Fitting it into your life...Work-Life Balance Contest - July 2010

hi,
i feel really proud to be a woman.simle strategies to balance the lifestyle are:
1.Time management
2.Prioritising things
3.proper scheduling of work
4.adaptation to the different envirintments and suit best to it.
5.not to carryover issues from one to other
6.human mind always tend to be lazy at times,but give the way for those too in weekends.
initially somethings may go wrong ,practice makes the man perfect.take everyday as new one,like first day to office,first day of cooking like that,then when we start to enjoy what we do,i think it is easy to balance the life.
my friend used to say"time is precious i dont want to waste",so she sleeps only for 5hrs a day,and she enjoys every moment of life.

regs,
narmada

 

1. The first thing I have learnt from my experience is to maintain oneself in good health. I used to neglect my back pains and it caused a great deal of disruption in the routine

2. The second I am doing right now is to Plan. Planning meals for a week helps so much that I spend half the time in kitchen

3. When writing down the shopping list, I categorize it suitably and give a part to my husband - generally he goes for the non food items. I go for the food items. This way we finish the weekly shopping in a jiffy

4. Twice a month, based on the weather conditions, on Friday, I plan to go out for the weekends. I take down all the driving instructions, time to spend and other details of the place. We both discuss it on Friday evening and hence going out with kids is no longer a hassle for us.

5. I am still yet to organize my laundry work. I suppose I have to pick a weekday for that

6. Tuesdays and Fridays, I mop the floor. On saturday morning, I run the vaccum. So this way the house is relatively clean and I dont spend hours for the house cleaning activity

 

I am a mother of young adults aged 22 and 24 who gave up full time working to take on consultancy jobs so I could spend time with them during their growing years. My tips are :
Dress to go to work even if it is from your home office / computer
Set aside definite times for your children / hubby and unless it is an emergency do not deviate from those times
I spend quite a lot of time doing training work and writing for my local church but these are on specific set dates and times. I let everyone concerned know those dates and times. If they still call I gently ask them to call me back on those times. Over a period they respect you and you have quality time to give to them.
And last but not the least one meal with the family every day, though it is getting difficult now. And once a fortnight it is hubby time. We go out even if it is for a simple dosa dinner with a long walk to the closest dessert joint. Not very good for the figure but great for the marriage.

 

Hi,
I am a working mother. I have a 2 yr old son.
I am an engineer and i work in a power plant. Certainly not a good scenario for women to work. Both me and my husband work for the same organization.
His work keeps him late in office especially during yearly maintenance of the power plant.

My son is my life.
I have great demands on my time. But my first priority is my son.
After all i am earning just to give him a comfortable life.
All of us earn for our family. But somewhere down the line we forget why are we doing a job in the first place.
And family and children take a back seat.

Time management is an essential key for working mothers. I have to do a lot of physical work at office (its not a computer based job) and when i get back at home, i find my son all ready to go to the park to play with other kids . i have a maid that stays at home from 8:30 to 6:00 to take care of my son.
I utilize evey second of time to do household work when my son is sleeping. I dont do any work when he is awake and want to play.

Time and work management are very essential. Small things done at right time can save you hours of time waste everyday.
Just for example, we get out weekly stock of vegetables on sunday. And immediately they are cleaned seggregated and cut and put into ziplock bags and into the fridge.
So i dont waste half an hour daily to cut vegetables for cooking.
They are ready to cook!!

After office, women spend most of their time in kitchen....
Another tip.. Dont spend hours to make kitchen shopping list..
Just paste lots of sticky notes on your kitchen door and tie a pen.
As soon as some ingredient comes to danger lo level. Put it down on the note and just rip them off the door when you go shopping next time...


And whereever machines can help you... its the best..
I chucked out my old washing machine and bought an automatic one to wash the clothes..
So no time waste in changing the wash tubs, filling water etc.
Each one has a different daily routine. and one needs to find out where she spends times doing unnecessary things
Managing self comes into the picture here...
Manage urself.
Do multitasking...
and make your life simple...

Love to all

 

Hello ILites

I am working as Assisstant Professor in private engineering college since 2001.And i have kid of 5 yrs.In my whole work life i have struggled to balance my professional & personal lives.

I believe in " Professional life is like a rubber ball when falls down can bounce back but personal life is a glass ball when falls just breaks"

so in my opinion we should take more care of personal life .Not only for Indian woman,woman who loves her family should concentrate on personal life more while balancing both professional & personal lives.In this struggle family members support will help as work-life balance is not as simple as it sounds.

One thing a working woman should notice is work life and personal life are the two sides of the same coin.Managing out minutes efficiently is more important.we have to set relalistic and goals and must prioritise them.And then goal setting,handling interruptions and completion of work is the way we have to deal.

In my job for every semester we have new subject with laboratory work to handle .so intially what i do is i set a lecture plan,lab manual and lecture notes nedded for the whole semester.Then i will start my teaching .eventhough the lecture plan deviates i struggle to overcome the interruptions and try to go according to the plan.

Taking time to spend with loved ones,sharing responsibilties,assigning work to others,saying no if required helps alot.Plan fun and relaxation frequently.Guard your personal time and dont allow distractions intrude.Healthy balance and first thing first will always give fruitful reults.All the Best!.

