The weekdays in my house run smoothly (pre-baby #2, that is!) because we are on such a tight schedule and have a list of things to do before leaving the house every morning. I have never been much of a "routine person" before having a child, but now that I've got someone else that I'm responsible for, I have found that the daily routine is a lifesaver for me.
My days at work start with the same daily routine as well - check two work email accounts, check for new posts on the WOTW website, scan CNN.com for the latest news - all the while, mindlessly drinking my decaf latte (mmmmm.).
This morning I stumbled on a "Daily Time Usage Calculator" for Moms. Huh. Interesting. Once you punch in the time that you spend (weekdays only) you can actually see how much unscheduled time you have during the week day.
The areas are: Time with Children, Transportation, Cooking + Eating, Errands + Household Chores (0 for me, thanks to a fabulous husband who has that one eating away at his time each day), the Workday, Personal Time (for me, around an hour) and Sleeping (pregnant - a solid 9 hours a night or I'm toast).
Okay, so I've always thought that I have a really nice balance and that I'm doing a great job managing my time. ACK! This calculator shows me that I have literally ZERO unscheduled time during the weekdays. ZERO! For someone who always prided herself on going with the flow and being spontaneous, this came as a shock.
There is nothing that I would change about my weekdays, however. I spend a good amount of time with my son and husband, we get ourselves to work on time and we are well rested each morning. In general, we're happy and well-adjusted people.
However, I think that this calculator has shown me why we value the weekends so very much. Having that time to get away from the everyday is so important - whether we are going away for a weekend or spending a Saturday afternoon at the local farm and then sharing an ice cream cone doesn't really matter. It's about the time that we spend together.
I will say though - the time that we spend as a family, away from home, is so much more restorative and gives us the chance to really reconnect as a family. When we're home, the small stuff seems to get in the way - running errands or working on little things around the house ... you know what I mean.
The calculator was a great reminder for me that sometimes it's just as important to "schedule" in the fun stuff - the time to just BE. Put it this way - you only have 52 weekends a year - that means that there are only 39 weekends left until 2010. How are you going to spend them?
April 8, 2009 4:51 PM
I know this is more of a mommy time calculator but I currently do not have children. Instead of the time with children, I used it for my time at school. When I got to the last category, sleep, I wrote in my total and clicked submit only to receive an error message telling me that "I am over my 24-hour limit. Please adjust." Looks like I to need to prioritize!
April 12, 2009 6:45 AM
39 weekends left!! that just 39 days for me as I have to work Sundays!!