This week Sarah and Coco have been doing a full seven days of Day in the Life posts! In addition to being so much fun to read, I’ve noticed some common themes in their lives that make things run smoothly. They both have young kids, busy jobs, and run long distances. How do they make it all work? Let’s examine this closely.
The first thing that stood out to me is the lack of histrionics around dinner. There’s no “WHAT am I making for dinner! I don’t want to cook! Why do I have to do this every night???” No- the transition from work/after school activities to dinner is painless. Why? BECAUSE DINNER WAS MADE AHEAD OF TIME.
Sarah’s nanny prepares several dinners at the beginning of the week, and she just heats them up. Coco also has a helper to prep the dinners. Now, we don’t have a nanny, but that’s not the point- the point is, a person prepares the dinners in advance. I could be that person! There’s no reason why I can’t prepare food on Sunday- even if I just made two dinners, it would help tremendously.
This week is already a fiasco- on two of the nights I’m not sure where or how we’re going to eat, much less what (takeout in the car? Probably.) But I’m inspired to do some food prep on Sunday, so I can join the “painless dinner” club.
The other thing these ladies have in common is their early wakeups (it starts with a “4”!) They both get up and have time to themselves to journal, meditate, plan the day, and then run before the kids get up.
I wish I had embraced this concept when my kids were young. I did it the opposite way- had my “me time” after they went to bed. The problem is, it’s hard to have quality time at the end of the day when you’re exhausted. Instead of journaling and meditating, it’s tempting to watch TV and eat potato chips. My mother-in-law used to say, “Nothing good happens late at night.”
Nowadays I get up at 5:30, the same time as my daughter (high school starts EARLY.) I do get a lot done before work, but I’m wondering if I could be even more productive by getting up earlier.
I’ve heard that being an early bird or a night owl is a hardwired trait- you can try, but never really overcome your natural tendency. That might explain why I can’t quite seem to pull off the early bird routine- I WANT to get up early, but can never get myself to sleep early enough to make it truly work. But I’m willing to try to prove that wrong! I may play around with my schedule and see what I can do.
If you haven’t checked them out, visit The Shu Box and Our New Journey to read all about their lives- they may inspire you as well.
Do you think you’re an early bird or a night owl? Do you think it’s possible to change?
Do you prep dinners ahead of time?
29 Responses
I am here for all of the DITL and WITL posts!
Sigh I used to meal prep but eventually it got to be too much. I felt like I was spending all of my weekends on it, which was kind of true – big ol’ grocery shop on Saturday and hours in the kitchen on Sunday. I got super burned out plus the time snag of me working later than everyone else which I just couldn’t solve…so right now the guys are doing most of their own dinners. But still, going for just a meal or two in advance when you’ve got the time should work. Plus the school year will be over soon! Woo hoo!
I’m a day owl! I don’t like to get up too early or stay up too late. But at times in my life I’ve had to go to one of the extremes and I’ve made it work.
Ha ha…. “day owl” should definitely be a category. And thanks- now I don’t want to meal prep anymore. Just kidding. But that is a consideration- I don’t want to spend my whole weekend on it. I’ll try to make a couple EASY thing on Sunday and see how it goes.
5:30am sounds so early to me! My Husband gets up that early, but I get up at 6:30am. I think 20year old me would think that was impossibly early, but I guess 40 year old me realizes that’s just the reality of life with kids. I do think I’m a night owl, though. I think that is a lot to do with my work and not getting home until late after a rehearsal or a show, though. I don’t know if you feel the same after spending all those years playing shows? I do love mornings, but I find it hard to go to bed right when I get home. When we go camping, I do get up early, so I do think for me it’s a combination of night time habits and natural rhythms/sunlight.
I meal prep elements sometimes if I know I have to pack a lot of dinners. Or I make dinner in the morning so that the Husband and kids have something ready to eat when they get home. But I have to have a plan. The days when 4pm rolls around and I don’t have a plan, we end up eating ramen and eggs or grilled cheese sandwiches and I feel grumpy. Although I don’t know that making ahead of time really saves time if I’m doing the cooking- the time has to come from some part of my day, regardless of when I make dinner. Completely outsourcing probably buys the most time.
When I was playing shows, I had no problem staying up late and sleeping late. But that’s the way I’ve always been- even as a kid I would stay up late if I could get away with it. Getting up early for school was painful. Oh, and my 20 year old self would have thought 5:30 am was the middle of the night! Funny how things change when you have kids.
Aren’t you trying to get more sleep? 5:30 is early.
