Workin' It: Balancing Home & Work Life

Today I am linking up with Shay & Erika for their Workin' It series. This month the topic is one that ebbs and flows for me as I am sure it does for others, Balancing Home & Work Life. I am happy to participate in this as well as learn from the other ladies who participated in this topic.

I do have to say that this week I am not sure if I was balancing things all that well.  It's a busy time at work and phase two of our home remodel began this week and I may have posted my What's Up Wednesday a week early. Oh well, I will just link it up next week.

Work

I work for a Fortune 40 corporation in Government Relations. It can be busy, stressful and lot of fun.  I have been in my role for about 10 years, since the Sweet Boy was a baby. He has practically grown up in this office.  I am in the office every day from about 7:30 am to 4:30 p.m. I don't travel that often, maybe a couple times per year.  I have flexibility in the sense of that if the Sweet Boy is sick or has a day off, I can work from home.  If I need to go to a meeting at school, it's no problem. It works for me, and I will always take a better work environment over more money...but I like money too!

Running Daddy

Running Daddy helps a lot and is very supportive of my work. Typically Running Daddy takes the Sweet Boy to school and I pick him up. Running Daddy is very good with math homework is always Good to throw in or fold a load of laundry.  I have also put him in charge of things like Cub Scouts and hockey.  He is also the king of dry cleaning, I think I have been in our cleaners maybe five times in 11 years. 

Groceries/Meal Planning

I get most of my groceries online.  When I was first diagnosed with lupus  I started ordering my groceries online. At that point I had so little energy, I was not going to waste that energy or my weekend at the grocery store.  This was a little bit of an adjustment as I am one of those odd people that actually likes to grocery shop, probably due to my love of cooking.  I have tried a number of online grocery shopping options over the years and I am currently pretty happy with Harris Teeter Express Lane.  Yes, you have to pay around $5 for the service, but someone shops the store for you and you just pull in and they put it in your car.  I have definitely spent $5 on worse things and my time and energy is worth $5!  

I also have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box delivered every Friday.  They literally drop fresh produce on my doorstep every Friday.  I typically plan our weekly meals around what is in the box.  This service has really changed the way we eat, especially for Running Daddy.

The beginning of every week, I look at our calendars and plan our dinners.  We eat together as a family basically every night.  The meal planning helps organize our nights and I try to pull items out of the freezer the night before if necessary.

Early to Bed/Early to Rise

Mornings start pretty early in the Good Better Best household.  Running Daddy gets up around 4:30 a.m. and does more work or house stuff.  I get up around 5:30 a.m. We typically have coffee together and watch the local news for about 30 minutes.  We have found this time to be really important as we often don't get a chance to really talk again until later at night and we go to bed pretty early.  Running Daddy usually goes for a quick run when I get in the shower. I am out the door by 7 a.m. and the boys are out around 7:30 a.m.

Since we get up so early, the Sweet Boy is in bed between 8:30 to 8:45 p.m depending on sports and studying.  I typically pack the lunch box and get other things ready for the next morning.  I try to be asleep by 10:30 p.m. but I find when I am in bed...lights out at 10:00 p.m., my fatigue is so much better.

Outfit Planning

I always lay out my outfit the night before.  I try to iron if I need to the night before as well, but sometimes I am just so very tired.  If I wait until the morning it usually puts me behind for some reason even though it doesn't take long to iron a pair of pants.  I dress for my day so this gives me some flexibility but I do try to dress as fashionable as I can due to the industry I am in.

The Sweet Boy wears a uniform and that helps a lot, but it also means that his uniforms need to be cleaned and ready to go, there are no alternatives on his school clothes.  I try to ask him the night before, right when we get home, if he has clean uniform pants for the next day.  If he doesn't, I would rather start a load of laundry right at 6 p.m. as opposed to 8:45 p.m. like I did the other night.  Getting it all folded and put away is always a challenge in our house.  Right now, we have a lot of clean laundry...but it's not folded or put away. Looks like I know what I will be doing Saturday morning.

Outsourcing

I do outsource a few things.  I have cleaning woman who comes every other week (except she has not been here in a while due to the renovation) and has helped me for over 10 years.  Between work and my health, I was having trouble keeping up with the cleaning and I need a clean house especially with all males (two legged and four legged) in the house.

We also have a neighbor who has a dog walking service come at noon during the week.  The pup gets a chance to get out and he loves her so much.  She takes amazing care of him.

Weekends

The Best in work life balance are our weekends.  We spend a lot of time together as a family on the weekends. Friday night we always have pizza and Running Daddy and I crack open a bottle of wine.  The rest of the weekend is usually spent with sports, church and a lot of hanging out.  

I do often spend some time napping on the weekend as it really helps my health and lately I have been trying to attend at least one Barre 3 class every weekend.

Wrap Up

So I am not sure that I have all the answers and some weeks things are running more smoothly than others.  What tips do you have for Work Life Balance?  Leave it in the comments below.