The Unemployed Harvard Grad

My brother cracks me up every time he refers to me as "the unemployed Harvard grad." Very funny but erroneous because you can only be unemployed if you are actually looking for employment, right? Which I am not, at this time. But he's not the only one wondering what I do all day with "all" my time. My sister is in shock when I tell her I don't have time to clean my car every week. "What?! You stay home. How can you not have time? What do you do all day?" she says to me, partly in jest, but mostly not. I think sometimes even my sweet husband wonders how I spend my time.

So...I decided to start tracking it and here is my "typical" day:

Typical Day in the Life of this "Stay-at-Home" Mom

5:30 a.m. - Alarm goes off. I get up to make breakfast for my kids and husband and feed the dog (I try to get up this early most days.).
6:00 a.m. - Kids and husband go out the door. I empty the dishwasher, put in the dirty breakfast dishes, wipe the counters, scour the sink, and sweep the kitchen floor.
6:20 a.m. - Fold a load of laundry and transfer load from washer to dryer and start new load. Tidy up family room.
6:30 a.m. - Pour myself a cup of coffee. Go upstairs to check email, facebook, and blog for about an hour.
7:30 a.m. - My baby girl wakes up. I dress her and fix our breakfast. We eat together. While eating, I read her several books.
8:00 a.m. - I start getting ready for my morning walk: put on work out clothes, pack snacks for Bella, get stroller ready (need blankets, jackets, etc.) Get Sadie ready with leash, water, and bags.
8:30 a.m. - Depart on our morning walk.
9:30 a.m. - Return from our morning walk. Shower and get dressed.
10:00 a.m. - Make beds and do chores or errands based on day of week: Monday - grocery shopping. Tuesday - drop Bella off at school, work on house project (clean backyard, organize files, clean closets, etc.). Wednesday - deep clean one room in the house, go to library or park. Thursday - drop Bella off at school, volunteer work at home or at school or run errands. Friday - bake for bake sale, plan menus for next week, cook dinner early, need to be at school by 1pm to help with bake sale every Friday and we don't get home until 6pm on Fridays.
12:00 noon - Fix lunch and eat at home (I try eat out only one day a week, now. When I eat out, it normally takes about 1.5 hours.)
12:30 pm - Fold laundry, transfer laundry from washer to dryer, put in new load. Vacuum or sweep, clean one bathroom.
1: 30 pm - Start dinner preparations or continue working on projects (volunteer or house).
2:00 pm. - Start packing after school snacks for the kids.
2:30 pm. - Leave the house to go get the kids from school.
3:30 pm. - Arrive home with kids. Help them get snacks and do homework.
4:30 pm. - Start dinner (if there is an activity that night) or supervise kids while they play outside.
5:30 pm. - Start dinner (or head to activity: soccer, baseball, PTA meeting or other volunteer activity). Kids help set the table or play together inside.
6:30 pm. - Eat dinner and family time.
7:00 pm. - Dinner clean-up and family time.
8:00 pm. - Help the older kids get ready for bed. Read a story.
8:30 pm. - Finish dinner clean-up and get my little girl ready for bed.
9:00 pm. - Get myself ready for bed. I usually read 30 minutes to an hour.
9:45pm. - Lights out.

Sometimes we have playdates after school that turn into dinner. Mondays and Fridays we have baseball. Thursday we have soccer so dinner needs to be early those days. Sometimes I think I need to make my days more "productive," but then again, where do I fit in more productivity?

TTYL.