Life by the Numbers

There are 365 days in a year. (8,760 hours)

Let's make up some yearly numbers based on my own experiences and those of friends:

Imagine you work at least 50 weeks of the year, 40 hours a week. (2,000 hours)

• I choose two weeks of time off as studies indicate that the average American does not use their paid-leave in its entirety. There is an interesting article - one of many out there - on Glassdoor from last year which details this idea.

Perhaps you sleep at least 8 hours per night (counting any extra weekend hours). (2,920 hours)

• Check out the National Sleep Foundation's handy article on how much sleep we need (and rarely seem to get).

Let's be optimistic and suppose that your average commute time is 30 minutes each way. (250 hours)

• Check out this fascinating pink visual WNYC put together on commute times!

Being ultra-conservative, let's allot 10 hours per week on TV. (520 hours)

• One scary article by the Washington Post claims Americans spend on average 20 hours per week watching TV! My own experience is far less, so I used that!

And let's not forget about ERRANDS/DAILY CHORES...sigh...shall we say an 2 hours per day? (730 hours)

• The data I found seemed to have no good basis for it...but I figured in laundry, cleaning, food prep, dishes, grocery shopping, travel time to take care of such matters, and the miscellaneous stuff that always comes up. In truth, we could probably double the amount! I know so many people who devote at least one of their days off to home maintenance, helping a family member or friend, etc.!

(Hmmm...now grant it the SigO and I have no children. So for those who do, please feel free to add in your child care hours into the equation...)

So breaking out my handy dandy calculator.... what is left in the hours of my year, before vacation time? (2,340 hours)

Assume I actually use at least 2 weeks of my vacation time for nothing but vacation! What's left? (2,004 hours)

Average amount of hours of "free time" which should be left for the other 50 weeks? (40.08 hours/per week)

Which should leave how many "free hours" per day? (5.7 hours/per day)

Wait...what???

Granted I was possibly overall optimistic on some of my numbers. (I.e. my SigO spends around 3 hours per day commuting.) 

The reality is probably half as many free hours per day. (2.85 hours)

Still...that is nearly three hours average per day!

So why do I seem to NEVER have true blocks of free time?

Anyone?
Anyone? 

(Bueller? Bueller?)

As Spring is approaching, the time has come for a little spiritual housekeeping; some reflection on how I spend my day and where my "time drains" are so that I can eliminate those unnecessary things.

After all, a life with smiles is a life filled with experiences that bring you joy, activities and thoughts that make you excited for your day, and nourishment not just for your tummies, but for your spirit and heart too!

If I truly have the hours in the day to live such a life...I want to make the most of them!

And may each and every one of you find a way to make the most of the hours of your life as well...

With smiles...

Photo credit to the blog's author.