Age: late 50s

Live with: 2 dogs

This is hard to do because I work dayshift on weekends and holidays and evening shift during the week. On my days off and weekday workdays I get up between 1 pm and 2:30 pm. The dogs will usually wake me up sometime in the morning to go outside so I have to get up, let them out and while I wait for them to do their business I will add food and/or water to their dishes while I wait or unload the dish drainer before going back to bed.

Once I get up I make something to eat, shower, pack a lunch, sometimes will wash dishes if there is time. Water the plants under the grow lights. Feed and water dogs.

3:30 pm drive to work. Get off at 1 am. Arrive home about 1:30 am. Unpack all my work stuff, let the dogs out and make a small meal. Watch something on my computer. Wash clothes, do dishes.

Go to bed between 4 am and 6 am, usually read a book because it puts me to sleep.

On days I work weekends or holidays, those are 12 1/2 hour workdays so I don't do much when I get home, maybe read a little on-line, take care of the dogs and go to bed.

On my days off I will clean the house, make meals to freeze for work, do yard work, pay bills, etc...

I seem to be staying up later and later into the early morning and I need to try and get up earlier in the day on my evening shift days. It's hard to go from staying up until 6 am one day and getting up at 6:30 am a day or two later to work a long dayshift.

Oooo fun!

My day(s) are pitiful compared to yours! Good Grief!

I have 2 different routines. One for those times i work, and one for when I'm off.

Age: 35 yo female

Lives with: SO, 4 large dogs, and a random cat that decides it lives on our property now.

Work days (nights):

4-5 am: make breakfast for SO before he goes to work. Clean kitchen.

6 am: shower,go to bed

Sleep until 2 pm or so

2-4 pm: Feed and play with dogs, feed random cat, cook dinner for SO to have when he gets home from work. Clean Kitchen. Take second shower and,dry hair, and otherwise make myself presentable for work.

4 pm: This is when i leave for work, I almost always have at least one stop to make.

5pm: Arrive at work. Do as much work as i have to. I usually cook and eat my first meal before 6pm. I have a full kitchen setup here so I am able to cook fresh, though i sometimes just get something on the way.

5pm-Midnight: Do whatever work comes in, tend to my large flower garden, clean the office, feed the "work"cats, and otherwise keep myself amused until my fitbit resets at midnight and i can get my steps in for the next day.

Midnight: (fitbit resets to 0)- Go outside and walk laps around my office building until i get 15000 steps, stopping throughout as work requires. Sometimes this is 0 times, sometimes its 20, just depends on the night.

5 am: Yay! go home. Make breakfast. Shower. Change sheet. Bed.

Off days (nights):

4-5 am(ish): Make Breakfast. Clean kitchen.

5am(ish)- ???-Back to bed! Only for a few hours. I change my sleep schedule to "normal' people hours to accommodate the man.

Rest of the my day could be whatever. I am off 4 nights. I try to stick to a basic routine. One day i do all of our laundry for the week, which between the 2 of us may be 5 or 6 loads at most. I wash, dry, fold or hang up and put away all the laundry that one day. I also wash our comforter that day, i change the sheet daily. That same day i do a thorough house cleaning. Dusting, scrubbing the bathrooms, sweep, swiffer, mop all floors, baseboards, etc.

Another one of those days i do our basic weekly shopping. While I am out i try to do whatever other errands can be done. I live in the sticks and its a drive into where all the stuff i go to is, so i try to get it all out of the way on one day. Stores, bank,post office, whatever. I usually shop for meals daily, but since all this has been going on and we are trying to say home as much as possible, this has changed and i try try try to get all of our food for the week on this day as well. I sometimes have to go to the nearest store, which is about 10 minutes away in between. But I am really trying hard not to.

Another day i make whatever candles, scent cubes and sprays i need to restock my inventory. I also tend to bake something sweet for SO to eat and for me to stare at since i am on an eternal diet,since I am already in the kitchen and hot and toiling away i might as well bake some cookies or a peach cobbler or some bread or brownies or something......

