I have been staying up late tapping on my keyboard and having only 4-5 hours of sleep for the past few days. This always happens when my suppliers delivers my customer’s stock to me. Being a one-leg-kick and one-man-show, I have to do everything ALL BY MYSELF and this is NOT fun when you have 3 kids and 3 personal blogs to handle. I am really really jaded and burnt out now!!Â
I have not only neglected my kids but also my blogs for I have totally no time to squeeze out to update them. It’s 6:15am now and I only have 10mins to update my blogs before I have to bring Alycia down to the lobby to wait for the driver.
My dining table is now mine and it’s quite an eye sore for it is now always covered with pos laju bags, consignment notes, loose threads, my arch files and my customer’s clothes….
The QA part before sending the clothes out is very tedious. I try to check every part of the baju, cut off hanging threads and sometimes even iron them before sending them out. If I detect a defect in the baju, pictures of the defect have to be taken, then email them to my supplier, send it back to her, get a refund from her, notify my customer, blah blah blah… all these I have to do with SO much interruption in between. I love my online store and this business (which is now thriving) but with so much interruption from my kids, I am going bonkers.Â
The latest news is that we will be sending our domestic helper back by end of next month and after all the hassle and stress of having one (we have had problematic helpers for 7 years), we have decided not to get a replacement full -time helper. That means only one thing. I have to either give up my beloved online shop or go reeeaaaaallly SLOW. For those of you with 3 kids and no maid, you will know that this is indeed a very very handful chore  job  which not many mothers can take on. Wish me luck, I really dont’ know how I will cope. Well who knows, I may be happier without one.
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Woah…really pui fuk… 3 kids, 3 blogs, 1 online store + no maid? But then, you have done great all this while… Should not be a problem to you đ
If it means your kids being neglected due to the many hats that you have to juggle and yourself deprived of sleep, I don’t think it’s worth it. You may want to go slow as we can’t have the best of both worlds.. Take Care.
i’m also looking for my replacement now and indons are currently frozen đ sob sob
shireen, with or without helper, I already think you are superwoman! 3 kids + 3 blogs + 1 online biz!!! *phew* anyway, i guess you will have to face the situation (without maid) first before deciding which one (blog or shop) to give up – if you really cant cope đ
You definitely have to go slow. Without a helper, you can’t afford to get sick. So take it easy and do one thing at a time. Don’t pressure yourself too much!
yes shireen, you gotta take it easy and go slow. having less than 5 hours sleep a day is not good. it will weaken your immune system. you know eh…mommies cannot be sick cos they have to take care of the kids… đ
Hi Shireen,
I don’t think you need to give up either one of them. Why not u hire a part timer to help you handle the online shop. Since it’s more on administration work. That way you can load off ur burden while still get things going. Hope this helps!
yah, go slow or get someone to help u …. take good care ur self !!
I think I will try going free of full time maid for a month and see how it goes. I will def hire part time maids once or twice a week to help me out.
I try to minimalize operating cost on my online shop. If I hire a part timer to help me out, I will need to work doubly hard to get more sales to cover the costs.
I’ll just play by ear and see how it goes. THanks everyone for your suggestions!
Wow..I will be long dead if I were to do all the stuffs you are doing , what more without a maid.
Take it easy dear..and take care of yourself.
If I were u, I’d give up the kids! Wakakakaka….
U can do this, woman. We will support u. And u will be happier without a maid. Just some off days where u feel like screaming at everyone :-p
You’re really a super multi-tasker! I really salute you! I can’t even cope welll with just 1 blog and 1 kid. Hahaha! đ
lol at mamapumpkin’s remarks as i was thinking can give up kids ah?!! at times i wish i could (bad mummy i know!).
anyway, just go with the flow and see how you’ll cope but don’t forego your rest and sleep please. as the mummies said, you cannot afford to get sick.
i’m sending my maid back in 3 weeks time for good and i’ll need to get those weekend part timers too. not sure how i’ll cope when the kids are sick and when hubs away on his biz travel but don’t care la, if i did it before with one kid, i can do it again with 2! we moms can one!! đ
Business doing well, so many baju. Maybe you should hire part time students to help you.
Being a WAHM (work at home mom) is not an easy task. Hope you can find a better solution to manage your time.
I would say: focus on what’s real and important in your life by order of priority. Everything else can wait.
ooh…after all the hardwork building up the bis, pls dun give it up….yet!! maybe go a little slower & see how lor đ
wish u luck without the maid & hope u do feel happier that way đ
Hi, I’ve been following your blog, as I’m a SAHM too, and I enjoy reading most of the mama blog, learning a lot too,
my suggestion is, maybe you can train your girl to help you QC your goods, and maybe at the end of the day, give them some rewards, all of them are lovely girls… maybe in the beginning, it’ll be tough, but I’m sure, it can be overcome, tough time is the time to test the family bond…
and for your blogs (again, I’m your sincere followers for all 3 blogs) maybe it’s time to consolidate them…
else, yep, you just have to go slow, till you get the hang of it, meanwhile, nowadays a lot of people get parttime maid, just come once in a while, maybe, to do those heavy cleaning…
one of my friend, SAHM, she’s 4, girl, boy, girl, boy, she also survived without a maid, even her latest confinement… when there’s a will, there’s a way, our technology’s fast nowadays, if you really want to be on the move, maybe while entertaining your kids in the bedroom, and so on, it’s good to have a BB, or iPHone, those that you can still blog, and maybe handle customer’s question over email, while you’re on the move…
choong
Must admit..it is not easy w/o help. The only thing that keeps me afloat, is that I have a strict schedule, which gives me time to do my work. Without it, I surely would be downing bottles n bottles of anti-depressants.
And your service is very good too! I really salute you!
As the kids grow a little bit older, things should become easier to handle… Just be patience along the process… đ Your customers will surely understand for the delay…
I poured part of my heart out in my blog entry about What it Means To be a Mummy in my blog. My tears flow almost everyday, and I hope you don’t go thru the same. Explain to your kids, esp the two older ones who will be able to help with chores or look abt BB whilst u get 30min or 1hr to yourself.
TABIK!
No maid. 3 kids. And a business!
Really salute you….
i must salute you, you’re an amazing mum! Handles three kids, three blogs and an online store! I handle two kids and one blog already make me headache. Not to said my online store, that’s why i need a partner to help me, at least i am not so headache, but when both of us are too busy, we just “stop” a while for our online. I know there is a lot of works! Iron, checking, and cut off hanging threads!!! Now we take a break on our online, just too busy and no time. đ
You are doing a great job, Shireen!