Where Did the Time Go?

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. –H. Jackson Brown Jr


Mrs. P over at Quilting in My Pyjamas did a time and motion study earlier this month and I thought it was a pretty interesting idea. I've often wondered how much time I spend on things, so I pulled out a little notebook and began keeping track. And because I'm a visual person, I put it all in a pie chart so I could see exactly where my time goes.

I'm a little nervous to put this out there. I've debated back and forth about posting this because it kind of exposes my weaknesses. But since I accidentally deleted all the photos Mr. Bug took of the fishing expedition he and the Little Bugs went on on Monday, I've got nothing else.

To those who ask if I ever sleep, the answer is a resounding YES! I spent 37% of my time over the last seven days sawing logs. That averages out to slightly more than 8 hours a night. Sleep, my old nemesis, why must you torture me so?

The second biggest way I spent my time was sewing — I spent 17% of my week in pursuit of the fabric arts. That is as much as a part-time job. But if you consider that sewing makes me happy and is cheaper than therapy {or so they say }, it is probably a good thing that I spend about 4 hours a day on my mental health.

Family & household chores tied with how much time I spent at work, totaling 13% each. I divided up my household chores into sub-categories; food prep {and eating, because that is a necessary daily chore}, gardening, and then everything else {laundry, dishes, vacuuming, kids} in another category. I was too chicken to see exactly how much I neglect my children so I lumped homework and helping them get ready for school in the morning in there. There is some overlap in there too because food prep and laundry is for everyone. My work schedule over the last week has been more in line with the original amount of hours I signed on for, however, most weeks are more hours than that. I gave my commute to and from work its own category, which surprisingly only took up 1% of my time.

The computer was another big contender; 9% of my {non-work related} week. I broke that down into two categories because I wanted to see exactly how much time I spend writing blog posts. This week was a light week, and only 2% of my computer time was spent there. The other 7% was reading and commenting on other blogs, browsing the internet, and replying to e-mails.

4% of my time was spent in the 'miscellaneous' category. I put stuff in there that I didn't know where else to put, like the time you spend when you get home putting your keys and purse away so you can find them later, making a trip to the restroom, getting the mail and shredding all the junk and basically just getting yourself collected for what is coming next. It also includes T.V. time or anything else non-productive. That is kind of a lot of time to spend doing nothing.

Daily personal hygiene {showering, styling hair, applying make-up, getting dressed, putting in contacts, etc.} took up 3% of my week.

And finally, for someone who claims to be a fairly religious person, I spent a meager 3% of my time on religious-related stuff. I can see a huge amount of room for improvement.

I am going to continue to keep track of how I spend my time. Maybe I'll update you monthly, maybe each quarter, or maybe not at all. But I'm interested to see how my numbers change in the next year, because seeing on a chart exactly where I spend my time is a motivator to me to spend it more wisely so my chart looks more balanced.