First day of school? Check.
My eldest daughter made her way to Grade One, and my middle girl tried her hand at Junior Kindergarten. The past week was filled with rushed mornings, flying out the door with three backpacks slung around my arms, scrambling to toss everything (and everyone) into the Dodge Grand Caravan all before the school bell rang. Mornings are so harried in our house, but the kids were excited to hop in the van and get their days started!
The van has been fantastic for all the running around we’re doing this season, with lots of room in the trunk for gear, school supplies, and the other random stuff that ends up coming along for the ride. We’ve been getting lots of attention for the new, shiny red ride we’re sporting and it’s been lots of fun, for sure.
Share your busy back to
school driving schedule. Let us know how much time you spend in your
vehicle and you will be entered in the contest for a chance to WIN a
$250 gas gift card!
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This post was sponsored by Dodge Grand Caravan. All experiences and opinions are my own.
I spend 2 hours a day in my car so this would be great!
Thank goodness my daughter is driving herself to all her dance classes and time out with friends, now for the other daughter I drive probably 1/2hr a day
Used to be in the car about 2 hours a day, commuting to and from work.
Apparently I am too busy for spell check today! Sorry ladies! 🙂 Thinking of all of you wonderful Parents spending way too much time in your cars too!
Holy Cow do I spend time in my car. We are at the far edge of the school division and all of my kids activities are between 20-30 minutes driving from our house. 3 kids. Boys are in 5 days each of football in two DIFFERENT towns. Daughter is in dance and flag football…this changes seasonally…soccer,volleyball, baseball, theater but it is not unusal for me to pull into my driveway and change kids without getting out of the car myself. I spend about 3 hours a day in my SUV alone, not including cooling my heels at various games and practices.My hubby is gone every second week, sometimes for 2 weeks at a time. On top of this I work, run 2 business, volunteer in various capacities AND Blog. We have a beautiful acerage but I could spend that kind of gas money just on the lawn tractor! 5 hours every time we mow 🙂 I am one busy Mama but am LOVING it. 🙂
My drive just to work is at least one hour a day and then there’s all the extra trips on top of that.
I’m in the van for at least 1.5 hours each day and up to 2.5 depending on what the kids have going on in the evening. Pretty hectic during morning rush hour and after work going to school to pick up the kids.
Just a soccer Mom driving kids to school at 7:30 am and then off to work. Pick up the kids and head home before soccer practice and Taekwondo! Busy!!!
I can easily spend several hours a day in my car, driving hubby to work kids to school, pick up kids, pick up hubby. Drives to appts, and lessons, and friends house, to run errands. I spend almost as much time in my car everyday as I do in my bed.
I spend about 2 hours. I try to keep it to minimum.
Transportation uses up a great deal of our day. We always have to go back and forth to school, appointments, meetings and games. It seems an endless amount of time is used for this.
We have a short ride to school thank goodness. We spend 5 minutes driving to school for the drop off and then if we want a parking spot at the end of the day you have to get their early!
With all the to and fro trips, for school, activities and things forgotten en route to the previous, about three hours. I didn’t realize it was so much until I sat down and added it all up.
I am in the car about four hours a day, part of that is due to taking or picking up kids to and from school or events
Kids stuff is all local and since I live in a small town, I have no issues in driving around town. My drive into work in the big city though -oiye! Winter driving is even worse. Oh, to one day win the lottery:):)
We don’t drive but we do have the morning walk that causes chaos. Getting the kids ready on time is one huge ordeal, but walking is even bigger.
The kids know that the slower they walk the more irritated we get. They enjoy the power. The kids always get to school, but the fact that they get to choose the speed is not so great.
I’m not spending as much time in the car that I used when the kids were in school. But because we live in a small town if I want to visit the dr or dentist or even to pick up the mail or groceries everything is done by car. Whenever I’m able i walk but it’s not near as much time as I spend in a vehicle.
I spend so much time driving to and fro that I feel like I live in my car… We are a very busy household and are involved in lots of different activities which involve lots of hours on the road.
We are retired so try to use the car as little as possible, but our grand kids live 8 hrs drive away and my parents 3 hrs drive. Therefore, every 2 weeks finds us on the road for visits.
