Mumsnet Talk

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

Sorry, I'm too knackered to type all of that out, but needless to say my day starts sooner and appears to lack the smooth running of your day....

(I was looking for entries like "shout at dd for getting out of bed for the 18th time" and "lose patience with ds for refusing to eat his breakfast despite obviously being extremely hungry".... where are those entries?)

My ds's are 10 and 8 and dd is 13 - i think i've almost got them running with military precision now - 'it does get easier as they get older' (as they say, but i suspect it will get worse when they get all teenagery)

0650 Alarm goes off, kick dh to go and make sure dd1 is getting up
0715 Turf dd2 and ds out of bed and make them breakfast
0720 Attempt a breezy goodbye to dd1, get slammed front door and a grunt in return. Go and shower/get dressed
0745 Nanny arrives, takes over corralling dd2 and ds to get ready for school.
0810 Leave for work.
0915 Arrive in the gleaming metropolis of Canary Wharf for a day's excitement and thrills in the world of financial services
1030 First of several calls to/from dh to establish who will be home on time tonight. He may suddenly tell me he has to be away tonight . Once a week I get to stay out late and go to choir (yippee). Occasionally I get to go out with work colleagues for a teeny glass or two of something. If not...
1755 Leave the gleaming metropolis for the delights of the Jubilee Line/SouthWest Trains
1902 Arrive home, check on day's events with Nanny, thank her and wave goodbye
1905 Catch up with dcs, nag them to do homework, turn down music, do piano practice, do reading etc. Referee various fights between dd1/dd2, dd2/ds etc
2000 Ds bath and bedtime. Read bedtime story (currently the Jolly Pocket Postman every night, tedious and time-consuming), so...
2030 Goodnight ds. Get him a drink of water and find Teddy.
2040 Still trying to find Teddy.
2045 Finally locate Teddy in ds's room, tuck him into bed.
2100 Tell dd2 to go to bed.
2120 Tell dd2 again to go to bed, she's still caught up in a book.
2130 Goodnight dd2. Remind dd1 to clear up room/feed cat etc.
2131 Get ignored by dd1.
2132 Sit down finally. Glass of wine. Look beseechingly at dh (sorry, he's appeared home at some point, usually about the same time as me) to make some dinner
2200 Eat dinner. Watch TV. Check emails. Do some MNetting. Another glass of wine
0000 Remember to sort out letters from school/party invitations/ironing/do some urgent work for tomorrow.
0100 Bed. Fall asleep instantly. Do not pass Go, do not collect £200.
0500 Find ds entwined around me in bed. Manage to send him back to his own bed without a big fight
and
0650 Alarm goes off again...

However, this treadmill is enlivened by the occasional late into work/early home, or the odd working from home to sort out domestic matters, without anyone at work batting an eyelid. Or dh doing likewise. Or me suddenly getting a call to do a spot of singing somewhere at short notice (oh, the glamour!). Occasional lunches with fellow MNetters. And the odd day off.

Weekends are better .

Umm, I actually really like my routine and think I have a good work/life balance. If I post it on here, will you hate me?!

6.45 - DH gets up and goes to work under his own steam
7.30 - alarm goes off
7.40 - get up, shower
7.50 - drag kids out of bed and nag DD1 to get dressed / get DD2 dressed
8.15 - breakfast
8.40 - DD1 collected for school by taxi
8.55 - load DD2 into buggy for 5 min walk to childminder
9.10 - 3.30 - work from home, arts project management, very interesting but sadly pays a pittance
3.30 - DD2 dropped back by childminder
3.45 - DD1 dropped back by taxi
4.30 - cook kids dinner
5.15 - sit with kids while they eat dinner
6.00 - kids TV, me tidying up / folding laundry etc
6.45 - bath
7.30 - kids bed - DH usually home about 7.15
eve - either DH or I cooks for us, we veg out in front of telly or DVD

Clearly it doesn't always run as smoothly as this, and when I have to go elsewhere for meetings its very different, but generally I have a good balance I think, and key to this is that I get everything delivered (food, wine, toiletries, children) so rarely have to leave the house

6.20 alarm goes off
6.30 DH nudges me into shower
6.45 one or both DT's wake and climb into bed with DH, switch on Cbebbies
6.50 persuade DH out of bed and into shower
7.00 persuade DT's to at least choose outfit for day if not get dressed also
7.15 DH leaves for work
7.30 all dressed and downstairs for brekkie
7.45 upstairs to brush teeth
7.55/8.00 leave house for nursery
8.15 drop boys off at nursery
8.20 arrive work
8.30 - 4.50 post on MN work very hard
5.00 pick boys up from nursery
5.20/5.30 arrive home, kids tea already prepared by DH who got in 15 mins before me
6.00 - 6.45 Cbeebies bedtime hour, snuggles on sofa, chat about their day
6.45 bath
7.00 bedtime story x 2 (1 each obviously!)
7.15 slump on sofa and wait for my dinner to be served
9.30/10 bed (pregnant so VERY tired)
REPEAT....

