Do you work an 8-5, 5 days a week job? How do you find time to do anything?

Give yourself several months to adjust, and you will be less exhausted. You have, however, hit on one reason I do not work those hours. The trade-off was less income though.

I work 8 to 6, six days a week plus teach two nights a week.

I feel your pain.

I have worked 8–5 for a year now. It is hard. But you deal, and get used to it. You find ways to adapt.

Exercise/good nutrition is key.

Sorry, it was rude of me to not answer your question.

“How do I find time to do anything?”

Simply put, I don’t – but my amazing wife (who works two days a week) keeps the ship running at home.

I’m only scheduled to work approx. 8–5, 5 days a week, but….
And then there’s 2×3hrs of college a week as well – weekends are good for catching up though…

I used to be an 8 to 5er, and I feel your pain. I’d say pick one weekday and decide you’re going to bust your ass in the evening to get the week’s laundry or whatever done so that you don’t have to do it on the weekend. Also, depending on what you do for a living, you’ll start finding pockets of time during the day to take care of personal stuff. It’s inevitable.

Another strategy is to spend one Saturday a month or whatever doing the bulk of your cooking for that month. Have stuff prepared and in the frizzer so that you can just do the defrost routine.

The other thing that works is to have something to live for in the evening whether it’s happy hour with friends or tennis or some kind of volunteer activity. I used to do all of the above and not get home until 9 or so. Somehow, it gives you more energy the next day. I realize that’s difficult with married life, but maybe try it one night a week or something.

Time Management from the Inside Out is an excellent book to reclaim pockets of time.

i work 9.6 hours a day – 5 days a week! when i get home, i do some freelance – usually an hour or two. and on weekends, i do some freelance two hours to 6 hours… :(

i rarely exercise. and i eat unhealthy food.

things to do, if i can’t do it myself, i ask the help of my brothers.

i plan to do this for a few years and then settle down to something more relaxing.

answer to the question: get used to it. you can find a hobby that you can do at the office or at home… give it a few months. if not then i suggest you quit ^_^

It isn’t the right word, but “slavery” is the first thing that comes to mind.

I work 7:30–4:30, and you’re right, there is no time to do anything. I spend most of my evenings cooking dinner, and by the time I’ve sat down to relax, it’s like it’s time for bed.

But, that’s life.

Besides, when we’re all tired and worn-out, we can’t really care all that much about government, elections, or anything else but work-consume-sleep. What better way to keep us all neatly controlled, eh? ;)

I work from 7–4, five days a week and am on call 24/7. I have a hard time with the season change, which may be your problem as well. You’ll adjust, I always do. I find if I do less one evening, I can do more the next. make a list and corss things off—it makes it less overwhelming. And whatever can wait…will wait! I have laundry that has yet to be put away, but the world will not end because of it. Always make time to de-stress yourself and do fun things. Sadly, it doesn’t get any easier. I’m assuming you have no children? Now that’s a challenge! As a single mom who worked full time—you’ll surprise yourself with how much you can do!

Welcome to the real world,tinyfarey.
Give yourself time to adjust. Find timesaving ways to meet your obligations. Be sure to really enjoy god free time. And don’t sweat the small stuff.

i work 9–5 and on friday nights i go shopping (fun shopping, like clothes or whatever) or to dinner with friends. during the week i try to throw in a load of laundry or two to keep up. my house is not as clean as it could be, if i didn’t work. i guess what it comes down to is priorities. if i wanted, i could take the time to have a spotless house, if i wanted to sacrifice sleep or friday night shopping/dinners. some people would, that might be their priority. you will adjust with time, and you’ll be making time to do what you feel is important (only you know what’s important to you). and when those big checks start rolling in, you’ll be energized, just wait and see!!

I work 7:15 – 4ish. My in and out times are a little flexible. Once a week I take a dance class—down from twice a week because that was too much. On other evenings, I can usually be found hanging out with my boyfriend or at home doing whatever. I think the key is just getting used to it. I am always home by five, which in a lot of ways probably helps. I have to go to bed earlier, but that’s never been a problem in my world.

