Dads, Gearheads, Time Management?

Happy Father's Day! Just wondering about some time management strategies for the family folks on here:

• How many kids, how old?
• How many hours a week of shop time?
• Weekday/weekend time breakdown?
• Avg # hrs of sleep per night?
• Best time to for shop work?

Any strategies/tips for those that want to strike a good balance?

Mine is just over 5 months and I am starting a business on the side so my only shop time is at the expense of sleep which is not sustainable over the long term.

In the future my plan is to convert my shop space into a 'family cave' with 20'x20' dedicated area for the wife/baby. That seems like the only realistic way I will continue to get significant work done on shop projects. Otherwise, if I have to choose between shop work and wife/baby, I will most always choose the latter and may as well sell all the cars/bikes/tools. Would prefer to strike a good balance.

Thoughts, experience?

I'm lucky enough to work weird shifts that allow me to work during the day while the wife and daughter (5) are at work/ school. I sometimes will go out to the garage after my daughter goes to bed, but not every night as there are other acactivities that can take place after the kid goes to bed ;)

We don't have kids, but I do have a new Great Dane puppy. I'm teaching her to weld.

I've got one two year old daughter.

Shop time varies, but five hours a week is probably a reasonable amount. I can get more if I really need/want it, but five hours is possible without giving up family time.

I typically get an hour each night after my wife and daughter are already in bed. Typically from 8:30-9:30PM. The downside is that I have to be considerate when I work at this time not to make too much noise. The shop is at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms, but the sound of an impact wrench carries.

I typically sleep from 10PM-5AM, for a total of 7 hours each night.

It is hard to get much done in one hour increments. Mostly I clean up from the occasional two-three hour burst I get in the shop on some weekends.

I can tell you the biggest thing that will afford you shop time is what your wife does. In my experience, if she is a full time stay-at-home mom like my wife, then you won't get any free time. Since she is on the clock all the time, any time I am not working she immediately assumes that it is my time to take our daughter. While I certainly give up most all of my free time for my family, it gets a little old not being able to get anything done. I've been in the middle of an engine rebuild for two years now.

Compared to a friend with a daughter the same age: both parents work, so he has lots of time on the weekend because his wife wants to take care of their daughter then, as she is not burnt out caring for her all week long.

Griping aside, I love my family, and it gets better all the time. As my daughter is getting older, the time for projects is slowly coming back. She can even "help" with little projects here and there!

grpb wrote: - How many kids, how old? - How many hours a week of shop time? - Weekday/weekend time breakdown? - Avg # hrs of sleep per night? - Best time to for shop work?

3 kids, 6, 9, and 11. I'd be hard-pressed to give an hour per week number. Lately I've been putting in 8-10 hours a weekend trying to get the garage in order, so I can take on my next project. It's almost all on the weekend. I'll get up at 6:30 on Sunday and go until about 11 or so. That works out well.
I bet I average 5-6 hours a night because I simply have a hard time putting my head to sleep, and when I do I wake up for no freaking reason!

grpb wrote: Any strategies/tips for those that want to strike a good balance?

Like that over-paid shoe salesman said, just do it. I felt guilty about spending any time in the garage, that meant I didn't get anything done. I realized that any time a vehicle needed repair/maintenance I was out there doing it. So, if I'm willing/able/forced to put shocks on or fix that front end clunk, why feel guilty about putting a few hours a week into something I enjoy? It's easier now though, my kids are old enough to come out there for a bit to hang with the old man.

Why did my post come out all funky like that? ^^

There's something to be said for the "family/man cave" idea. Make it a clean, comfortable place to hang out and then you can work on the project while others watch tv, give support, heckle you, etc...

Granted, I seem to work slower when I have an audience.

Edit: it looks like the formatting for this thread got corrupted somehow.

friend of mine has 2 kids under 3 and his 'shop' is a 15 minutes drive from home. He gets a few hours in after the wife and kids go to bed. I don't think the poor guy gets more than 4 hours a night of sleep.... He's still going strong, I envy his resolve.

I've got three kids. A five year old daughter, a four year old son, and a two month old son. It's tough to find time. I'd say a patient and understanding wife is the key. My 5 and 4 year olds are old enough to "help" a bit, and I made them their own work benches. If I'm doing something simple like maintenance, I can usually find something to keep them occupied. I also recently put a playground in the back yard, that helped a lot. They still need supervision, but I can usually just keep an ear open. When my 4 year old was younger, I attached a baby swing (outdoor type) to a truss in my garage, and he would swing and watch me work. I'll use that again when my baby gets a bit older. Make sure your garage is clean and organized. Your opportunities will be less and sometimes unplanned, you don't want to waste time looking for things instead of working. It will also be safer for the kids.

4 Children, 26, 21, 13 and 9. Only two of them at home full time. Some weeks I spend 20+ hours in the shop, some weeks I don't get out there at all. It depends on what's going on. Luckily my wife is pretty understanding about the time I'm out there.

2 kids, 8 and 10.

I can usually get in 1.5 hours after they are in Ed a couple of nights a week. My real progress comes on my every other Friday off. My dad usually clears a good chunk of those days to help me so we can get 10-12 hours of work done. Also each summer my wife is a tea her and takes the kids to her parents for 5 or 6 weeks. Then I pretty much live in the garage

Another bit of advice. I've been in the finis a project , live in the garage mode for the last 6 weeks. I'm repairing that damage by a week on the beach in Jamaica.

