your day in the life - how is your work/life balance now?
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(33 Posts)
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Thought it might be helpful to have a little snapshot of what kind of work/life balance people have at the moment – this is a typical day for me.
6:30AM, ideally wake up. This might be as late as a quarter past seven on days where I’m a bit less energetic. Ensure children are all washed (face/ hands) teeth brushed, have everything for school, dressed appropriately (son will wear long stripy socks under his uniform if allowed (which he occasionally is!) breakfasted (toast!) etc
Shower. Dresss self. Have coffee, leave
7:45am – drive boys to breakfast club at school, drop daughter at pick up point to meet her friends to walk to school
8:10 arrive at parking place, walk into work. I may occasionally cycle if foldable cycle is in boot of car and weather pleasant.
8.30 – 17:00 work at soul destroying mind numbing day job where my desk actually faces a brick wall. Deal with several complex enquiries.
17:00 - Leave to pick up boys from after school (Thursday and Friday only – I leave at half two Mon-Weds to pick them up at school. I do have flexible working, but this means I have to work very long hours to catch up if children are holidaying with their paternal grandparents 2 hours away)
Collect daughter from park/library – no after school provision for 12 year olds in Glasgow.
Pop into lidl for any milk/bread etc I need.
18:00 arrive home. Cook healthy nutritious meal from scratch.
wash up. Put on laundry, fold and put away clean clothes. Clean kitchen and do general house hold tidy. Make packed lunches for next day, supervise homework. Supervise childrens bath times, supervise (yell!) at childrens room tidying etc
19:45 bedtime for boys. Tuck in, kiss goodnight.
Pour self glass of wine. Read or paint, listen to music in kitchen, then only place I can hope for peace.
21:00 try to gently persuade 13 year old DD to go to her bed.
MN a bit or general internet, possibly watch some telly or continue with reading/painting until around eleven. Go to bed.
Wake up. repeat
I am lucky because I do have flexible working and have agreed to leave early three days a week to pick up my dds. I used to work every day until five. My boys hate their afterschool/holiday care . It has deteriorated since the local council privatised it. There is no provision for my 13 year old – I’d like to see community schools with after school/holiday activities for all children.
I’d be really interested for other MNers to post up a typical day – so we can see what we’re dealing with
Message withdrawn
OK - here's mine.
6:08 - alarm goes off (have recently changed from going off at 6 to give myself a whole 8 extra minutes of sleep
).
6:15 - 7:00 - get out of bed, shower, dress.
7:00 - wake DCs, go downstairs to make breakfast for me and them (DH still snoring loudly at this point)
7:10 - shout upstairs to DCs to come and be seated as breakfast ready. Eat breakfast together(-ish - usually no sign of DH)
7:30-8:15: chivvy DCs to brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair, check for stuff that's needed for school and nursery.
8:15 - leave house to drive DD to school.
8:40 - leave school to drive DS to nursery.
9:05-ish - leave nursery and drive to work (v close)
9:20-ish - 2:30 work. No official lunch break, so eat at desk.
3:00 pick up DD from school (sometimes pick up DS from nursery on way, depends on afternoon activities).
3:15 - 5:45 - afternoon activities, or just a bit of a doss about with DD at home if none. Pick up DS from nursery.
6:00 supper for them, hopefully all of us if DH home by then, though often he's not. Wash up.
7:30-ish - DS in bed (in theory
) having done teeth, been read story.
8-ish - DD in bed (again, in theory), having done teeth, been read story.
8:30 - 11:30-ish - PUt on washing, MN, TV, chat to DH (yeah, right!).
11:30-ish - set dishwasher going, hang up washing if weather too grim to put outside, bed.
Feels mostly OK, though some days are pretty relentless, particularly when 2 activities happen. But I do get a whole couple of hours to myself on a Monday, when DD is at after school club.
a good day
6am ds wakes up. lie there for ten minutes hoping he will go back to sleep. he doesn't. get up, give ds a bottle, let dog out, make first of many coffees, play with ds
7am wash, dress, unload dishwasher, sort kitchen
7.30 walk and feed dog. kick dh out of bed.
8am breakfast, dh leaves for work
8.30am nanny arrives, chat and handover
8.45 leave. on commute make phone calls, fill forms, make shoppng lists, etc
9.45 arrive work. work like lunatic
1pm half an hour for lunch and sort out a few more domestic problems. work like lunatic again
5.55 sneak out of office
6.50 home, chat and handover with nanny. play with ds while answering phone calls pretending still to be at work
7.30ish bath ds. dh arrives home moaning about being tired. bottle, story, etc
8 ds in bed. clear up bathroom, pick up million things on stairs, vaguely tidy up, cook dinner. stack dishwasher, put a load of washing on, sort yesterday's laundry. dh walks dog. eat dinner with dh.
9 check work emails. watch rubbish tv with dh. shower.
10 bed, knackered
on a bad day
5.45 ds wakes up. hope he'll go back to sleep for a bit. he doesnt. get up. bottle, etc.
7.25 kick dh out of bed warning i have to go to work early and he's in charge. dog looks questioning.
7.45 remind dh i REALLY have to go to work early etc. peel screaming ds off me. leave late.
8.45 arrive work later than i needed to. work like loony. forget to have lunch.
7.30 nip out, get sushi, dinner at desk.
8pm ring dh at home to check all ok. ds wailing audibly.
anywhere between 10pm and 2am stumble into cab home from office
between 10.45 and 2.45 home. pick up post, stack dishwasher, turn on washing machine. go into ds's bedroom and listen to him breathing quietly in the dark. reflect on fact that have seen him for max 1 1/2 hours awake today. ask self why. have no answer
3.15 go to bed. realise ds will be awake in three hours. realise have forgotten best friend's birthday.
not sure this qualifies for post about worklife balance....
