How Do I Manage Housework (Part 1)

Many have asked how I manage the household with 5 young children & no other help. I thought I would like to explain how I do it. How I managed the house has changed or evolved over the years as we have been blessed with more children & as the children have grown up. Also, we lived in a small 2-bedroom, 1,200sq ft house from child #1 to #4. We moved in to a much larger 4-bedroom, 1,500sq ft maisonette (split level) last December. The larger space forced me to do some adjustments to my routine.

If you are non-Singaporean & reading this, you may be puzzled as to why this is such a big deal  Well, most Singaporeans have either a live-in maid, a part-time maid (comes in 1 to 3 times per week) or parents/parents-in-laws helping out. To raise children, do housework & cook without any outside help is a rarity in Singapore. Throw in homeschooling to the mix & people just about fall flat on their faces wondering if you are some kind of a wonderwoman or a mad one 

When I had only 1 child, I would do all the housework & meal preparation when bb took his morning nap. When he had his afternoon nap, I would quickly prepare dinner & then jump into bed to nap too! Ah!!! those were the easy days!

Then we were blessed with #2. During that pregnancy, I had very bad backache even in the 1st trimester. Doing housework would put me out the entire day & a half! So things had to change. We got a helper who would come in once a week to do vacuuming & mopping of the entire house, dust & iron the clothes. I still handled the other daily household chores. This modus operandi continued with child #3. This new helper was a dear! She would clean my windows for me & even remind me to wash my curtains! Wow! But as the due date for bb #4 came along, she told me that she could only stay till end of May. I thought that was ok since Esther was due end of April, which meant that I had my 1 month of confinement to rest.

Esther of course decided that she wasn’t going to follow her supposed due date, arriving 5 days past her EDD. She arrived on a Thursday, and I was discharged from the hospital on Saturday. The helper usually comes on Tuesdays. So I thought – oh great! The house would be clean again soon. I was to be disappointed. The helper never turned up! And so I had to manage the 4 children & the house alonefrom that day on!

So I have been handling the chores & food & children fulltime since then (May 2003).

I discovered that self-discipline is such a blessing & being unable to function in a messy house another bonus.

to be continued….