I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. I think it has come with the advent of my birthday. I’ve also been thinking about my general reading public--I know you guys are like, “Man, this is the most boring single gal in history”. It definitely feels true right now. I should be shoveling out hysterical re-caps of horrible Match.com dates, nights on the town, and funny encounters with men other than the one that handles my dry cleaning. I try--I really do, but sheesh--where is the time?!
Let’s talk about how many hours there are in each day and list out my current schedule. I can see why most gals get married right out of college. I should have used my time more wisely when I actually had almost all the time in the world to study and meet the future Mr. Single Gal.
It seriously all boils down to basic math--so let’s examine my life in numbers, and weigh the limited probability that I will actually meet someone in my “spare” time.
Total time in my day (or, everyone else's day too): 24 hours
Total time in my week: 168
Exhibit A: Work
I am going to just go ahead and factor in time at work and also the time it takes me to get to work. Average number of hours taken up: 11 hours. I leave around 6:30 a.m. and get home a little after 4:30 p.m. I don’t even want to get into how early I have to get up to make myself presentable, walk the dog, pack my lunch, and make sure I get out the door with all my belongings needed for the day.
Exhibit B: Exercise
I am sure you know the importance of looking good and keeping yourself mentally and physically in check with exercise to this Single Gal. Now that The Housewife and I are beginning our marathon training the exercise has seriously been bumped up and these workouts HAVE to be completed. And this also means factoring in travel time to the gym. 5 workouts for the week with about 2 hours on average taken out of my day.
Exhibit C: Adding up the little things
Being a big proponent of having almost everything in my life in order as much as possible which eliminates a good deal of undue stress, we now have to consider the other little things like walking the dog so that my sweet angel Hogan is happy and healthy as well. I try to give him 20-30 minutes each evening for a jaunt around the neighborhood or a trip to the park. Ample chats on the phone with The Housewife probably average an hour each day. Vacuuming excessively and trying to get some laundry done/unload the dishwasher/make dinner for myself/etc. Trying to read, blog, and catch up on a tv show or two is probably another two hours. Let’s thank Little Baby Jesus now for the ability to multi-task for some of these! I barely have time to keep my nails nicely manicured. Bye additional 3 hours of my day when I get home.
Exhibit D: Sleep
And you thought I had all this other time. Let’s not forget about beauty rest. The Single Gal is a complete monster without at least 7 hours of sleep (not that I think I have been doing well getting that much lately, but it’s the magic number).
So, with that being said--here is what time looks like during the week:
24 - 11 - 2 - 3 - 7 = 1
Hmmm...a spare hour. Surely this is taken up with something...
Now, I know that is not much during the week. I will be more liberal with the weekend times.
48 hours of the 168 are for the weekend:
-14 hours for sleep
-4-6 hours for other housework and laundry
-2 hours for workouts/long runs
This leaves 28 full hours! Initially that sounds awesome and hopeful. 28 sounds like a lot of weekend spare time. But in the grand scheme of things, this is a small window out of 168 hours. It’s only a little over 15% of the entire week/month/year.
(Insert image of me hyperventilating into small brown lunch sack as it’s currently unavailable on the Internet.)
But, in the spirit of birthday optimism, I would like to note that I have good time management skills. So, here’s hoping that with a little help from LBJ and my own personal qualifications it will all happen in good time...15% of good time, that is.
~the single gal~
Let’s talk about how many hours there are in each day and list out my current schedule. I can see why most gals get married right out of college. I should have used my time more wisely when I actually had almost all the time in the world to study and meet the future Mr. Single Gal.
It seriously all boils down to basic math--so let’s examine my life in numbers, and weigh the limited probability that I will actually meet someone in my “spare” time.
Total time in my day (or, everyone else's day too): 24 hours
Total time in my week: 168
Exhibit A: Work
I am going to just go ahead and factor in time at work and also the time it takes me to get to work. Average number of hours taken up: 11 hours. I leave around 6:30 a.m. and get home a little after 4:30 p.m. I don’t even want to get into how early I have to get up to make myself presentable, walk the dog, pack my lunch, and make sure I get out the door with all my belongings needed for the day.
Exhibit B: Exercise
I am sure you know the importance of looking good and keeping yourself mentally and physically in check with exercise to this Single Gal. Now that The Housewife and I are beginning our marathon training the exercise has seriously been bumped up and these workouts HAVE to be completed. And this also means factoring in travel time to the gym. 5 workouts for the week with about 2 hours on average taken out of my day.
Exhibit C: Adding up the little things
Being a big proponent of having almost everything in my life in order as much as possible which eliminates a good deal of undue stress, we now have to consider the other little things like walking the dog so that my sweet angel Hogan is happy and healthy as well. I try to give him 20-30 minutes each evening for a jaunt around the neighborhood or a trip to the park. Ample chats on the phone with The Housewife probably average an hour each day. Vacuuming excessively and trying to get some laundry done/unload the dishwasher/make dinner for myself/etc. Trying to read, blog, and catch up on a tv show or two is probably another two hours. Let’s thank Little Baby Jesus now for the ability to multi-task for some of these! I barely have time to keep my nails nicely manicured. Bye additional 3 hours of my day when I get home.
Exhibit D: Sleep
And you thought I had all this other time. Let’s not forget about beauty rest. The Single Gal is a complete monster without at least 7 hours of sleep (not that I think I have been doing well getting that much lately, but it’s the magic number).
So, with that being said--here is what time looks like during the week:
24 - 11 - 2 - 3 - 7 = 1
Hmmm...a spare hour. Surely this is taken up with something...
Now, I know that is not much during the week. I will be more liberal with the weekend times.
48 hours of the 168 are for the weekend:
-14 hours for sleep
-4-6 hours for other housework and laundry
-2 hours for workouts/long runs
This leaves 28 full hours! Initially that sounds awesome and hopeful. 28 sounds like a lot of weekend spare time. But in the grand scheme of things, this is a small window out of 168 hours. It’s only a little over 15% of the entire week/month/year.
(Insert image of me hyperventilating into small brown lunch sack as it’s currently unavailable on the Internet.)
But, in the spirit of birthday optimism, I would like to note that I have good time management skills. So, here’s hoping that with a little help from LBJ and my own personal qualifications it will all happen in good time...15% of good time, that is.
~the single gal~
i had this same routine until i got laid off.. now I am bored as hell and wish i had no time.
ReplyDelete