RePost: Retail Workers Schedule

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THISisTARRAN
THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
in Motivation and Support
ello to all the people out there who work retail. Hello twice to people who also have children. Let me start off with a Siiiiiigh. Okay. So I've researched this online and have not really come up with any great advice. 1st of all let me say that I know that there has to be some solution and I may just be looking over it. So I work in a job where I work on commission and hourly and my hours vary. Some days I have to be at work at 8 am and get off at 6, sometimes I have to be at work at 1130 and get off at 830 pm or 9. My biggest complaint is that I cannot have a SET schedule everyday as far as what time to eat breakfast, lunch, exercise, shower, go to bed... All together my life just seems chaotic because of my hours (and probably some other things). I am seeking advice as to how I could have a set schedule, short of having a new job. The reason having a child is important is because it seems like the only way I could have a daily routine (which is what I deeply desire) is to have go right before work to the gym (but then I have to shower at the gym, which is what I don't like because 1. I don't want to haul all of the stuff everyday and 2. because I would have to drop my daughter earlier and give up time with her. I work 40 hours a week and go to school 7 hours a week. She begs and cries for me to not go to work as it is. lets face it, I might get 1 or 2 hours in the morning with her and mayyyybe 1-3 hours with her at night.) or I could go to the gym or exercise right after work, but again the time changes make it so that the only day I get off early enough to spend significant time with my daughter after work is going to be taken up by going to the gym. I know some of this is excuse, but its also a real life problem and I'm sure MANY people deal with it. I'm just looking for working parents or working mothers, maybe full time like me, who work retail and deal with the same problem and/or the guilt. I think the guilt comes because I always felt like I didn't get enough time with my mother and didn't have a father and/or because my closest friends are stay at home moms (not that its easy to stay home).

IF anyone has advice on how to have a more organized life and work retail so that I could have a more routine day-to-day life I would greatly appreciate it. So far the best plan I've heard is getting up really early to get things around the house done and exercise. Sometimes I don't get home from work until 9:30 or 10 depending on what time the last customers left, which just means I would need to come home and go to bed like immediately.
I am sorry about the run on sentence (S)

-Tarran

Add on: I never really had a big problem with losing weight or staying in shape when I was a waitress and had a set schedule, also because of the walking. It has been the biggest problem since I started working where I work now (7 years ago).

Replies

  • gingabebe
    gingabebe Posts: 165 Member
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    I would skip the gym and work out at home with my daughter if I was you. I did this when I was home when my boys were little. I'd lift them up in the air and use them as weights and they had a good time having playtime with their mom. As they got older they would sometimes come do workouts with me. I have a set schedule and they are both in school so it's not so bad, but I just got furloughed and my oldest said yay, you can be a stay at home mom now. Talk about guilt!
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
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    Thats a really good idea. I can also do that. Any idea on a way to make it a scheduled time every day? The routine is really what I'm looking for. Not just time for exercise same time, but time for shower same time, time for cleaning same time, just a daily routine. Thank you for your helpful reply :)
  • gingabebe
    gingabebe Posts: 165 Member
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    I would do it early as possible to get it over with and since some days you go in at 8 am and sometimes 11:30. I used to work a shift like that in a nursing home kitchen and I was young and childless and it still drained me. So I wish you the best.
  • THISisTARRAN
    THISisTARRAN Posts: 487 Member
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    Thanks for understanding and not just telling me I'm lazy. :) I mean, I need to stop being as lazy, but it still doesn't feel good when someone says it. :)
  • suppakana
    suppakana Posts: 307 Member
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    If you know that your shifts are going to be at set times, like you said sometimes you have a shift that's from 11-8, I would aim to work out at 9am those days. On the days where you're in from 8 to 6, I would aim to work out when I got home, but before dinner.

    I also totally agree with gingabebe in incoporating the kids into the workouts - most likely they'll see it more as playtime with mommy than "oh mommy's working again," and if they don't participate they'll certainly give you a better workout than you'd get otherwise :wink:

    But if I was in your situation, with those hours and the kids at home? I'd probably scrap the working out unless I had a day off, and just work on ways to incorporate exercise into work - you know, do a lap around the office (I know jogging would look silly, but just try it) before sitting down at your desk every time you get up and come back... That'll add up fast. Really fast.

    Either way, I wish you luck in this! Feel free to pass me a friend request; I'd love to hear what solution you come up with =)

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