How I Find Time To Read {Day in the Life}

I’m always fascinated by how people spend their time and how they prioritize it. Prioritizing reading time is really important to me. I thought it might be fun to show you how I manage to fit reading into a busy day…For reference, I’m currently a work at home mom with a three year old and one on the way. I’m also a grad school student in my final semester- working on my culminating portfolio to present to my advisor for graduation approval.

So I’m definitely not as busy as some people and I do have a decent amount of flexibility in my days- but I’m for sure, really tired all the time and having a kiddo constantly around means that I get sidetracked and interrupted frequently.

So here’s what last Monday looked like reading wise…

2:00 am – Thanks to pregnancy, I’m wide awake. I put my ear buds in and listen to my audio book until I’m tired again. Lately, this has been a ‘thing’ although I’d much prefer to be asleep in the middle of the night *sigh (The Chemist, Stephanie Meyer – 40 min listening time)

6:45 am – Hubs is up and getting ready to leave for work. I’m a light sleeper so I’m awake too. I pick up my night stand book and read until my son wakes up (Leviathan Wakes, James Corey – 10 minutes reading time)

10:00 am – We are at the Dr. office and my son is playing in the kids area. I bring my book everywhere so I pick it up and read while we wait. Turns out my Dr. had a birth this morning so she’s behind on appointments. I wait nearly two hours to see her but don’t read this entire time. I use some of my time to do some planning on my phone and return calls (Leviathan Wakes,  30 minutes reading time)

12:45 pm – My son fell asleep on the way home from the Dr. office so I take advantage of the rare nap. I pop my earbuds in and listen to my audio book while I do a quick wipe down of the bathrooms, rotate the laundry, make lunch, and prep dinner (30 minutes listening time)

• I don’t get any book time during the afternoon as we have groceries to pick up, Target returns to make, and I spent a good chunk of time playing with my son- puzzles, bikes, sand box, etc.

5:00 pm – Hubs is home and having one on one time with our son while I sit down at the computer and do school work. I read, but it’s a textbook so I don’t count it.

6:30 pm –  I finish up dinner. Sometimes we turn music on for all of us and sometimes I listen to my audio book while I cook. This time it’s a bit of both. I log (10 minutes listening time)

• Hubs and I rotate evening duties. Tonight he cleans up dinner while I manage bath time and the start of the bedtime routine. If I’m doing clean up I’ll listen to my audio book. By 8 pm the little guy is down and I’ve settled in bed. Hubs and I watch an episode of Grimm (! anyone else watching?)
• After Grimm I work on more school for about an hour and then my brain starts to shut down.

10:00 pm – I’m so tired but it’s my goal to read every night, even if just one page. Hubs reads on his kindle while I pick up Leviathan Wakes again (20 minutes reading time)

• At this point I’m smashed and give up on reading. So I logged a total of 1 hr 20 minutes of audiobook listening time and 1 hour of reading time. Honestly, that’s really good. I typically don’t get that much in on an average day! I blame being up in the middle of the night and the ridiculously long wait at the Dr. office for the added reading time. I can’t complain!
• I should also note that I’m a super slow reader and often read passages again to make sure I caught all the details. I also get interrupted a lot by my toddler so these are just time estimates.
• I pretty much never leave the house without my Ipod and my paperback so I sneak little pockets of reading time at random times and in random places.
  

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  How do you make time for reading? How much reading time do you think you get every day?

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