The other parent will see how much work you do as you are racing back and forth with spritz bottles and laundry baskets.
You will have another adult to watch the children while you are working, rather than having “helpers” and distractions.
If the other parent is goofing around, you can use the “toddler choices” format to say in a friendly, pleasant tone of voice, “Do you want to clean the bathroom, or do you want to watch the kids while I do it?,” instead of bringing out the screeching tone of voice to say, “Why is YOUR weekend ‘a weekend’ while mine is just MORE OF THE SAME??”
The other parent will then have a mental picture during the workweek of you working-working-working, rather than having a mental picture of you lying around complaining.
This will free up time during the week, when no one is around to see you lying around complaining.
Instead of Monday being the day when you have to deal with all the mess generated by having an extra person but less work, the Monday House will be the best.
Weekends are a disappointment anyway (We’ll get to sleep in!It’ll be great having another adult to help!We can relax and have fun!), and so you might as well improve the rest of the week.
You know this is brilliant. I’m going to tell you this is brilliant anyways. It works for work-outside-the-home parents too. For example, if I would get off the couch and get the house cleaned up, laundry done, dishes washed (while the Hubs sleeps in after his oh-so-long work week) then I would not mourn Sunday night and the lack of cleaning, laundry, dishes getting done. Thanks for the motivation. Logging off right now to go tackle the kitchen. :-)
Sounds like a better idea than what I currently do. I usually just take the weekends off as well which means that we are all covered in filth with no clean clothes or dishes by the time Monday rolls around. I vote for your plan!
Now that I’m older, I really feel for my Mom as my Dad was NOT helpful around the house. She took out the garbage, cooked all the meals, cleaned the house, did all the laundry and my Dad — as soon as he came home he sat on the couch and if it was Friday he’d be there until about 10pm Sunday night.
Forgot to mention – as the work outside the home parent – I do about 75% of the household chores. After working 50 hours a week, commuting 10 hours a week and going to school.
Working in an office isn’t fun and exciting, just a different type of hell, lol.
My husband and I BOTH work full-time and yet, he feels that he “deserves” to sleep in and nap all damn weekend long. I still get up, feed the kids, go to the grocery, etc. So, I LOVE the “more of the same” quote and speaking to your spouse like a toddler. Now I am all fired up, so I will continue to surf the Net while he can continue to referee the screaming children :)
RYC: I think it can go in a Downy ball, but I read somewhere that those balls don’t work in the new front loading washers. I just put it in the “fabric softener” spot, which is right next to the detergent spot in my front loading washer.
We always clean the house on the weekends. I do little cleaning through out the week (for example, the kitchen floor cannot wait an entire week to be cleaned), and I do dishes, and pick up toys, and laundry all during the week. But we dedicate weekends to cleaning together- all of us.
It’s really what keeps me sane, and keeps our house from being Reported for slovenly conditions. =)
I DOES suck to have “chores” on the weekend, but as you say Swistle, makes Mondays so much more bearable!
I so agree and am going to memorize Mairzy’s rainbow quote. What I don’t get during the week is a husband who comes home claiming to be just exhausted from his day yet he can sit in front of the blasted computer and play military strategy games for four hours while I cook dinner, clean up the kitchen, do baths, wash clothes, get kids in bed, etc.
dude, i totally support this all the way even though i’m not a stay-at-home parent. In fact, I’m a single mom so i have to do it all anyway. Which was pretty much how it was done when i was married… swistle, i think all males must be spoken to in toddler-ese.
Genius. And, I’ve spent all these years trying busily all week to clear the weekend so that we can “do stuff as a family….” which….ummm…means that my husband plays video games and tells me my life seems pretty easy. Oh no. Never again.
I think you may be on to something here! For years, Monday has been cleaning hell for me, because I refuse to do the same crap I do all week while other people are doing other stuff. I’m going to have to give this serious consideration!!!
Ah, Swistle, you have unlocked the secrets of the world here. I spend Thursdays and Fridays making the house look nice for the husband’s arrival. And then by mid-day Saturday it is a complete disaster once again. Mostly from said husband. But I’ve been going about things all wrong! Next weekend I will spend with toilet brush in hand. And it’ll TOTALLY help that I’m pregnant. Ha!
First off, we agreed that I would have the 24/7 shift M-F but I could sleep in and not do the night duty on weekends. Not perfect, but it helped.
Later on I was listening to a woman who was excited about getting married so she wouldn’t be left alone all the time. “Odd,” I replied. “That’s why I got a divorce.”
I live for Monday morning when the children are at school, the husband at work and I get to re-structure and revamp the chaos into something workable. AND I have a full-time job. But since I work mostly from home I get the best/worst of both worlds.
I am a working parent and it’s like I have no weekend anymore. I get up with my son 7 days a week and the weekends are actually worse because I tend to stay up later and hold onto some crazy notion that maybe he will sleep in…
Ha, I love this. See, I don’t normally do much (as far as the house is concerned) on the weekends. Then I get to Monday and I’m overwhelmed by ALL THE WORK THAT MUST BE DONE. And it never fails that I have an errand to run that day too, so I don’t get to all of it. Then Tuesday starts with more work. Erg. I will try this next weekend. Like you said, worst case senario there is someone to wrangle the kid.
I once saw a quote that helped me adjust my weekend expectations. As follows:
“Weekends are like rainbows. They look beautiful from a distance, but when you get up close, they disappear.”
I agree about Mondays. I happen to like Mondays a lot.
