Well I'm not in your situation, but to adress your general question. I am a 16yr. student. I have a 5 day-a-week ritual that includes school, 7am-4pm, that takes away afternoon time. Next comes extracurriculars, which take 2-4 hrs. So say I get home at 7 pm on average. I go to be at 10 pm, still gotta eat, shower, H.W. But if I can devote a hour to the hobby, I do small stuff that needs to be done anyways that I can do within this timeframe, like touch-ups, converting to KD's, building simple car kits, cleaning up the layout or area, and other small tasks. Weekends and larger free times I look to a list of to do's to decide whats next. Just my $0.02
-beegle55
loathar wrote:I got rid of my worthless wife and step kids. Plenty of time for trains now! Don't have to worry about her kids selling my stuff for dope anymore either.
HAHAHA sounds like a very interesting story, but at least you've got some alone time with your trains now!! Thats rich...
We spend maybe 2 hours a week all together out in the garage working on the empire...then there's my solo time which is usually after the kids go to bed for an hour or two depending on what I'm working on. I can get 2 - 3 hours in a week myself on a good week...
It's all about blocking out time that suits you...
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
I work when I can during the daytime.
Sometimes the spouse is away for a few hours and I get some chemical work out of the way.
I work in stages. For example Last week I completed the Sterling Dairy Creamery building, and am working one floor at a time on the Office building. One floor per day. I schedule my assembly by the day in groups with a goal. The assembly of the main factory building plus boiler house is expected to take about 3-5 weeks and I can already see the progress in my head with planning.
When everything is done for the day (Chores etc) and there is no work assignment, there is time then to choose own activity.
Some days you cannot work on trains or anything else at all but it's ok, they will be there tomorrow.
I have reached that happy time in life when I have nothing to do and all day to get it done....
Well, not quite. There are still all those 'honeydo' projects, plus just keeping my wife company or lending an unskilled hand in the kitchen (I am a whiz at setting the table and emptying the dishwasher, though.)
Still, if the spirit moves me I can spend hours in the trainroom on any given day. The limitation then becomes, how long can I stand on a concrete floor before my lower extremities rebel. (One of the reasons I've set up all my wiring to be worked on while sitting in a chair!)
I paid my dues. Now I get to enjoy the rewards.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
My wife looks tv, I go downstairs to the railroad. Our children are grown up, I've to pay for the students.
And sometimes I get some help from the youngest son, who still lives at home.
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
There's always so much to do. So, I choose a project that fits in the available time frame. This weekend, for example, was full of demands and interruptions, but I did have down time. So, I painted pigs one day, and worked on a Jordan vehicle another. I too usually wait until the Mrs. is out for a while before tackling anything big. I really hate it when I've got things apart and suddenly my time is no longer my own.
A workshop that's yours helps a lot. If you can just put the tops on the paint and glue, clean up the brushes and go, that makes it a lot easier to budget your time. On the other hand, if you're using the kitchen table to assemble a kit, you'd better make sure you've got a clear track ahead for a while.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
trainman6446 wrote:How do you budget hobby time. It can be difficult to set aside time for the layout. Track laying, wiring ect. are ok because you can stop anytime you need to. Painting, kit building are harder because you cannot just stop what you are doing and leave. ( yes I know, I should be working instead of posting) With a family 2 kids 14 and 16 time is RARITY. What do you do to make time?
Actually when my 2 yard apes became teenagers my wife and I had more time to enjoy the hobby..After all its no longer "cool" to hang with dear old mom and pop when they can be hanging with their friends at the mall-expenses paid by dear old mom and pop of course.
Another thing we would do is (gasp!) turn off the TV and do some modeling while the kids done their home work or played video games if their home work was finish.
I was in the process of decaling a locomotive when my wife wanted to go shopping..I got up and looked out the window and said yup..We still have 2 cars..You still have drivers license so,have a safe trip or you can wait about 20 mintues and I'll tag along with you and returned to my project..She waited.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Sometimes I would have the entire project building or whatever resting on one slopply formed plastic widget poorly made at the factory involving much angles, thinking, muttering and extremly precise work that has to go like 1,2,5.. oops I missed the 4 because the spouse would ask me how I would like to help with the dishes or something.
We understand each other. If she hears noises issuing from the train corner table she needs to hold off for a few minutes =)
Still trying to figure this one out. The kids are finally grown but not all together gone. And I now have a granddaughter that comes to visit at least once a week. (She is only 7 weeks old and I'm going to spoil her rotten LOL, and I have already bought her a train for Christmas) This past summer has been just awful as far as free time. We found out my younger brother had terminal bone cancer, so we spent every minute we could helping him and his family, or just visiting while we had the time. This pushed aside a lot of the regular chores that needed to be done, or honey do's that we wanted done. Unfortuneately he passed away just over a week ago and looking back there was nothing more important than spending time with him while I could. The weather is now getting cold and the yard chores, except for snow shoveling, are pretty much done. Now all I have to do is keep the wife busy so she will let me go down the basement. Hopefully I will get a lot more done on the layout this winter. At least that's what I'm hoping.
John
When my children were young they enjoyed trains as much as I did. Smaller projects became a joint effort. Late nights, after the wife and kids were in bed is when I did most of my critical work buiding kits, kitbashing and detail work. The smaller home layout was moreso for the kids as I have been in a club for many years. Finding the time for family and the club was more of a problem. I would try to spend at least 1 night a week at the club. As the children got older, I found more time could be spent on the hobby for myself but still tried using some restaint not to tick off my wife. You hear that, "So off to the trains again this week?", was a suttle hint to chill and spend some time with her.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
I turned off TV years ago, now it's Dish and perhaps some net content.
Finishing the first floor this week and probably start on the second once I buy a bottle of Ambroid Safe Weld liquid that got soaked up. That's another peeve. I can dip and dallop that stuff all year on small kits but break out the gigantic stuff that small bottle aint enough.