1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

I'm sure this is hard for everyone newly married, and working full time. How do you and your DH balance working full time and personal life?

I know for us, we struggled with it at first, but we've tried to compromise and make room between our hectic schedules. We could still use some improvement though!

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

We have been trying to work through this also. It's even harder b/c I work 8.30-5.00 and he works 6.00am-2.00pm so shortly after I come home from work, he's ready for bed.

This leaves very little time for doing things in the evening, most often it's dinner then watch TV or play cards. The upside is that he does a lot of errands/chores in the afternoon so our weekends are free of laundry and grocery shopping, etc. That's when we get to do things we want to do or to catch up with friends.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

We both work M-F but he spends at least one night away from home and often works late. Lately, Ive been working late a lot too. For the most part, weeknights are just shot. Even if we are both home we are too tired to do very much other than watch Tv or go through the mail.

Weekends and vacations are when we catch up on our quality time.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

we work together. and have since the beginning. so there really is no difference between work/personal

Sorry - I am negative about it this week - it has it perks I guess.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

NOT WELL. I started a new job (kind of, went from two part times to one of them full time) and am working 50+ hourse weekly, plus being on call a lot. I have been so . We never get to see each other, I never have time to take care of the house, it's such a struggle. I am going to look for a new job soon, but that's a stressful thing too. All in all, I never thought the 'newlywed phase' would feel like this!

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

when we first started dating we were both retail managers. So we used to coordinate our schedules.. We now both work m-f…and we commute together.. He drives me to the train and picks me up since we do not live that close to the train. We also spnd the weekend together.. but sometimes i just want to push him out the door.. we sometimes watch TV in different rooms to give us some 'breathing room'

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

it's very hard....but we make it a rule to have dinner together every night without any interruptions - no phone, no TV, etc..

then we wing it from there...but most quality time happens friday and saturday nights...

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

We both work full-time, I work from home on Fridays (and sometimes one other day during the week). Scott drives me to the train station (we HOV together) and picks me up. The car ride is a great time for us to just talk about our day, stupid/funny stories that we read or heard etc...And I really value that alone time with him. We have a rule that we eat dinner together at the table, and I would say 80% of the time we do.
I really don't feel that Scott and I don't spend enough time together. What I feel is really hard is working full-time and keeping a home. That is where it is stressfull. Cleaning after working all week is really hard and that is when we fight. I think he doesn't help enough and he thinks my 'standard' of clean is too high. If I was home we would probably not have that issue nearly as often. So we decided to get someone in once a month to clean and that way we have at least one week per month that we are not worried about that issue.
I have NO idea how to balance working full-time, a marriage, friends, a home and a baby though. That just seems toooo much for any one person.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

I guess I should say I am lucky to have a hubby that works 9-5 and my schedule is the same. His is even more flexible b/c he has the flexiblity to work from home. When we have personal things to do outside of together things, we let each other know ahead of time. Hubby can tend to be forgetful so before he makes any plans for us or for himself he will check with me to see that our schedule is clear. The only issue I have lately is his travelling. I can go with him on his trips but that would mean I would use my vacation time. I guess I don't have much to complain about. I just miss him so much when he is not home

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

After reading some of these stories, I feel lucky. I work 8:30 to 4:30 and Don works 8:30 to 6:00, so by the time he comes home, I have dinner made and whatever household chore I need to do. After dinner, we watch TV and talk about our day.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

We both work full time and take turns cooking dinner. We both do all the household chores and cleaning.We eat together most of the time although sometimes I work out & get home really late so he'll just save a plate for me when I get in. I'm trying to work out more at home instead of going to the gym so I have more time for us. The weekends are always busy hanging out with friends or family.

Re: 1/22/03 - QOTD - How do you and DH balance work/personal life?

I'm not working at the moment so I'm always around

But right when I got laid off, Al started working late nights and weekends. It was extremely frustrating to the both of us - its was like he was working enough for the two of us (it just happened the timing didn't work out - they were working towards a tight deadline). Now his schedule is back to normal. He usually gets home around 7-8 and we eat dinner together then. The thing I miss is going to bed together. I generally stay up later than him now that I don't have to wake up and I miss the bedtime chats we had. I usually wake him up when I go to bed (believe me, he doesn't mind) but we're not talking much then.

We try to keep our weekends pretty active and pretty much always spend them together. We go out to eat a lot and I've noticed we talk a lot more when we're out then we do when eating at home (porbably because we don't have the TV on, we eat in our family room cause we don't have a proper kitchen table).