I found the slow cooker was a life saver when I had lots of after school activities to drive to. A lot of the recipes are dump and run type things. A realistic menuplan would probably be your best bet to solve the dinner angst. I could never get on board with meal prepping … I mean do you really want to spend a big chunk of your weekend prepping meals? Doubling up what I was cooking and then freezing meals also helped. Also, don’t underestimate the difference having help around the house makes.
Unfortunately the 5:30 am wakeup is mandatory thanks to the school schedule right now (sigh.) Yes, I am trying to get more sleep! That means going to bed earlier at night- I was doing it for a while but haven’t been as good lately. This week we have some activities in the evening which makes it extra hard. Well- summer will be here soon and then I don’t have to get up quite as early.
I don’t have a slow cooker- maybe I should???
What she said! I had the same thoughts while reading these and I truly feel the biggest thing here is the hired help. There is just no substitution for having another body doing big chunks of the work you’d have to do yourself. We also don’t have a nanny but these posts have made me wonder if I should be more strategic with the meal time stuff too. Although again, I don’t think there is any way to truly replicate having hired help without actually having hired help. I could however probably try to make some small shifts somewhere. I still don’t think it would be the same as waking into dinner made every night (which sounds amazing, and I’m happy for them that they have that!). But I do work from home and might be able to use work breaks/lunchtime a bit more strategically to help ease my own burden in the evenings. Also- your daughter/my sons are plenty old enough that they should be able to help out some too! Maybe we need to tap into that idea a little more as well 😉
I’m an early bird and can’t help it! I can – and have done – go to bed steaming drunk at 4am and I still wake at 5.45! I have to do things for me early as I flop after about 8.30 pm though. And I know I couldn’t make myself stay up later to get more out of the day!
I batch cook but I’m only cooking for myself as my husband eats different stuff (esp now: diabetic vs low-saturated fat as well as meat-eater vs piscatarian bean-lover). But I’ll do one or two sauces at a time, make 4 or 5 portions and freeze them, then the next week different ones, I have four sauces I prefer and I’ll have them with pasta, rice, noodles or in a wrap. I also eat the same thing every Tuesday for some reason. Anyway this works well if you don’t really care about food but just use it as fuel and aren’t a foodie / worried about getting bored, so it does for me!
I don’t worry about getting bored- boring is fine for me! And, it does get complicated when everyone has different dietary preferences. I like the idea of a sauce that can be incorporated into different dinners.
I like your example of going to bed drunk at 4 and still waking up at 5:45! But it’s giving me a headache to just think about it, ha ha.
I saw those posts and was secretly jealous. I don’t meal prep but our dinner doesn’t take long -about 20 minutes each night? Sometimes I make it, and sometimes it’s T that whips something up. We are a very basic family- protein, veggies, starch. If I were to meal prep I feel like it will take away part of my Sunday. And I need it for myself 🙂
I don’t want to take up too much of my Sunday, but I’m willing to try it if it makes the week easier. Struggling with dinners is the least favorite part of my day!
I think a lot about what I will do when I don’t have our nanny working full time anymore (probably a year or so away). I definitely think I will do the PrepDish thing on Sunday and then probably cook Sunday for Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed (one of those being leftovers) and then another mini round on Thurs for Thurs/Fri (Friday being leftovers). I also LOVE the freezer hack of making a double batch and then actually putting in your calendar for ~2-3 weeks from that day to eat round 2. We did it with lasagna not too long ago and it was so convenient. Finally – keeping things simple (this is part of why I like PrepDish the meals actually usually kind of basic, not a ton of steps or ingrendients). And not being above things like salads in a bag with all the components already there (TJs has such good ones!).
As for the early rising this comes pretty naturally to me. I noticed my current posts linked to one in 2016 where my schedule was similar. I’m also USELESS at 9 pm so it does come with a downside!!
And, that downside probably becomes apparent if the kids have an activity that goes later into the evening! That always messes everything up for me.
Yes, I think a key component is making dinners that aren’t too complicated- and the idea of making a double batch and then freezing some would work great as well.
I think I’m somewhere in between an early bird and night owl – on weekdays I have to wake up by 5:30 to be able to get a run in before work but I have to set several alarms to make that happen, whereas on weekends I usually sleep in til 7:30 or 8. This time of year when it starts getting hot and the sunrises are earlier, I kinda wish I were an early bird so I could easily wake up earlier and get to see the sunrise on my runs but it just isn’t gonna happen unless I go to bed before 8 pm, which is already crazy early!