The last day I try to relax. Though random things do come up. I feel very lucky to be somewhat flexible. I find parents fascinating. I cannot imagine having my whole life being devoted to taking care of others all day every day. To have someones very life depend on me. That is probably why i decided very early in life not to have children. Especially now, it must be so stressful.

Every single off day i do some gardening, do lots of playtime and training with the mutts, I cook at least 2 meals,we only tend to eat 2 meals every day. I often cook 2 different meals for each meal, or at least 2 different variations on a meal, because i am on a diet and SO is not. I am probably unreasonably weird about the kitchen. I CANNOT sleep if my kitchen is not sparkling clean. I cannot leave dishes in the sink or a dirty stove or if my counter tops have not been wiped down. Nope. And every single off day i get on my treadmill at the end of the day to make sure i get at least 15000 steps for that day. Then i shower and go to bed. I try to be in bed by midnight. By then, SO is already asleep. He works 6 days a week, tends to come home, eat, relax a little bit, then go to bed early. His one day off he is running around all day doing things...

This is my last night at work this run. Tomorrow its supposed to storm BUT i have some hibiscus plants that NEED to be planted so i guess i will out there digging in the rain. I started my flower garden last year and it will take probably two or 3 more years for me to get it as large as i want it. Until then, lots and lots of work need to be done to it.

I run my dishwasher every day as well. And its just the two of us. Even on days that i work i have a remarkable ability to use way more dishes then is probably needed to make 2 meals a day for 2 people.

Warning,this is boring. Get up around 7. Start watching morning show. Hubby is preparing our breakfast. Take cup of coffee and go count dolphins in ocean. Eat breakfast. Alarm goes odd ,time for my Forteo, never dreamed I would be excited to take injection each day. After breakfast,sit around figuring out what tv station seems more interesting. May even to decide on a movie, yesterday, What about Bob. About 10:30 start showering and getting ready for day. I lay out my clothes each night so that's ready to go. Hair, makeup and ready. Outside to walk for a bit. Lunch, nap. Grands live two blocks away. We all wear masks and social distance , take long walks, Generally have dinner cooking in crock pot. After dinner, hubby usually likes to straighten up kitchen and I clean the bathrooms each night. Then bed clothes, Jeopardy, off to bed little after 8. Next day at 7 start all over. Even though it's boring ,we are managing so far to keep a good attitude. We are in our 80's and have done harder things and survived in our life. Don't have to milk the cows before breakfast, or plow the garden. As we did in our younger years.

TG, that's a long and exhausting day.

You don't mention details but are your husband and kids pitching in to accomplish the daily household work throughout the day? Why does he sleep late when you have such a long and exhausting list of tasks to do in the morning? Does he do the evening cleanup? Or have I misunderstood your description?

Oh yes, he helps with cleaning up daily, as do the kids. He also is the primary one taking care of the acre and a half as well as the pool and hot tub.

The kids are all responsible for their own laundry and they all make dinner at least once a week.

Since it's the weekend, its house cleaning time. The kids are cleaning their rooms and everyone takes turns cleaning the bathroom and main areas of the house. Yesterday my oldest swept and mopped the living room, second oldest cleaned the bathroom, third one did all the dishes and swept and mopped the kitchen and the youngest, who just turned 7, took out all the trash from the house and crushed all the aluminum cans for recycling.

I'm the coordinator, the household manager as it were. Doesn't every household, at least ones with children, have a primary "manager"?

Yes, I'm happy to know that all the hands in the household pitch in. Your description, which I'm sure was abridged and without detail, didn't suggest so.

Of course every army force has a commander. Every mission needs someone in charge.

Amylou- your schedule reminds me a lot of mine before kids. I certainly had more time and split chores up on different days.