We walk to the babysitters and the day care. Then I hop on the bus and then the subway. Takes about an hour to get to work.
My husband usually drops our son to school in the morning by car on his way to work and I walk to school to pick him up. We would love to win this prize !!
I work from home, but am often out for appointments and other daily tasks. I used to have a 1 hour drive in both directions. I am glad to not have to do that anymore.
With both driving back and forth to work and driving the kids around, I spend at least 6 hours each week in the car.
I feel like I live in our van, with doctor’s trips for our oldest over an hour away, softball, MMA, Judo, Soccer, taking the dogs to the vet or for a run, going to the beach, going on vacation, it feels like we live in the van more than we live in our home!!
It’s crazy the amount of money we spend in a week just for driving to where we HAVE to go!!
My husband commutes 1.5 hours each day going to work so that I am able to stay home and raise my two wonderful kiddos.
I am lucky to be a stay at home mom, and even luckier that I do not have to drive my kids to school. Instead we enjoy a 20 minute bike, scooter, walk, or run in the morning and in the afternoon.
We keep one of our vehicles off the road for 6 months out of the year because it is economical, good for the earth, and good for the kids and I to stay fit.
However there are days when the wind is crazy and the rain is coming down that it might be nice to have the vehicle for just a day 🙂
I spend more time than I like to admit, about three hours. It is all the back and forth driving that makes it hard to keep up with my busy family.
Ottawa traffic is insane…I spend a good 45 mins-1hour to travel 25 kms each direction.
My life is my car. I commute have a 2 hour commute to work each day, so I spend four hours a day in my car. A gas card would be an extream help.
I commute two hours, each way :o(
I drive from Mississauga to Scarborough, to drop my children off at their grandparent’s house and then I’ll go to work in downtown Toronto. After work, it’s done in reverse (downtown to Scarborough to pick up the kids, then drive back home to Mississauga)
If I go to work it takes about 30 mins in the morning getting to work and dropping the kids off at school and then another 30 mins back home with the kids. If I don’t go to work the kids get on the bus to get to and from school which requires either my husband or I to drop them off at (it’s not close to the house!!)
I spend about 40 minutes in our vehicle every weekday.
I spend about 30 minutes driving everyday M-F and take the Go Train from there =)
I try to figure out a route and combine errands, but still end up with nearly 2 hours most days – making sure to avoid rush hours.
My schedule is so hectic, I have a toddler and I commute nearly 2 hours everyday, in rush hour, through construction most days. I work crazy hours so we spend a lot of time in the car trying to entertain each other. I purchased a new car based solely on safety ratings so that I felt SAFE driving as much as I do! I would say on average, I spent 10 hours per week just driving for work, not including hours spent visiting family and running errands, we spend a lot of time in the car!
My mornings are not too bad as they can all walk to school or take a bus. It is the afternoons that are hectic. My daughter had dance 3 days a week all at least 10 mins drive away , my son has tae kwon do twice a week and it too is too far to walk. My other son has music and sporting events so he gets thrown in the mix. So my afternoons are often a scramble of trying to drive from here to there and get eveyone where they need to be on time, and hopefully picked up on time lol I would say on average at least an hour a day of just driving them , arghh dont get me started on the weekend madness arghh
my schedule isn’t too hectic, it;s mostly errands
Right now I only have to drive to pick up the kids two days a week when they have after school activities (they get the bus the other days) but i still have a ton of errqnds and appointments so it seems i am always in the car. Once the weather gets colder I end up driving the kids to school and picking them up most days because we don’t want to walk to the bus stop and wait in the cold.
I spend about 1 hour a day in my car. I drop off my two boys in the morning to school. Then I pick up my eldest son (autistic) from school for lunch and take him to his therapy class (half hour away) and then return home. I then pick up my youngest from the bus stop after school. So happy we recently got a new Dodge Caravan and we love it!
My little guy isn’t in school yet, but we still spend far too much time driving around running errands and going to playroups/libraries/parks!
Drive and pick up to the subway station every day 😛
Back to school means several hours weekly of drop offs and pick ups and the occasional emergency dash when one of the kids gets sick in the middle of the day. Woohoo for satellite radio and DVD players!