When I worked in TV, my schedule was very weird. First I worked overnights (10 pm – 6 am) and then evenings (1 pm – 10 pm). I definitely preferred the evening shift because overnights just felt so weird and I was so tired that I’d just go to bed around 7 am as soon as I got home from work and sleep until mid-afternoon, but I’d try to go back to a normal schedule on the weekends which was hard. I’m glad those days are behind me!
Oh wow- overnights? That would be REALLY hard. I’m also glad those days are behind you! I think Birchwood coined a new term (in her comment above)- maybe we’re “day owls.”
I honestly don’t think meal prepping on the weekends is going to make your days look more like theirs. Having hired help is just a totally different reality. I also noticed they never talk about doing laundry or cleaning the house. Those tasks suck time like crazy and there is only so much task-hacking you can do to make them more time efficient.
It’s so interesting that the high school starts so early there. In CA high schools can’t start before 8:30am because it’s been shown that adolescents get more rest on that sleep schedule.
I am also a night owl. I felt so well rested during the pandemic, when I could roll out of bed at 8am and be in front of my computer to zoom at 8:30. 12-1am to 8-9am is absolutely when my body wants to be asleep. I have to take sleep aids to fall asleep earlier. My body just doesn’t want to do it. I’ve been waking up at 5:45ish for work (or kids) for 20 years now and my body still hates it. I’m never going to be an early morning person.
Yes, all the studies show that teenagers need to be on a later schedule. Getting up at 5:30 for school is literally like getting up in the middle of the night for them. So why do we do it??? I think it has to do with the bus schedule, partly- the elementary, middle and high schools all need to use the same bus so someone has to start super early. plus, I guess they figure the high schoolers can finish school early and go to work, if they have a job. It’s still stupid- AND, we now have a law that the high schools have to start later- but it won’t go into effect until my daughter’s senior year (eye roll.) Better late than never, I suppose.
And you’re right- laundry and cleaning do take up a lot of time. Or they would if I were doing them properly- I get the laundry done but our house is a mess. Hmm.
So much to think about and so much to say.
I’m with Birchie – I’m also a “day owl.” I tend to have low energy/high sleep needs. And I have my whole life, it’s just a lot harder to get that extra sleep that my body craves now that I’m a mom!
I don’t meal plan more than a few days in advance.
Ditto the above – having someone else do laundry and make meals and generally tidy and prep lunchboxes for kids and sweep floors etc is A BIG DEAL. Both Sarah and Coco have people who’s full-time job is to do childcare and home tasks. I 100% support people having all this help and think it’s amazing, but if that’s not part of your reality (which it’s not) I think it would be hard – no, impossible! – to replicate the results exactly. This isn’t said to discourage you, but those tasks take so. much. time. You could get up and meditate earlier with a clearer head if you knew someone else had prepped food for Angie’s lunch for the day or was going to take care of your laundry and change all the sheets while you were at work!
Also, to me 5:30 is already soooo early! I know you can do this if you want so support you either way, but I feel like you are doing so much so well right now. So much exercise, you’re spending time reading (which you love) etc. I suspect you would still stay up just as late at night – our bodies crave that downtime, even if you’ve had it earlier in the day, I suspect, especially with a daughter who is in high school!
You have a lot on your plate and are doing a great job. Wanting to tweak that is great, I just don’t want you to think there is ANYTHING deficient in you if it doesn’t line up with someone else’s life. We all have perks and drawbacks to our individual situations!!!
I like prepping one or two meals on Sunday. I don’t do it every week; when I do, though, it’s a boost to my WHOLE WEEK! Usually I aim for a soup; something that’s easy to reheat, comes together in one pot, and reheats well.
Thank you for your kind words and support as always, Elisabeth! So, I’m seeing a common theme in the comments. Yes, keeping up the house takes a lot of time. It’s probably not realistic to try to replicate someone else’s schedule entirely, when their lifestyle doesn’t match mine. On the other hand I only have one kid at home, and she’s a teenager so pretty independent. I might still play around with my schedule- but maybe not till next school year. Summer is almost here for us!
Yes, I cook on Sundays for most of the week… but it’s only two of us. If we run out, it’s Chinese or pizza.
I wake up early but I’m not good with getting out of the house.
Oh that’s interesting! So you do a lot of meal prep. I’m going to try it, because the “system” I’m using just isn’t working right now.
Thanks for the shout out! so honored! I know 4ish is super early for most of people, I really enjoy the hour before going out to run and still get to do normal morning things with the kids. Obviously it means I go to bed 8pm, sometimes 7:30pm, no TV, no social media, and no need to drive kids around in the evening. It’s really a privilege and a choice.