◾How many kids, how old?

4 - 8,12,21,24

◾How many hours a week of shop time?

Depends. Wrenching on cars? 3-4 in a good week. However I have a "shop" in my basement where I play with things (mockup superchargers on NA 944 motors, build MS P&P and have it work in the bench) This I do a couple hours a week as well.

◾Weekday/weekend time breakdown?

All on the weekends unless there is a need to get something fixed.

◾Avg # hrs of sleep per night?

6

◾Best time to for shop work?

There is non. It all depends on what is going on with the kids, wife job, house projects.

How many kids, how old? 3 - 6.5,5, and 2
How many hours a week of shop time? I'm lucky to average 1 hour per week over the year, I'm in maintenance-only mode right now. In all fairness, though, I also do a bunch of work around the house that takes up time that could go towards the vehicles. I'd say that time is about 5 hours a week, split between maintenance and new projects (like building a tree house for the kids).
Weekday/weekend time breakdown? Mostly weekend, an occasional weeknight if I can pull it off or if an urgent repair is needed. Avg # hrs of sleep per night? 6 Best time to for shop work? Our garage is directly below the kid's bedrooms, otherwise nights would be the best time to work. Weekends are busy with activities for the kids, but before all the activities started, I got more done on the weekends.

Any strategies/tips for those that want to strike a good balance?

I try to involve my kids in car-related maintenance and work. The older two are good helpers and seem to enjoy working on cars for a limited time frame, but my 2 year old can't be trusted in the garage right now Once he grows out of this phase, I think I'll have a better ability to get things done.

Part of the challenge in our case is that my wife works 1.5 days a week, so the weekend is also her time to catch up on things that she couldn't do during the week. So, there are a lot of times that I try to keep the kids entertained so she can accomplish some of the things on her list.

Mezzanine wrote: I can tell you the biggest thing that will afford you shop time is what your wife does. In my experience, if she is a full time stay-at-home mom like my wife, then you won't get any free time.

This x10 for me.

My son is 4 1/2. Baby girl due in July.

When i'm home, my son is with me, and it's generally "dad on duty" all evening, i.e. I do the bathtime routine, bedtime routine/stories, etc. since I don't see him all day. If my wife cooked dinner I clean it up. After that my wife generally wants attention, as she hasn't seen me all day (this is compounded obviously now that she's pregnant).

Usually by then it's 10PM, and she hates when I leave her alone to go play in the garage, so I usually just give up and go to bed as it isn't worth the relationship battle.

I've tried getting up early to work in the garage in the morning, as it's the only time it seems to not impose on anybody elses time (except my own sleep). Otherwise I try to get an hour or two in on the weekend. I'm basically giving up for the next year or two after this next baby comes along.

In reply to xflowgolf:

Man, glad to hear I'm not the only one... I do want to make an extra effort to note that I am not complaining. My wife is a wonderful mother and home maker, but she is with our toddler all day. I'm sure I'd respond the same way if I were in her shoes!

Big thing for me is how much I want the time in the shop. I usually don't take that much because I like the quiet time my wife and I have after we put the girl to sleep, and also because I know it won't be this way forever. I have completely abandoned some old hobbies because I simply don't have time for them. I used to travel a lot for major 3-gun matches and shoot a lot, but I haven't even been to the range once in 2.5 years. I know I'll get a chance to take it up again soon.

Mezzanine wrote: I'm sure I'd respond the same way if I were in her shoes!

I personally don't think so, it's all in how you approach it.

I know quite a few people who have been stay at home dads, they love it. Basically get to act like a big kid all day, have no responsibility besides making sure the kid doesn't bop its head hard on something, and do a bit of entertaining.

No, life isn't easy when you look after a kid fulltime, but to compare it to having a job and then getting dumped with taking care of the kid AFTER you come home from work... just a "teenie bit" imbalanced there IMO.

How many kids, what ages? Three kids, 2.5, 5, 6, plans on one more?

- How many hours a week of shop time? ~15hr/wk

- Weekday/weekend time breakdown? 2hrs/day avg

- Avg # hrs of sleep per night? 6hrs avg

- Best time to for shop work? Early, early morning

Any strategies/tips for those that want to strike a good balance? For me it's getting up way, way early. Have time during the evening for the kids and mrs, and time in the morning for me. It helps that my wife is a night owl and can't stand to move until 7am. I have a reprieve until she or the kids get up. I try and workout in the wee hours a few days a week as well. Mrs stays at home as well, and it can get mentally exhausting being with them all day so I can't ditch her for the garage and expect to stay married, at least not long... and then there is no garage (or I'm living in one.. hmm)..

Mine is just over 5 months and I am starting a business on the side so my only shop time is at the expense of sleep which is not sustainable over the long term. You'd be surprised how little sleep you need. Remember when you had a newborn? 4hrs per night can go a long way once you get used to it.

It gets better when they are older. I had my two girls helping yesterday by handing me tools. They even admitted to having fun. If my little guy can stop running headfirst into everything I think he will have a good time. Make sure you at least try and include them when the time is right.