 

Hi

I am now over 50 years old and have always worked full time and lived in a joint family so there are always demands on your time.

The best principle is to keep a cool head and plan ahead as much as you can.

Make a list of things to do - and this includes the housework, shopping and children's activities as well. Then delegate some of the tasks to the relevant members of the family. In my family, my hubby helps with most of the shopping so I just hand him the list of shopping. It made him feel important and I always show him my appreciation in the help he gives me.

I take care of all the cleaning and washing and my husband and I share ironing. The cooking is mostly done by me as I write a food blog and I like to spend time cooking. This gives my husband the time to balance the books.

In between, we put aside time for the children at the weekend. Taking turns with friends in inviting each other's children at weekend makes playtime fun for the children and it gives us the exercise we need. On the days, they visit their friends - we enjoy each other company and catch up with our socialising. If some chores don't get done, there's always another day. Stressing about it doesn't help.

Always, have your main meals as a family at the table. Entertain often as a social life is also important.

Plan at least a day out each week and have two weeks holidays away from home to recharge your batteries.

Best of all be happy and enjoy the company of the people living with you and that makes everything else fall into place.

 

I am a working mom of an one year old kid.
I work as software engineer and obviously have to compromise with working hours.

My clock starts ticking right at 6 am early in the morning and pauses at 11pm in the night.
It may again start mid in the night if my DS gets up.
The balance between work and life lies in planning.

Weekdays:
Right from cooking and the dress to wear for the next day, i would plan the previous day night itself.
This helps me in saving lots of time and leisurely i would do the households the next morning.

Morning:
I would load my washing machine with my DS's bedsheets daily along with our daily wears.
Also once in two days, i would prepare flour for Idly/Dosa.
The above two, i would do parallely with cooking.
So it wont eat my time much.
Meanwhile, i may also have to take care of family members, including DS.
I would broom the house daily before i go for bath.
I would make sure that my In-laws rest(?!) with minimal work other than taking care of my DS during daytime.
Then would pack lunch for me and check out of home sharply by 8am.

Evening:
Go for a walk with DS and Play with him.
I'll make use of this walk to buy vegetables & fruits, if needed.
By 8pm, i would start preparing dinner hot to serve.
I will feed my DS with some fine digestive food and let others finish their dinner.
After that, i would finish mine and play with my DS to put him to sleep.
If my DH had to return late ,i would either read or surf.
Cleaning vessels & Kitchen is a daily task for me at night as it helps me feel refreshing on seeing the kitchen in the
morning.

On Weekends:
I would wash all our clothes and give it for ironing.
And i would arrange our wardrobes when my DS sleeps.
I would clean house and arrange things in its place as much as possible.


I and my MIL would make a list of groceries for a month during the last week of previous month.We would reuse it with respect
to coming month's needs.
This plan would also extend for buying any personal things or households.
The shopping will serve double purposes, dining outside as well as buying for the whole month.

Also, mostly I and my DH would plan for vacations well in advance and would get clarified with our superior in office.

These routines finally led to the list below:
1. Plan for next day work at least the previous day evening, be it a cooking,house hold work or shopping.
2. Waking at early hours daily will become a practise and will make your day fresh.
3. Should not postpone things to weekends if they can be even completed that day or in the evening.
4. Try keeping your kitchen clean and get rid off the waste daily because its where we spend more time and if its clean, u'll
enjoy being in kitchen.
5. Try spending time with LOs (MUST:they make our world) and other family members by going for a walk or going for a family shopping.
6. Dont talk more about office at home and vice versa. Few sharing is good. but too much will bore u and others who's
listening. This would add to your worry.
7. Plan for vacations well in advance.
8. Spend atleast 15 to 30 minutes for reading either technical or other magazines.
9. Make use of weekends to spend time with LOs and spend time to do things which u desire but with less complexity.
10.Cross checking of bills versus wanted-list and comparing bills of consecutive months helps in great planning.

Not the least, support from family members also play an important role in this balancing.


~MahiSree
[Smile at others and make others reciprocate the same, which is a great way of sharing happiness]

 

Hi Everyone:hiya,
v r womens. y the contest name is work-balance? .Because every women knows the work balance in her childhood(especially INDIAN WOMEN).

am Home Maker(Becas my mother is retirered school Head Misters) I know her stamina, and her working load. am eagerly waiting of her evey evening in my school days. Actually in my bbbbbiiiiiiigggggggggg family--4 brother and i and my parents.

she planned very well. she woke up nearly 4 a.m. in weekends also. she never angry anything and anyone.she is like our old picture AMMA ROLE PANDARI BAI

PLANNING-is the best of every time
SACRIFING--is a other god's gift of every women
STAMINA---EVERY WOMEN HAS THIS. THATS Y GOD SELECT WOMEN BORN BABIES

 

1. Punctuality
2. Satisfied the family members whatever they expecting.
3. Forget the working stress and do not force the stress with family members at the same time carrying the family problem to office.
4. Meditation is good for avoid the stressed life.
5. Family members support is must for working women, she achieve the successful life.