Live data from Hacker News

How much free time do you have?

erikrood.com

51–60 of 226 posts

Re: How much free time do you have?

#51

I think commute time should count two or three times. I sit in the car for 80 minutes a day and I am totally shot in the evening so I get nothing done even if I have time. . On the days I work from home I work the same amount. After work I relax for half an hour and can do things after. Commuting is a real soul killer in my view.

I was doing 2 to 3 hours each way depending on traffic. I did that for 6 or 7 years. Now I work from home. It is really nice, but I still feel like I have no time.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#52
I am probably at the other extreme, in having too much free time. Not that I don't have things to do, although I'm self-employed, my income depends on a complex system I've built that needs constant refining. My todo list is long. But it can easily be pushed off.

So, that's what I'm doing at this very moment while thinking about how much free time I have.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#53
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition your own sleep tend to decrease as you "reclaim" some of that play time you're missing for yourself.

Yep. It's hard to resist. I have 12 kids. I sure want time for random stuff... and then I realize the Sun is rising and I haven't slept. That's with a 40-hour work week, a 3-minute commute, and none of that gym/fitness time.

You kind of chose that life with complete impudence, internet stranger. No one trips while walking and finds themselves with twelve kids.

...You're not the person that decided to have so many kids because of a fear that having only a few, and then all of them dying of some sort of one in a million chance catastrophe would leave you distraught, were you?

Re: How much free time do you have?

#54
post #10

Well I know the author of this certainly has more free time than me. 7 hours a week at the gym? What and incredibly laid back lifestyle.

>7 hours a week at the gym? What and incredibly laid back lifestyle. What a strange thing to pick at - is there a joke I'm missing? And it's not strictly the gym, it's 'gym/fitness'.

Oh well that certainly makes a difference!

Re: How much free time do you have?

#55
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you make all 12 with your S.O. or are you like those guardian-angel foster parents from _Shazam!_?

It's 100% natural with 1 wife. Homeschooling takes time. I almost bought a house that had been used as a foster home. It was disturbing. Everything everywhere had locks. Even the drawers in the kitchen had individual key-based locks. You needed a key to open the drawer. There were camera feeds all across the house. The windows were secured against exit.

That’s sounds like a wonderful life.

Planning on having any more?

Re: How much free time do you have?

#56

what is "free time"? I consider doing most of those things on my "free time". When I go excercise, I have no obligation do to so, I do it on my "free time". If I had kid, I'd consider spending time with them as "free time with my kids". I dont like this pessimistic perception of time, and it's not mine. The only non free time I have, is the one I "owe" to my employer. And this time, I freely give it to him, and If I…

Couldn't agree more. I also work on my side project in my free time.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#57
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, as a dad of 2 kids under 4, I ended up having negative free hours. I put 54 hours of parenting a week, because it is non stop on the weekends for about 12 hours a day, and 5 hours or so on weekdays (getting them up and ready for daycare in the morning, then playing, feeding and putting them down at night.) I do get some chores done during that time, which is probably how I am able to exist with what ends up bei…

I live in Tanzania and here any kid that is above the age of 2 has free rein to go wherever they want. Maybe it's not a better way (though I suspect it is), but it is certainly easier (assuming you don't have 8 children like most people here though).

It would be better in some ways, but it does lead to a higher infant mortality rate (as the other commenter pointed out). I don't think I am willing to make that trade off (even if I could... I would be arrested if I let my 3 year old wonder down the street alone)

Re: How much free time do you have?

#58

Nice thought provoking presentation. I once billed 150 hours in a 7 day period, and they were honest hours, too. Since then I've stopped working and raised a daughter; and parenting was harder work than the insane "i have no life" schedule I used to push. Bit over a decade into the family thing, it's certainly more rewarding. Other people would find other choices rewarding and that's great too. We're all too apt to f…

>150 hours in a 7 day period

Doing what? Just curious. I could only image doing something like that if the job was extremely lax - like a toll booth operator in a slow town, or something.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#60

what is "free time"? I consider doing most of those things on my "free time". When I go excercise, I have no obligation do to so, I do it on my "free time". If I had kid, I'd consider spending time with them as "free time with my kids". I dont like this pessimistic perception of time, and it's not mine. The only non free time I have, is the one I "owe" to my employer. And this time, I freely give it to him, and If I…

> If I had kid, I'd consider spending time with them as "free time with my kids"

It's really not, though. Before parenthood I had all these romantic 'Swallows and Amazons' ideas about lazy summer days on riverbanks and meadows.

In reality time with young kids is about mundane things like making meals, doing homework, playing what they want to play, trying to coax them to help with chores that you need to get done, finding craft activities to deflect them from screen-time etc etc

It's not in the slightest bit free-choice or frankly enjoyable. I've just got up on Saturday to find that it's raining heavily, my heart sank. Now to find 14 hours of indoor child-oriented activities...

Post reply on HN