How I Plan My Day (full-time employee, blogger, wife and more)

How I Plan My Day (full-time employee, blogger, wife and more)

I like to keep myself busy. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be doing something. I can still hear my Dad’s voice in my head telling me, “You better be careful. You’re burning the candle at both ends.”

It use to annoy me so much when he said that. Mainly because I knew he was right.

I used to spread myself too thin. Nowadays I do a lot better prioritizing everything I want and need to get done. I’m better with my time management. No more wasting precious time on things that don’t matter.

My life’s pretty hectic most days, especially during tax season. I wanted to share with you how I plan my day as a full-time career woman, blogger, soon-to-be-mom, student, friend and wife so I can get it all done.

The first thing on my list every morning is to see what I actually having going on. I don’t want to waste my time on things that aren’t important, so I schedule out everything. I mean everything. Thank goodness for Google Calendar and my Purposeful Planner. It helps keep me in check. I’ve shared my tricks with how I stay organized with Google Calendar before, so check it out.

How I use Google Calendar

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become very aware of what’s on my plate. In college I would say yes to everything. So I found myself spending a lot of long nights in the library studying because it was the only time I had left. I never wanted to miss out, so I always said yes to everything.

The fear of missing out still gets to me some days, but I have to be careful. I have finally realized that it’s okay to miss out on what’s not really important. And I have realized that I can’t push myself into exhaustion if something is just not possible.

Alright, here’s how I plan my day:

6:30 am – wake up and get started. J sets the alarm for 6:30 so he can get ready for work. I am not a morning person, but I have started getting up with him. I like to make his lunch and get his breakfast ready – that way I know he’s eating something decent.

I also let the dogs out and feed them. Then I take care of myself. I like to give myself time to wake up in the mornings. So I make myself breakfast and turn on the local news for about 30 minutes.

7:00 am – get ready for work. Living in a small town is so great. I don’t have to leave my house until about 10 til to get to work in plenty of time. I give myself almost an hour to shower, put on makeup and get dressed.

8:00 am – 12:00 pm – work at the local accounting and financial planning firm. I work on client paperwork, calls, etc.

12:00 – 1:00 pm – lunch. I typically grab lunch with my Mom and Dad most days. It’s another perk of living in my hometown. I really love getting to see them as much as I do. I work with my Dad so I get to see him everyday, but something about grabbing lunch with both parents is really nice.

1:00 – 5:00 pm – I do a variety of tasks in the afternoon. Most days I like to study for the CFP® exam. But if I’m not working on the Certified Financial Planner® designation then I can be found working on marketing pieces, the office’s blog and social media platforms or finishing client paperwork.

5:00 – 6:00 pm – dinner with J. We joke that we’re old folks because we like to have dinner so early. But J starts his day an hour before me so by the time he gets home, he’s usually starving. So we just plan to eat by 5:30 and have some time together.

habits to better your life

6:00 – 8:00 pm – downtime with J and working on the blog. I like to spend my evenings at home. We usually catch up on our favorite shows while I’m working on the laptop. I schedule out social media posts, write out blog posts and work on fixing up the blog. I usually take this time to plan out a few more posts to keep me going too.

8:00 pm – I turn everything off and just relax the rest of the night. Again, we’re like old folks here too. We like to be in bed well before 9:00 each night. I know once the baby is here that will change. But for now I will get my sleep while I can.

I do this Monday through Friday without fail. During Tax Season I also follow this schedule on Saturdays.

Sundays are our days to be at home. We like to work on projects around the house. We’ve been busy updating a back bedroom and transforming it into the nursery. I also like to meal prep on Sundays and do my grocery shopping for the next two weeks. I’ve found grocery shopping every 2 weeks really helps us save serious money.

Maybe I should do an updated posts on how we meal plan??? I’ll work on that!

On Sundays I like to take photos for the blog. That’s when I see what posts I have coming up and what images are needed. Then I work on staging those and editing them for the site. It’s hard to take good photos during the week. By the time dinner is done it’s usually dark or getting dark out. Sundays are the best days for me to fit it in.

Most weekends that aren’t in Tax Season are filled with visiting family and friends. Also, we like to travel to the lake to go boating so that takes up quite a bit of time each summer. I try not to fill my weekends with too many work or blog commitments so I can keep my free-time to spend with people I’m crazy about.

That’s it. That’s my day-to-day life. I know at some point I will need to commit more time to the blog since I want to see it grow. During the summer months it’s easier because I work four 10-hour days and have three day weekends. So I can devote Fridays to the blog, but for now this is the time I allow myself. I don’t want to spread myself too thin. Those days of pulling all-nighters are in the past!

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Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®, a budget and financial strategist helping families pay off debt and live the life they've always wanted.

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