What would you cut out?

[Tiny]

Let's play pretend!   Pretend you have something that not's work related - something personal - that you REALLY want to do and to accomplish it you need to allocate about 5 hrs a week to it.  They don't have to be consecutive hours day/time isn't all that crucial but they do need to be in a minimum of 1 hour increments.   You forsee that you will need these 5 hours a week for about 12 months or so.  The need might drop to 4 hours after a couple of months.

So, what thing(s) in your schedule do you stop doing to free up the 5 hours a week?  


Basically, want to know what things are the first to go when you discover you have something more important to do.  How 'booked' is your time?

[Green Eyed Lady]

I always come home from work, change my clothes and kick back in my recliner for an hour or so.  It's totally wasted time that I could devote to something else it I needed to.

[movingforward]

Since this is pretend... I would hire a pretend housekeeper to clean, do laundry and cook . There, now I have 5 extra hrs and I don't have to cut out any of the fun stuff.

[steph08]

My days really aren't that busy - I have about 4 free hours each evening that I could devote to whatever I wanted. Usually it is running my dogs ragged since they have been alone all day. (Right now I can't give that time up though, DH has been working out of town during the week and I can't leave my dogs alone for 10 hours while I work and then another hour or two in the evening).

I exercise from 4:45-5:45 in the mornings before work, and I run 3 days over lunch at work. The only things I have given up are an extra hour of sleep in the mornings and an hour of computer staring or shopping at the mall over lunch at work.

[Deleted]

I spend maybe 1/2 hour to an hour on Internet boards and general news sites every night when I come home from work, more on the weekends.  I cut that back when things get hectic.  It's pretty painless.

[Gardening Grandma]

I've had quite a bit going on the last few months.  The first thing that got cut was the amount of time spent on the computer.

[Tiny]

Jun 21, 2013 10:08:47 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Since this is pretend... I would hire a pretend housekeeper to clean, do laundry and cook . There, now I have 5 extra hrs and I don't have to cut out any of the fun stuff.

LOL!  My 'pretend' solution to my time problems is to move into a hotel Penthouse suite - with no house, few possessions, and a staff on hand to do all the daily busiwork -I'd have lots of time - even with working a full time job. 

[wvugurl26]

Things that get cut when I'm pressed for time, house keeping, working out, any down time, and sleep gets cut if its bad. Cooking used to fall by the wayside but that was when I lived alone. Physical therapy exercises also get cut along with ice time for my knee and foot.

There's not a whole lot of slack in my work week. If I need to do an errand or have physical therapy or something it puts me in a time crunch. When I get home at 730pm and still need to prepare dinner, eat, clean up, prepare for the next day and shower, I feel like I'm in a dead run from the time I hit the door trying to get it all done. Ideally I'd be in bed by 10pm but that rarely happens.

I have a flex schedule with a three day weekend every 2 weeks. In return I'm at work 9.5 hours a day and commute 2 hours a day. Throw in trying to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night and it adds up.

[Bob Ross]

Jun 21, 2013 10:02:28 GMT -5 Tiny said:

So, what thing(s) in your schedule do you stop doing to free up the 5 hours a week?  

I'm pretty sure I could condense all of my weekly bathroom breaks into one single mega-.

[greeniis10]

I consider my workout / gym time as part of my work day, in other words, on the schedule and not an "extra".  I work from 6:30 AM - 3:15 PM, then go to the gym from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM.  I come home and shower and do miscellaneous (read the newspaper, make dinner, straighten up the house, laundry, etc.) and after that watch an hour or so of TV.  I would just give up the TV time if I needed to do something else more important. 

[thyme4change]

I don't know - my evenings are pretty booked watching all those TV shows - most of which are reruns that I only mildly enjoyed the first time around.  Not sure I can give that up.

[cronewitch]

I would quit my job so save 10 hours a day or so. Then I could do my 5 hour thing and more playing on the internet.

