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How hectic is everyday life in Aus?


Naomihome

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Atm, I travel 3mins to my kid's daycare, I travel another 8mins then I'm at work. I dont see my baby in the mornings, just a quick greet and run. I get up at 7h15. My husband waits for the nanny and then goes to work. So then I'm at work, I get 30mins lunch, which I never take, even though I eat stuff while I'm busy. 4h30 I go home and pick up my kid before 5 otherwise I'll have to pay penalties. I dont go shopping. At home I'll feed the kids and play with them, and sometimes cook if I feel like it. Then they go to sleep at 8pm and I have about 2h of free time which I spend packing lunch for the next day, watching tv and playing on my phone. My husband does most of the shopping since he only works till 3pm. I do minimal cleaning, washing, etc the nanny does most of it. Most my time is spent putting things away and organising areas in the house that my kids destroyed, the nanny sucks at that. They require loads of attention atm. My baby sleeps through from 8 till 7 and the 2yo gets up at 5 and gets into bed with us. I feel dead tired all the time.

 

How does this compare to a typical Aus day for a woman?

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Naomihome,

Firstly, woman or not, that sounds like most PARENTS of young children, it could be South Africa, the UK, USA or Australia.

I think your question shouldn't be "How does this compare to a typical Aus day for a woman?", but rather a "Typical day for a mother."

Expect LESS help here unless you're flush with cash to pay someone to do it for you. A cleaner costs around $25+ an hour. Daycare as I mentioned in a previous post is going to cost $35,000+ a year in Sydney per child under 6, which is why many choose to have a nanny/au pair or stay-at-home. With an au pair you also need a bigger home as you have to house and feed them as well, the costs quickly add up and they certainly are NOT expected to cook or clean for you. In Australia the great leveler is that people are paid a decent wage, one of the highest in the world, there is no 'cheap' labour.

It sounds like even with your short commute times you are frazzled, which means you're going to need to compromise on certain things. The closer you are to your place of work, if it's in a major center, the more expensive it is going to be to live. Many (like us) chose to live in smaller apartments or terraces to be close to their place of business.

Some here in Sydney have 45 min - 1 hour travels times each way, twice daily. Living further out buys you a bigger/cheaper home, but adds to the commute time and transport costs.

We live in the inner city in a 2-bedroom apartment, it's an 8-minute bus ride from our home to my wife's office in the CBD and 5-minute walk to my daughters new daycare (starting in Jan) and 10-minute walk to my sons school. If you have a fetch a sick child do you want to be living an hour away by public transport?

I cook every night, it's expensive to eat out or grab regular takeaways, you quickly learn to either make bulk meals or throw together a few 10-15 minute staples and have a well stocked pantry to whip up a quick dinner.

To save time you can order your groceries on-line and have them delivered, though our local Coles is open to 9pm, so we go do the weekly shop after the kids are asleep and either my wife or I head off.

My wife and I share the running of our household. I cook, clean and do the household maintenance in addition to role as primary caregiver, she does the washing and ironing.

I'm afraid, at this stage of life it's not going to look much better here, it will probably look worse as you will lose your network of friends and family who can/have supported you and it takes time to build this up.

Your support will be your husband, and you, his.

Cheers

Matt

Edited by AFreshStart
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In South Africa we both had to work to survive. But in Aus we can have the same standard on one income, so my wife is a stay at home mom. I think her day involves watching the kids play in the park for an hour, then facebooking for an hour, then a coffee at the Dome for an hour with her friends, then more facebooking, then a stroll around the forum shopping centre. Then she picks up something for dinner. Her day really evolves around school drop off and school pickup. In the evenings we go to the beach. (PS: Please dont tell her I said this, as I am sure there are other activities like cleaning, washing and ironing that I take for granted) 

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Hi Naomi,

               we have been in Oz for around 2 months now, and for us at the moment I would say that midweek it is definitely more hectic for my husband than for me. He travels into the CBD (around an hour) gets home at 7ish then its time for supper. We end up going to bed later but probably because we are just out of our schedule so much. In SA hubby went to work at 7 in morning came home around 4. He worked flexi hours. We ate around 5, my son was in bed at 7 and we had lots of free time for each other. I find with it not turning dark until around 8, that time just flies by and I am unaware of how late it actually is. I think everybody eats a lot later here in Oz anyway, and we are tending to do the same, it does play havoc with my stomach though. My son is not yet at school he is only 4 and I will enrol him in a kindergarten next year and then we will have to go to bed earlier as I will have the school run. :-) What joy !!

