For the Working Mommies.....

Hire a house cleaner and just accept that it's going to be a mess sometimes. :) We have a cleaner come every 2 weeks for $120 (we have 3000sq ft).

Schedule schedule schedule!
Get home and go right into playing with the kids. Dinner is quick (we don't eat as a family, DH gets home too late). I feed them, and if there's extra, that's what DH has too. Nothing more than 15 minutes to cook.

Baths and bedtime follow dinner

Then you time (with DH).

Every night, I get time for ME from 8-9pm. Sometimes I'm just watching TV. Sometimes DH and I are taking care of business. I hit the bed at 9:30.

Rinse and repeat the next day. You just have to have a schedule and forget tyring to couple in being a "homemaker" on top of everything else. For me, time with kids first, everything else last (cleaning, fancy dinners, etc...).

Invest time in menu planning and USE A CROCKPOT! Dinner will be ready when you walk in the door! I know time and money are tight, but there's a menu planning class at
http://www.inspiredabq.com
to help those in just such situations!

I think the answer mostly is "I don't". :)

We can't afford help on the cleaning side right now, but when we can that makes a HUGE difference. Even if it is just every other week and the person just vacuums, dusts and cleans bathrooms. Especially if they come on a Friday-makes the start of the weekend less daunting.

My husband came up with the idea of everyone having their own laundry basket so even if you don't get to put the clothes away you aren't filtering thru everyone's clothes just to find your socks.

Crock pot and meal planning is a huge help.

And finally-being able to let it go. Which I always struggle with, but at the end of the day a good snuggle with my kids is way better then cleaning the toilet. :)

A crock pot helps.

Check out www.flylady.net
O. load of laundry per day.
Run the dishwasher every night & unload every morning.

Also, as long as there is an adult there (hubby) your house shouldn't be totally trashed! (At least that's the idea--but I get that and we only have O..)

I am a mommy to three and I work full time (45 hrs per week approx) so I empathize!! I went back to work when my youngest was 8 weeks, and he is now 4 months old.....

Here's what we do:

- check out flylady.net - she is awesome
- I get home about 25 minutes before the rest of the fam. Right when I walk in the door, I head straight for the shower - I get mine done and out of the way before the troops get home. That way, the rest of the night I am able to focus on cleaning everyone else. I start the oven if necessary right before I hop in so it is ready when I get out. If I don't shower, I literally RUN through the house during my 25 minutes and pick up and clean so that way I can focus on the kids and hubby when they get home.
- I only do my hair every other day - it is long and takes forever. But the advantage to long hair is you can put it up and forget it and it still looks cute. Freshen up on the inbetween days and you will save yourself a lot of time
- hire a cleaning lady to do deep cleaning once a month or basic stuff every every other week.
- start your crock pot in the morning, come home to dinner made every night
- do one load of laundry per day (see flylady.net)
- make all lunches the night before and put in fridge
- make a ton of meals on Sat and Sun and eat leftovers for dinner during the week -saves tons of time!
- settle for easy dinners - sandwhiches and soup, breakfast for dinner, etc
- try to keep at least one room clean - sit in that room all night if you have to, ignore the rest. Clean it on Saturday, if you have the energy!
- lay out your clothes and the kids' clothes the night before....right down to your underwear.

Good luck - we are all in the same boat so know you are not alone!

Its hard, I hate it....been trying to go part time for over 2 years. It gets easier when their is more daylight out as I am usually up longer. Mine schedule is probably worse than others since my hubby works every weekend so on my days off, i am solo with the baby. what I do is i have a chart with Monday-Friday on it..each day I put a list of things to do.Once i put the babe to bed, I get on my list. we are always eating leftovers because I dont have time to make a fresh dinner..however a crockpot is your best friend so use it. My goal is to get the work done during the week so on the weekends I am not running around...its time off from work (all of it)
Monday -pick up toys, dust, windex, clean bathroom, make Tuesdays dinner.
Tuesday- pick up toys, clean, organize living room and kitchen, make wednesdays dinner
Wednesday - pick up toys, clean, dust bedrooms, vacuum, bring laundry down (I usualy start washing the sheets cuz I dont care if they are wrinkled) and make Thursdays dinner
Thursday- pick up toys and COMPLETE LAUNDRY( this is my biggest job and the one I hate the most so I refuse to go to bed until the laundry is complete) Make Fridays dinner
Friday- buy groceries for the weekend, prep next weeks dinner menu before picking the kids up from daycare.

Saturday mornings I get up about an hour before the baby does and get other misc stuff done that I was unable to get to(for whatever reason)..if I have nothing, then I sleep in...ahhhh

My biggest thing is just to be prepared, you need to think about what you have to do tomorrow and start working on it today or a least make a list of things you need to get done. its DEF not easy....and again, I still hate it. I usually spend most of my time cleaning, picking up etc (however I dont have much help from the hubby helping with the kid) I try to spend as much time outside (means less mess inside the house) if you chop it up and take quick 30 mins trips to knock out an errand each day it can be done.

