To ask how you combine full-time work with volunteering?

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If you work full-time and also work as a school governor or in a similar voluntary role where you’re committed to attending meetings, AIBU to ask how you combine the two?

I volunteer at an animal shelter for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons. I belong to the DAR, and we meet once a month on an evening. You just do it evenings and weekends.

I work 40-50 hours a week, and I have 3 kids, ages 19, 17, and 7, for reference.

I had to give up volunteering, I was just too exhausted to juggle everything.

I make it clear I can only attend evening meetings. When there have been daytime meetings I have not attended due to work and have made it clear why (when I took on the role all meetings were in the evenings but this has now changed).

I volunteer but im strictly a "commitee volunteer" i can't do day time because i work. If they need someone for day time then they don't need me.

I can only do meetings on certain evenings - I'm a full-time working single parents so have very long muted availability, but I want to contribute to try to make it work

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The other members also work and have families so we all have to work around each other.

Volunteer a night shift, straight to work the next morning. Lots of tea!

I have three volunteer roles and work full time, I am also a devoted mum.

I am exhausted, but I believe I make a difference. I also get a lot out of what I do both paid and unpaid, which is the clincher I suppose.

It takes committment, but if I can do it anyone can. On the other hand my windows haven't see a shammy in far too long! But who wants to be remembered for their lovely clean house? I would like to be remembered for something more substantial, like my chaotic sense of humour and for trying to make this world a better place.

School Governors are entitled to 'reasonable time off', to be agreed between the employer and employee. Employer does not have to pay for this time but in practice most do. A lot of employers actively encourage this now, Corporate Responsibility and all that...

I used to volunteer at a hospice at the weekend as well as help with a guide group and the Duke of Edinburgh award - in the years preceding DC's arrival.

When DC arrived I gave up all of that as DH often worked away and I just couldn't commit to a regular time due to no childcare (plus fairly exhausted). I just did the odd bit of volunteering for school events and DC's sport clubs/scouts as ad hoc volunteer (but not on the committee - I loathe meetings - get enough of that at work).

Now DC are older (secondary school age) I've picked up the Duke of Edinburgh award again as an assessor. I still hate meetings so won't volunteer for anything committee based.

Anyway, I basically just did what I could when the DC were young but accepted it would be less than what I did before/what I would do in the future.

I volunteer with guides, which is just a couple of fixed hours a week, and probably a couple more that can be done whenever it suits me. I also have a committee role, but that is 90% online meetings and a couple of weekends.

Not saying it's easy, but I want to do it so I make it work.

DH is a volunteer lifeboat crew with the RNLI - it is a big time commitment. He works at home mostly so is flexible and can catch up on work as and when, plus his employers have generally been quite understanding if he goes off in the middle of the day because his pager has gone. In general the family suffer from getting the leftovers after the best of his energy has gone to work and RNLI . So that's how he manages it. I work part time so am able to pick up some of the slack at home also.

Work for a large organisation with policies which support time off to volunteer and has flexible hours.
And then work part time or scale down volunteering to what can be done outside working hours - I do lots of email etc some evenings and weekends, happy to help at PTA events, but I refuse to go to meetings.

I used to volunteer at Brownies one evening a week after work. I stopped because I hated it but I didn't find that it imposed too much on my time.

I'm fortunate because my work is very flexible so I can take the odd bit of time out in the day if I need to - as long as I plan it well in advance, as my work diary gets too full otherwise. Most of the meetings are in the evening though. Thankfully, they generally occur while dd is at one of her activities, so I don't feel I miss out on time with her. Occasionally, there is a clash, so I call in a favour from my parents or a friend - I do lots of favours for other people so I'm always "owed"! Other work can be done as and when in the evenings, so it's no big deal.

DD has another activity once a week at the weekends, so I'm thinking of taking on another voluntary commitment in that slot. It does get tiring at times, but I find it rewarding too.

Most of my co-volunteers are also in full time paid employment, in a wide range of different jobs/sectors, so there are plenty of us who manage to juggle both!