Having said that we do have some great weekends together and its so nice that even if we need to go to the shop in the evenings we can do, our local Coles is open til midnight! We would hardly venture out in the evening's in SA, there is always a worry. Maybe take sunnyskies advice, try and get to bed earlier if possible...and also try to organise things in advance it may help. I will also take this same advice :-)

 

 

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Hahahaha I never had a nanny in South Africa but I did have a maid three times a week and my life was 10x easier even though I worked full time. I dropped my kids of in the morning, drove 10 mins to work, picked them up after work, came to a clean house with washing done and played with them and cooked dinner, leaving the mess for her to clean up (or my husband to do the dishes if she wasn't there the next day).

Here in Australia my husband works away, I now have three kids one in high school, one in primary and one in kinder and I'm trying to run my own business as well as keeping on top of the housework etc.

So my typical day is getting up at 7am, getting kids & lunches ready in  the car by 8:15, dropping the two older ones at school and the youngest at kinder some days other days we have dancing or swimming. When she is at kinder I rush home to work on my business / tidy up / eat a meal, then rush back at around 12:30 to pick her up. Then spend some time with her before we go get the older two at 3:30pm. Then it's snacks and homework and Year 8 Maths is not easy. Two nights a week dancing, one night netball training and karate on a Friday. Simple meals on those days (so most days). Cook dinner (sometimes a few different ones, my own fault as I have fussy children). Get them in the shower, pj's, books (sometimes siblings have to read to each other), and getting my 4 year old to bed is a challenge still so it's nearly 9pm before everyone is settled. Go downstairs to clean the kitchen.  Ugh.

My husband does the shopping on a Saturday and I do the laundry. We take turns to take my 9 year old to her netball game at 8:15am. Sundays we spend the morning together before my husband goes off to Sydney again for the week.

We have a cleaner every 2nd Friday thank goodness. I still have to spend a few hours tidying the house before the cleaner arrives lol!

So yes just the basic lazy life of a stay at home mum!  Although I did have a very nice coffee with a friend this afternoon while our kiddies played. She is also a client of mine so got some work done too!

So basically here you need to be very organised (I am not). Either you or your partner will need to be the 'go to' parent and be available if the kids are sick, to go to special days at school/kinder, etc.

Meal planning is great (I don't but it's on my to do list).

Hang your wet washing onto hangers immediately. No ironing necessary.

Go to bed before 11:00pm. Oops.

Your house might not look like it did in South Africa. You need to lower your expectations maybe.

Your cleaner might earn the same or more than you do.

Your tradie will definitely earn more than you do. And he goes home at 4pm.

Don't have too many kids.

Don't let your kids do too many after school activities.

Teach your kids to do chores from a young age. And to make their own breakfast.

PS I don't listen to some of my own advice! 

 

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1 hour ago, Jordy said:

(PS: Please dont tell her I said this, as I am sure there are other activities like cleaning, washing and ironing that I take for granted) 

Jordy, with all the Black Friday sales on at the moment you might want to invest in a dog house, you might be needing one :-P

Cheers

Matt

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Organisation is the key to survival. You learn to plan ahead. We both work, so share the morning routine responsibilities. We do a weekly shop and I get a midweek delivery of organic fruit and veg (at a very competitive price) - because this is Oz, if nobody is home, the box is just left on the doorstep. For the weekly shop, sometimes we do that on a Friday evening to free up time on the weekend.

my advice is to invest in a great freezer (we have an upright one in the garage and it is my lifesaver). Staples freeze beautifully and some meals can be frozen very well for quick and easy weekday suppers. Consider a slow cooker and learn which meals are quick and easy.  We have a standard set of 5 or 6 that we shuffle Monday to Friday. Longer efforts are saved for weekend.

for cleaning, plan to do a vacuum at the start of the weekend - then it is done. Perhaps dust as you go on a Thursday/Friday evening. Invest in a good vacuum and a good duster.

We are a lot busier than when we had help, but we are also more efficient. Some things are harder, some things are so much easier. The kids now get themselves to and from school in the mornings and afternoons. If my daughter wants to meet her friends in the city (she is almost 14), she just hops on a bus and a train. If they want to spend the evening skateboarding around the neighbourhood, they do that and we hope they are home for dinner.

