Today I am super excited to kick off the first in a series of “typical day” posts from other mums for 2019!
We of course know that there really is no such thing as a typical day in family life, but these posts gives us a sneak peak into the daily life of another family. We can see what planning and organising strategies are working for them and experiment to see what might help out at our family.
This post is from Susan who has been a long time reader of the blog – thank you for sharing Susan! I find Susan’s day very inspiring. Having a child with special needs would be challenging, and then add to that a FIFO husband and the demands would be even greater on your time.
I love that Susan manages to make time for things that are important for her, like time for exercise, projects and writing her book – she is certainly an example of someone who uses their time consciously!
My Husband is a FIFO and works two weeks on and two weeks off. I am a SAHM as we have a special needs child and we decided that one of us would stay at home as he is a extremely vulnerable child. My daily routine is:
6:00am – 9:00am
I wake up and make myself a cuppa. I prepare breakfast for my 8 and 12 year old boys. I make lunches for 8, 12 and 16 yr old. My uni child looks after her own needs.
I hang out washing and supervise 8 and 12 year old as they do their homework. Do dishes, sweep the floor, clean the benches and clean the bathroom. I change the sheets one room per week day. Then I walk with the youngest to school.
9:00am – 10:30am
I clean up the house and anything needing tidying up outside. I then exercise. This is either tennis, dance practice, body weight or running.
10:30am – 12:30pm
This is the time of day where I will shop for groceries, help out at school, P&C duties, coffee and general running around.
12:30pm – 2:30pm
Time for book work, project work, dinner prep, bringing in the washing, folding and ironing.
2:30pm – 3:00pm
Organise after school snacks and pick up the youngest.
3:00pm – 4:00pm
At this time I do things like put washing on, catch up on news, clean out bags.
4:15pm – 5:30pm
This time of the day is filled with after school activities. I will write a to do list for the next day and read if I have time.
5:30pm – 6:30pm
Dinnertime and cleanup.
6:30pm – 10:00pm
Depending on the day, there could be meetings, sports, jobs, dancing and helping with homework for the year 10 child.
10:00pm – 11:00pm
A final clean up of the house and then time for teenager chats.
11:00pm – 12:00am
I finish the day with time writing my book.
Other planning and organising tips
My meal prep is completed during the week as our weekends are extremely routine. I use Paprika for meal planning and receive a organic vegetable box once a week.
My cleaning routine is simple and all my children follow it. I would say my house is one of routine with clear schedules. I sometimes break out during the week, as it can become mind numbing due to the structure and the needs of my special needs child.
Mental health is extremely important to me as I am 51 years old in the middle of menopause with young children. I play competitive/social tennis. I am also learning tap dance and Rock n Roll.
I am an avid reader and am working on a project that is extremely important to me. My life is full and will become busier as I take on more due to my project.
If you would like to contribute to the series feel free to email your typical day to me at nicole@planningwithkids.com – I would love to read it and be able to publish it on the blog.
You can read about my typical day here. You can read more posts in the series here.