In my first year of blogging when I had four kids under nine, I wrote a post sharing what my typical day looked like. (As an aside, I remark in this post that my husband is training for a marathon and how I think he is crazy. How things change. In August I completed my 7th Marathon!)
I have been asked lots of questions about the changes I have made to my routines this year due mainly to picking up some contract work outside of the home. So I thought to answer these questions I would share again what a typical day looks like for me.
There certainly has been some changes this year to my routines. I am currently working three days a week, one day I leave at a standard time, but the other two days, I leave early so I can make it to my running group.
Below I have outlined what my day looks like on the days when I head to running group first.
5:00am rise and shine!
The alarm goes of at 5:00am and I am not a snooze person, so I am up straight away. I have organised my clothes for running the night before, so I get dressed straight away, drink some water, do my hair, brush my teeth and then pick up my sports bag and head to the kitchen.
As I shower at work, I pack my sports bag the night before with everything I will need for work, so it is ready to go. I use the black Lululemon bag for my work shoes, the red one for my work clothes and that toiletry bag is permanently in this bag, stocked with everything I need.
In the kitchen I will pack my food bag for work. I take two full meals to work, with condiments, a bottle of home made kombucha and sometimes snacks. This I realise is quite a lot of food!
A friend from my gym who does something similar to me, told me how she just took all her food in a cooler bag with an ice brick and just kept her food in that all day. I felt that it would be just as easy to do that and it works super well for me.
5:20am off to running group
I started going to this running group at the beginning of the year and absolutely love it. With the support of my husband, I plan my work day around making it to the session first, then heading to work from there.
I get to the track somewhere around 5.50am, so have time for a few warm up laps before jumping into the workout for the day. We usually finish up between 6:50 – 7:00am and then I jog back to the car and drive to work.
7:10am driving to work
It is a relatively short trip to work and I use this time to hydrate with a post workout drink I have packed and some water. I also pack my spikey ball which I place underneath tight spots on my legs and put pressure on them as I drive. I listen to either podcasts or audiobooks for the short drive too.
7:30am getting ready for work
The not for profit I am working at has excellent “end of trip” facilities, including providing towels. While it may seem like a small thing, having towels provided, it is so helpful!
I wash and do my hair everyday – most days I will just blow dry my fringe and then tie my hair up to save time. I wear hardly any make up, so getting ready is a pretty simple process.
8:00am starting work
Starting at 8:00am means I can get home earlier in the afternoon to spend time with the kids. My husband goes in later these days and comes home later. On the day I go in later, he comes home earlier and cooks dinner which is working really well for us.
9:00am breakfast
I will save any work reading I have for this time. I heat up my breakfast and eat it while reading.
12:30pm lunch
There are many fantastic places to sit and have lunch were I am currently working. If the sun is out, I will definitely make my way up to one of the floors with an outdoor garden and sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.
We also have a meditation space, so after eating some days I will head there for a short meditation. And on Thursdays there is live music on the ground floor so will often sit with colleagues and enjoy that.
4:15pm driving home
Leaving before 5pm also means it takes less time for me to get home. I usually try to call friends and family on the way home on the drive. Some days though I will feel like being on my own, so will listen to music, podcast or audiobook. I arrive home around 5pm.
5:00pm catching up with the kids
The first half an hour I am home is spent talking with the kids, making additional snacks and general tidying depending on the state the house was left that morning.
Most of the time everything is pretty good, often it is just a few random items left around and the dishwasher (if it was put on at some point earlier in the day) needs emptying or if it was filled during the day, needs to be put on.
5:30pm dinner preparation
The day earlier in the week that I work, I will often have cut up veggies and meat to make a stir fry or curry. This means getting dinner together is super easy and not at all rushed. (You can find more about my meal prep process in my Meal Prep Primer e-course.)
On the other day, I try to have a slow cooker meal or cook a double meal on a day off, so I don’t have to spend too much time cooking.
6:30pm dinner with the family
The older kids often don’t get home until after 6pm, so I aim to have dinner around 6:30pm. On nights when I don’t have food prepped or don’t have a slow cooker meal, it is generally closer to 7pm by the time we eat.
7:30pm tidy up and lunches
While the kids shower, do homework etc, my husband and I will work together to get the house tidy and ready for the next day. I have written before about the different tasks we do as part of our night time routine and they are pretty much the same.
I only make lunch for the youngest normally, but the year 12 student has been going to school super early to take advantage of supervised study sessions, so I have been making his also the night before when he is going to these.
I have a day off after the day I work early, so don’t have to worry about packing my food for the day, but on other evenings, I get my food ready as well.
8:15pm story time
I am currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia to the youngest before he heads off to sleep which I am really enjoying. I have not read these stories before so it has been great to enjoy them with him.
8:30pm picking up kids / family admin etc
Two of the secondary school kids work and this is sometimes on week nights, another has been doing the debating season, so depending on what is on, there is often a trip out somewhere to pick someone up around this time.
This is also the time I will complete the school notes and jump on and do any family admin type emails that need to be done.
9:00pm getting ready for bed
This involves getting my gym / running gear ready for the next day. If I was working the next day I would also get my bag ready as well, if I hadn’t managed to do it earlier in the evening. Then it is a matter of brushing my teeth, getting changed etc.
9:15pm mobility
As I have grown older, I realise that mobility is an essential part of keeping my body in a state that lets me do the running I want to do. I have a series of short stretches and exercises I do most evenings.
I will do this while diffusing some calming and relaxing essential oils with low lights on, to start to prime my body for sleep.
9:30pm meditation and sleep
I really try hard to get into bed by 9:30pm. Three days a week I will get up before 5am, so if I am to get enough sleep, I need to be in bed by then.
I will do a guided meditation lying in bed and will often be asleep before the end of it!
Now I haven’t written down every single thing I do each day. There are plenty of little tasks and little moments that are not included. The aim of documenting my day was to highlight the plans and processes I have in place to make it as smooth as possible and allow me to fit in activities that are important to me.
It is great to have these typical days documented. I loved going back and seeing what my day looked like over 10 years ago! I would encourage you to write down what your typical day looks like. Then ask yourself some questions:
- Do I have time for things that I love?
- What can I stop doing?
- What can I start doing?
- Who else can do some of my tasks?
- Am I getting enough sleep?
- Am I moving enough?
A couple of years ago I shared a series of posts from other mums called How do you do it? where other mums shared what their typical day looked like.
If you would like to share what your typical day looks like here on the blog, feel free to email it to me at nicole@planningwithkids.com – I would love to read it and be able to publish it!