Although I have helper to make us dinner, she could meal prep others as well, but I still do meal prep on weekends. Probably because I don’t have to, I enjoy more doing it. Feeding my loved ones is my love language.
Yes, I definitely noticed that you do a LOT of meal prep on days you’re not working. Actually all your weekend meals- breakfast, lunch, and dinner seem practically gourmet. And that’s true- you don’t watch TV or go on social media in the evenings, so it’s a tradeoff. You go to bed super early so you can have your morning routine.
The DITL posts definitely give us insight into how others get things done. We have child care but nothing beyond that so we are a DIY household. I do try to do some meal prep on the weekend. It’s basically a DIY prep dish approach in that I get things as far along as I can to make the cooking process as quick as possible. Like tonight I was running behind because I got pulled into work stuff later than I thought but it was ok because I had the veggies for the marina chopped up from when I did it on Sunday. So that saved me a good 10-15 minutes. I need to be able to prep a meal super fast because we are getting home around 5 most days. Today I WFH but still did not have time to make dinner.
I think my natural wake time is about 6 and I like to be in bed at 9:30 with lights out. I could try to get up earlier but I think like Elisabeth I have higher sleep needs. I will run myself into the ground if I try to get up much earlier. I wish I needed next sleep but I can’t change how I am built so I have to work around it and be realistic about what I can ask of myself in any given week. I have had a persistent RA flare so it seems like even the slight prioritization I am doing doesn’t seem to be enough!! All that said I think I am also a day owl! I don’t like super early mornings or late nights (like nothing later than 10pm).
Yes, even chopping vegetables in advance would make dinner less daunting on weekdays. Having it already started would at least be easier, psychologically!
I can definitely function on less sleep- like as long as I get six hours or more, I’m okay. But I know I would be doing better if I got 8. Everyone’s different- but it’s definitely healthier to get more sleep.
I am just a daylight person – lol. I don’t want to be awake if the sun isn’t up. However, because I’ve been getting up so early for so long, I struggle to sleep in past 8 at this point. But I’m done by 10 at night. Just done. I would love to get between 8-9 hours of sleep every night, but it rarely happens. I guess I need to figure out a way to prioritize sleep.
I enjoy reading the DITL posts and also these comments and reflections. As you saw in my recent post, getting up in the 4s does not even guarantee alone time. I honestly think you do what your body clock tells you.
I’ve recently got back into the slow cooker meals, and it’s SO good! Basically throw all the ingredients (can be very simple) in the morning (or prepped on Sunday ) into the slow cooker, turn it on low, and come back 10 hours later and it’s ready. There are then leftovers for lunches too! We also do 1-2 cheat meals a week (frozen pre-made fish or chicken or spanakopita) oven baked with a bit of salad or baked broccoli on the side. Anything more elaborate is saved for a day I know I’ll have time. But we don’t have the added challenge of evening activities yet. I do think a nice sandwich would do on those evenings tho!
I wouldn’t consider myself a night owl OR an early bird. I’m like a “late morning penguin” (IDK, I was just trying to think of an animal, ha). Getting up early sounds nice and peaceful in theory, but then I remember how sleepy I will be! That’s what happens sometimes when I try to work out early in the morning; I’m half-assing my workouts because I’m just not awake enough! And getting up early means going to bed early, and you know how much I struggle with that!
Thankfully, I’m single with no children so I can have my alone time whenever I want! Which is one of the best perks of the childless life. WOOP!
I will say that I do really like the idea of prepping meals beforehand. I try to do that, but I’m not always successful.
I am, believe it or not, an even earlier bird that SHU and Coco… which is one reason I am not doing a DITL if I have to put time stamps on it. Because you all will take one look at it and gleefully depart my blog and never darken its door again. I have a very odd shifted schedule but it works for me and my biorhythms…. and it makes it really hard to integrate my life with anyone else’s. I do have to adjust, for example, when I visit my family.
I do meal prep, mostly because my days during the academic year often include meals eaten in meetings (preferably online) and so having something ready to go is critical. Most of the time, I do un-Tupperware my lunch and put it on a plate, though, as I try very hard to get home before I eat my (very very late) lunch.
That said, you have to do what works for you. Maybe that’s prepping parts of the meal to throw together later? Make some tofu in the air fryer (YUM) and some veggies, and bake some potatoes on the weekend, then reheat? I don’t mind eating the same thing on repeat for years, even, so I just rinse, wash, repeat every week but maybe you could come up with a rotation of sorts?