I went back to work the first time when my trips were 2 months. It is hard. 1 baby equals work, more than 1 is a lot more work. First, don;t sweat everything. Do what can be done and the heck with the rest until the weekend. It gets easier around the time they reach 5 yrs. It seems like a really far off time right now of course. What absolutely must be done? Laundry? Throw on a load and then cook dinner. Pick things up as you go through but if you miss something, have a basket handy do you can just toss it in. The one priority we had was as the kids got more mobile, the floor was ALWAYS vaccuumed so they did not pick up anything. If dishes could not be completely finished, they were put in a bucket/dishpan of hot water to wait. Also, cook a meal that can be used the next day, like a roast or a chicken. The best thing of these kinds of meals is you put it in the oven or crockpot and let it cook-no watching the stove. It does get a little easier when they are a little older since they are not as littlerally hands on except their little hands of course-;) and they are able to entertain each other a bit.

I only have one child but I still find that there is never enough time! For the first 6 months I was lucky enough that I could bring her to work with me in my office. Well as great as that sounds, it was so tough to work, take care of her and try to keep my head on straight! After that taking her to daycare and working seemed easier, but yet the house is still a mess and as fast as I clean up she makes it a mess again! I am really a "clean freak" but I had to just learn that things were not going to be in there place ever again. As long as your children are happy and taken care of, it's ok that the dishes aren't done or that the laundry is sitting there or whatever it may be. It's not the end of the world...there's always tomorrow! lol Good luck with 2! I am a twin so I can imagine what my mother went through having 2 little ones to occupy her time but then again she was a stay at home mom and didn't have to work full time!

How old are the twins now? Did you just go back to work? That will change your approach, and it will constantly be changing.

My husband works evenings, so once I get home I'm alone with the kids until he's off work, close to midnight. I don't think that I "do it" but we are surviving and our oldest is now 4. Some things that do help:

Plan meals and invest in a crock pot or plan enough food for leftovers on your craziest nights.

Only clean what counts. For example, if they are little and crawling around on the floor, clean floors are a bigger priority than a clean bathroom, etc.

If you don't have a dishwasher (we don't) don't feel bad keeping a stash of paper plates, cups, bowls, and plasticware for crazy nights, nights you're eating alone with the kids, etc. Presentation is overrated on a daily basis when life is hectic. :)

What bugs both of you the MOST when you walk in the door? My husband hates it when he can't get from the door to wherever he needs to go, so right before he gets home I try to at least kick everything out of the way (toys, shoes, couch pillows, whatever the kids have thrown on the floor while playing). Sometimes I call him right before he leaves work to see if he needs me to get something ready for him to eat, which lets him walk in and relax rather than walk in ravenous and cranky. It makes everyone's night go better.

Pack your own food and everyone else's the night before. Put the kids at the table with an activity. I have even set out breakfast food and dishes the night before.

Sundays are the only days I go out with the kids in the morning (since they're home with daddy). I pack Cheerios and cups of water in my purse the night before and give them "breakfast" in the car on the way to church.

Work out. No matter how little time you have, work out on your lunch break at work or right after work. That was my after-work treat when my second was an infant--I put my toddler down for a nap, nursed the baby, stuck him in a bouncy seat, and worked out for a half an hour. If my oldest was still sleeping after my shower I took a quick nap with the baby and managed to survive. Working out makes me feel human, gives me more energy, and amazingly worked for weight loss. :)

Keep something in the house you really like, whether it is small pieces of dark chocolate, wine, Skinny Cow ice cream treats, gourmet cheese--something that can give you a little burst of pleasure when you're going nuts.

When I went back to work after my second baby I also made a "Before Bed Checklist" and a "Before Work Checklist" that I printed off every day. I am so fried most of the time and running on caffeine and about 4 or 5 hours of sleep, and I needed stupid instructions like "wash breast pump," "pack breast pump," "pack lunch for work," "set up coffee pot," and "set out work clothes," as well as morning things like "nurse baby at 6:30--get him back to sleep," "eat breakfast and check weather/traffic online," "warm up car at 7:55," "leave house by 8:10," etc.

Relax. Your house will look like a working family's house and I'm sure isn't as bad as you think. We could never afford help with cleaning, so I try to just keep things under control as much as possible, which means if something smells or interferes with daily living, it is a priority. I have a cat, so try to vacuum a few times a week downstairs and try to get to the upstairs a few times a year. :) Saturday mornings I am home with the kids when they wake up, so I have them make their beds and we put their books in their bedroom back on the shelf (they are on the floor and in their beds the rest of the week) and I try to vacuum their room later. Saturdays are my husband's only day to sleep in without taking care of kids and Sundays he works a longer day, so that is my only morning to chill out with the kids alone.

