If you work F/T....

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:41 pm

and you have kids at home, and you mostly cook dinner for you family (vs. mostly take-out or cereal type dinner) and you daven, and you exercise daily (or most days).....

Would you please share what your typical daily schedule looks like? Starting with when you get up and when you go to bed.

I was a SAHM mom for a long time, with a lot of free time once everyone was in school. I started working p/t the last few years and have enjoyed it and still found time for what I needed to do for myself and my family. Now I have tried my hand at f/t job and feel like I am struggling at everything else. There are only so many hours in a day, so many days in a week. I am looking for insight as to how people fit it all in. I guess also comment as to if you feel you have a schedule that is working for you or if you also feel like you're coming up short.

Thanks in advance for sharing and helping me.

TwinsMommy ↓

Yesterday at 11:56 pm

I get up at 6 and go to bed anywhere between 12 and 2 depending on what's going on. davening happens sometime before 8:30 which is usually when I leave the house. Exercise happens Mon through Wednesday at 5:45 which is in between dinner and chores. Sunday at 3:00. (4 days a week--- haven't yet figured out how to work it in on Thursdays or Fridays)

Dinner is 5:00 and sometimes dinner is leftovers, sometimes it's super easy (hot dogs and beans, bagels and cream cheese, sushi salad, pasta), and sometimes I cook it at 3:30 or 4:00 (I sometimes come home at 3:30, sometimes 4:30--- but I don't work as full time as you prob do). So on days I get home at 3:30 or 4 I make schnitzel or meatballs or burgers or something like that. Dinner is planned in advance based on knowing when I'll be home each day and grocery shopping is Thursday late afternoons. Laundry is Sat night and Sunday and a couple loads during the week as well.

Is it working? I don't know--- my house is a mess. But we always have clean clothing to wear and food to eat. Life is nuts. But it was even more nuts when I worked from home full time.

Hope some of this is helpful.

amother

Firethorn

Today at 12:05 am

6:00am wake up
Get dressed in workout clothes
Daven
Coffee
6:45 I have a workout club I go to some days and some days I have a less busy morning
7:45 get home and get dressed for the day. I usually do my makeup in the car.
8:00 start to get kids ready and out the door
9:00 start work
4:00 end work
4:30 kids get home
They eat snack, homework, play while I make dinner. Some days we have crockpot dinner or pizza.
Baths, bedtime…
My night, tidy around the house

I have a cleaning lady who cleans while I’m at work.

I make simple dinners. Crockpot, shnitzel, hotdogs, burgers, salmon, 9x13 recipes. We don’t eat much dairy. Once a week we have pizza for dinner.

I eat healthy so on nights that dinner isn’t healthy I’ll make something easy for myself.

amother

Petunia

Today at 12:13 am

Not currently working full time but I have in the past/worked part time + been in school. This is a mashup of a couple schedules.
6:30: wake up, do yoga
7:00 kids get up, get them off to school
8:00: if I don’t have a hard start time to the day, I may prep supper. Get dressed, leave the house.
9:30: arrive at work/school
4/4:30: get home, make supper
5/5:30: serve supper, bath and bedtime routines for kids
7: kids bedtime
I go to sleep between 10 and 12.

I make a menu every Wednesday night or Thursday which includes Shabbos meals and the following week of dinners. I usually order grocery delivery to arrive on Thursdays. I’ve never worked a full day on Fridays but if I did I’d prep most of Shabbos Thursday night and early Friday morning.

I don’t attend in person exercise classes or gym but I could fit it in on Sundays or during the evenings. I don’t daven but if I wanted to fit it in I’d do it on my commute (if I had one) or between 8 and 9 after getting dressed.

Leaving the house at 8:30/9 and getting home after 4 is definitely full on and requires a lot of organization and planning for things to run smoothly. When I was doing this I had a housekeeper/nanny most of the time who kept the house clean, unpacked groceries, etc, so that I didn’t need to do it in the evenings.

Hope this is helpful.

amother

Offwhite

Today at 12:20 am

amother OP wrote:

I barely daven 😬
But I do everything else.
I wake up at 715, get my 5 kids off to school, and get to work by 915 (bh my 9am drop off is right near my office).
Some days if work isn’t so busy I take a walk during lunch for about 30 minutes - a fast walk- and that is my exercise.
I work till 355 and run to do a 4 pm pickup. Then I go home and make dinner - I always take out a protein before I leave to work so it’s ready to be made when I come home- and I whip up something easy. Shnitzel. Stir fry. Meatballs. Sloppy Joe. Sandwiches , soup , fries , I don’t even know. Nothing that takes longer than an hour to prepare and cook.
I always work another hour or 2 after the kids go to sleep.
The best nights are when I don’t have anything going on between dinner and work. Like no wedding, simcha, carpools, school stuff.
Balancing a full time job is really really hard, and I often feel like I’m doing everything but successful at nothing. One of my kids really feels it - tells me all the time that I’m haggard when he gets home from school (5 minutes after I walk in the door from a full days work) and tells me how annoyed he is that dinner isn’t ready.
Im lucky that my husbands schedule is a bit looser on Thursdays and Fridays so thankfully I’m able to schedule the kids stuff for those days (ortho, therapies etc ) and he takes them.

I’m never asleep before midnight. But I tend to do phone scrolling in bed so that’s somewhat my fault. If I didn’t waste time I still wouldn’t be asleep before 11 because I work after my kids go to sleep.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Today at 12:23 am

amother Firethorn wrote:

From 7:45 to 8:00 you have enough time to get dressed? I assume you need to shower after workout. How do you do it? And do you eat breakfast before you leave for work? When?