We as a family spend quite a bit of time in our van each day….
1. The day starts at 8am when we take DD3 to Grandma’s house – a short 5 minute drive from our house.
2. Leaving Grandma’s house we head to school for DD6 – a 35 minute drive from Grandma’s.
3. After dropping DD6 at school, I head to work a 10 minute drive from DD6’s school.
4. Reverse order 3, 2, 1 to get back home after school starting at 3:30 when I pick DD6 up from school only the drive home takes 1 – 1.25 hours depending on traffic.
5. I try to fit in grocery shopping one day Mon-Thurs to keep weekends free so an additional 20 minutes of driving.
6. On Friday DDs have swimming lessons – so after we arrive home we quickly have dinner and drive 20 minutes to swimming lessons and 20 minutes home after.
7. On Saturday DDs have skating lessons – 8 minute drive each way.
8. The weekends we do a lot of family things together – the zoo, friends etc so the amount of time in the van varies….
Thank goodness for the factory installed DVD player!! 🙂
I drive my boys to school 5 days a week, go shopping 1 hour away once a week, pick up my stepkids (who live 2 hours away) every Friday and visit family and friends on Sundays!
It matters what we are doing after wards if we use the car. As we live down the street from the school we usually walk. But if we do use the car it is short periods of time for school.
With four children I’d say I spend at least 5 hours in the car a week. I have a great husband who also probably spends 5 hours a week in the car shuffling everyone around!
I spend about 5 hours in my car every week and would love some help with the gas bill!
i usually spend an hour per day during the week in my car. so a total of 5 hours – long enough for me in city traffic!
Mostly I run interference for grandkids so not so much hectic sunscheduled
I spend at least 3 hours a day in my car.
Sometimes I think I spend more time in my car than anywhere else – probably 20 hours a week. I’m really tempted to leave pillows in the car. Our three children have busier social schedules than my mine and my husbands. Between the morning drop-off at school, drive to work, pick kids back-up, drive to skating, drive to Brownies, drive to basketball, I’m sure a Birthday party in there somewhere, manage to squeeze in a few groceries, and finally round up the troops after all of their events and get them home.
Whhhhhheeeewwwwww …………finally “Ole Bessie” can cool off and rest in the driveway until we start all over in the morning.
between hockey, school and trips to the mall, I spend about 7 hours a week in the car.
I spend about 4 hours a week in my car running errands and driving the family around.
I spend at least an hr and half commuting back and forth. Sometimes longer depending on traffic and if there is an accident on the highway.
I spend about 3 hrs a week in the car between work and shuttle service for family members
about 3 hours daily
I usually spend approx. 2 hrs per week in the car with work, appt’s and other activities.
I spend about 5 hours a week in the van driving to different schools and helping with dance lessons, judo lessons, and various practices.
grocery ,thrift store & post office every day!
carpool twice a week – i try to walk rather than drive the rest of the time
I dont drive at all! 😀 We bought a house right across from a K-6 school and large park so my son walks himself across the street now. I can walk 2-6 blocks to almost any service I need and we do the big grocery shop on weekends when hubby is home to drive/lug bags.
Every day some time is spent in the SUV. From 1 hour to 5 hours depending on the day it’s a road trip that includes drop off and pick up of family members, and then fit in groceries, errands like doctor or dentist appointments, etc.!
I don’t spend a whole lot of time in the vehicle as my kids take the bus to school, and if it is raining my husband will drop them off on the way to work.
I drive the kids to their various social engagements and to do volunteer work and all over doing errands and to work. We live in a small town and anywhere you need to go is a drive. 🙂
I drive to the subway every morning.
I drive over to my daughter’s house every morning to make sure my grandkids get off to school OK. I spend about 5 hours in my car each week.
I spend 4 hours a week in my car
I spend a couple hours a week in my vehicle.
I spend a great deal of time driving around in the car (5 out of the 7 days) as my daughter has 9.5 hours of dance a week and my son has Tae Kwon Do twice a week.
So, winning a gas card would be amazing and very helpful! Thanks for the opportunity to win!