7.45 get up, wake ds
8.15 out of house, drop ds at school
9.15 arrive work, listen to people bleating on about their problems (divorce lawyer)
2.30 leave work
3.00 collect few bits from Waitrose
3.15 home, tidy up, sit in garden with book if nice
4.15 ds home, have snack and chat together, vaguely supervise h/work whilst making dinner
5.00 sort out stuff like emailing school, arranging social stuff
6.00 dh home, have dinner together
6.30 have a kip on sofa
7.00 open the wine in the garden, dh & I have a chat by the chimnea
9.00 go and watch some dross on telly

Pretty dossy life, really

Some days:

6.30 Wake up to hear DS singing
8.00 Take DS to nursery
8.10 Back home and start work/ put washing out/fill dishwasher/let Ocado man in etc
5.00 Go to pick DS up
7.00 DS in bed
7.30 Do more work/conference calls
10.00 Bed

Others:
Far Too Early - leap out of bed to cancel alarm clock before waking DS
Not Enough Time Later- Dive into car
Work somewhere in the UK
Far too late - Get home

And others again

Wake up in hotel room
Phone home
Fret about what is going on
Work
Phone/fret cycle
Get on manky plane

All of above applies almost equally to DH, although he does less fretting in a hotel room

Currently my work life balance is very poor because I can't work (waiting for permit to arrive) and so my life is limited. Prior to out move to the States it went more like this:

7.15 alarm goes, get up.
take shower
7.30 Wake kids

Days when I take kids to school:

7.30-8.30 Get kids and me ready for school, watch kids TV, make pack lunches etc (dh leaves at about 8ish)
8.40 walk kids to school (often in a rush)
9.15 train to work
10-7 work very hard
7ish catch train home
7.30-8ish get home
8ish - 9 chat with kids, have food, supervise bath time read bedtime story (all shared with dh)
9.30 lights out
9.30-11ish chat with dh, watch crap TV, mumsnet etc
11ish bedtime

On the days when I pick the kids up from childminder I get the morning train at 7.30 and leave work at 4.45, pick kids up at 6ish, get tram home, help with homework, chat watch kids TV, and then dh comes home at about 8ish and the evening goes about the same way.

On Thursdays I work from home, so the morning is more relaxed and I pick up at 3.15. We try to have a playdate or other interesting thing after school.

I thought my work/life balance was excellent TBH. I don't expect it to be so good in my new life (assuming my permit arrives at some point, and I find a job!)

6am get up, shower, cajole dd into clothes as she usually wakes at the same time

7am leave house, eat breakfast in car

7.35am, get on a train

9.15am, arrive at work (2 changes of train later)

9.30am start work, with half an hour break until 4.30pm

4.35pm get on train

6.30pm, arrive home

6.30, kiss children and dh, make my lunch for next day, maybe unload dishwasher/put washing on (although dh does this too)

7pm dh baths dd, ds has a shower

7.30 - 8ish, read stories to children

8 ish dh or I cook supper and do boring paperwork, empty bookbags

8.30 sit down, mumsnet/tv/sometimes bed with a book

10.30 latest go to sleep

Cleaner comes twice a week.

On days I work from home:

6am wake up

6-7am cuddle children, make breakfast for all of us, load dishwasher, put washing on

7am do online shop

7.45-7.48am have shower

8am start telling children to get in car

8.15am children actually get in the car

8.20am - 8.50am, drop children

9am - 4pm work, interspersed with collecting parcels, hanging washing out, doing household stuff like online banking

4pm ish collect children

4.40 pm feed children

6pm do lunch for next day, cajole children into chores

7pm dh or I cook dinner

10.30 latest go to sleep

5.00am - alarm goes off
5.30 am - leave for work
5.30 pm - pick ds up from after school club
6.00pm - dinner
7.30pm - dcs in bed, do housework, tidy up
8.00pm - catch up on work
9.00pm - nothing
11.00pm - bed

Thurs and Fri are a little different as I work from home so don't get up until 7am.