Typical Mondays, Thursdays & Fridays
7.00 woken by DS, aged 2. Showers, breakfasts and dressing.
8.00 I leave for train.
8.30 DH takes DS to childminder over the road and goes off to work.
9.00 I get to work,
9.20 DH gets to work
4.00 I catch train home
4.50 pick up DS & give him dinner
6.30/7.00 DS bath & bed. DH makes it home for bed time story.
Dinner & housework (or chill out if lazy). Bed by 10.30 latest
Tuesdays - we swap so DH puts DS to bed and I work late.
Wednesdays - play day!
All fine unless the trains screw up (I clocked up 5 hours of delays the other week).
Would change job & commute if I didn't like my work & workmates so much.
7.30/8am wake up to dd calling for me (dh already gone to work.
8.30 breakfast with dd
9am shower and dress with dd
9.30 first morning's activity/shopping/see friends
11.30am lunch with dd at home or out, whatever
12.30 dd's nap (i mn or clean..ahem)
1pm dd to nursery twice a week (if not then we do stuff at home or whatever)
3pm dh gets home from work. he puts washing on and cooks tea for him and dd.
4.30pm i set off to work
5pm start work
11pm/12am finish work
11.30/12.30am get home, watch a bit of telly dh has sky plussed for me.
1am/2am bed
up again at 7.30 ish
I like this game.
6.30 get up, wake dd up, kick dp. He then gets up and gives dd breakfast, gets her dressed etc.
7.10-8.20 leave house for work. Have blissful commute on train, reading my book, listening to ipod, staring out of the window or sleeping.
8.00 dp takes dd to nursery
8.20-4.15 have exciting day in glamorous yet underpaid world of publishing. Arse about with colleagues at lunchtime and get a bit of mumsnetting in.
4.15-5.30 more blissful commute.
5.30 pick dd up at nursery
5.50 get home and play with dd
7.00-8.00 dp gets home, and I start bedtime routine. DP cooks while I'm doing that
8.00 (if I'm lucky)-8.30 : dd in bed, rush round tidying, stick a load of washing on.
8.30-9.00 dinner (cooked by dp)
9.00-10.00 telly-watching/mumsnetting/pottering hour
10.00-11.00 washing up (am only person left in western world without dishwasher), putting washing out to dry (ditto tumble dryer - have very small kitchen) and having a nice relaxing bath.
11.00 bed.
Works for us.
Jeez guys, some of your commutes are
. Would you trade anything in order to get a shorter commute? I'm looking for a new job at the moment but I have limited my options by not considering anything more than 30 minutes drive.
Anyway, as things stand, I am spoiled:
7.15 - 7.30 wake up (if DH is sorting children I may have more of a lie in than this)
7.30 - 8.30 empty dishwasher & washing machine, make tea, milk for DS2, cuddle children and husband, nappies, clothing and breakfast for children as appropriate, shower and get dressed.
8.30 Nanny arrives. Quick chat about plans for day.
8.45 Depart for bike ride to work.
8.55 Arrive at work. Have breakfast. Try to avoid spending all day on Mumsnet. Work can veer wildly between being brilliant and pants. Standard job really.
12.30 Lunch is used for useful things like running, lunch with friends, domestic logistics etc
5.45 Leave work. May pick up emergency groceries on way home.
6.00 Arrive home. Chat with Nanny, thanks and good night. Try to entertain children while cooking dinner.
6.30 Kids dinner
7.00 Kids bath
7.15 - 7.30 DS2 bed
7.30 - 8.30 DS1 and I hang out, read stories, chat, until his bedtime.
8.30 Ignore state of house. Reach for wine. Cook dinner.
On tuesdays and thursdays, DH does childcare, otherwise he'll be home sometime between 6.30 and 10.30 and will do laundry, cleaning, etc (esp if prompted).
9.30 on: chat to DH, read, listen to radio, watch TV, sort out domestic paperwork, bit of computery stuff, gardening, all sorts really.
10.30 - 12.00pm bed.
I feel like I get a lot of time for 'my stuff' one way or another, hence I'm relunctant to make my commute longer. But possibly that's just the price I have to pay for more seniority?
rofl at '8.20-8.24 housework'
rookiemater - lol!
Ooh all this early rising is making me more contented with my lot
7.10 - Alarm goes off
7.11 - set it on snooze unless DS going to venue other than regular CMs for day and need to leave early
7.20 - Get up, wee, weigh myself, spend rest of day in rapturous delight at thinness or deep depression due to over night weight gain shower
7.50 - Chase DS round house to change nappy
8.15 - Shovel weetabix manically into DS whilst dressing him as DH enjoys a leisurely cup of tea
8.20 - 8.24 - Housework
8.35 - Cycle into work
9.15 - 4.30 - Work, includes best half hour of day 12.30 - 1.00 when I get a whole 30 mins to mysefl
5.15 - Pick up DS
5.30 - 6.30 - Make and feed DS dinner, sometimes end up having to go outside and play with DS
6.30 - 7.30 - DS has tantrum on announcement of bathtime or bedtime, spend 30 minutes rushing round house trying to catch him, whilst swearing under breath at DH sitting playing chess in the study
7.30 - Dinner if not before
8.00 - 11.00 - Mumsnet, then bed
This is 4 days, on Mondays I am off work and day usually revolves around coaxing DS out the door to go swimming, or wondering how many hours of looped Pingu are likely to stunt his speech development.
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