As a working mother, my schedule is very similar -i.e. no spare time for anything like a home business. It sounds like you usually get 10:30-6:30 - that's 8 hours, which is more sleep than a lot of people live on. I would so kill for 8 hours in a row of sleep right now, but I have Sleep Issues (never get enough, damned kids).

Right now I'm getting 5 to 7 hours of sleep. I'm just tyring to figure out how the working in 8 hours of sleep would work, and I'm just not coming up with anything.

Oh, I thought you said you got to bed by 10:30. If the kids are in bed at 8:30, I'd think a 10:30 bedtime could be possible, even allowing for evening chores or personal or couple time.

Me, I go to bed the instant the kids are asleep.

Mickey Finns for the kids with dinner?

My wife is trying to get me to get more sleep. Okay, perfectly reasonable and only out of concern. But where to get the time?

If that were really a concern of hers, she'd be doing more of the work you're doing in the evening or getting the kids breakfast so you can exercise later.

Right now I'm getting 5 to 7 hours of sleep. I'm just tyring to figure out how the working in 8 hours of sleep would work, and I'm just not coming up with anything.

Can you do a kid exchange with the bobbins' friends' parents? At a couple of times per month, you pack them off early in an evening so that you can turn early and/or have a lie-in? It's not an overall solution, but might help a bit. If you get two other kids a few nights per month, it won't equal any LESS sleep, I suppose.

Gud, I'm not a father (unless 3 cats count, which I assume they don't because the raise such completely different issues). But a couple of things stick out from your summary.

How much is Mrs. Gud doing? If there's an imbalance (and I note that you seem to be cooking at least two meals a day), is there some way to bring things into balance?

How involved is cooking dinner at your house? Would it help to make one night a week "pop something into the microwave or oven" night?

If the problem is lack of "Gud time," would you feel comfortable skipping the exercise one morning a week to do something else just for you? Or if the problem is lack of sleep, would you feel comfortable setting the alarm for 7:30 every, say, Wednesday morning?

(Edited because you answered one of my questions while I was writing this.)

I'm just trying to figure out how the working in 8 hours of sleep would work, and I'm just not coming up with anything.

I honestly think the only way (in the current situation) would be to hire a weekly cleaning service, so that the cleaning would come off of your plate. I mean, I'm single and childless, and I can't even get 8 hours of sleep per night if I want to exercise & keep my (wee) apartment clean.

{{{Gud}}}

Well, a half hour of doing misc. cleaning stuff isn't really a burden. Cut that out, and I'm not doing jack around the house except on the weekend. So I can't really complain out that.

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