How do you keep a work / life balance ? What’s your daily routine?

[Rainydays55]

Just that really, during times when you are going out to work and work takes up so much of your time how do you keep a work / life balance?
What’s your normal daily routine?
What’s your typical healthy foods / drinks?

Surely this will depend MASSIVELY on what your job is; how many hours you are contracted for (or if you have one of those 'all encompassing' contracts); whether you are PT or FT; what your commute is like; if you have a family or if you are single; whether your job includes an expectation for you to work at home; etc etc
If you are doing factory work then obviously when you walk out the door you are finished. If you are teaching, then you have a ton of work to do at home.

Daily routine I am up at 4am, shower and a 1/2 hour walk, coffee and in work for 6am. I don't have breakfast.

I work right through to the finish - no breaks or lunch. I sometimes manage a banana on the go but often go without lunch or a drink so very unhealthy.

I finish work often about 5pm and come home and make tea (usually jacket potato or soup, beans on toast kind of meals) and walk before starting work again about 6:00. I finish work about 10:30-11:30pm.

No work life balance right now and shocking diet.

A lot of planning:
Weekends are down time - no more than 1 outing or activity
Meal planning and shopping/online ordering.
Planning quite far in advance - haircuts I book 6 months at a time, fitness classes a month at a time.
I aim for 5 cultural events a year bethat choir or theatre or something else. I usually spend a weekend in august checking the nearby theatres' season program. Once a month or so i check fb for events.
Reminders in phone of upcoming birthdays.
I make soup for dinner on sunday nights and have the leftovers for lunch throughout the week. We eat a lot of the same food - ds has asd so doesnt eat many things.

I use my commute as me time. In the morning I sing loudly. In the afternoon I listen to a podcast.

I start work officially at 9am but tend to log on about 8.30-40 to get a head start on emails (my boss likes to send out a splurge of them late at night). Finish around 5-5.30.

In normal times I work in an office so I’d be getting the train into London. I’m not a fan of commuting but it is quite nice to have it as a boundary between home and work. I think about the day ahead on my way in, but then unwind on the way home - message friends, read etc.

But I’ve been working remotely since last year so it’s slightly harder to have that boundary. I also work at my dining room table so it’s been tricky to have leisure/work in the same space. I have an office chair which I use in the working day, but I switch it back to the normal dining room one for meals etc. I also pack away my laptop and stationery etc after work to try and keep things separate.

Whether at home or in office I try to get out for a short walk at lunch just to clear my head. I find I feel better for it even if I wasn’t keen in the first place.

Generally I just try and compartmentalise the two as separate things as much as possible. I try not to look at my work emails after I’ve logged off or at weekends. I wear different clothes to ‘work’ and evenings/weekends. I set boundaries with colleagues and explain my working hours are X-Y and won’t respond out of these.

It will as mentioned depend on your job.

You have to set boundaries. Don't read/answer emails at weekends if you are not on shift work, for example. I have a daily walk which helps, which is separate from any shopping or things such as going to the local post office.

I have two jobs, neither of which feel like work.

I work 4 days a week, sometimes Saturday morning.

Home by 5 every day.

We don't have bags of money but life flows really nicely.

I don't plan too much in advance, we kind of go with whatever crops up which suits our friendship/family circle.

It's a nice life. Personally I think the key is to have a job which you love and doesn't feel like work. I don't really think about work/life balance, it's all kind of one and the same.

WFH currently, also did before lockdown for 80% of the time.

Wake, 2 coffees in bed, up and dressed by 7ish. Out for a run/walk/cycle, then yoga for 15mins. Shower, sit down for work. Or I'll do an online exercise class for friends.

Lunchtime I'll nip out, either to shops, to see DSis for a walk, scooting with DD, whatever.

After work I try to walk if I haven't already, otherwise it's a glass of wine with Pointless 2-3 nights a week. Food will be either decent and made from scratch or a ready meal if DD is with her dad.

Work/life balance is very good, diet is up and down, alcohol consumption a bit too much.

You have to set boundaries.

