Running A Household Of 5 Like A Business

A Guest Blog By Ms. Crazy Game Of Life. Running A Household.

Howdy all!  Mr. Crazy Game of Life asked if I would contribute a blog post or two.  He seems to think I might be funny or have a nugget or two to offer :).  That is certainly up to you to assess…

So while we were sitting on the couch drinking our morning coffee, I acquiesced.  I have a viewpoint that I’m not a great writer, but I am a life time learner, so I said I would try it out….for him 🙂

Quick background, I am a mom, step-mom, wife & partner, widow, sister, daughter, step daughter, Director at a large corporation, 1st time marathoner and always life time learner!

With that background in place, I had to come up with a blog topic.  What is something that keeps me sane, the family humming along & keeps work manageable. Good, bad or indifferent, our lives in the U.S. tend to be busy.  It takes an effort running a household, getting household chores done & make sure things happen when they need to with the right family members.  It also takes an effort to make time for the important things like hanging out as a family during the week, finding planning time & personal time. Running a household takes patience!

Running A Household. Do What You Enjoy. Outsource The Rest

So it is important to know what your strengths/preferences are, your partner’s strengths/preferences & where you need to outsource!  Whether you have a partner or not, this is really important.  I spent 4-5 years as a single parent & this concept became very clear to me!  The things I didn’t mind so much, tended to get done – financials, dishes, groceries, work, playtime with the kiddo.  The things I didn’t like so much, tended to be the LAST thing I did – folding laundry, cooking meals & cleaning toilets.

I remember the day I realized I needed to have a strategy around getting “most of it done” and best that I can.  I came home from a business trip and didn’t have time to get the laundry done and we were low on clean clothes.  Today, I have  clothes for 2 weeks for myself and kiddo, just in case I ever missed a weekend catch up session.

When you have a partner, the strengths & preferences conversation is important to have.  My husband is a great partner in all aspects of our life.  As we started living together, it became clear we had some preferences on the chores we liked to do vs chores we didn’t.  After figuring out he loved financials & cooking more than I did, it was easy to switch chores.  We shared cleaning and cooking as much as we could.

As our jobs & kids’ lives got busier, we realized we wanted to be able to have time to spend with our families and less time cleaning/maintaining the house on the weekend.  It wasn’t an easy decision, it took quite a few conversations, but in the end we agreed to spend the money to have the “heavy” house cleaning and lawn maintenance every other week.  Running a household takes choices and tradeoffs!

Planning Is Critical. A Family Calendar Is A Must

Planning is critical to making a household work :).  So my husband and I use the calendar religiously.  Everything goes on it, work, kids, community events, workouts, personal events, etc. Running a household takes planning!

Every week we sit down to see how we can support each other.  From this conversation I create a “help wanted” list.  Maybe we need a babysitter on Wednesday night because we both have a work event.  Perhaps we are both working late, so we need help with dinners on Tuesday & Thursday.  Maybe one of the kiddos has a dentist appointment on Friday morning.  Then we figure out what needs to be moved around to support, or what “help” we need.

We are blessed to have family nearby who have retired.  They are happy to help, and we pay them for the services. A little extra money in their pocket is welcomed $$, everyone ends up happy and helps running a household

Running A Household. Build A Strong Support Network

This isn’t the only way to get the help wanted list taken care of :).  When I was a single parent days when I didn’t have family close, I would use a few different services to accomplish the same things.  Babysitting for a parent is critical, so I would watch the daycare providers to see who my son bonded with best.  Then ask if they were available to babysit, get credentials & verify.  This strategy worked out really well for me.  Another strategy is sleepover with friends!  This can be a lifesaver, and is lots of fun for kiddo. Get to know the friends and their parents.  Be the first to offer up and eventually you & your kiddo will have some great relationships with some pretty cool people!

Another area is cooking.  I’m an ok cook, but it just doesn’t interest me much. So I would always try different ways to have dinner at home, but that I didn’t need to cook it :).  This ranged from some of the pre-prepped meals at the grocery store, to delivering a pizza, to carry out orders, to now there is even grub hub.

Net/net, you & I shouldn’t expect to do everything 100% right 100% of the time with out a little help.

The key to getting that help is knowing what you like to do & then get creative with how you get the other things done!

Remember that life is a game never won or lost, only played.