Not so long ago, once the children were born mom stayed home. Dad would provide for the family. It was mom’s responsibility to raise the kids and to take care of the household.  Now this has all changed.

Nowadays it is normal that both parents work.  Some of them want to because they enjoy working.  And some of them have to because they need the money. Life is getting expensive. And we all notice this. No matter which part of the world you live.

When both parents are working a lot of organizing needs to be done. Who will pick up and drop of the kids.  Where will they have the lunch. And then who will make the lunch boxes?  In Holland for instance it is normal that children have lunch at home if they are in primary school (age 4 -12). So there is another pick up and drop off moment. ( Although this is changing, some schools end at 14.00. The kids have lunch at school.) Where will they go after school. Who will bring them to the soccer practice, who will help them with their homework. Things get even more difficult when you’re a single mom or dad.

And then there are chores to be taken care of. Once you arrive home after you picked up the kids, you start with dinner and tell the kids to do their homework. Meanwhile husband comes home and he may help you. Several  studies have shown that most men do not help around the house.

Then there needs to be vacuumed, bathrooms to be cleaned, bed linen to be changed, laundry to be  done, floors to be scrubbed and….. well the list is endless!

How to manage all this effectively? First of all we must acknowledge the fact  that we cannot do all chores at once. There are just too little hours in a day.

Would you like to have some bonus time during the weekends?  Extra few hours to spend with your family. Or just some time for yourself (to try out that new make-up tutorial) ? Without feeling guilty.  Without thinking I have to do this or that. The only option to do that is doing some extra chores during weekdays. You can for example do 10 minute chores during the morning and 10-15 minute chores during the afternoon. What?  10 Minutes chores in the morning? We are already very busy! True.  If you really want more free time during the weekend you have to wake up 10 minutes earlier. I totally agree  with you. Waking up in the mornings is hard.  And getting out of bed earlier is even more harder.  But remember practice makes perfect and we do get free time during the weekend.

A few morning chores examples: cleaning the bathroom, emptying the dishwasher, load the washing machine or ______. Fill in the blanks. And let us know what chores you do in the morning.

A few afternoon chores examples would be: changing and washing the bed sheets, vacuuming, sweeping dusting, unload the washing machine or ________.

Ask your hubby  to help you with the chores. Together Everyone Achieves More.

Be creative with your time. You could do chores during commercials, 10 minutes before  you will have dinner. Let the kids help you. Let them shine the microwave or oven for you.  When they are bigger they could even unload the dishwasher for you or some other chore.

Set a time for each chore. Did you know that you can get a new load of laundry in the washing machine and fold the washed laundry in 15 minutes? You can for instance iron for half an hour. Or pluck weeds for 15 minutes.

Do you do all your chores during the weekend? Please comment and let us know.