Spring-clean your life: tips for clawing back some 'me time'

Remember ‘me time’? The days when you used to squander a whole afternoon reading a book on the sun-lounger in the backyard (while topping up your tan)? Or when you could decide to go out for dinner and drinks at the very last minute, as late as eight?

Well, as you well know, once you have children, those days are long gone. (Well, at least until your kids are old enough to drive themselves to the mall or make a sandwich of their own).

I’m a romantic comedy author and mum to one-year-old twin boys and recently I’ve been interviewing professional organisers for a new fiction series I’m working on.

And as well as offering advice on de-cluttering people’s homes and offices, they can also, in effect, de-clutter your whole life. Here are some tips I’ve gleaned, which could help you claw back some ‘me time’…

Do you really need to have eye-candy from a certain fashion label paraded before you every time you sit down at your PC? Do you really need to know about cheap flights you won’t be able to take in the foreseeable future now you have travel-unfriendly dependents? Prioritise your ‘subscribes’ and unsubscribe to emails you no longer find relevant.
Watch your social media use. Facebook and the like can be a real time-suck. You can still be ‘social’ – connected – but you really only need to check your profile once a day or every few days to keep up with what’s going on. Or, if you love it too much, at least reward yourself with a social media flutter when you’ve ticked off a task on your to-do list first.
Forever picking up free magazines and newspapers while you’re out shopping? Or borrowing stacks of books and mags from the library, which you’ll only have to spend time returning (never read)? Got countless titles you’ve subscribed to cluttering your letterbox? If the amount of media you’re bringing into your home is overwhelming you, then cut it back. Forget about your FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and streamline your reading material to what you’re really interested in. And to what will make you feel warm and fuzzy when you need an escape, rather than consuming horrible news stories that’ll make you lay in bed at night wide-eyed…
Split the housework 50/50 with your partner. You shouldn’t be the only one scrubbing the loo/s. And, hey, be a bit slapdash domestically if you’re pressed for time. It’s better for your pad to be moderately clean and you still to have time for fun than spending your whole weekend slaving over it and feeling cranky come Monday.

40 Comments

- - mom101628 said
  - 02 Nov 2017
    2:21 pm
My greatest tip is to cut back on the social media – we never used to have it, so why glue yourself to your device these days?
A tip I don’t really recommend although it works for me – I get through at least 1 book a month by reading it at doctor’s surgeries, hospitals, etc. But it’s a pity having someone so sick that you have to constantly be at those places.

- - tessie said
  - 14 Oct 2017
    9:24 am
These are great tips but I know that the last one won’t be in contention in our house. The only one who seems to clean is me. I’ve tried leaving housework for a day and complain about not having the chance to clean that day. The response? It’ll always be there tomorrow. Why do I even bother

- - mom64736 said
  - 12 Oct 2017
    5:37 pm
LMAO. Was this written by a man. I mean…I can’t even with this!

- - rachel1970 said
  - 12 Oct 2017
    6:48 am
great tips but I think it will always be only me scrubbing the loos!!

- - ella12 said
  - 11 Oct 2017
    4:12 pm
Great tips to consider, thank you.

- - rovermum said
  - 11 Oct 2017
    4:09 pm
These are all great tips. I could do with unsubscribing to many businesses. I tend to mostly delete their emails anyway as I have so many to work through. I love a free magazine. It means I have to take time to sit down with a cuppa and read it. Social media is such a suck up and waste of time. Unfortuntely, the majority of my time on social media is work related – it has to be! Can’t change that one. Housework! I have a cleaner once a fortnight but there is still a lot left up to me. I’m in the process of looking at how to change that. Who nominated me toilet cleaner or shower cleaner? I hate both jobs. Time we started sharing some of these.

- - mom81879 said
  - 29 Sep 2015
    8:35 pm
I would love some ‘me’ time. Best I manage is the loo and the shower, and then there’s usually a knock at the door :/
- mom94125 replied
  
  18 Oct 2015 , 2:39 pm
  lol those kids hey. always wanting things lol
  - mom81879 replied
    
    21 Nov 2015 , 7:56 pm
    
    Yep, most of the time they just want mum, so I don’t mind
- - mom70050 said
  - 17 Jun 2015
    10:29 am
Have thankfully made a lot of those changes already, although I couldn’t say housework is 50/50 I can say he tries

- - mom113055 said
  - 21 May 2015
    4:00 pm
looking nice

- - smiles said
  - 30 Apr 2015
    9:59 pm
I would love to split the house 50/50 but I can’t see that happening!

- - GeoEllie said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    6:08 am
Number 1 is definitely a tip I can take to heart!

- - kab85 said
  - 14 Jan 2015
    5:12 pm
I like these ideas but I’m not sure if my husband would be happy with splitting the house work 50/50 lol.

- - mom94125 said
  - 10 Jan 2015
    1:08 pm
yeah social media is a definate time waster lol

- - stepmom107932 said
  - 12 Dec 2014
    1:48 pm
Wasnt sure this would be very relevant for me. but wow, it really was

- - Karan said
  - 01 Dec 2014
    9:08 pm
great tips which are interesting and useful

- - christial said
  - 29 Nov 2014
    3:59 pm
I’ve taken a break from my fb. It really takes up too much time!

- - mom73211 said
  - 16 Nov 2014
    7:58 pm
Great selection of hints, will apply some now. thanks Carla

- - mish06 said
  - 15 Nov 2014
    8:18 pm
Great advice – thanks for sharing. Its time to start

- - smurf1309 said
  - 10 Nov 2014
    9:58 pm
I’ve been doing this slowly the last couple of months & it’s already making a huge difference

- - mom82590 said
  - 04 Nov 2014
    10:46 am
Great tips. Social media is my culprit