In My Little World In Ohio: Working towards balance

It seems I'm always striving (just like any other working mom) to find a good work/life balance. The image above is truly the best representation of all of the things that we're trying to juggle & find time for. These are all things that are important to me. Of course my family is my top priority & sometimes, I know that they do not get the best of me because I stretch myself too thin but I'm getting much better & figuring out how to do a better job of balancing my job & my life outside of work.

I'm realizing that Sundays MUST be a day to prepare mentally & physically for the week ahead. Here's my plan for Sundays:

check my calendar for the week ahead
plan my workouts
plan my wardrobe
prep food for the week - fruit & veggies washed, cut up & put into containers or baggies for easy access. I also find that doing this means these things actually get eaten!
menu plan - my husband now does 90% of the cooking since he works from home full time. It's fantastic because I often walk in the door to the smell of dinner cooking. We plan the week's menu together
make sure the house is as clean as it can be to start the week
get ALL laundry put away & done. Now we all know that laundry & dishes are never really DONE but you get the picture here.

I'm also planning my days out now. I am on the board for an organization that is my true passion & right now, there's a LOT going on with that organization & it's requiring a lot of my attention. I'm also training for a 1/2 marathon so making time to run & workout is (and has to be) a priority. I email my boss my schedule for the week in terms of when I'll be in the office each Monday. I've done a little re-working with my schedule & reduced my lunches to a 1/2 hour now which I'm finding makes a huge difference! My days look a lot like this now.

4:40 a.m. - up & get ready for the gym.

5:00-6:00 a.m. - workout - Running Tuesday, Wednesday (long mid-week run), Thursday. Monday & Friday are off days for running. Those days I walk on the treadmill then do circuit training)

6:10-6:45/7:15 a.m. - shower & get ready for work, wake up daughter, light cleaning, laundry

7:00/7:30-4:00/4:30 - work (Mon-Thursday) - I am off early every Friday because I bank the extra hours from earlier in the week

4:45 - dinner, homework help, etc.

5:15 - leave for soccer practice - DD has practice until 6:45 two nights a week right now. While she's at practice I either run errands or walk.

You get the picture --- Usually one night a week I have a meeting for the non-profit I volunteer for, then there are doctor & dentist appointments, etc. Now we're adding soccer games to the evenings. Planning the day is now pretty much critical to making sure things don't slip through the cracks & it all gets done. Well, most of it gets done anyway. I also try to fit in time with my friends & Fridays are date nights. Since I get off work early on Fridays we often do our weekly trip to Sam's together, have dinner & drinks somewhere & are back home by 7 or so. This works pretty well for us & our daughter enjoys having the house to herself for a few hours. Now the weekends --- well, those are sort of a hot mess & sometimes, the days are planned down to the minute which makes me cherish the weekends where we have nothing or one thing scheduled. This is how I'm trying to find a place for all of those things in that image above. It is working fairly well but you know, we're at the beginning of the soccer season & things usually get CRAZY during that time & the best laid plans fall to pieces but I'm striving to keep it together this year!