Until eight months ago:

5:45 - alarm goes off (dp already left for work)
5:45-6:45 - shower, make-up, get dressed
6:45 - wake up dd, get breakfast and milk, get dd dressed
7:20 - take dd to nursery
7:30-8:30 - drive to work
8:30-5.00 - work very hard (dp picks dd up from nursery)
5:00-6:00 - drive home (dp cooks dinner)
6:00 - dinner
7:30 - dd in bed, not asleep though
8:00 - tidy up, ironing, housework
9:00 - bed

Now dp home during the week:

6:15 - alarm goes off, cup of tea, get in shower
7:00 - dd wakes up, dp gets milk and keeps dd amused whilst I finish getting ready
7:30 - drive to work
8:30-5.00 - work very hard
5:00-6:00 - drive home (dp cooks dinner)
6:00 - dinner
7:30-8:30 - dd in bed, still fighting sleep
8:00 - tidy up, ironing, housework, mumsnet
9:00 - bed

Phew. I'm exhausted just reading these!

I am extremely lucky to have a part time term time contract and a work based nursery. I took a drop in grade to do this but it was well worth it.

6.54 alarm goes off
7.15 heave self out of bed and into ensuite
7.30 go downstairs, let dog out, feed dog, eat breakfast, make lunch, put bags in car
7.45 go back up to bedroom, nappy and dress sleeping baby
7.50 put still sleeping baby in car, drive to nursery
8.00 take baby into nursery, quick BF then off to work
4.30 leave work, collect baby from nursery
4.50 home. Computer time for banking, bills etc while BF baby
5.30 nag teens for dinner
8.30 baby goes to sleep if I'm lucky- pack nursery bag and get clothes ready for tomorrow
10.30-11 fall into bed exhausted with baby- hope she sleeps

variation is baby won't go to sleep until after 11.30pm

variation up to June and from September, before going into bathroom wake up DS3 and go downstairs and wake up DS2. Nag both to hurry up/ get up/ get ready/ get in car from 7.30 onwards

weekends laundry, grocery shopping, everything else no time for Mon to Fri

who is Home Front and why do they want to know?

I'm up at 6am, home at 7-8pm Mon and Tues, home by 7 at the latest (aim for 6.30) Wed, Thurs and Fri. Have a 80-90 min door to door commute.

Dh takes the kids to school or hands over to the nanny at 8.45am and the nanny stops work at 7pm.

Dh works Tues to Sat, comes home by 7 on Tues and Wed, 8ish on Thurs and 9ish on Friday and later on Saturday.

I have a whole day on my own with the children on Saturday which is lovely and we all spend Sunday together .

i get up at 6 - sometimes earlier or later depending on what tome my boys get up. my youngest is 7 months and often wakes in the night.
i spend all day at home cleaning, feeding,dressing,changing - its never -endingi forgot how hard it is having a baby - and now i have 2 kids!
i have just started a new job this week so hope my life balance will get better as this will be grown up time just for me. my dh and i never get time to ourselves or go out.
my job is afternoons so i go after my dh gets in as he works earlies. i go to bed at 10.30 or so after i feed the baby. i am exhausted but i know it will get better.
every day is different because it depends whether my eldest has pre-school or we go to playgroup or park or whatever.

All you need to know is:

Good:

I get to walk to nursery, school and work, all within 5-10 mins of each other

I get to work at home a lot and have lots of autonomy about my work (university lecturer)

Have good community around and we do a walking bus and lots of afterschool/holiday kid exchanges

Childcare very close for all ages and very good

DH and I share everything to do with household work

Bad:

I get woken up by one or other child at least twice a night, and have been for, oh, 9 years or so...

I have children who are ill a lot (lots of chest infections in first two and third is constantly ill because he's a baby who's just started nursery)

I HAVE to work evenings, weekends often to keep up, even if I do a fulltime load rest of the time

Wake up at six. Bath and get ready.
Wake DD up at six thirty, get her ready.
Leave house at 6:45 to catch the bus from my house to my childminders house.
Drop DD off at 7:15
Leave for work, arrive by about 8:00
Work as a Team Leader in an accounting team, 8 til 4 contracted but often spills over. Lots of queries, lots of hard work, but enjoyable.
Leave work at 4 30 latest or I'm late to pick DD up at 5:00
Get bus home with DD, home anytime between half five and six.
Cook dinner for me & dd, unless she has eaten at CM's house, cook for me & dh even though he's home later. Try to tidy house, entertain DD, spend time with her.
DH home about seven.
DD in bath, bed by 8 at latest, though takes long time to sleep. I study (for my accounting qualification) while she is going to sleep.
Spend some time with DH/ study / tidy home / finish errands and jobs etc / sometimes work bought home.
God to bed around 11, then it all starts all over again.

my work life balance was better when I first went back to work - since I got back I was promoted, we have had team issues, and in the last year I have been in hospital twice, quite seriously, which can be attibituable in some way to stress.