[Peace Of Mind]

5 hours a week?  I'd have to say good bye to you all.  I've done it before when we were out looking for lake front property to buy and other things that just took up too much time.  But coming back here was even sweeter after the absence!  I know it was for you all too.  <<snort>> 

[gooddecisions]

My time is not so booked up that I don't have a measly 5 hours a week for the next 12 months to prioritize a new task. I'm pretty sure I don't have to give up anything. I'd like to get proficient at using my camera and taking professional quality family photos. But, I don't see that taking 5 hours/week, maybe 1 hour for a class and 1 hour to practice the skills.

I'm very efficient at bathroom activities/personal care tasks and household chores like cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping. I feel like even with a full time job and toddler, I still have plenty of time to pick up a volunteer commitment or new work-out goal and still have time for sleep, family, friends and T.V. Of course, I also have a husband who does his fair share of the chores. Down the line, that 5 hours might be allocated to coaching a sports team for my daughter or making my new yard beautiful. But, I've already given up most of the sports I play since it would have sacrificed quality time with her. I guess that's why I feel like I have loads of time.

[wvugurl26]

If I can take those 5 hours on the weekend no problem. If some of them need to be during the week then that's much harder to work into the schedule. I'm already up by 530am at the latest, out the door by 6am and sometimes I don't get home till 730 or 8 pm. Showering and doing my hair takes at least an hour in the evening. Cooking, eating and cleaning up is another 90 minutes to two hours.

[thyme4change]

Jun 21, 2013 12:44:50 GMT -5 Peace Of Mind said:

5 hours a week?  I'd have to say good bye to you all.  I've done it before when we were out looking for lake front property to buy and other things that just took up too much time.  But coming back here was even sweeter after the absence!  I know it was for you all too.  <<snort>> 

Are you saying that you only spend 5 hours a week here?  I call baloney!

[Formerly SK]

One of my kids. 

[movingforward]

Jun 21, 2013 15:04:54 GMT -5 Formerly SK said:

One of my kids. 

[movingforward]

Jun 21, 2013 12:58:16 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

If I can take those 5 hours on the weekend no problem. If some of them need to be during the week then that's much harder to work into the schedule. I'm already up by 530am at the latest, out the door by 6am and sometimes I don't get home till 730 or 8 pm. Showering and doing my hair takes at least an hour in the evening. Cooking, eating and cleaning up is another 90 minutes to two hours.

You cook and clean every night .  I work 4 days a week 10 hrs a day and then go workout so I get home about 7:30 as well.  I shower and eat a lean cuisine on a paper plate .  Cleaning seems to get pushed to Monday which is my day off during the week.  

[Peace Of Mind]

Jun 21, 2013 14:53:08 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Jun 21, 2013 12:44:50 GMT -5 Peace Of Mind said:

5 hours a week?  I'd have to say good bye to you all.  I've done it before when we were out looking for lake front property to buy and other things that just took up too much time.  But coming back here was even sweeter after the absence!  I know it was for you all too.  <<snort>> 

Are you saying that you only spend 5 hours a week here?  I call baloney!

Where did I say that?  I have no idea how much time I spend here.  When I log on to my computer I'm automatically also logged on  here but I'm not sitting in an office 8-10  hrs. a day posting or reading here.  Today it's raining so I'm doing laundry and paperwork.  I come and go in between and read or post (I click on new topics) now and again.  If I had a big project or I'm out and about I would not be here reading or posting.  I don't have a hand held gizmo like most of you guys do and my attention span isn't that great.    And when we were buying property it took more than 5 hours so I was thinking of that project when I posted.

SK, LMAO!!

[Chocolate Lover]

WVU, isn't it time for your brother and/or roommates to cook?  They were eating somehow before you got there. It's not rocket science.....  

[wvugurl26]

Jun 21, 2013 15:40:44 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

WVU, isn't it time for your brother and/or roommates to cook?  They were eating somehow before you got there. It's not rocket science.....  

The landlord never eats with us. He in fact cooks for all of us sometimes. The other two rarely eat with us unless I'm doing a big meal for an event like my brother's birthday or I have lots of extra food. They are moving out at the end of June. If my one friend moves in, well his idea of dinner at home is a $5 footlong sub from Subway.

