and I run that over the floor every day. That way I only have to pull out the big vacuum once a week and it saves time. I also purchased a Vileda pro mop (or something like that) which again saves me from hauling out the mop and bucket on a regular basis. It gets the floors clean without a ton of leg work. Hubby and I have started a new thing with cleaning where we do one thing a night (dusting, bathrooms, etc) Instead of trying to get everything done in one day and taking a few hours, we'll split it up so it only takes 30 min or so each day. That usually leaves us with at least one full day on the weekend to ourselves. My hubby plays a huge role in helping me de-stress. If I had to do this all on my own I would probably have a complete meltdown. Oh and I`ve also cut back on the crafts as well. I`m not going to lie, the kids have had a lot more free play time lately but you know what, they are still happy. I`m realizing that although routine is good, everything doesn`t have to be so structured. I would rather see the kids have more free play time and me be sane, than me have a breakdown and all these kids be stuck without a day home or have to go find a whole new group of friends.