Fuzzy boundaries work well for many though.
I work from home, and find fuzzy boundaries easiest.
A trypical day:

6am get up, grab a coffee go back to bed. Check work emails, plan my day
7am shower and yoga session.
8am start work.
10am break for breakfast, hang laundry tidy kitchen.
10.30am work
12.30 Trip to the post office and supermarket
1.30 lunch and dinner prep.
2pm work.
4pm walk in the forest
5pm make dinner and eat
6.30pm work
8pm tea and watch some tv or read
9pm bed.

I am lucky as my work is a hobby type thing, so even if I am having down time I am searching the internet for ideas/suppliers etc.

I lve the fact there are no clear boundaries between work and other parts of my life.

I have set massive boundaries this year unlike last.
So I start work at 8, 3 days a week and once at 9 as running with a friend before I start. Generally work until 5.30-6, but I also block in half an hour in the afternoon to walk rookiedog so I'm getting some daylight.
I work 4 days a week and last year I was often logging in on Friday and at the weekends, this year I've pulled right back and feel better for it.

@speakout I like the way you break your work into 2 hour slots. I’m finding a balance much harder since permanently wfh. I started off well back in March but gradually slipped into, I will just make one more phone call, write one more case note, research one more area and before I know it I haven’t moved for hours. Apart from to the fridge 🙄

I have a chronic fatigue condition so I sleep a lot:
7am alarm goes off
7 - 7:30am coffee in bed and get dressed
7:30 - 8:30am walk dog
8:30 - 9:00 feed kid, tidy kitchen
9 - 12:30 wfh and try to fit in some homeschooling
12:30 - 13:00 make & eat lunch
13:00 - 14:30 work
14:30 - 15:30 walk dog
15:30 - 17:00 work
17:00 - 18:00 make dinner, sit quietly
18:00 - 19:00 eat dinner with kid
19:00 - 20:00 shower / bath / read story
20:00 kid goes to bed and I clean up for half an hour.
After that I go to bed most nights. On Wednesday and Friday I stay up and watch TV, eat, spend time with my boyfriend until about 10pm.

faerveren

Yes- the 2 hour thing works for me. I work very hard for short bursts, then a break or change of activity. If I set myself 6 hour stretch of work I would be far less efficient.

WFH.

Up about 7.30
8.30 drop DS to school
Breakfast
9.00 start work
1.00 break for lunch and collect DS
2.00 work
4/5 stop work
Make dinner tidy relax
8.30 bath
10 bed

@Awalkintime WHAT!! What job do you do that you don't eat at all until dinner?That's ridiculous!how do you not feel sick?

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I will get into work early but leave dead on time now. I have learnt my lesson on that one

I start work at 7am... I come in and check emails. My day can vary in terms of what I'm actually doing but I usually take my breakfast break at some point between 9.00-9.30 for 20 mins and then lunch is some point from 1.00-1.30 for 20mins. I finish at 3.00. SOMETIMES if I'm in the middle of something I am there until 3.15/3.30 but no later or it's overtime.

Family time is when I get home and all weekend. I don't check work emails much. Maybe just before I go to bed if certain things are happening and I would like an update before I go in the next morning.

What's your AIBU?

One thing I never do is check my work emails when I'm not logged on. I turn my work phone and work computer off when I log out. That sort of marks the difference between work and home for me, given that everything happens in the same four walls for now.

I'm a teacher, and sharing my Non Covid routine. I work 4 days.

6.00: up at 6am. I shower the night before so i've just to get washed and dressed. Lunch is usually in the fridge or i take a tin of soup.
6.30: in the car. (Husband starts later and works more locally than me so he sorts the kids out)
7.30: get to work. Coffee, check emails (not many). Open up all my tabs ready for my lesson.
8.00: morning duty. Can also do any emails from my phone.
8.30: Teaching. Build feedback into lessons to reduce marking. Emails turned off. If the students are working independently in silence, I can mark another class or do some planning.
12.50. Lunch. Check emails and quick reply or flag for later.
13.20: Teaching. Use free period for marking and/or calling parents.
3.30pm: Reply to any longer emails. Sort lessons for the next day. We share planning as a dept so lessons generally just need to be adapted rather than created from scratch.
4.30: Leave work
5:30: collect children from nursery
5:45: cook tea. Leftover batch/ quick pasta/ strifry.
6.45: bath, story and bedtime
7.15: quick tidy up then I usually do an hour's work.
8.30: TV or bath.
10.00: shower and blow dry, then reading in bed
11.00: sleep

