i think the key is creating and maintaining routines. but i have learned that i have to do it in baby steps, because i work outside the home, have a 2.75-year-old DS, three pets, a hubby who works at home and the perfectionist in me loves to try to do everything all at once and perfectly. therefore, instead of doing things little by little and actually keeping myself on a routine, i just do a lot at one time and then get burnt out so I do as little as possible because i'm burnt until i have to do something again. in the meantime, i beat myself up because the house/laundry/projects are not in the state that i want them to be. And I get overwhelmed because I'm a procrastinator and a perfectionist and i put everyone else before me. SOOOOO, my solution is...

FlyLady! Go to flylady.net and she'll help you set routines and maintain them. I've been "flying" as she says for a few months and now that I'm Finally Loving Myself I've become calmer, yell less, exercise more and everything is slightly cleaner and a LOT more decluttered. I've resorted to using a timer and it's the best thing I've ever done. You do have to do it all in babysteps, however.

I know I keep talking about FlyLady, but I can't tell you how much she's helped me. Good luck and breathe.

I was working only PT - maybe 16 - 20 hours. so obviously if you work more than that, my advice might be null.

What I did was assign a major cleaning job for each day of the week - laundry monday, dusting tuesday, bathrooms wedenesday - you get the point! Every morning I did the dishes from the night before. I did them first thing because I loathe doing dishes and if I get it done first, then viola! Somehow, life a little easier to bear with a clean kitchen sink

The ages of your child/ren really make the difference too. Since you have a crawler, you have to be more vigilant during her waking hours. Do you have a playroom or part of a room you could gate off in order to create a safe space while you pick up?

Another biggie for all of us has been de-junking. (I cannot express my LOVE of this topic) The less crap we have, the less there is to clean. It has taken a lot to get my DH on the bandwagon, but even he admits how much it has changed our homelife. Crap totally zaps your energy!

As far as cooking, I have taken up making double recipes and freezing food for days when I know I will be completely wasted.

Hope some of this helps!

man, this is a constant struggle for me! i'm a sahm but i homeschool, so i do have a big chunk of the day that is taken up. i have a 4 1/2 year old and a 6 month old. it's sooooo hard! my daughter is not an easy baby, she demands that i hold her pretty much constantly so between feeding, changing, bathing, and homeschooling, all with dd in a sling, the cleanliness of the house leaves little to be desired! i vacuum every morning, load and unload the dishwasher, and then throw in laundry whenever i get a chance. laundry rarely gets put away! dusting and bathrooms get done at night while everyone is asleep.
i'm not much help as this is a struggle for me too, but know that you are not alone!

I dont know if Im qualified enough to answer since Im not a SAHM. But as a single mom of two little ones I know how it feels to be overwhelemed (as do we all) and not have enough hours in the day. During the week I do very minor chores. Dinner and dishes (sometimes I even let this go once or twice a week) are my main concern. Saturday is my cleaning day. Its my designanted day to really clean. Clean enough that I dont stress about it the rest of the week. kinda like mini-spring cleaning once a week. A lot of times my mom will take the boys out while I do the cleaning for some fun grandma time, but if not they stay with me and we make it a fun activity. What I dont get done saturday morning I do sunday during nap. It works well for me. My motto around the house "stress mess, not clutter". If there are toys everywhere, I can live with it. Its actual dirt and germs I worry about. No point in frustrating myself by putting away toys three times a day just to see them thrown all around again by nightfall!