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In the spirit of sharing, today I will document a typical work day in the life of Ms. FAF (aka me). Hope you enjoy!
6:30 AM
The alarm goes off to wake me up from my sleep.
I get up and go to the bathroom to start my day: washing my face, brushing my teeth, putting on contact lenses, combing my hair, and putting on Neutrogena moisturizer.
I don’t wear makeup, so it saves me a bit of time in the morning.
6:50 AM
Time to get dressed. I check the weather forecast app on my phone to see what outfit will be comfortable for the day.
It usually takes me 10 seconds to decide. However, sometimes it takes me 5 minutes. I’d try on different outfits and don’t feel good in them for some reason.
I’d go from one dress to another and then get upset at myself because I just wasted 5 minutes of my life on something unnecessary.
6:55 AM
Time for breakfast. I head to the kitchen to prepare a quick breakfast: soy milk and multi-grain cereal or oatmeal. While microwaving breakfast, I put the lunch I prepare the previous day in my lunch bag and throw in a spoon.
7:00 AM
Time to go to work. I walk to the Metro station, which takes me approximately 15 minutes.
I’ve been listening to the Smart Passive Income podcasts by Pat Flynn to learn about how to grow a blog and produce future products (i.e. ebooks).
7:15 AM
I arrive at the Metro station. The train runs every 6 minutes. Sometimes I miss by it 5 seconds and just can’t forgive myself for being slow until the next train arrives.
While waiting at the platform and sitting on the train, I’ll check out new posts on personal finance blogs and leave feedback.
8:00 AM
I arrive at the office. I turn on the computer, comb my hair again (it’s usually a bit messed up because of the wind), get 2 big cups of hot water (I don’t drink coffee or tea), and go to the restroom to check my outfit.
8:10 AM
I check email and start to get work done.
11:30 AM
I go to heat up my lunch and make a quick trip to the bathroom while waiting for the food to be ready.
I used to have lunch at exactly noon. But the kitchen is always crowded at that time, and I don’t want to wait for 5 minutes to heat up something for 2 minutes.
I normally read online news or blogs while eating lunch.
A typical lunch at work while I was on a diet
11:45 AM
I finish lunch and head to the shower room in the office to bush my teeth. I have a separate set of toothbrush and toothpaste at my desk.
I don’t usually like chewing gum after eating to have a fresh breath. Gum is not cheap, and it’s just not as effective as brushing.
Brushing curbs my temptation to snack since I know I’ll have to brush my teeth again. I just don’t like the aftertaste after eating. But sometimes our office has some delicious free food, and I just can’t resist it.
I do feel guilty, but oh well, we don’t get free food all the time.
Free food at the office. I just can’t resist this beauty.
11:50 AM
Back to work. If there’s not free food in the office, I usually don’t snack or eat anything else for the rest of the afternoon.
5:00 PM
I get out of the office to go to the Metro station.
5:15 PM
I arrive at the Metro station. On the way home, I’ll finish the podcast I started in the morning or listen to my favorite songs.
6:00 PM
I arrive at my dear home and start heating up food for dinner. I always prep food on Sunday, so it doesn’t take long for me to have dinner ready.
Sometimes I want to have instant noodles or make some soup, which will take about 10 minutes longer than usual. I usually catch up on my YouTube videos while eating dinner.
6:30 PM
I’m done with dinner and start doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.
6:45 PM
Time for a shower. I know many people shower in the morning. But after a day of sweating, inhaling dust from outdoors, and walking everywhere, I want to have a refreshing shower and change into my pajamas.
I like smelling nice and fresh when I hit the bed. My evening doesn’t officially start until I’m done with the shower.
7:30 PM
Done with shower and applying lotion & moisturizer.
7:30 PM – 8 PM
I check my email, Facebook, YouTube, and my blog stats for the day. I also read and comment on other blogs, respond to comments on mine, and write a new blog post.
8:00 – 9 PM
I talk to Mr. FAF and Baby FAF. We currently live in different places (only temporarily).
9:00 – 10:30 PM
I continue writing new blog posts or work on some technical issues related to my blog.
10:30 PM
Time to go to bed.
There you have it: A look at my typical work day. 🙂
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Busy days! I am a full-time working mom too, but I work remote (home-office) so the commute time is replaced either by helping my husband get our son ready to go with dad to daycare or heading towards daycare myself.
Do you typically Skype/FaceTime with Mr. FAF and your son? When I travel for work (which happened a lot earlier this year!) I tried to get in the habit of stepping out of the dinner meeting or taking a break to FaceTime before our son went to bed 🙂
Hi Mrs. Adventure Rich! It’s so nice that you can work from home and save some commute time. I usually Gchat with Mr. FAF and Wechat with Baby FAF (in China with my in-laws). I talk to Mr. FAF every day, but sometimes I can’t reach my in-laws since they might be traveling or going out for a walk. But I do have lots of videos and photos of Baby FAF to look at when I miss him =)
Its amazing how helpful technology can be in helping stay connected when we are apart from family!