It is so hard, especially when you are a mum with young children, to see beyond the here and now, but you will be amazed at your own strength in the short term and how not-that-hard it all turns out to be in the long term.

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Wow Jordy you might have some kind of death wish.

 

Thanks matt, this all helps my picture of what to expect. My dogs cant live in an apartment. They are used to a large space. I know about the cleaning & daycare costs.

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On 12/1/2015, 2:29:18, Sibella said:

Hahahaha I never had a nanny in South Africa but I did have a maid three times a week and my life was 10x easier even though I worked full time. I dropped my kids of in the morning, drove 10 mins to work, picked them up after work, came to a clean house with washing done and played with them and cooked dinner, leaving the mess for her to clean up (or my husband to do the dishes if she wasn't there the next day).

Here in Australia my husband works away, I now have three kids one in high school, one in primary and one in kinder and I'm trying to run my own business as well as keeping on top of the housework etc.

So my typical day is getting up at 7am, getting kids & lunches ready in  the car by 8:15, dropping the two older ones at school and the youngest at kinder some days other days we have dancing or swimming. When she is at kinder I rush home to work on my business / tidy up / eat a meal, then rush back at around 12:30 to pick her up. Then spend some time with her before we go get the older two at 3:30pm. Then it's snacks and homework and Year 8 Maths is not easy. Two nights a week dancing, one night netball training and karate on a Friday. Simple meals on those days (so most days). Cook dinner (sometimes a few different ones, my own fault as I have fussy children). Get them in the shower, pj's, books (sometimes siblings have to read to each other), and getting my 4 year old to bed is a challenge still so it's nearly 9pm before everyone is settled. Go downstairs to clean the kitchen.  Ugh.

My husband does the shopping on a Saturday and I do the laundry. We take turns to take my 9 year old to her netball game at 8:15am. Sundays we spend the morning together before my husband goes off to Sydney again for the week.

We have a cleaner every 2nd Friday thank goodness. I still have to spend a few hours tidying the house before the cleaner arrives lol!

So yes just the basic lazy life of a stay at home mum!  Although I did have a very nice coffee with a friend this afternoon while our kiddies played. She is also a client of mine so got some work done too!

So basically here you need to be very organised (I am not). Either you or your partner will need to be the 'go to' parent and be available if the kids are sick, to go to special days at school/kinder, etc.

Meal planning is great (I don't but it's on my to do list).

Hang your wet washing onto hangers immediately. No ironing necessary.

Go to bed before 11:00pm. Oops.

Your house might not look like it did in South Africa. You need to lower your expectations maybe.

Your cleaner might earn the same or more than you do.

Your tradie will definitely earn more than you do. And he goes home at 4pm.

Don't have too many kids.

Don't let your kids do too many after school activities.

Teach your kids to do chores from a young age. And to make their own breakfast.

PS I don't listen to some of my own advice! 

 

Thanks that was exactly the answer I was looking for. It would be great if I could afford a cleaner for the deep cleaning once in a while. My 2yo already gets his own breakfast and he knows how to turn on the TV so I can get up later on weekends. He throws away any trash he spots and puts his dishes in the sink after he's done eating/drinking. He also gets his own drinks, we have a water dispenser in the fridge, sometimes he waters the garden or the floor. But cleans up spills as well, when he feels like it. I was training him to make his own sandwiches = bread slices filled with holes all over the house. All my butter knives in the garden -_-. He helps me put stuff in the dishwasher and likes to unload it too. The more independent my kids are, the more free time I'll have.

My house wont look like in SA? Do you mean clean or run down?

What is a tradie?

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3 hours ago, Naomin81 said:

Thanks that was exactly the answer I was looking for. It would be great if I could afford a cleaner for the deep cleaning once in a while. My 2yo already gets his own breakfast and he knows how to turn on the TV so I can get up later on weekends. He throws away any trash he spots and puts his dishes in the sink after he's done eating/drinking. He also gets his own drinks, we have a water dispenser in the fridge, sometimes he waters the garden or the floor. But cleans up spills as well, when he feels like it. I was training him to make his own sandwiches = bread slices filled with holes all over the house. All my butter knives in the garden -_-. He helps me put stuff in the dishwasher and likes to unload it too. The more independent my kids are, the more free time I'll have.

My house wont look like in SA? Do you mean clean or run down?

What is a tradie?