I like how Elmer said every army force has a commander, that's definitely what this feels like!

I have friends with kids who are all high school/college age and they have all told me this is the most stressful and hectic part of life, when kids are old enough to be involved in lots of activities but not old enough yet to drive themselves (of course that's not happening right now) or manage on their own and so far, I would agree!

I also take comfort in knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. :)

Kathsgrdn- I don't know how you switch your schedule like that! That seems like it would be incredibly difficult, I don't think I could do it!

Hallngarden- your life sounds peaceful and very well deserved!

Well, just got a text from my boss. I am filling in for him tuesday morning. So that changes my off day routine. Anyway,THAT day will be:

3 am-Wake up,cook breakfast for me and SO,clean kitchen, shower and get ready for work.

4:20am-leave for work

5 am- Arrive at work. He does NOT arrive at 5 am. Normally he gets there around 8. However, I think it is more helpful to the 12 hour day person to have someone there that early to help with how busy they are. Plus,the earlier I get there,the earlier I leave.

5am-1 PM- work work work work work. I do try to walk inside my office building when I work a day shift. I can usually get all my steps in that way.

1 pm- leave work, go get food or supplies to make food for dinner. If I haven't gotten my steps in for that day, I get on the treadmill at home and finish them. Then I shower,cook,eat,and go to bed. Working during the day drains me of all energy and motivation.

ETA: Just thought of you TG. I just started my dishwasher for the second time today, with more dishes to go that wouldn't fit in the first 2 loads. I think I was just a bit overambitious with my cooking today....

" high school/college age and they have all told me this is the most stressful and hectic part of life, when kids are old enough to be involved in lots of activities but not old enough yet to drive themselves"

A hectic and busy time? Sure. Stressful? No, not close, not for us. We at times had kids in different schools and activities and 30 minutes or more apart, depending on traffic.

Like so many things, developing stress pivots off of organization, planning and attitude. You do what you can do and what you can't do, you find alternatives or move on. At times when only one parent is available for transportation or supervision and there are conflicting things going on, the other can't be in more than one place at a time.

I am 73, live with my husband, also 73, in east Texas.

I usually wake up at 5 a.m. but I stay in bed for a little while and watch local news on tv. I am up by 6 and eat a bite so I can take my vitamins.

At 7, I put on I Heart on my phone and listen to KTRH, a Houston news and talk station.

I do a load of laundry or straighten up a little in the house and by 7:30, I take my phone....so I can listen to I Heart, and go to the barn to feed the horses.

While the horses eat, I go down the driveway to where I have bird feeders and roses and a couple of waterlily tanks and I fill the feeders, feed the fish there, and check my roses.

I come back and take the horses out of stalls that I pen up at night...Primo, Snoop, Emery and Rita. I lead them to the pasture.

Then I usually feed the other fish in waterlily tanks and check my rose cuttings.

I stay outside until the mail comes at 11.

I go in then and eat lunch. Afterwards I go out and pot waterlilies, clean stalls, work on whatever outside work I need to do. If I need to go to town to buy horse feed, which I do once a week, I usually go after 2 pm.

At 5 pm I always start feeding the horses. I bring the horses that stay in the barn at night, in. It takes me an hour and a half to take care of the horses at night. I feed them, give them hay and fill water buckets. After they eat, before I leave the barn, I top off their water buckets. I feed the barn cats and the cats that live in the office. If I haven't done it earlier, I clean their litter box. I get dogfood and cat food from the other barn and feed them. The last thing I do every evening is take a couple of handfuls of peanuts down the driveway to where I feed the birds, and leave them for the squirrel (who gets out and around earlier than I do, so he will have them early in the morning.)

I try to get inside by 7 and eat supper. Sometimes I manage to have it ready before I go to the barn.

I take a shower....before or after supper depending on what I am doing and go to bed and watch tv, but usually I fall asleep very shortly.

That is basically my day everyday.