Stay at Home Moms (and Dads)...what do you do?

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  • bubaluboo
    bubaluboo Posts: 2,098 Member
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    How about something like couch to 5K or even 25K if you're feeling like more of a challenge. You could sign up for a race way in the future to give yourself an aim. As a working mum, I'd love to have your dilemma but also know that when you're at home, you can waste so much time pottering and getting side tracked because you have 'all the time in the world'.
  • jrbb03092
    jrbb03092 Posts: 198 Member
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    I'm a SAHM with a daughter who's just entered high school. I get up at the same time every morning, see her and my husband off to work, go out for a 60 walk, prep dinner or throw it in the slow cooker, write (I'm not published but I hope to be), have lunch, write some more, do whatever needs doing around the house, spend time with kidlet when she comes home (hear about her day), make dinner, we all go out for another 30 min walk after dinner and that's pretty much my day.
  • Anna_Joys_Journey
    Anna_Joys_Journey Posts: 253 Member
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    I homeschool my kids, and lately we're away from home more often than we're at home it seems. For me it helps to have a strict schedule for things so that I can keep up with it. I'm not as rigid with my children's schedules though. :-)
    I'm up between 630 and 7am (depends on how many times I hit snooze...haha!).
    When I get up I either have my morning "quiet time" or work out. It's not the same every day, but I do it. Then I shower and get dressed. I make breakfast and wake the kids up to eat...we eat and then do our morning chores. Then we do school from about 830-11 and have lunch. Then they have free time while I do my chores or we do whatever daily activities need to be done. (We have dance and football on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Bible study and AWANA on Thursdays, and football games on Saturdays.). I try to have dinner on the table between 630 and 7pm depending on the day...then I tidy up, do the bedtime routine, try to relax for a little bit and try to be in bed by midnight.

    Sometimes my workout gets pushed to way later in the day, but I super duper hate that since the later it gets pushed, the less likely I am to do it. :(


    ETA::
    And in case you're curious at all, here is my strict chore schedule for me.


    **Monday: vacuum, wash towels, and clean bathrooms
    **Tuesday: scrub the kitchen and do K's laundry
    **Wednesday: floors, windows, dusting and wash J's laundry
    **Thursday: clean my bedroom, vacuum, change the sheets on all the beds, wash sheets and towels. Make menu and grocery list.
    **Friday: grocery shopping, errands, library, appointments. While I'm out I clean out the car. Wash mine and B's laundry
    **Saturday: organize school and desk area, catch up on anything left unfinished, bake anything needed for the week. Vacuum. Clean the church. Work on Sunday School lesson plans. Wash B's uniforms.
    **Sunday: church, rest.

    Every day I make my bed and the kids make theirs. I swish the toilets and wash the sinks/counters in the bathrooms. I do the dishes, tidy, and sweep the kitchen after dinner. (It helps to keep a sink full of soapy water all day. When dishes are dirtied they can be rinsed and put in that sink to soak.). I do a "10 minute tidy" three times a day. The kids contribute a lot by doing their "family contributions" each day.
  • ScorpionReaver
    ScorpionReaver Posts: 56
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    I am a SAHD of 6.
    3 boys, 3 girls. 4 are in school now during the day, which leaves me with a 1 year old and 4 year old girl at home all day.

    Weekdays, alarm is set for 6:20. I get up and start waking up children for school, help them get their things together (if they need it) remind them to brush their teeth and the older ones to wear deodorant (they almost always need reminded haha) and make breakfast.
    By this time, the commotion has woken up the smaller ones, so I change the diaper and get the both of them breakfast.
    First bus shows up at 6:50, the second at 7:00.
    This is about the time I drink a cup of coffee and eat a quick breakfast.
    You have to be so careful with this!
    I grab a yogurt and some almonds, or usually a bar of some sort, Luna or Kind or something.

    Yes, I love Luna bars. Don't judge.

    The little ones finish breakfast shortly after, and i help them get cleaned up. 4 goes to play with toys and has free run of all of the rooms, so that makes her happy. 1 gets to run around the kitchen while I clean the kitchen or play on the computer for a bit. Pay bills, play a little Command & Conquer.

    10am is snack for us, then clean up after that.
    Sometimes we will go outside for a bit, or they go back to playing.
    If 4 is really good, I will put on a movie for her and 1 usually catches a nap.

    12pm is lunch, I can start the laundry and pick up the house a bit while they are eating.
    Clean up from that.
    If I am doing any challenges, or 30 DS or inside exercises, I will squeeze this in. If not, I try to keep up with the housework.
    Make a dinner plan and thaw out something if it needs it.

    2pm is the next snack time, naps are usually finished (if they need them, 4 goes without them most days now), so there is clean up after that.

    3pm Youngest school age children (5 and 9) get home, so a snack for them and help with homework.
    4pm Oldest school age children (12 and 13) get home, so snack for them and help with homework.

    5pm My wife's schedule varies, but is mostly a day shift, so if that is the case she gets home around 5. we talk for a bit, then one of us gets started on dinner.
    6pm Dinner, afterwards everyone pitches in on cleanup. Older kids get a little tv time, or play outside. Sometimes I will walk if she is making dinner, or try to get one in afterwards. We have memberships at Planet Fitness, too, so sometimes we will alternate or both of us go if the teenager is feeling particularly helpful haha

    7pm - 8pm Starts bath and shower times, and wind down time (reading, writing, drawing, etc).

    9pm All children are in bed (in a perfect world). If we are splitting gym times, the other person hits the gym.

    Usually in bed about 10pm or 11pm.

    On my wife's closing days, it's a bit easier to get a walk or run in, or hit the gym, as she goes to work about 1pm.
    She will get home around 10:30pm or so, so there is another opportunity for the gym.
    I am pretty much stuck at home during the day as we only have the one car.

    Weekends, big kids help out with little kids, and I normally get to sleep until about 8am.
    Snack and lunch schedules are the same, and my wife gets every other weekend off, so there is a bit more freedom.

    My neighbourhood ends in a cul-de-sac, so if I walk the entire thing from my mailbox back to my mailbox, it is 1.1 miles.
    I usually walk 5 laps, although one day I did 10. 11 miles! :D

    I keep a radio turned on pretty much all day long, and have set times for everything, and enough daily jobs that I need to accomplish that it feels like a normal job.

    The transition was kind of difficult for me, but fortunately I learned to cook, bake, and clean when I learned to do lawn work, auto repair and maintenance, so I am well rounded enough to pull it off :)
    My wife has been fantastic, too. Couldn't do it without her.

    I worked real tax paying jobs from the moment I was 13, and you could get summer jobs through the school, took my first (main) job at 16 and worked it for 4 years, and have worked ever since, until a neck injury removed me from the work force.
    The stay at home bit was really different, at first, but everything has just fallen into place. Been doing this for three years now.

    Anyway, thanks for your post, and I hope this helps.

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