I think the keys are: errands on the way home, eat dinner early, and enjoy not having homework and club meetings every evening. (The time devoted to work decreased dramatically when I left college. There is was classes all day, homework and club meetings at night and the responsibilities just grew the longer I was there. Here? I do my work and go home. The end.)

I work 10–9:30 M-F and 9–5 on Saturday. I do whatever I have to do on Saturday after work if possible, and I REFUSE to leave the house on Sundays.

Take advantage of your lunch break to get some personal things done—pick up groceries, buy the dog food, go to the bank. If your scheudle allows some flex, try to skip a lunch hour periodically and leave at 4 p.m. to hit some of the places that close earlier.
Start the dishwasher before you leave in the a.m. and switch the laundry when you get home.
Do the things that only take a few minutes earlier in the day so you don’t feel so overwhelmed in the evening.
I’ve been an 8–5 person pretty much since I was 18 years old—going on 40 years now (yikes).
Much of it has to do with planning your time.
Some of it has to do with giving yourself a break and “permission” not to do things when you have downtime.
A cooperative and helpful partner can help, too, if you are in a relationship.
One of my tricks is to not take my shoes off until I’ve got my “must do” chores done—walk the dog, fix dinner, take out the trash, schlep laundry. As soon as I take my shoes off and sit down, I’m done for the day. I think this is my own little psych up or psych out, but it works pretty well.
You can get used to this, though.

Thinking back to my daughter’s infancy; I remember after putting her to bed, from about 9 pm to 10 pm—that was my hour. Mine alone to just veg out or to watch TV or w/e. i looked forward to it. It really helped.

When you find the answer, please let me know. I work 10–9:30 M through F and 9–5 on Saturdays with poof. I do laundry on Saturday nights and try to cook as much as possible ahead of time on Sundays. The rest of the time, I just collapse!!

( Oh yeah, I recently started taking some Tuesdays off so I can go to my doctor for follow up visits and TRY to catch up on some housework.)

Tiny; I work a 7 to 5, and I’m on call 24 hours a day (and weekends). It wears me out, but Fluther helps.

Being an adult sucks!!!

I’m glad I prolonged my youth as long as possible.

Yes, it does suck. Many times I want to run away. lol
I always told my daughter to live at home as long as she wants too. There’s no reson to rush life; it goes fast enough.

@deaddolly: I used to believe the opposite when I was younger. “Get a job young. Get independent. Work. Work.”

Now that I’m almost 40 and have a child, I’ve completely changed my tune.

My daughter can stay with us as long as she needs to and still be productive and follow some of her dreams.

@cprevite Exactly. I didn’t mean I’d support a kid who slept on the couch all day. But, if there’s room in the house and if your child still pursues his/her own life, then why not stay?
Growing up is very overrated. And living at home does not have anything to do with being grown up.

Hey – Your avatar changed.

Yep….points for knowing who it’s a pic of….

Is he a serial killer?

sort of, but not really.

It’s Ed Gein.

Ah! the inspiration for Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask”! How naughty.

Ed is my baby!!!!

I KNEW IT WAS ED GEIN!!! Ugh. I’m so mad I didn’t go with my first instinct.

lol There are only a few pics of Ed around.

Get rid of “having” to do things that really aren’t that important.

I used to but not anymore, absolutely hated it. Monday through Friday 8–5 is the worst of the worst schedule you can ever have for the reasons you stated and also the traffic. I would so much rather work varied hours and even weekends without two consecutive days off than 8–5 because you get more usable time off. For example if you work Monday 6–2:30, then you work 12–9 on Tuesday you can do things Monday afternoon while places are still open and night and don’t have to get up early the next day. But don’t take my word for it. Notice how many people you see during the weekday hours out on the road and in retail stores who are smart enough NOT to work 8–5!!!!

A housewife or husband can cure this problem. Housewife/husband gets shit done when you work, then you come home and relax for the rest of the day.

@dontmindme What? Are you assuming one is a stay-at-home person? If so, then that’s the way it should be.

truckers work 12–14 hours a day even more 6–7 days a week and they sleep in a tiny trucl away from there family weeks at a time. 8–5 m-f is a dream job

Enjoy your work, love it and make it part of your life. If you keep a positive attitude about your job, everything will be easier.