Hehehe...I like this. *Imagines breadcrumbs all over the house and one very proud-of-himself 2yo smiling at his mommy*

A tradie is a tradesperson(electrician, bricklayer, tiler...). The Aussies abbreviate just about everything, and then turn the abbreviations into commonly used terms, like 'arvo' for afternoon.

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A tradie has a good life here.  If you are a CA,  a tradie can out earn you by working his Saturdays.  Add to that a CA is probably going to find work in a major CBD which means a huge rent bill or a long commute.  While the trade bought his home in Blacktown when he was in his early 20's. He works 10 minutes  away and his property will increase so much in value by the time he has retired; the increase will equate to up to 10 years salary for the CA. 

While the CA rents his life away in an apartment in artaarmon,  to give himself a 30min trip to work. The CA was 30 by the time he had paid off his university  debts and just missed the latest property boom and now can't afford to pay day care fees and a bond. While the trade sends his kids to granny 3days a week. And saves a small fortune on daycare fees.

I heard that very story from a forklift driver yesterday!  I can't  afford to buy (and I am a highly skilled migrant).  But a forklift driver was complaining that bought a house when he was younger and its just way to big.

The moral of my story,  is be money smart in Aussie. Pay for a consultation  with a financial adviser when you get out here and make sure to save each month and invest it wisely! You need to catch up with the trades and forkies 

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Or become a tradie. I feel a bit entrepeneurial lately. I was about to start a laundromat in the centre of a township with my nanny as half owner (it was her idea). Then I realised that the entire place is government owned (btw they plan to make all property government owned at which point nothing will function anymore, they are slowly buying back everything using our own tax money, and plan to accelerate this process as they could only buy a small percentage of what they wanted in the past 20 years) and that we couldnt buy or rent a property to set up shop. City planning is also up to :censored: in there since they left no space for businesses. These people have to travel up to 1 hour just to buy basic things. I have loads more business ideas and the government funds the black part of any business as long as your business plan looks good. (Pity most of them don't know how to  write one or produce proper financial statements).

I'm also working with two black guys to start a manufacturing business. They're mechanical and electrical and I'm the civil, but they offered me only 8%.

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3 hours ago, Naomihome said:

Or become a tradie. I feel a bit entrepeneurial lately.

Not that easy, again, trades are HIGHLY regulated here. To be an electrician you need Certificate III in Electrotechnology, that is 3-4 years of study/trade and costs tens of thousands of dollars to qualify, though you could get support through VET FEE-HELP and either an apprenticeship or trainership so could earn a BASIC salary while you study/work.

It's ILLEGAL in NSW for you to replace the plug on an appliance (people do it, doesn't make it any less illegal) or do your own electrical repair work and at most are permitted to change a light bulb or the starter in a 230V strip light. Again... Highly regulated.

Even a skill like tiling requires a license and you'd need a CPC31311 Certificate III in Wall and Floor Tiling to qualify, they even have the AUSTRALIAN TILE COUNCIL who regulate/oversee it.

Do you see what I mean about the laws and regulations....

On a lighter note, this brought to you by the Melbourne's Metro on being safe around trains (and also mentions the electrical work above as a 'Dumb Way To Die').

Cheers

Matt

 

 

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What do you need to be something like a cleaner? o.O Also, with all these regulations and the high minimum wage it's probably cheaper to import goods in bulk directly from china. If you find something with a label ' made in Australia' it will probably 400 times more expensive.

The Chinese are building work houses in SA, I wonder if they plan to use our cheap labour to their advantage. Our idiot government XD. We've started importing more and more stuff while the unemployment rate is at an all time high.

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7 hours ago, Naomin81 said:

What do you need to be something like a cleaner? o.O Also, with all these regulations and the high minimum wage it's probably cheaper to import goods in bulk directly from china. If you find something with a label ' made in Australia' it will probably 400 times more expensive.

The Chinese are building work houses in SA, I wonder if they plan to use our cheap labour to their advantage. Our idiot government XD. We've started importing more and more stuff while the unemployment rate is at an all time high.

Cleaning? Thankfully just the skill to clean, this is not regulated, but sadly many migrants are abused because of it, earning below minimum wage and employed by companies that keep them off the books. There are other things that you can do and offer services through Airtasker - assemble flat pack furniture, mow someones lawn etc.