You know this is brilliant. I’m going to tell you this is brilliant anyways. It works for work-outside-the-home parents too. For example, if I would get off the couch and get the house cleaned up, laundry done, dishes washed (while the Hubs sleeps in after his oh-so-long work week) then I would not mourn Sunday night and the lack of cleaning, laundry, dishes getting done. Thanks for the motivation. Logging off right now to go tackle the kitchen. :-)
This might be my very favorite blog post ever. Every word of it is completely true. And I like Mairzy’s rainbow quote too.
Sounds like a better idea than what I currently do. I usually just take the weekends off as well which means that we are all covered in filth with no clean clothes or dishes by the time Monday rolls around. I vote for your plan!
Swistle, you hit the nail on the head as usual. I like your plan.
Now that I’m older, I really feel for my Mom as my Dad was NOT helpful around the house. She took out the garbage, cooked all the meals, cleaned the house, did all the laundry and my Dad — as soon as he came home he sat on the couch and if it was Friday he’d be there until about 10pm Sunday night.
Forgot to mention – as the work outside the home parent – I do about 75% of the household chores. After working 50 hours a week, commuting 10 hours a week and going to school.
Working in an office isn’t fun and exciting, just a different type of hell, lol.
Oh man don’t I know it.
“Toddler choices” format – arghghg, so true. and hilarious.
My husband and I BOTH work full-time and yet, he feels that he “deserves” to sleep in and nap all damn weekend long. I still get up, feed the kids, go to the grocery, etc. So, I LOVE the “more of the same” quote and speaking to your spouse like a toddler. Now I am all fired up, so I will continue to surf the Net while he can continue to referee the screaming children :)
Hi, long-time lurker here. I just love your blog. Hi-freakin-larious. And I totally agree with you on the whole weekend thing!
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Funny that I just blogged about something similar. You are just much more eloquent! :)
love your blog!
This has always been my theory, but I’ve never seen anyone explain it so well. Bravo!
RYC: I think it can go in a Downy ball, but I read somewhere that those balls don’t work in the new front loading washers. I just put it in the “fabric softener” spot, which is right next to the detergent spot in my front loading washer.
We always clean the house on the weekends. I do little cleaning through out the week (for example, the kitchen floor cannot wait an entire week to be cleaned), and I do dishes, and pick up toys, and laundry all during the week. But we dedicate weekends to cleaning together- all of us.
It’s really what keeps me sane, and keeps our house from being Reported for slovenly conditions. =)
I DOES suck to have “chores” on the weekend, but as you say Swistle, makes Mondays so much more bearable!
I will have to come back to this in a couple of months when I’m back home and the number of children I have has doubled!
Amen, sister!
I so agree and am going to memorize Mairzy’s rainbow quote. What I don’t get during the week is a husband who comes home claiming to be just exhausted from his day yet he can sit in front of the blasted computer and play military strategy games for four hours while I cook dinner, clean up the kitchen, do baths, wash clothes, get kids in bed, etc.
dude, i totally support this all the way even though i’m not a stay-at-home parent. In fact, I’m a single mom so i have to do it all anyway. Which was pretty much how it was done when i was married…
swistle, i think all males must be spoken to in toddler-ese.
That is the plan for today. Thanks for the inspiration to clean on the weekend.
Genius. And, I’ve spent all these years trying busily all week to clear the weekend so that we can “do stuff as a family….” which….ummm…means that my husband plays video games and tells me my life seems pretty easy. Oh no. Never again.
Absolutely BRILLIANT!!! Thanks!
hmmm, why didn’t I think of that?
I think you may be on to something here! For years, Monday has been cleaning hell for me, because I refuse to do the same crap I do all week while other people are doing other stuff. I’m going to have to give this serious consideration!!!
Ah, Swistle, you have unlocked the secrets of the world here. I spend Thursdays and Fridays making the house look nice for the husband’s arrival. And then by mid-day Saturday it is a complete disaster once again. Mostly from said husband. But I’ve been going about things all wrong! Next weekend I will spend with toilet brush in hand. And it’ll TOTALLY help that I’m pregnant. Ha!
First off, we agreed that I would have the 24/7 shift M-F but I could sleep in and not do the night duty on weekends. Not perfect, but it helped.
Later on I was listening to a woman who was excited about getting married so she wouldn’t be left alone all the time. “Odd,” I replied. “That’s why I got a divorce.”
Love the rainbow quote.
I live for Monday morning when the children are at school, the husband at work and I get to re-structure and revamp the chaos into something workable. AND I have a full-time job. But since I work mostly from home I get the best/worst of both worlds.
So true. Almost EVERY weekend, I think of one of Linda’s old posts, entitled, “Weekends Really Suck Sometimes”.
On Saturday nights I always feel like, “we have a whole ‘nother DAY of this?”. Um, and not in a good way.
I am a working parent and it’s like I have no weekend anymore. I get up with my son 7 days a week and the weekends are actually worse because I tend to stay up later and hold onto some crazy notion that maybe he will sleep in…
these are hot tips !
My husband is pretty good but he chooses to watch the kids and lets me do all the work … no fair !
Bravo.
TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday)
Ha, I love this. See, I don’t normally do much (as far as the house is concerned) on the weekends. Then I get to Monday and I’m overwhelmed by ALL THE WORK THAT MUST BE DONE. And it never fails that I have an errand to run that day too, so I don’t get to all of it. Then Tuesday starts with more work. Erg. I will try this next weekend. Like you said, worst case senario there is someone to wrangle the kid.
I like how you think! He he.