Feeling slightly overwhelmed...

The eternal question: is it possible to do it all?

I'm not asking this question as a lot of women do, trying to balance career and family (primarily children, but for some it now includes aging parents!). I'm asking this question as ME.

Who am I? A 29 year old, who:

• works full time
• needs to take care of her physical health by eating as well as possible and getting to the gym
• would like to have a neat/tidy home and clean clothes
• wants to relax with her husband, friends, and family
• would love to enjoy hobbies, activities, and even try new things

How can I do this? I always feel like SOMETHING "loses" or, in a worse case scenario, everything loses and I get nothing done because I'm too stressed and don't know where to begin so I shut down and screw off on the internet or something. (Note: I'm waiting for my laundry to be done, so I'm not screwing off, I'm taking a break!)

Maybe I am just not looking at things clearly. DH does help, thank God...if he was working, we'd probably both be scrambling to get things done. For now, he does do a LOT more than me.

What he does:

• most of the laundry
• the grocery shopping
• the cooking (and he's a very good, very INVOLVED cook, so it takes time)
  
• some of the cleaning (or at least he THINKS he does--I believe in a "man" clean and a "woman" clean...)
• takes out the trash
• feeds/waters/plays with the cats ;-)

What I do:

• the rest of the laundry (mostly my "good" clothes that don't go in the dryer)
• the dishes (most go in the dishwasher, so I fill it, empty it and put stuff away)
  
• the after-dinner clean up
• pulling out stuff from the freezer for future dinners
• the litter boxes (oh lucky me, haha)
• the rest of the cleaning (like the drawers in the fridge, scrubbing out the tub, etc.)
• the banking and bill-paying

It might look like I do more, but my jobs take less time. Litter box--5 mins per box. Dishes--10 mins each night, etc.

Sometimes I'm jealous of DH because he is staying home, although he haaaates it. I have this theory that the less money you have, the more stressed you are. Not only because you have less money and life is expensive...it's MORE stressful because the less money you have, the more things you have to do for yourself. No money for cleaning people. No money for laundry service. No money to have the car washed/cleaned. The list goes on. Then you spend all of your free time doing THOSE chores...and very little time for yourself.

I can only imagine what my life will be like once we get a bigger place, and a dog, and a few kids. I think I'll have a nervous breakdown! j/k ;-)

I need a balance...and I think that's what's missing. I'll slack off on something, let's say, cleaning the house. And then one day, I'll get it in me to clean and I'll spend an entire day (or weekend) totally scouring the house...wearing myself out and not enjoying my time off. That sucks. Or I'll spend an entire weekend totally slacking off and getting NOTHING done and then being mad at myself for not even doing a few chores!

I keep trying to figure out ways to balance my time and I'm not doing so well.

OK, so I can't up and quit my job yet and be a stay at home wife, so work has to stay. Here's an example of what my "typical" day should be like:

Usual workday for me = 8 hrs
Commute, round trip = 1.5 hrs (on average)
Getting ready in AM = 1 hr
Gym (plus travel time) = 1 hr
Sleep (in a dream world) = 8 hrs
Before gym (eat/dress) = 0.5 hrs
20 hrs

That leaves 4 hours in the day to eat dinner, see/talk with my husband, prep for the next day (setting out gym and work clothes, making lunch, etc), do stuff around the house like dishes, watering the garden each night, cleaning the litter boxes...oh and relax too. Yeah right. And God forbid I oversleep, don't get to the gym, and get to work late...everything is effed.

Weekends usually consist of me sleeping in way too long (probably b/c I don't get that full 8 hours during the week) and then trying to just chill, which is really a time-waster, going to church which including travel time to/from is about 3-4 hrs on Saturday afternoon/evening, doing any random errands.

I think I'm just not using my time efficiently b/c I'm too stressed out with what I have to do, and don't know where to begin. I know this happens at work ALL of the time.

So for chores this weekend...the downstairs is pretty clean. I vacuumed the living room early last week, and DH mopped/vacuumed the kitchen. I also dusted the entire house last weekend (or maybe 2 weeks ago) and everything still looks pretty good. The stairs and the upstairs need to be vacuumed badly (yay shedding cats) and the bathrooms probably could use what I call a "quick clean." That seems managable. Oh, and I also need to vacuum out the window sills and wash the windows, but there aren't many at this place, so it won't take too long. Those chores don't seem TOO bad, but some how I make them take longer than they should. I do get distracted by DH, the cats, the phone, the TV...you name it. Ugh.

I think I'll report back and see how productive I was this weekend. I really just want to be efficient, because if I can do that, I'll be healthier, a better worker, a happier wife, more relaxed, etc.