And yes, good produced in Australia cost more than imports, though there are LOTS of imports, and yes, many people use eBay to import and goods under $1,000 are import duty free. Many Australian companies already have some of their services outsourced to China, The Philippines, India etc.

Cheers

Matt

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The life of a working woman in Oz is more difficult, because of the already mentioned above reasons (no cheap labour).

Even though things here are more expensive, you'll be able to get by on only one salary.  You'll find out very soon that being a stay at home mum, is a full time and very busy job.  Although you'll have much more time to enjoy the things that matter:  Your children. 

When we were still in South Africa and both my husband and me were working, things were hectic.  I had a full-time maid, but with the kids' homework and the cooking and packing lunch boxes etc, I could never get into bed before 11:00.  We had to get up at 05:00 (I can't believe you get up at 07?) and I started to work at 07:30 to 17:00.

Here we go to bed at 09:30 and we get up at 06:00 or 06:15, depends how much needs to be done before school.

I pack my husband's and the kids' lunchboxes and make the oats / porridge for breakfast.  He leaves at 07:00 to catch the bus (no more stressful traffic) then I wake up the kids and get dressed and in the mean time switched on the washing machine (every 2nd or 3rd day, depending if there are towels & sheets to make a fuller load).  At 07:45 I hang out the washing and then after the kids ate and have their school bags ready and brushed their teeth and made their own beds, we do some spelling words and reading.  At 08:30 we walk to school where I stay until 10:40 (I help in the classroom most mornings and it gave me a tremendous insight into how my children's typical school day is here compared to what they were used to).

At 11:00 when I'm back home, I'll quickly have a tea and a toast with Vegemite or an occasional Tim-Tam (:D) when I start to prepare dinner, wash all the pots and pans so that I do not have to do that during homework time and when my stress levels are too high.  So with a neat kitchen and one less thing to worry about (what's for dinner...) - I'd already took off the washing and do the ironing and on the days that I don't wash, I'll dust or vacuum or tidy up so that all is not left for one day.  by 14:58 I'll walk to school to pick up the kids (I live across the road from school) and by 15:20 we'll be home when I give them a snack (sometimes they did not eat their sandwiches so they'll have that after school) and then we start with my own homework, because the school 90% of the time does not give homework, and with our Afrikaans background I do extra work with them to try to do what ever I can to close the gap. 

By 17:00 my husband arrived and then I simply heat our dinner and then depending if they finished their homework, they have the rest of the evening to themselves to play.  I'm still in my South-African mindset, so they do not play alone in the street, but we'll sometimes go for a walk to the park or on a Friday, drive to the beach and watch the sun set.   

Once a week at the most I'll give in to a play date and for them it is the highlight of the week.

Once a week I'll go to do the shopping and it helps to buy specials too (It still takes me 3 hours... don't ask me why)

I don't think I'll be able to work full time, but then again here it is possible for most woman to work 2,3 or 4 days a week.  Who knows, maybe I will, but at the moment, I'm happy with the way things are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@Kanniewagnie that sounds pretty much like the life that many of our parents had, if I think about what my mother in law told me, and what other people have said. All-in-all it sounds rather stress free, apart from the minor everyday fiascos. I'm glad you're happy with your daily life :) Considering some of the other stories I've read, this is something to be grateful for.

How much time do you get to socialise with 'grown up friends that you can talk about interesting stuff with'?

[I'm totally terrified that when I have toddlers I'll be surrounded by clucking mommies who're only interested in talking about baby or kiddy stuff, while I want to talk about the latest advances in clean energy, electric cars, medical breakthroughs, civil projects or world events. Perhaps this trepidation comes from me not having seen any of my friends have kids yet?]

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35 minutes ago, Kanniewagnie said:

The life of a working woman in Oz is more difficult, because of the already mentioned above reasons (no cheap labour).

I don't think I'll be able to work full time, but then again here it is possible for most woman to work 2,3 or 4 days a week.  Who knows, maybe I will, but at the moment, I'm happy with the way things are.

What are your kids' ages? Would you work full time if you had someone to watch your kids after school? Or if your husband made some changes to his work schedule with his employer so you can share the kid workload? Or do you fully enjoy being a house mom and not interested in working at all? I would probably love it to be a stay at home mom, but I don't know if I'm selfless enough. Somewhere in there would have to be loads of 'me time' so I can pursue my interests.