This is one of my biggest challenges. I can get up early and exercise but I'm coming home with only an hour to get myself 100% work-ready. Shower, breakfast, brush and floss, dress, make-up, grab my lunch (hopefully packed from night before) and go. It's very hard for me to do this all in an hour.

amother

Denim

Today at 12:27 am

Get up 6:30 to have a few mins to myself
7am - wake up kids
8am - kids are out, I'm on the way to work
9-5 - work
Babysitter from 4-6
6 - get home tired, homework, supper for older kids and myself, some playing, baths, bedtime
9 - straightening up the house, prepping lunches for the next day, unwinding a bit in bed, sleep
Laundry and suppers are done Motzei Shabbos and Sunday
Shopping - Tuesday and Wednesday
Shabbos cooking - Wednesday and Thursday
What's davening and exercise?

amother

Goldenrod ↓

Today at 12:36 am

7:30 get the kids ready
8:30 get dressed and daven
9:30 work (6 hours plus lunch)
4:00 kids, supper, clean, homework, all the evening stuff and getting little kids to bed
7:00 work more
9:00 stop work
10:00 deal with spouse and teenagers who need attention at night
11:30 me time
12:30 go to bed.

No exercise. Sometimes I fall asleep 11:30 and don't have time to wind down but I usually try cuz I desperately need it. Also, if I have paperwork like camp applications, doctors forms, school forms, bills etc, I usually do that after I am done with the older kids and go to sleep later and skip my wind down time.

amother

Mocha

Today at 12:39 am

I need help making a schedule Sad

also finding time for laundry and working out.
Granted I do wake up late but
7:20 wake up (after nursing my baby several times a night. She’s up every few hours to nurse and be burped)
8:15 out for work.
Leave work @3
3:30 pick up my kids from school
Back home by 3:45
3:45-6 with the kids (prepping supper, peeling, emptying dish washer etc. This time also includes giving a bath, PJs and bedtime on my own since hubby isn’t home at night)
The from 6:30-10:30 pm I work

I have no time for myself, some nights I work until 11. Then I have to clean up from dinner, put a load of laundry in, husband will change it by neitz when he wakes up. But it can easily sit in a basket to be folded for days Sad

im not managing. Unfortunately I had to cancel my weekly cleaning help due to finances so I also have more chores on my schedule like changing the beds once a week, vacuuming and mopping

amother

Canary ↓

Today at 12:41 am

I'm up at 5.30. Shower, go wake kids (older leave for davening by 7), make lunches, packns snacks and get some breakfast in the kiddos. At 7, I make beds, put up dinner in the crockpot, and get started on work. I drive my last to school by 9 and then back to my computer/ home office. Work until 3.45, go get my son, bring him home and get him fed and homework done. By 4.30, he's on his own and I go upstairs to my gym to workout. 5.30, I finish and that's when my older kids come home. Round 2 for dinner and homework. By 8, I finish answering emails and messages and then go off shift as a mom. Bedtime around 9ish or whenever I pass out. Rinse, repeat and do it again. Days I work from home are the easiest and those when I'm in meetings in the city all day are so much harder. Thankfully those are only a few days a month, otherwise my schedule is pretty fixed. The key is to meal prep and have cleaning help. I keep a lot of frozen dinners ready so if I can't get a crockpot meal done, out comes frozen garlic honey chicken in sauce and I just set the rice cooker before starting work. Easy. I keep sliced veggies and fruit in the fridge so noshing is easy until dinner is heated up.
ETA- my husband does bedtime and my youngest isn't so young anymore. It's easier now that everyone is older. My teens put themselves to sleep. Laundry is done on weekends and put away for the week. I think that's everything. Husband does grocery shopping on Friday mornings and as needed on the way home from work on weeknights.

amother

Moccasin

Today at 12:43 am

amother Firethorn wrote:

What time do your kids wake up that you can wake at 6 am and get All those things done?

And how do you have energy for tidying bedtime and baths at night

amother

Seashell

Today at 12:45 am

7:15-7:30 wake-up
7:30-8:00 kids bottles and get them dressed
8:00-8:30 make and give breakfast
8:30-9:00 make hair, prepare snacks, get myself dressed, feed baby
9:00-9:15 get everyone out the door, buses and get into car
9:15-9:30 drop off baby at sitter
9:30-10:00 get to work
10:00-4:00 work
4:00-5:00 get home with all my kids
5:00-5:30 undress everyone, hugs, bottles, warm dinner, feed baby
5:30-6:15 eat dinner, feed kids
6:15-7:00 bathe kids, read story or activity
7:00-8:00 put kids to sleep
8:00-10:00 put house back in order, prep food
10-11 downtime
11-12 get ready for bed
And go to sleep

I don’t have typical cleaning help and I work Fridays. One child has bussing, two children need to be dropped off.
I buy food once a week or do phone orders.
Clothes and other items are bought online

synthy ↓

Today at 12:45 am

8:00 wake up, get dressed
8:30 wake up kids (2 toddlers). They eat at daycare/school so I just need to get them dressed
9:00 first bus
Meanwhile prepare breakfast and lunch for myself
9:20 drop off at daycare
9:30 go to work
I daven birchas hashachar only, in the car otw to work
3:45 pick up baby from daycare
4:00 bus
Kids eat snack while I cook
6:00 dinner (late for kids, but they’ll only eat together with mommy and tatty)
7:00 bath
7:30 bedtime
Dishes, clean kitchen, laundry. Some nights I work.
I work out either around 9:00, or sometimes around 5:00 together with my kiddos. But I do super short workouts, around 15 minutes a day.

↑ synthy

Today at 12:49 am

TwinsMommy wrote:

How do you survive on 4-6 hours of sleep??? If I go 3 nights with 6 hours I literally collpase