My Bare Minimum Mode:
- Disposable diapers until after Christmas
- No extra commitments. No extra play dates or dentist appointments, ect. Stay home and figure things out! (I don't think that includes people coming over. I would welcome company- especially for Abigail!)
- Make the same few meals over and over. They're healthy and don't involve much hands-on time. They include:
- Spaghetti
- Roasted chicken and vegetables
- Meatloaf
- Salmon (but have J pick it up!)
- Black bean soup
- Roast chicken (whole)
- Green veggies- asparagus, frozen peas and green beans, salad
- ?
- Buy bread once mine runs out. (sniff, sniff)
- Buy clorox wipes for quick bathroom wipe-downs. (a luxury in my mind...haha)
- Attempt new method of laundry. A woman I taught with had three boys and would do one load of laundry every night. Whatever had been worn in the last 24 hours was thrown in the machine and washed together. It makes me a little nervous to wash J's work out clothes with A's sweet clothes, but I think we'll give it a try. (Baby's will stay separate!)
What does your bare minimum stage look like?
11 comments:
Thank you for posting this! I needed to read it as I'm already beginning to stress about Hannah's arrival even though it's still aprox 4 months away. I really messed up when MG was born by trying to do too much a please too many people.
I would definitely say though that it's ok to say no to visitors too if you feel like you need to. This is my biggest regret with MG. I felt like there was a constant revolving door while I was in the hospital with her. I don't remember actually getting to hold her other than when I fed her. I felt too guilty telling people we needed alone time to bond. I now feel so much sadness when I think back on that time rather than joy because I feel like I missed out on a lot. I refuse to let that happen with Hannah.
I wash all of our kids clothes with ours, and have never had a problem.
Also, when the kids were younger, I had a cleaning schedule. On Mondays- make sure all the bedrooms are clean, on Tuesdays- clean toys, on Wednesday-dust, Thursdays- bathrooms, etc. And of course their was the daily dishes and laundry, etc. I still do laundry nearly once a day.
Also, I know some people are against this, but for us, it helped tremendously that we got the girls on similar "schedules" as soon as possible. It helped with our sleeping and sanity. Ryleigh was about a week old and Jeff managed to keep her awake for bigger chunks of time which made her sleep for longer chunks of time. So it took less than a month for her to be on a good nap schedule and the night time schedule was good almost right away. She woke to eat and then went right back to sleep (Rorie would want to play after her night time bottle).
Sleep when you can. SERIOUSLY. Dishes can wait. There are many chores that can wait. Stockpile formula and diapers. And when Jaris gets home from work, hand off one or both children. Grab a shower when you can. I remember going 3 days without showering when both girls were little.
Don't forget to take care of yourself as well. Your children will benefit from you more if you are taken care of as well-i.e. long shower or bath, get a pedicure, going shopping without them.
Love ya- and can't wait to hear when she comes!!!
Sarah
Haha your bare minimum mode basically describes my daily life. I shudder to think of my bare minimum in comparison. :)
You bare minimum mode is more than my normal daily life! And reading the others' comments makes me realize what I'm not cleaning ;)
I do one load of laundry a day. I started doing it after my mother came and caught me up on my laundry after H was born! I absolutely LOVE it!!!! I'm not over whelmed with putting away and folding mounds of clothes because the loads are tiny. :)-
I have always washed H clothes in our clothes too.
My bare minimum all flat surfaces must be cleaned. It works. :) And it's amazing what can be picked up if you set a timer for 10 minutes a day. :)
Since I'm not currently on bare minimum mode, I swear I must clean all day long! WTH! :)
Wish I could come clean for you during this time... :)-
Yeah, your bare minimum is pretty much my life....
I feel like such a slacker!
I always wash all the the clothes together, including baby clothes after a few trial runs of one or two baby clothes to make sure it doesn't irritate the baby. It never has.
Now I try to do each kid's hamper separately so when it's folded, it goes to one room. The big girls share a hamper, Joe has his own, Claire has her own, and Mike and I share one.
When it comes to the big cleaning...I have a wonderful lady who cleans for me. I really really fought the guilt of not doing it myself, but last fall when I had the girls with their activities AND Joe and Claire's numerous therapies AND Mike gone for 5 months, I finally caved.
I don't know what I would do without Mrs. C who cleans for me. I would cut many things from our budget before I would cut her. So there it is, my dirty, er, clean, little secret!
My bare minimum does NOT include roasting chickens! But I love that yours does. :)
Annie
My husband and I were just talking about this the other day, saying that January until at least April are going to be bare minimum months. I have yet to really think through what that will look like, but I am putting combining laundry at the top of my list. I can honestly say I hadn't thought of that before! And since I use the same detergent for everyone (free and clear) it'll work fine. And, doing one load a day is a great idea. I think I'll do both.
I agree...Lysol wipes for bathroom sinks and floors for that time is great (and a splurge for us too!).
Other than that, I have no idea!
I did go through my oldest son's closet and pare his clothes wayyyy down, so he only has a few items now which he can wear over and over unless they're really dirty. Same with my husband and I. Unless we've been coal mining that day, it's clean! Keep rewearing those clothes, right?
Oh, and sheets. I only wash them rarely since most of us shower at night now and get into bed clean anyway! So much easier.
the only other thing I forgot to say (I think) is keep a log of when the baby eats. It is a lot harder to remember when there are 2 of them and you are sleep deprived. This helped us out tremendously when Ryleigh was born.
Sarah
Oh, another thought...paper plates! We always have some in the house but only use them if things get really hairy. They are helpful!
When Baby C was born I used our slow cooker to do chickens as opposed to to oven - it was less messy and involved less attention. We're starting the adoption process for Baby C#2 later this month so I will want your advice when it's time for us to readjust to having two.
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