Why 5am, did you have to travel for a long time? My husband works part time at the moment from 9am to 3pm. He does the kid's school boxes and shopping when he get's back from work. He does all things in the mornings with the kids so I can sleep till 7am. In the evenings I do food for the kids, but he bathes and puts to bed the older one while I do the same for the baby. Sometimes he goes away for work for a week or so, and I still get up at 7am because I ready all the stuff for the mornings before I go to sleep. If my kid happens to wake up at 6am I send him to watch TV and sleep longer lol. If the baby wakes up earlier I give him a bottle of milk and tuck him in next to me and he goes right back to sleep. At those times I also get permission to go to work at 8h30 instead of 8h, and go home earlier at around 4pm to do some quick shopping before I pick up my kid.

I do value family time, and I talked to my boss about less responsibility and special hours or leave days when I need them. Apparently he is still happy with me because I'm 1 of the 6 people who remains after the rest of office was retrenched on Nov payday (17 people). I still maintain a high quality of work, and I've read a lot about being efficient and scheduling my work load.

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I worked for so long (behind the till during school holidays and weekends since 1988 untill 1992 and student work in retail and reception, thereafter full-time from 1996 to 2014) enjoyed all the 'office glamour', work parties, financial freedom etc.. One day I just realised that I miss out too much with my children being in afterschool and me being stressed most of the time.  I had to work a lot of overtime as well.  

My oldest is 11 and youngest 9.  My oldest is already past half of her 'dependent' years and I want to be with them while I can and while I am privileged to be able to.  They reach an age where they don't want you around and while they still DO want me, I try my best to be there.

My husband worked in Centurion and the traffic between JHB and PTA in the mornings is, well, ceriously conjested.  That's why we had to get up at 05:00.

I also worked in Centurion for 3 years.  Although I had a helper for 5 days of the week, I never left her our previous night's dishes and I washed our clothes before she came in. I guess I have issues, lol, I cannot cope with 'deurmekaar'.  My employer in Middelburg was very flexible when my kids were still small.  When we moved to PTA, things changed.  The employers did not care much for your personal life, only your productivity counted.  In Centurion I had employers from heaven, the best working environment ever, but the traffic was too much for me and when we decided to emigrate, I resigned to start preparing for the move. 

My husband's job never allowed to be more flexible.  He sometimes had to work through the night and still go in the next day.  

If I have to work, I will, and I have to admit I'm not 100% comfortable with my English capabilities, although my Ozzie friends say I'm good.

In terms of social life, I meet with a friend or 2 every week or so, depending on their scedules too.  I actually had to scale down, because people here really reach out to each other and they kuier a lot.  I am a reserved  (shy) person and full of nonsence, I don't click too easy, so I prefer to keep my circle small.

 

 

 

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Atm I get no time for socializing, unless my husband watches the kids and I go out alone with a few friends. But I do have loads of kids parties to attend and a braai or two with other families where I mostly run after my kid to make sure he doesn't destroy this other person's home, and try to keep feeding the baby on schedule, and try to get him to sleep in noisy environments. I think that would be the same in Aus and SA.

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Our life is not so hectic, and we engineer it that way. We home school. I am not working at the moment, just finished a contract. My missus does brekkie, then teaches the 2 eldest and entertains the little one. (3) I would normally work. We have a cleaner 2x a week, but even when we dont, she does all the domestic chores. When I am home I do all the cooking. Our life is still very laid back. Weekends we either chill or go out. Compared to SA I have the ultimate life here. (Sans butler....beat you to it OBD! :) )

 

And Jordy, I didnt you you were a stuntman! 

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Naomi

You will need to make some adjustments to your life because you and your husband will have to pick up more duties in the house.  Also, you should adopt the approach many Aussie mothers do and start training your children to pick up their stuff.  It's about teamwork here.  Everyone in the house has to contribute towards the greater good, and if someone isn't it means someone else has to do more.  Unfortunately because your children are young you and your husband get the bigger burden.  Sit back and think about your life and what you would like to change if you didn't have a nanny and then start to make those changes now.  Make sure you and your husband are on the same page.

the other piece of advice is go to bed earlier.  You do sound tired.  Many Aussie families I know go to bed really early and wake up earlier.  Took me many years to take my own advice but I can tell you you feel better with more hours sleep before midnight, even if you are up at 5.30am or 6am doing the lunch and having a quick tidy up before the day starts.

Ps: I don't know how to make select all work on font size, so if this posts with different sizes maybe Jordy or someone can help out.

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