…because, frankly, you don’t have the time.
You guys, I did a little math to try to make more time in the day.
Here is how it works for a family with young kids:
There are 168 hours in the week (7×24). Let’s say we spend 50.75 hours in bed trying to sleep or actually sleeping (that 7.25 a night with your head on a pillow), 42 hours at the office if you have a full-time job, perhaps 30-minutes each way commuting door-to-door and roughly 4-hours of work outside the office (checking emails, dealing with clients, calendars, bosses or what have you)…. We can also call that buffer time if you have a longer commute. That leaves us with 66.25 hours a week to do whatever we want!
Did you hear that?! 66.25 hours of freedom!
I mean as soon as you get some things out of the way like…
- .85 hours a week showering (that is a leisure 7.28 minutes a day getting in, showering, getting out of the shower, drying off… each day. It’s like, turtle time, am I right?)
- 1.75 hours getting dressed (that is a solid 12 minutes to pick out your outfit, dry and brush your hair and throw on make-up!). No wonder we have mom buns and mom bobs…
- .5 hours a week brushing your teeth
- 6 minutes a week washing your face (I mean who needs more time than that, really?)
- 30 minutes a week washing your hands
- 1.5 hours a week going to the bathroom
With all that personal hygiene out of the way, you have an amazing 61 hours of your week left to spend enjoying life after you allocate…
- 1 hour of driving around for errands each week (to the post office, grocery store, gas station, Target…)
- 2 actual hours of completing those errands every week (buying the groceries, laundry detergent, stamps, the check-out line, the loading of the car, etc.)
- 30 minutes a week unloading and putting away said groceries and supplies at home
- 1.25 hours a week executing on household administrative tasks like opening mail, booking doctor’s appointments, updating family calendars, managing school or childcare schedules and who is dropping off when, arranging playdates, RSVPing to birthday parties, booking flights, scheduling maintenance on your car, etc.)
- 5 hours cleaning the kitchen a week (loading and unloading the dishwasher, washing bottles and pots/pans, cleaning food off the floor with little ones, wiping down countertops…)
- 1.25 hours a week putting away toys, crafts and games
- 1.25 hour a week actually cleaning the house (toilets, windows, sticky finger marks on your walls, changing bed sheets, etc.)
- 4 hours managing laundry (collecting, sorting, treating stains, washing, drying, folding, ironing, putting away…)
- .25 hours dealing with garbage and recycling every week (breaking down boxes, taking out the trash from kitchen and bathrooms, getting new bags, putting at the curb, rolling the bins back…)
- 1 hour a week reading and responding to personal texts and emails (that is a whole 8.5 minutes throughout the day!)
- 1 hour a week just getting – coffee, gas, gifts, a parking spot, finding your phone, or finding the toy they have to have!
With all that out of the way – you have an amazing 27.42 hours of complete freedom! Once you factor in…
- 1.5 hours of getting your kids dressed and undressed in the morning and at night each week
- 1.25 hours a week giving them a bath (that is a leisurely 15-minutes of bath management 5 days a week!)
- .58 hours a week brushing their teeth
- 1 hour a week changing diapers and dealing with potty situations
- .33 hours getting them in and out of the car along with strollers and diaper bags, etc.
- 1.25 hours a week reading bedtime stories
- .75 hours a week dealing with everyone fighting bedtime routines
- 5.5 hours feeding kids and managing mealtime disasters (which, by the way, are different than me actually eating/scarfing down food)
- 9 hours of solid quality time playing, singing and being present with your kids each week
Once all that is done, you have about…
- 4.5 hours a week to talk to and be with your spouse one-on-one — four and a half hours a week! That is a whole 30-minutes Monday-Friday and two full hours over the weekend!
- You could even squeeze in 1.25 hours a week talking to, seeing, Facetiming or sharing pictures with your dearest family, friends and even neighbors!
Oh gosh, I forgot eating! We all have to eat, right?
How about…
- 11 hours a week for three meals a day (even if five days a week are at work, I’d argue I need to add that time back in to my work productivity time at some point!)
- 1.25 hours prepping for such meals (like getting them out of the fridge and microwaving them, or waiting in line at Subway, putting them on a plate kinda thing…)
- 2.8 hours a week cooking or preparing fresh meals and snacks for you and your kids
Now, let’s see – with all of that out of the way, you have a whopping .6 hours left in the week (that is like 36 WHOLE minutes!) on anything you want! Anything! Anything in the whole world you want to do!
Like….
- Breastfeeding and breast pumping for that whole year we are pressured to do so…
- Working-out to transform out of that mom bod we aren’t suppose to have
- Feeding the dog or taking care of other pets
- Attending baby showers
- Self-care, because, of course
- Daycare or school pick-ups and drop-offs
- Going to gynecology appointments
- Going to kid’s doctor’s appointments
- Taking a shower lasting more than 7 minutes
- Drying your hair with an actual hair dryer vs. air drying on the go
- Reading a book
- Getting the perfect gift for your spouse’s birthday
- Watching a show
- Getting caught up on news
- Getting an extra 30-minutes of sleep
- Going on social media
- Spending more than 2 hours over the weekend with your spouse
- Getting extra time in with your kids that exceeds just 9 hours of out of 7 days of fun bonding time
- Packing up snacks and diaper bags
- Eating a meal slower
- Getting your nails done
- Taking a nap
- Cleaning out your car
- Mowing your lawn, watering plants…
- Playing middleman for information
- Volunteering in your community
- Looking for a better deal on insurance, cable, coupons, deals, sales and family budgeting
- Volunteering at a your kid’s school
- Changing light bulbs, touching up paint, fixing a broken toy, replacing batteries…
- Planning a trip to see Grandma
- Spending time by yourself, in a closet, with the door shut just to be alone
The list is endless, isn’t it?!
Is there a solution to this madness? You betcha’! Check out my other posts on saving time, energy and sanity!