working everyday, all day

Crock pot!!! I do some prep work for meals on Sunday, if I have the time. I have a Weight Watchers cookbook called "One Pot Meals". Every single thing I have made from that cookbook has been delicious! It's become the favorite cookbook of me, my husband and my daughter. There are some items that need to be bakes but pretty much everything else in there, I just put in my crock pot.

Full-time work at all hours of the day and night and full-time school with lots of homework, here.

You just get through it. There is no magic, unfortunately.

Simplify your life and home. Throw out anything you don't use or need. A place for everything and everything in its place. Before plopping down after work, do your 20 minutes of cleaning and get it over with. Do dishes before bed so you're inclined to prepare your meals the next morning.

Don't sign yourself up for obligations. I love my family but I only get to see them once a week or once every other week. Sometimes just for a quick lunch at home or a stop-in before work. Every two or three months we make big plans. Two weeks from now we're all taking a day trip 2 hours away because the matriarch is in town. We get to spend time with her, the kids, the brothers and sisters and go on an adventure we (my boyfriend and I) will also enjoy. I wish it could happen more often, but, as it stands, that's it.

Resign your days off to be chore/errand days with some downtime mixed in. On the rare occasion my bf and I have a day off together, we go out for brunch or coffee and bagels then run a couple hours of errands. We pepper in fun pickups for supplies for each of our hobbies and then do the drudgery of shopping for groceries, hygiene supplies, cleaning stuff, etc. Go home, unload, relax for dinner, watch a movie, what have you. Then we get back to what's got to get done. We try to make some time to go hiking with the dog but it doesn't always happen, despite the hiking spot being a 15 minute drive away.

I've found the most important thing is SCHEDULING. Schedule time for yourself and each other. We cook together and have a cute little dining area where we can eat and transition into our crafty hobbies. He paints his guys for tabletop gaming and drafts his battle plans or plays with his camera and edits photos, I sew or make essential oil beauty products or color. Yes, color. In a coloring book.

I would say 6 days out of the week are 100% full of things we just HAVE to get done. One day a week is a good mix of chores and errands and fun time. It's not nearly enough but that's how it goes.

When school starts again in the summer, I'll be back to being overwhelmed and undersleeping. So will he, but it's his first semester back in a decade so he doesn't know what he's in for yet. Couple all this with the fact that I work anytime between 6am and 11pm and he works overnights.

In 3-5 years, we'll both have new careers and new routines that will be stressful in their own ways. But it's either you accept that or go live in a van down by the river... Which we have very seriously considered. lol!

You can do it. just keep chugging along. Keep your kitchen clean and buy healthy groceries. Count your calories and log everything. Work out when you can. Sleep as much as you need to whenever you get the chance. Make time for yourself and the restorative activities. If you don't MAKE time, you'll sure as hell never FIND time.

Cook chicken from frozen on 400F for an hour on a roasting rack so all the juices drip off. Roast your veggies or a potato in there, too. Keep meals simple. A meat and a veg. Do 2-minute soba noodles once in a while with some tamari and peanut butter and lime juice. I sweeten mine up with a Tbsp. of coconut palm sugar and chop in some green onions with a pair of scissors. Snack on ready-to-eat produce like carrots or apples or bananas. No cooking required. Get a stick blender and blend up a scoop of unflavored, unsweetened protein powder with almond milk, some stevia and whatever fruit you like. Frozen blueberries and spinach is a favorite. Weirdly, add a Tbsp. of cocoa powder and a few drops of peppermint extract and it tastes sort of like an Oreo. Very weird and very good.

Basically, develop recipes that are quick and easy and require less clean-up. But DO clean up before bed.

Hope these suggestions help and get ya thinkin'. Cheers.

I just lost 3 day weekends every week, bumping from a 40hr week with one whole day just to myself (my partner worked on my day off), now a 50hr week. I keep my life simple, I clean as I go and I prep food in advance (but also keep it very simple). My biggest pet peeve is a dirty kitchen so that's my priority. If nothing else gets cleaned but the kitchen it was a successful day.

On the weekend I cook a big batch of chicken breasts and chop them, divide into 200g baggies. Then I can add a salad or broccoli easily and I call that good. Usually I add a sauce to the broccoli and chicken mix, like alfredo marinara or peanut sauce.

You just make it as easy as possible when you know you're going to be busy. Plan ahead and prep what you are able. I don't procrastinate anymore, I just do it when I have time.