Hey, I thought I was the only one who doesn’t wear makeup to work! I use the $5 pond’s moisturizer before bed, and occasionally a Korean mask pack as a treat, but makeup is just to time consuming for me. At first thought it would affect how people view me at the office, but nobody seems to care.
Thanks for sharing your day with us!
A lot of people at my job don’t wear makeup either, so I feel like I fit in pretty well hehe. I might feel a bit pressured if I worked in the beauty industry though. But maybe that’s the reason why I’m at the job I am right now. ^^
That was really fun to read, I’m kind of tempted to do one for myself, although I think my day is a bit more ‘bitsy’ because of being self employed.
Makes me grateful I don’t have to commute to work, but good on you for making it productive while listening to SPI
Aww thank you, Izy! I’d love to read a post about your typical day of being self-employed. I know I have to show up to work and leave at a certain time, but I’ve always wondered how other people manage their time. Thank you for the kind words! =)
What other podcasts do you listen to? I’m currently listening to School of Greatness, Art of Charm, TED radio, and Planet Money.
Hi Tim, I also listen to the Dave Ramsey Show, Bigger Pockets, the Rental Income Podcast, Afford Anything, and Rental Rookie. I don’t listen to the last two that much, but the first 3 are my favorites. I generally like podcasts about rental property investment and personal finance. ^.^
I don’t wear makeup at work either! Although I do keep some essentials (like a nude lipstick and eyebrow pencil) at my desk in case someone important happens to come in. I’m with you- not doing makeup saves me a TON of time in the morning
It saves me lots of money too! 😀
Great description of your typical day. Do you have an app for the metro train you take to work? Because it should show the arrival times for when the train will be at the station and will help you if you should run or breeze to the platform. Also its great that your very productive on your commute by listening to podcasts and catching up on blogs, makes time fly by.
Hi Kris, great suggestion! I don’t have an app since the Metro also shows how many minutes the next train is supposed to arrive. I usually just do something on my phone to kill time.
Listening to podcasts and reading posts does make time fly by when I’m on the train. I feel like I just left comments on 4-5 posts and I’m supposed to get off already. 😀
Very busy day! It’s always fascinating to see how bloggers spend their time – but seeing how other aspiring full-time bloggers (ones that still have full-time jobs like I do) handle their time is of particular interest. You’ve got a lot of dedication!
What do your weekends normally look like?
And I may have to check out the Smart Passive Income podcast. I need some more listening material in particular on my way home from work. On the drive to work there are some great morning shows I like to listen to 🙂
Thank you, Dave! I’m glad the post sounds interesting to you. I like reading about how other bloggers juggle their full-time job and their blog too, so I thought I’d write one about my typical day. The SPI podcast is great. I hope you will find it useful as well.
My weekends vary a lot. Sometimes I’d spend pretty much the whole weekend blogging. Sometimes I’d spend the whole Saturday cleaning, doing grocery shopping, cooking, and hanging out with friends. I will write another post about it soon! 😉
“Man that lunch would not fill me up, I eat more than that in between snacks.” – me reading and hubby looked over my shoulder. Some people aren’t 6 foot somethings dudes.
Is it hard to be without the bebe & hubby sometimes? You’re strong! I make my husband sit on the sofa with me because I…want him on the sofa with me. (That’s why he could read over my shoulder).
Thank you for the podcast too!
Yes I was on a diet, so that was basically what I ate for months! Now I add more stuff here and there, but it’s pretty much almost the same every day.
It’s so nice that your hubby sits with you while you read blogs. Mr. FAF just does his own thing lol. It is hard to be away from hubby and baby, but I guess we have to do what we have to do. I’ve also gotten used to it. New posts about Mr. FAF and Baby FAF coming soon! 😉
Wow you certainly make the most of your day. I have to admit there is a lot more fluff in my day. Although I do wake up 1/2 hour earlier than you but not by choice. My son kicks open my bedroom door every morning like he’s the CEO of the house to let me know it’s time to wake up and play 🙂
Haha your son sounds so cute and active. I’m literally picturing him kicking open your bedroom door early in the morning. 😀 Baby FAF is coming back to DC soon, so I can totally see that coming to me one day @_@
Hehe, you know I love this type of thing Ms. FAF! Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your day 🙂 What do you watch on youtube usually??
Prepping dinner on Sundays is so smart, I always find cooking on the week days really kills my evening!
Am I a total nerd for loving these kinds of posts? I love seeing how other people spend their time / day. I also shower at night!!! We’re night-shower buddies!! I’d rather go to sleep squeaky clean and rinse my hair in the morning (it’s short, if I don’t wet it, it won’t set right) than get up earlier and have to shower. I can count on one hand the times I’ve showered in the morning in the past… three years?
And I’m envious of how effectively you spend your time – gonna try introducing some of that into my day-to-day! Thanks for the post : )
Thank you, Ms. Raggedly! Don’t forget everything sounds perfect on paper hehe. 😉 There’s a lot of variation to my day-to-day too. I’m actually working on a more updated day-in-the life post now that Mr. FAF and Baby FAF are back in DC, so stay tuned! 😀