BellaBoo

It's hard when you have a young children at home and a full time job. The crock pot was worth gold to me when I was working full time. There are so many recipes online for crockpot dinners it should be no problem to find many your family will like. You need more then one crockpot. One for main course, one for vegetables. I can bake a pie in a crock pot, it's just like an oven. Now the crock pot liners make it NO clean up at all. Use paper plates, cups and plastic utensils. No kitchen clean up. I detest the clean up after a meal and found ways to not have it. That is a big time save during the week.

amma

I am retired, so my time is pretty much my own now :D :wink: :D When my kids were still at home, I would take ME time, get them a couple of movies, some popcorn, or on the weekends they would stay/play with friends and that would give me a few hours to do what I wanted to do :lol: :lol: :lol: When they were really young, I would work in an hour or two in the evenings after they went to bed or in the mornings on the weekends while they were still asleep.

MadQuilter

My suggestion, don't try to keep up with anyone but yourself. Life has a way of getting in the way of quilting. I used to look at all the lovely quilts that are DONE and then I would feel bad about not finishing mine, so I changed my outlook. I simply enjoy the inspiration and get done what I get done. That works.

motomom

I agree with this. Enjoy what you DO get done, and never worry about what you DON'T. Anything you do is better than not quilting at all!

rabbit2b

Kids long grown and gone, I've gone to four 10-hour days to get an extra day off. By the time I get home from work, it's usually 12 hours. Seems like enough time to have dinner (DH makes it!), be with him for an hour or two, and get ready for bed. (No idea why it should take as long as it does to get ready for bed... but that's another story.)

So... I sew/quilt Friday-Sunday much of the time. Unfortunately, I'm so inefficient, that there should be much more to show for all that. Oh, well...<g>

zyxquilts

Sleep is overrated.
So is housework.
:wink:

quiltswithdogs

I sewed little girls clothes, sundresses, pjs until my daughters were out of high school. Then I taught them how to mend and hem for themselves and learned how to quilt, for my own enjoyment. I don't remember how I fit in sewing time without scheduling time, around family needs, housework, and my job. 7 yrs ago Rheumatoid Arthritis was added to my medical problems. I haven't worked in over a year. Now my days are full of medical appts, therapies, long rest periods. Everything takes me longer so it takes days to pay bills, do simple errands, do the household tasks that I can manage... everything. I feel lucky to manage quilting at all so have learned to be very flexible. Some days I cannot do it, other days I last an hour or only 15min. I really love it and my family values my gifts so much it motivates me to do more. I gave my sister a wallhanging for Christmas and before she unfolded it to see the front, she broke out in tears... she never does that. So far, I've always managed to meet deadlines like Christmas or birthday, but now, I'm careful to save myself the worry and only start a quilt project with no deadline or one that is far away. That being said, I've been thinking of trying the Block of the Month club here. It looks like I will be able to finish it late if I had a hard month. That's not allowed in person at quilt shop clubs. Anyway, my recent years have showed me that as long as I quilt at all, every week, a project eventually gets done and can see proof that I actually had accomplished something creative and fun.

tlrnhi

How do I make time?

Hmmm......I ship hubby to sea, send the kiddo to work, then I have the entire house to myself. If the cats get in the way, I feed them cat nip so they'll just veg for the rest of the day. :) :)

collettakay

I'm fornutate that I don't have to work outside the home at this point. (Who knows about the future?) I have a 7 soon to be 8yr old in 3rd grade and a 2 year old. During the day its usually just me and the LO. Naptime, Barney and Sesame Street are great for sewing time.

She loves to "help" me clean but its usually get messed up 5 minutes later so I make myself not obsess about the housework. I keep a calendar to keep myself on track with appts and "chores" I usually set Monday's and Tuesday to clean. I break the house into 2 halves so that I don't have so much pressure in one day. Wednesday are projects day where I work on my quilting/sewing/etc. projects. Thursday are groceries, errands and Friday's are bills and straightening up the house and sometimes an afternoon of reading (during nap). All done with my "helper"

Add onto the main stuff: Girls Scouts, Softball, PTO, Church events (at least 2-3 evenings a week), onine time, quilt guild and a few committees I'm on.

I talked to my mom about a grandma/granddaughter one afternoon a week just so I can actually have some alone time. DH took both girls to with him to my oldest's softball practice the other night and I had 1.5 hours of alone time. I can't remember the last time that happened. That's what gave me the afternoon at grandma's idea.

I can sympathize with all you ladies that have to work 40-50 hrs at a job then come home and take care of everything there also. Been there, done that and don't think could handle it again. I pray I don't have to at least until the LO is in school.

SewCin

guess i could have phrased it better. i simply enjoy seeing all of the finished - and not so finished - items that folks post. i'm a single mom with three kiddos and a paid full-time job. i consider it a good day when i remember what we are all doing! the "baby" is 16 so they are fairly self sufficient. some nights i sew like a crazy woman; others, not so much.. but the kids all know when i go out and turn on the music i'm serious