6.15 me up with ds
7.05 to work, arrive at 8am.
dh with ds till 8.30, then to cm
work till 4 if good day, once a week i have meetings 6-8.
if till 4 go for swim or run
twice a week ds eats at cm so clean house a bit
5.30 or 6.15 collect ds.
6.30 cook dh dinner (he cleans kitchen and does washing)
7-7.45 ds bath story and bed
7.45 eat drink mn chat with dh and sulk
10.30 bed

every other friday = day off. fun things with ds + much housework.

i should have added...

i work 9 day fortnights, so 90% salary. i seem to be doing 100% hours though, which is a bit shit. if i were earning 100% then the extra hours would be in work time, as it is they are in mine.

Typical work day (I actually work PT and have lengthy holidays, so my weeks vary a fair bit):

6:15am - I get up, shower and dress
6:30am - DH gets up, showers and dresses
6:50am - I will wake 6y DD up (she hates me to leave without waking her first) and often do her hair quickly, unless a shower day
7:00am - I leave for work; 1hr+ commute, start at 8:25am; DH sorts DD ut and breakfasts
80am - DH and DD leave for school
8:15am - DH leaves DD at school (starts at 8:30 but can leave from 8:!5); DH goes straight to work about 10 min away in car
2:10pm - I leave work for my hour commute down motorway
3:30pm - I collect DD from school and head home; sometimes have one of her friend's over;
4:00pm - small snack for DD and do homework if any; then play time again
6:00pm - I start preparing dinner (sometimes earlier)
6:30pm - DH home from work
6:45pm - we sit down for dinner together; after dinner DD does her scool reading and enjoys time with DH
7:30pm - DD's bedtime; DH normally does bedtime story at the moment so he and DD get ome one to one time
7:45pm - DH will sort dishwasher after dinner and usually makes a drink for us; we then relax for the evening
10:30pm - bedtime for me and DH (sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later depending on TV usually); we will foten read in bed for a while
11:00pm - normally lights off for me and Dh by this time

Once we get home after school all times are variable somewhat! Holidays and weekends vary greatly. Things are different on my non work days too.

6.00 am Alarm goes off
6.15 get up and get straight in shower
6.30 Drink coffee, quick look at news, pack snack box for school.
6.45 Wake dd (4)if she hasn't woken herself. Put TV on and give her breakfast. Drink more coffee
7.00 Finish getting ready for work
7.15 Have arguement with dd about getting dressed and having hair brushed.
7.30 Out the door and either to bus stop or in car if it's raining, or often cos it is no longer 7.30!
8.00 Drop dd at kindergarten and catch bus to work
8.30 Get to work. Drink more coffee, eat a croissant
16.45 Leave work, catch bus
17.20 ish Pick up dd from afterschool club. Usually takes 20 mins to chat, finish a game, extract her from friends
18.00 ish Get home, make her tea, think about what's for dinner. Drink tea, check emails
18.45 Empty dishwasher, start on dinner. Get dd in bath or in PJs. She's allowed to watch TV then. DH normally home about now
19.30 Make a hot chocolate and biscuit for dd, carry on with dinner, have wine. DH plays with dd.
20.00 DD goes to bed. we take in turns to have a story.
20.30 Dinner on the table, drink more wine
21.00 Watch TV with DH or go on PC
22.30 Knackered usually and go to bed to read/watch TV
23.30 Sleep

Slightly different at the mo as dd is at the holiday club run by my employer so she comes to work with me. House work waits til the weekend. DH loads the DW and is good at sticking washing in. House never gets TOO messy as we're all out all day.

Yeah getting tired reading this too:

I have one DH who mostly works from home sometimes he gets up at 4am to drive across country for a contract or if working from home stays in bed til about 8 or 9. Two dds age 4 and 2

Work days (2.5)

6.30 alarm

6.40 up, make 2 cups tea, 1 choc milk, 1 bottle milk, drink own tea watch BBC1 Breakfast

7.00am back upstairs, shower, make-up, drink DHs tea too as he clearly won't stir for a while.

7.15am wake DDs up with their drinks, read them a story in big bed. Cajole them into clothes, brush teeth etc

7.45am Drop em at nursery where they get 3 meals

8.45 arrive at work, work moderately hard, try to avoid anything involving Macros or Pivot Tables or pointless meetings (am Accountant)

5.15 leave work
5.45 pick up kids
6.00 give them a snack, have chat, give them a bath or extra long story session depending on their grubbiness. Put youngest to bed while other watches end Bedtime hour. Put other to bed too. she reads, I read (better than her)

7.30pm make dinner if DH home or eat bowl of coco pops if he aint.

9.00pm fall asleep on DH in front of a film if he is home, or got to bed if he aint.

Off work days

8am - get up, make drinks, go back to bed with kids,

9am get up again give them some breakfast

rest of day: laundry, tidying, cleaning, shopping, socialising, swimming, park etc etc

5pm give them tea, start getting grumpy

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.

rookiemater - lol!