@faerveren

One thing I never do is check my work emails when I'm not logged on. I turn my work phone and work computer off when I log out. That sort of marks the difference between work and home for me, given that everything happens in the same four walls for now.

I agree, and email is such a time drain. My job now means that I only have email open if i am actively Doing Emails. The rest of the time they're off, even at work.

It's not always possible for every job, my last job needed me to have them on all the time, but where possible, it makes a massive difference to productivity.

@Awalkintime

Daily routine I am up at 4am, shower and a 1/2 hour walk, coffee and in work for 6am. I don't have breakfast.

I work right through to the finish - no breaks or lunch. I sometimes manage a banana on the go but often go without lunch or a drink so very unhealthy.

I finish work often about 5pm and come home and make tea (usually jacket potato or soup, beans on toast kind of meals) and walk before starting work again about 6:00. I finish work about 10:30-11:30pm.

No work life balance right now and shocking diet.

So you have 4 hours' sleep and you work around 15 hours a day on a banana, beans on toast and no fluids? Are you Margaret Thatcher?

Lockandtees clipcloptrop CandyLeBonBon

I'm a teacher. I have 3 year groups and 3 classrooms so there my workload has gone through the roof there's a lot to do and now I have 3 online classrooms to manage too.

Some of the kids are in at 8am for catch up and then there is catch up after school. I take the kids out in the morning while the TAs have a break. During my half hour the kids are outside before lunch which was previously my break, I have to clean the toilets, all the chairs and tables, door handles etc in the rooms. Some more of the kids are in after school for 1-2-1 catch up for an hour and then I have to mark before going home.

When I get home I plan and prepare and then manage all the online learning and mark their work, give feedback, answer emails and prepare work for them. Then deal with other issues such as this week it has been governors reports and reports to ed psychs.

I sometimes feel like I am Margaret Thatcher I can't keep this up for much longer! ha!

@Awalkintime

Lockandtees clipcloptrop CandyLeBonBon

I'm a teacher. I have 3 year groups and 3 classrooms so there my workload has gone through the roof there's a lot to do and now I have 3 online classrooms to manage too.

Some of the kids are in at 8am for catch up and then there is catch up after school. I take the kids out in the morning while the TAs have a break. During my half hour the kids are outside before lunch which was previously my break, I have to clean the toilets, all the chairs and tables, door handles etc in the rooms. Some more of the kids are in after school for 1-2-1 catch up for an hour and then I have to mark before going home.

When I get home I plan and prepare and then manage all the online learning and mark their work, give feedback, answer emails and prepare work for them. Then deal with other issues such as this week it has been governors reports and reports to ed psychs.

I sometimes feel like I am Margaret Thatcher I can't keep this up for much longer! ha!

Why are you taking on that much? It's not sustainable. Isnthis really how your day looks 5 times a week? You will be off sick with burnout if that is a true reflection. Why can't you take food with you and a big refillable water bottle? No one is that busy that they would go without water day after day? You are setting yourself up for burnout, breakdown and kidney/bladder issues. Not good

It isn't sustainable but its what the gov expect so there is no other option and we're a small school so we have much less than other schools in terms of flexibility to borrow staff from other rooms or money to put staffing in place etc.

I have excessive workload anyway with it being 3 year groups and 3 classrooms so it is normally a challenge without the pandemic so it'll feel like a holiday next year when it goes back to normal!

I do take a water bottle but I just forget to drink its that busy and I do get told off by my TA for not drinking during the day. I take pieces of fruit but its pot luck if I manage to eat them or not.

Yeah I can imagine I'll hit any of those in the near future but the gov think its acceptable so it is what it is.