Gained time from not commuting

[FIRE Artist]

If you are now working from home due to the pandemic, what are you doing with the time you previously spent commuting to and from work?  All in all, I am super happy with working from home because of the time savings for me (I do not have kids to contend with, so get that others may not see a net gain in personal time). 

I am using the time I used to spend commuting on getting an extra 15 minutes of sleep, and then getting in a 20 minute meditation (thank you Oprah and Depak for the free 21 day guided meditation sessions) right before I sit down to the computer for the next 8 hours.

This morning I actually had time to think about tonight's dinner, and put a batch of pea soup into the slow cooker.  This is something I would never have done on a weekday, leaving slow cooking to weekends only.  During my lunch break I will start a loaf of rosemary bread in the machine so it is ready and warm for dinner.  When working on site, I rarely actually take a break for lunch as I am still "at work", so it isn't like I feel like it is personally productive time, I usually just eat and get back at it. 

Not so much saved time, but since I have a daily COVID safety brief I need to dial into, but not report out at, I spend that time with my wireless headset on my rowing machine, also saving personal time I would otherwise have spent on exercise outside of work hours. 

[chemistk]

Personally, I'm sleeping in on weekdays (getting up at ~6AM as opposed to 5:10AM when going into the office). In the afternoons, we've been using the additional time I have to take walks as a family because what the fuck else are we going to do to get the kids outside? It does give me some extra time to think about dinner.

In total, I've "gained" an extra 90 minutes a day from the loss of a commute which is always nice but I'm also trying to not really enjoy it since at some point, I'll have to return to spending 90+ minutes a day mindlessly going to/from work. It's too great a tease.

[thesis]

I'm actually taking lunch breaks.

To be honest, my work day is still about as long, just because I'm even more careful with my time, but it's harder to be productive from home. So when my brain gives up, I typically need a solid hour away from it all, but then I make that time up later. Makes me kind of sad, I'd love to be done earlier in the day...

[CodingHare]

Sleeping in, which has improved my quality of life significantly.  Before we were getting up at 6:45, drinking our coffee by 7:15, out the door by 7:30, and at work at 8.  Now we get up at 7:30, drink coffee by 7:45, and start work at 8.  So that's an extra hour of sleep, basically.

My big time save is being able to kick off laundry loads during work hours.  Little chores like that add up to a cleaner house throughout the day!

[Schaefer Light]

Sleeping.  I haven't set an alarm in weeks.

[Channel-Z]

We've noticed it in TV ratings too. 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. is down. Viewership after 7:00 a.m. is up.

[Retire-Canada]

I'm not working from home at the moment, but I have for years before this. Aside from time saved on the commute I would do all of the following during my work days during the week:

- laundry
- grocery shopping
- cooking dinner
- any typical errands [car maintenance, bank, medical appointments, etc..]
- other house chores like cleaning
- get out for a bike ride or walk

So it was great that by the end of the week I'd have everything done I needed to and could enjoy the weekend for fun stuff.

My work involves a bunch of problem solving and creative thinking as well as waiting for responses from other stakeholders. So it's easy to get up from my desk and knock out a task like laundry while thinking about what to do, come up with an idea to pursue or wait from a call or email to come in so I can take the next step in my work. I'd then sit down and get a lot of work done and then maybe tackle another personal task.

Once I am done this current contract where I need to go to an office I can't imagine taking another gig that wouldn't be work from home most of the time. It's just too darn awesome for my lifestyle.

[midweststache]

We have two small children, so we're sleeping in as best we can and taking our mornings slow (enjoying coffee, calmly planning out our day with parenting two little bits while both working full-time, staying in PJs until mid-morning, etc.) rather than frantically getting everyone out on time.

[badger1988]

Currently working from home on a situational basis (about 50/50). On the days I work from home, I use my normal commute times to get more work done.

