Workin' It: Balancing Work and Home

Hey Ladies!

Today I'm linking up with Shay and Erika to share how I'm workin' it!!

You should grab their graphic and linkup too!

Today's post it about how we balance work and home. 

This is a great topic. 

I'm so excited to see how everyone else seems to manage life at work and life at home. 

This can be so so hard sometimes. 

I tend to get in over my head at work. 

Sure, we have set hours, but truthfully I don't even know what they are because there's so much work to be done that I'm always there before and after our required time. 

I find it extremely hard to separate work and home. 

So, I can't wait to see all of your tricks and tips to help me out. 

Being a teacher is sometimes the best profession ever and sometimes not. 

I get so caught up in trying to do the best at my job that I really put too much time and effort in it compared to my life at home. 

Once upon a time I was skipping out on Sunday meals at my grandma's and not doing anything besides grading and planning. 

I would wake up early, go to work, come home, plan and do it all over again. 

I slowly started to despise my job because it was stealing the life out of me. 

My co-workers were quick to tell me that you have to put an end to it. 

The papers are never done being graded and there's always another lesson to plan, but you can't kill yourself over it. 

Here's how I work teaching and home life. 

It's not awesome, but it's better than it was. 

I Get Up Early and Go To Work Early

I'm a morning person, and I know that, so I capitalize on it. 

I know that I do my best work in the morning, so I set my alarm early and head to school. 

I love being the first person there. 

I can make copies without a line, prepare my day, grade and lesson plan without being disturbed!

Then, when the bell rings at the end of the day, I clean up the day's mess, get things organized for the next day and leave. 

I want to go home and enjoy the sunshine, run and see my husband.

It's best that I go to work while he is still sleeping, so that I can come home to him in the afternoon. 

I really really really hope that one day when we decide to have a family that this will work. 

Right now I go to work before my husband and get home after him, which stinks but it is what it is. 

I have a commute to work, so that doesn't help, but I'm hoping that he can get the kids ready for the sitters/school, and I can pick them up.

This is the spot that welcomes me every morning right around 6 am!

Sunday Planning

I love to plan out my outfits and meals on the weekend. 

Usually I wash all of our clothes, set out my outfits for the week and iron/steam them on Saturday or Sunday. 

I hate being rushed, so this allows me to premake any meals that I can, along with having my clothes ready, so that there's no hassle in the morning. 

My week goes so much better when this happens. 

If for instance we go on a trip and I don't have my clothes or meals ready, life just seems bad. 

I love planning things out so much that if we are going on a trip over the weekend, I will plan out more outfits, so that they cross over into the following week so that I'm planned and ready to go when we get home. 

 Pack Your Lunch

I'm not a happy person when I'm hungry, so I pack my own lunch and do it the night before. 

This kind have falls into the category above, but I thought it should be it's own category. 

I put my silverware, napkin, and snacks in my lunch bag the night before. 

In addition, I portion out anything that needs kept in the refrigerator so that all I have to do is pull them out in the morning, throw them in my bag and go. 

This helps me from eating junk and having good nutritious meals. 

In addition, I pack my husbands lunch. 

We're opposites in the fact that he's not going to prepare anything ahead of time. 

He will be running out the door to work at the last second. 

To prevent him from eating junk, I pack his lunch too. 

This helps him to eat healthy meals and have it ready at his fingertips in the morning.

Limit After Hours

This is super hard, but I've been trying to limit the hours that I spend at home on grading and lesson planning. 

I try to keep myself from working over 1-2 hours at night and even try not to work one whole day on the weekends. 

This is definitely the hardest. 

If I know Alex has someplace to go, I will pull out school stuff because then I don't feel guilty.

The problem is when he's home and doesn't have anything to do, and I have a list a mile long. 

The more years that I teach, the easier it gets, but still teaching is time consuming. 

I think my students deserve my best, but so does my husband. 

All tips and tricks of how teachers balance work and home are GREATLY appreciated!!

Props to you moms who balance teaching and a family!!

I don't know how you do it!! :)