I am home full-time now waiting to have my third baby (taking another 8 weeks after he's born before I go back to work) and my downstairs STILL looks as bad as it did when I was at work all day. I can't keep up with it. I can have clean and organized closets, or a clean house that the kids can't play in at all. I'd rather let my kids play and relax and know that my closets are not going to explode since I know I can't have it all. :)

We do a load of laundry a day. So Monday I put the clothes in the washer, tuesday the clothes get put into the dryer and put away and a new load into the washer. I keep this cycle going and if I have extra energy I may do two loads a day. Another thing that helps is I pick things up daily and leave the large cleaning for the weekends. The bathroom gets cleaned while the kiddos are in the tub. I also fold clothes while the kids play in the tub. This way I am getting two things done at one time. Sometimes we use paper plates just so I don't have the extra dishes. :( I know bad, bad, but it helps keep me sane. LOL

Best of luck to you! BUT remember your house will prolly never be perfect and any one who says theirs is, is either lying or has a cleaning lady. :)

You have it twice as hard as most moms since you have twins. Just do your best and don't worry about trying to make things perfect. Is it possible for you to get some kind of maid service to come in once in a while to do more of the heavy duty stuff like cleaning the bathroom and doing the kitchen floors? Even getting someone in to help you out with that stuff once or twice a month would probably be a big help for a while. If you can't afford to do that then, like I said before, just do the best you can do. Your babies don't care if there's a little clutter as long as they get lots of attention from you and anyone that comes to visit should understand too. Good luck.

My motto was if there's no science experiments growing in the bathroom or the kitchen, I'm doing ok.

Seriously, you need to decide what takes priority. We all would love a spotless house, a nutritious homecooked meal every evening, and time to relax every night. We do not live in a perfect world.

A few ideas...
Make large meals so you have leftovers.
Do some meal prep on the weekends, so its not so overwhelming during the week
Do grocery shopping during non-peak times
If you're not a morning person, try to organize things the night before, clothing, lunches, etc. - if you start your day off running late and stressed, it'll stay with you all day.
It's ok if the clean cloths don't get folder or never get put into the drawers
Who takes care of the kids while your working - daycare, if you need to pick up by 6:00, but usually get there at 5:30, use that extra 20 minutes to run an errand

I asked this very same question back in October of last year, when I went back to work full-time. I had 34 wonderful, helpful answers from the moms here: http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/8298216952434917377

After having been back to full-time work now for 5 months now, we've fallen into a comfortable, workable routine. Yes, it's possible! Number one key: do as much as you possibly can the night before. Make lunches, iron clothing for next day, prepare in advance meals, even shower if you can. Good luck, you can do it!!

dont you love it been there done that it sucks. but i never had twins. so here is my advice make serious friends with the crock pot. cook you daily meal and get the meal for the next day ready and pop the crock pot in the fridge turn it on in the morning and go. if you need to cheat with paper plates and cups and plastic silverware dont be afraid to. put a trash can in every room. use a laundry basket to clean the house pick up what doesnt belong in one room go to the next and deposit and pick up etc. make lists lots of lists. shopping list, to do list etc. use them it will save you a bunch of time.

if the kids are at least 2 make them start helping take out trash (with help) unload the dishwasher with help pick up toys and clothes. help put up groceries etc. and yes 2 is old enough to do this my 2 yr old does it. relax your house doesnt have to be perfect just descent. its a skill you just learn

First and foremost hang in there! I am a mom to three little ones and I work fulltime...On Sunday's I plan on what will be served for dinner througout the week. The crockpot is my best friend LOL! We have house cleaners that come in every 2 weeks to help clean up...My DH is a great team player but let's face it we can't do everything so sometimes the dishes sit for a day or two or we get to the laundry on the weekend...The most important thing I've learned is to be in the moment with the kids when I get home...Aside from preparing dinner etc...then I focus 100% on them....The rest will just have to wait :)

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Thanks for you inquiry....I am a full-time working mom of three boys (4,3 and 1). It is nice to know other moms in the same position. All the suggestions are great and very supportive. Thank you, Mommas!

Aside from all the same concerns you raise, the one thing that gets me the most is my inability to spend time with the boys....is cooking, cleaning, picking up, laundry, mail, emails....more important? There are days that I feel like I am losing my mind with all the things I have to do (work included). I have come to terms with doing the best I can and sometimes that means letting go of some of those chores - it is not going to be perfect but you do the best you can making sure that your kids are getting the love and care they need. The point is not to beat yourself up for not being able to do everything you may want to do....our kids grow up too fast and are babies for a short time - enjoy the moment. As for hubby, commit to one night a week in which the two of you have a date night-coffee, massage, dinner, take a walk, whatever you can do to take you our of your element (chores, bills, etc.)....you will see that not only are you investing time into your marriage and family but that you will look forward to that day every week guilt free!! Being a working mom can be overwheliming - brain capacity at its best, but you are not alone and as your kids get older and more independent it becomes more manageable.

I know you said money is tight but can you pare anything down? Can you afford $10-$20 a week to pay a pre-teen (11-12 yr old) to come in and help one or two days a week. They can do a general pick-up and run the vac, fold laundry, bathe the kids, read them a story. That should give you an hour or two to get something else done like making dinner and maybe sit and put your feet up for 15-30 mintues. I also agree with making friends with a slo-cooker. You can also take some time on weekends to make large pots of soup or pasta sauce so Monday -Friday all you have to do is heat and serve.