[Sibley]

I'm getting about 1.5-2 hours extra sleep in the morning. Up by 7:30, get dressed and breakfast for me and cats. Starting work about 8am, working until about 4:30-5, and don't have the 1.5 hr commute home. If I manage to get up and get moving after work, I'm painting my bedroom. Today took the trash out and did a grocery trip. But realistically, if the cat wants to nap on me I'm frequently just letting her. On the weekends I'm more productive in general.

[NattyAnn]

Its been really nice to have breakfast with my kiddos and not be frantically trying to get them dressed and rush out the door! Also super nice in the evening that I can "work later" until around 6pm or so, and then instantly be home!

[stylesjl]

More sleeping in for me, feels good to not have to wake up at 5:15 in the morning to get to work at 8AM (45 minutes to prepare, 15 minutes to get to the train station, hour train trip).

[FIRE Artist]

It is interesting, but not surprising to see how many people are taking advantage of sleeping in in the mornings.  I am not going that way just yet because I suspect that I will be in the first wave of moving back to working on site (I am in healthcare).  I find it easier to just keep getting up near the same time every day (am getting in an extra 15 minutes of sleep), and my cat and dog are pretty set on their breakfast time anyway. 

[x02947]

Taking care of the kids first thing in the morning has always been my responsibility, so no sleeping in for me.  But it's been nice to go through some mindless admin tasks on my laptop (checking emails, etc) and actually still interacting with them while eating breakfast, as opposed to tossing them some oatmeal and heading out the door. 

Kinda funny, one of my complaints to my wife is that my regular round trip commute is only half an hour each way, so when people talk about how much time they've gained from no commute my workweek schedule has actually changed very little. 

[mountain mustache]

- waking up at 6:00am instead of 5:00am to start work at 7:00am. Some days I even stretch it to 6:30am, since I am just walking across the room to my computer. Not *having* to wake up at 5:00 has been amazing. I am a morning person, but when you are up at 5:00 it feels like high stakes at night to try to fall asleep by 9:00pm to get 8 hours (and I really really need 8 hours). Now I can relax and fall asleep around 9:30 and still get plenty of sleep.

- I have so much time in the evening. Instead of random chit chat at the end of the day at work+20 min drive home+changing out of work clothes, etc which seems to all total up to 30-40 min of time, I just move onto the next thing that I want to do with my afternoon.

[Sibley]

It is interesting, but not surprising to see how many people are taking advantage of sleeping in in the mornings.  I am not going that way just yet because I suspect that I will be in the first wave of moving back to working on site (I am in healthcare).  I find it easier to just keep getting up near the same time every day (am getting in an extra 15 minutes of sleep), and my cat and dog are pretty set on their breakfast time anyway.

What time do you get up?

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I have an autoimmune disease that is helped tremendously by extra sleep. I started a minor flare when COVID started becoming a thing (stress can trigger a flare), so I'm investing in my health by sleeping & not setting an alarm. I'm getting an extra 30-45 minutes of sleep/day.

[FIRE Artist]

It is interesting, but not surprising to see how many people are taking advantage of sleeping in in the mornings.  I am not going that way just yet because I suspect that I will be in the first wave of moving back to working on site (I am in healthcare).  I find it easier to just keep getting up near the same time every day (am getting in an extra 15 minutes of sleep), and my cat and dog are pretty set on their breakfast time anyway.

What time do you get up?

My regular wake up time is 5:30 for a 7 am start at work.  Now I sleep until 5:45, I still start work at 7 am though, and my pets are still getting their breakfast at 6 am. 

[RetiredAt63]

It is interesting, but not surprising to see how many people are taking advantage of sleeping in in the mornings.  I am not going that way just yet because I suspect that I will be in the first wave of moving back to working on site (I am in healthcare).  I find it easier to just keep getting up near the same time every day (am getting in an extra 15 minutes of sleep), and my cat and dog are pretty set on their breakfast time anyway.

What time do you get up?

My regular wake up time is 5:30 for a 7 am start at work.  Now I sleep until 5:45, I still start work at 7 am though, and my pets are still getting their breakfast at 6 am.

The cold wet nose saying - time to let me out - no sleeping in for the human servants.