Are you proud of your home? Of course you are! It’s where you live, it’s where you’re raising your family, and it’s where you’re building a career of your own.
It’s also where you’ve spent a lot of time, money, and energy creating a safe haven where you can relax and enjoy yourself! You painted those walls yourself, laid that kitchen backsplash yourself, and you’re more than capable of taking off the sink u-bend to check for blockages too!
And when you think about it, your home really does take up a lot of your time throughout the week.
Young Children
There’s always a bit more cleaning to be done, isn’t there? Especially when you’ve got young children who don’t quite understand why it’s important to put their toys away when they’re finished playing with them.
Plus, you have a weekly to-do list for a reason. Laundry, vacuuming, dusting, cooking (and cleaning up afterwards, of course), as well as a few light maintenance tasks like cleaning the bins or sweeping the yard.
At this point in time, it does feel like you’ve got this revolving to-do list all tight and squared away, and you can get it done faster than ever before.
But even then, how much time are you really spending on making sure your house is in working order?
And if you didn’t have to, would you still feel as busy as you currently do?
How Much Time Do Mums Spend on Housework?
According to research from the Pew Research Center, both stay at home mums and working mums spend an awful lot of time on housework per week – 23 hours and 14 hours, respectively.
So, no matter how else mums spend their time, housework takes up either nearly a full day or over half a day per week, every single week.
Even if you don’t feel like housework takes more than a couple hours per day, that’s still around 12 to 14 hours per week tidying up, getting organized, and watching it all become messy again.
And if you were genuinely honest with yourself about it, you’d probably say these hours are still way too much! There’s a reason you feel exhausted at the idea of going through your to-do list!
And When You’re A Mum Who Works From Home…
This is where things get really complicated. You’re both a stay-at-home and working mum.
You don’t get to leave the house to go to work, and thus leave behind everything the house needs doing while you’re out.
It’s there with you, weighing on your mind, the entire time you’re trying to focus on your business.
And while you might not be spending 23 hours on housework every week, you’re still probably spending more than the average 14 hours reported by other working mums.
All in all, you never quite get a break!
How Would You Rather Spend That Time?
With the kids? Of course! Or maybe on your career? It certainly wouldn’t hurt!
But if you’re honest (again), you probably would just love a bit more time to yourself.
That’s the pain of realizing things like this. You know you’re missing out!
Cutting Down the Hours: How to Save Time on Home Organisation
You know there’s a lot of time that goes into cleaning and tidying the house. You might also want to drastically cut down on these hours in any way possible!
And once you realize just how many hours you’re putting into organisation, you might just find that you needed a solution yesterday!
But seeing as there’s a lot that needs to be done, how are you supposed to save any time? It’s all about being a bit creative with the way you approach that to-do list we mentioned.
Embrace Storage Solutions That Grow With You
They’re possible to create – you simply need a storage container that allows you to customize how many different pockets, slots, or drawers there are inside.
It’s why inner cabinet boxes are a pretty good choice here, as you can add new levels whenever you run out of space in the one below.
Get The Gadgets To Do The Work For You
Automated gadgets are a mum’s best friend. Really.
It’s why robot vacuums, automated coffee machines, and even a handy robotic lawn mower for when you really can’t face the garden, can be found in homes and sheds all over the world.
When there’s a little robotic device to get the bulk of the hard work done, you don’t have to spend as much time keeping on top of it yourself.
See What The Kids Are Up To
And yes, we mean that! Because the kids should be able to help you out when you’re snowed under and already exhausted.
After all, they’re going to have to learn how to wash the dishes and sort laundry colours from one another someday – why not start now?
You can make things a bit more fun by asking the kids to ‘race’, for example, and see who can get the most things off of the floor in the next 5 minutes.
But be careful, because if you’ve got some competitive kids in the house, there could be a few tears at the end of it!
Hey Mum, Let’s Clear Your Schedule a Bit!
Because when you think about it, quite a few chores and errands are cluttering the calendar right now! And they don’t really need to be either – that’s the worst thing about it.
Of course, you need to food shop once a week and make sure everyone has clean clothes to put on. But if you feel like you have to deep clean the kitchen every single time you walk into it, it might be time for a change of habits.
Simply put, let’s clear your schedule a bit. You deserve a bit more free time, and you deserve to be able to down tools and let yourself take a break when you need one!
Feature image: CC0 Licence
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