How Do You Balance Work and Life?

[cschin4]

2 weeks of vacation? Not sure if you need it? Good luck with that. You must be young. At some point, you will get tired of living your life for "the company". You need to take your vacation time.

[BCHGRL]

I guess you could say I'm on the fast track when it comes to my professional life but on a slower track when it comes to my personal life.

I work 40 hours a week and commute 15 hours a week. I worked with very capable folks, and a slow-paced person wouldn't succeed. I make sure the two boys (Dh and his brother) that live with me are fed and the house is clean.

I like to think I'm a little slower when it comes to my personal life, except for maintaining my home. I dated my DH 4.5 years before we were married. I like to take naps and long baths. But if I had kids, I'd be going full-throttle at home too.

[Dido]

Balance work and life? For me, it's more over the long-term than the shorter term. I teach, so I have periods of high-intensity work during the school semesters, when I teach full-time at one school and one evening a week at a second; and time "off," which I use to take classes towards a certificate in another field, making things busier than they might otherwise be. School semesters are 15 weeks long plus another week of meetings and preparation before the term and a week of finals, so that's at least 34 weeks a year that I'm working. Summer school terms are six weeks long each. Some summers I teach one or both terms and I have been taking classes the past two summers as well, so that's another 12 weeks of work. The other 6 weeks are more or less off: a full month over the winter holidays, a week for spring break, and a week here and there for long weekends (usually one around Columbus Day, one for Thanksgiving, and one for Easter).

I've never had a 40 hour a week M-F job and can't even imagine what that would feel like. It's feast or famine in terms of work hours here. I definitely would like more time off from work and school but I also need to feel like I have income assured for the future. My teaching is just year-to-year contracts, not tenured and at this point it's not going to be; hence the classes towards another career.

DBF lives a similar, multiple-job patch-together lifestyle. We talk sometimes of combining households, but both houses are a bit too small and we can't find the time that it would take.

[twinsmommy]

My life is in high gear.

I work at least 40 hours per week (primary job)
Part time work when I can
Blog when the babies are asleep
Raise twin 11 month old babies alone

I wish that it was different but I split up with my spouse 3 months ago and he doesn't even see the babies anymore (his choice not mine). It was much easier when I had help but I know that this time with them will go so quickly...I spend as much time with them as possible. I try to work from home as often as my boss will let me because they only have to be in daycare for a few hours on those days.

Working hard to pay off their fertility treatments. I want to be debt free by the time they are 3 years old so that I can enjoy them more..

[cschin4]

twins - Aren't you tired? And, don't you sometimes wonder what all this working is for if we have to spend so much time away from our own kids? God bless single parents. I think that would be the most difficult job of all trying to balance all of that. I hope you have some family support. I really don't think I could have continued my job without the help of my mother who watched the kids when they were sick and couldn't go to daycare, etc. DH can call off sick if he needs to but having my mom around has been really helpful.
Personally, I don't want to live my life in high gear running from place to place, not having any down time, etc. I can't stand the rat race at all.

[twinsmommy]

Yes, I am tired!! I don't have any family support so I pretty much have to do it all. Right now, I am just trying to make sure that we are financially secure. Once I pay the bills we will be fine. I have a good job but my closest relative is 700 miles away. I move here for work.

[LuxLiving]

I am praying for you twinsmommy! And your ex and your kiddos!! Chin up darling and catch all the sleep you can. Life eases up a bit once you can go the bathroom by yourself again after toddlerhood is over. But enjoy the newbies...I'm like the Dad on Everybody Loves Raymond...I just wanna suck all that baby smell right off them.

[cschin4]

Do you have a close family? Have you considered relocating closer to them? That would help provide your children with some close family ties. And, would provide a network of support for you as well?