I have wanted to write this post since January when I first had the initial idea. It was a test to me to see exactly how long I spend approximately each month on my blog. This includes taking photos, writing posts and scheduling. For the entirety of July every time I spent some sort of time on my blog I wrote it down in my notes, to keep a record. I did this honestly as I wanted to see for myself the hours I put into my blog.
So over the month I spent 27 hours doing all things blog. This was spread out across over 11 days, some days I would spend just an hour scheduling and finishing posts, and another day I spent 5.5 hours taking and editing photos and writing and scheduling posts. I post on my blog three times a week, and try to post on Instagram once a day. To be honest I don't think 27 hours is a lot compared to some people, and also for me compared to some months. Without a doubt July has been my busiest month of the year so far. I have definitely been doing things here and there, just squeezing things in where I could. I could see this as between the 21st - 27th before I went on my holiday to Barcelona on the 28th; I spent 11.5 hours trying to get everything ready before my holiday. I think this can really stressful. I definitely sat and thought at 11pm, whilst scheduling tweets and had to be up at 6.30am why am I doing this. However, it is always worth as I hate to do things by half measures.
The hours I have calculated does not include the at least the hour a day I spend commenting on others Instagrams and blog posts. I also spend a lot more time on Twitter, chatting away with other bloggers. The point of my little experiment was for me to see the hours which I put into my blog. I do also work in my job 37.5 hours a week, and sometimes my shift patterns can be here, there and everywhere.
It was interesting for me to see what takes me the longest to do and that is without a doubt taking and editing photos. I can easily bash out writing lots of posts in a morning and feel totally ahead. The one thing of my blog which I do not enjoy doing in the slightest is scheduling tweets. I have to do this usually at night in a job lot, it can be really time consuming but it is an essential part of publicising your posts.
It was quite funny to see how obviously some days when I'm off work, I just want a day blog free. Is doesn't happen often, but occasionally I just want to nip to the shops, go to the gym or sit and binge watch Netflix. I always have the feeling that there it something to be getting on with blog related, which is true. I do try and get ahead though, and once I have my laptop open I am usually in my blogging mode within minutes.
Overall, this was a little experiment for me to see the time which I dedicate truly to my blog. I know the time I spend on my blog will probably be half compared to others. But, I am not a full time blogger, I never will be and right now I'm sure I will ever want to be. I want to enjoy my work, my social life and my blog all separately. But, what I can say is I have never dedicated nearly 7 hours a week to a hobby before.
Lucy
xoxo