My brother helps with some cooking and clean up. He's not the type to put a meal on the table every night. Before I started cooking we went out all the time. And that's what he did most of the time before I moved back in. If I ask for help he generally comes down and helps but sometimes I don't think to ask. If I say I'm not cooking, we go out or get takeout. He does things I don't do like make gravy or grilling over charcoal. The whole meal planning and grocery shopping thing is on me though.

I guess if I doubled my quantities I might have leftovers? As it is I don't even have enough to take lunch the next day most of the time.

I don't do housekeeping nightly. I do try very hard to clean the kitchen up and load the dishwasher since we share the kitchen with 4 other people. In particular if I leave stuff in the sink, the landlord usually washes it and then I feel like an ass that someone else cleaned up a mess I made.

On the other hand, I don't handle my car maintenance and I don't do outside stuff. I'm not mowing grass or cutting firewood in the winter. No one is demanding dinner nightly. I try to cook from scratch most of the time because it's cheaper and better for me. My food allergies have gotten worse and higher in number in the last three years hence me trying to avoid processed stuff.

[Chocolate Lover]

I know your reasons for cooking WVU, and they're good ones, but if you're gonna share food AND you're stuck with shopping duties, I'd be making it more clear to him that he's going to help every night and not wait to be asked. It's just a matter of 4 hands making it faster than 2.

I'd think he hated you if he sent you to do outside work with your allergies

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2013 12:14:22 GMT -5 @missmargarita said:

I'd probably get up an hour earlier in the morning or give up an hour of relaxing in the evening.  I was going to say I'd give up cleaning the house... but from the looks of my house.. I've apparently already given that up.  

I think I gave up having a life.  Too many hours working, not enough play.  I'm working on reclaiming personal time & I am cutting back on work hours.  I'm also simplifying - dumping the 2nd home & will get rid of the primary and head for an apartment/condo at some point so that I don't have to spend time on yard/lawn anymore.  

Time is the most valuable commodity we have - use it wisely!!!  Simplify everything you do that creates repetitive, unrewarding work for you!

[sapphire12]

I would give up some of my relaxing time.

Almost40, I work the same schedule as you, but Friday is my day off. I've designated Fri as my day of rest, though for another month I have PT scheduled on that day and well after that I don't want to do anything, so I don't. But, PT aside, I am trying to clean and do laundry during the week. I do cook on the weekend, either Sat or Sun. But, I don't want to spend my day off or the weekend doing housework. Though, sometimes I get in a super cleaning mood and purge and that does occur on the weekend.

[sarcasticgirl]

if my time were so booked that i couldn't find 5 hours in a week, then I'd be completely miserable and really reevaluate my life. 
I moved on the 15th and in the week or two leading up to the move i was so focused on packing and organizing that i gave up cooking dinner from scratch 6 days a week to only doing to 2 days a week. I used food out of boxes or packages and takeout to fill the gaps. I felt miserable and gross and gained 5 pounds. so that is certainly not something i'd give up again! 

[giramomma]

If I had a sugar daddy, I could give up my night job. That would be the most effective way/simplest for me to find extra time.

My days start at 5:30 am. (I need to get up and showered/dressed, etc before the kids wake which is anywhere between 6 and 6:30). Generally, my day ends at 8:30. That's either when I get home from my night job or we get the LO asleep. By 9, I'm toast.

My time, these days, is pretty "booked."

Getting a housecleaner wouldn't buy me extra time. The kids and I have been cleaning the house for about 20 minutes, and the public spaces on our second level are clean. We need about 5-10 more minutes to tackle the downstairs bathroom and pick up the living room.

My DH does all the cooking and most of the laundry. So, having someone else do these things wouldn't really help me. (Though I'm sure he would not turn down a personal chef and someone that did laundry )

[Deleted]

If it was something I really wanted to do I would give up my Saturday mornings. Say 9-2. That is my lounge with my coffee time. But I really, really want to do it if I'm giving up Saturday morning.