ReTRo HouSeWiFe

DEAR RETRO HOUSEWIFE

Housewifery

Married, Now What?, 2007-11-24

Dear Retro Housewife,

Oh my GOSH!!!!!! Help ME!!!!!

I am 34 years old and I am engaged to be married for the very first time. The wedding date is December 29 OF THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!

It has been my dream since I was a child to stay home and not work, but where do I start? It has been a month since I quit my job, and I am no where near knowing what I am suppose to do.

My fiancé rises for work at 3:30 a.m. and returns from work around 5:15 p.m. Mon-Thurs and returns home from work around 4:30 on Fri and returns home from work around 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

I need help balancing my schedule:

• Household Chores
• Exercise
• Meal Planning
• Shopping
• Finances
• Reading
• Basic Household Planning

Where do I begin? I am desperate!

RE: Married, Now What?

Dear Sarah,

Well, first off congratulations are in order. You will certainly have a wonderful new year with your new husband!

Your schedule is going to depend mainly on your own living arrangements and interests. I wonder, do you usually rise at the same time your husband does or do you sleep in? Also, you need to take into consideration how large your house is and how difficult it is going to be to keep clean. You should spend at least an hour everyday devoting yourself to preventing the accumulation of dirt and disorder in your living area. Usually, you will need to vacuum twice a week, dust as needed and maintain order and cleanliness in the bathroom and bedroom. Make sure that about once a month you have done things like wash the windows or cleaned out the back closets. All of this shouldn't monopolize your time.

Then, if you are a chef or aiming to be one you can set aside time to shop and experiment with new recipes. You can also get involved with the community, something that will be very beneficial to you if you are planning on having children. A good foundation in the social circles will help you integrate your child into the school and clubs scene. Remember, since you no longer have co-workers who could share a large part of your day to day experiences, you must find new people who have the same interests with you in your local community. Here, you will find more answers as to how to go about being a retro housewife.

As for things like exercising, unless you are  devoted to the gym, running and yoga might be the best answers. You might also want to get your husband out with a after dinner walk because it sounds like he leads a pretty stressful life and it would be healthy for him to unwind with some exercise.

Assuming the role of the domestic caretaker means that you can now be in charge of handling the finances, if you are so inclined and your husband agrees. This means you need to pay for the necessary and divide up what's left to save for vacation, new and costly things like furniture and also to put aside some for your future (as well as an amount for each of you to spend as you please). If you and your husband are financially secure with one income, then this task will be easy. However, be aware that budgeting on a tight income can be stressful and if you are unable to live without constant worry, you might want to consider some ways to earn some extra money until you have a very stable situation. There are many part time opportunities available, and working from home is becoming more and more popular (and is also good for the environment).

If you love to read,  never fear, you will still be able to find time to open a book nearly every day. IF you are worried about your motivation or that it might fall from your list of priorities then refer to what I said earlier: find people who share your interest and maybe start or join a book club. It can be informal and simply involve a group supporting each other in their attempt to finish the likes of "War and Peace" or involve bimonthly meetings to discuss characters and plots. Also try to keep up with the news by reading the paper and magazines.

Since your husband departs so early, you probably will be on your own for breakfast which means you should keep the cereal pantry well stocked. It might be nice, depending on your husbands situation, to make him lunch. You should definitely make dinner and try to plan it so that it is ready at nearly the same time every day- maybe sometime around six. For your lunch you should keep things simple or have lunch with friends. Sometimes you can even invite them over in order to try out a new recipe. For the weekend, it would be nice to make a nice breakfast for your hubbie in the morning or surprise him with something yummy when he returns home on Saturdays.

You asked me for a schedule, which is somewhat difficult for me to provide because the life of a housewife is unique for each person and flexible although very busy so you will have to sort it out for yourself. Here are my pages on my daily schedule (they are still a bit lacking, but when I get letters like yours I get inspired to add to them). Don't worry, you have plenty of time to get in your groove. Just start out with the basics, food shopping, cooking, laundry, light housework, and see what works. Each day make a list of what you think you should accomplish and then at the end compare that to what you really accomplished and then decide where you could improve and what you can toss. Then you can add projects as you become more confident!

Finally, remember to allocate "Me Time"! You are now the center of the universe for your new family, so it is of the utmost importance that you stay healthy in body, mind and spirit! That's not  suggestion, that's an order!



RH

Status: IN PROGRESS