emigrating to another country for better work life balance

underthesea

Sometimes, I feel like i'm not cut out for the working world. Not being lazy, but the work life balance is wrong to be away from your family all day and only come home to sleep. When the kids look you in the eye on the weekend to take them out to the park and you're still working or if your not, you just need to recovery for work on monday.

It's not the job, i've worked a few jobs and it's all the same here, and Europe. We don't go out, we don't party or have any massive expenses. Our main priority is having time to spend together.

Has anyone made a drastic change and move to another country for the better? Any stories or advice? The only option I can think of is 'living off the grid' but that's too far.. I can work from the net and I do some writing for pay but i never get the time.

If another country means a cheaper way of life, that would be great. At the moment, we're working to just pay for the 4 walls around us ....but never get to live in it!

So, country recommendations? major life changes? Thanks for any words of advice!

claire16c

In my experience it is the job. Have you considered moving somewhere cheaper here?

Even when I went to Australia which people tend to look at for a great work life balance the families we stayed with worked no less hours than people do here.

My sister lives in Canada & it's the same. Plus they have very lax employment laws there so sick, holiday pay that we take for granted here is harder to get there.

We had friends who moved to New Zealand but ended up coming back.

I used to have a bad life balance. So I stopped commuting to London. That had a massive effect.

We live in a very expensive area so once we buy a house we'll probably be pretty skint for a few years & have to work very hard. But we could choose to move somewhere cheaper - but we like it here. But it is an option.

Maybe you need to change jobs/career. If you're too tired to take your kids to the park just to recover in time for Monday something is wrong!

ttoli

Very different personal circumstances, but Yes I made the move 7 years ago to Northern Cyprus, giving up a good Career in the Police Service and a lovely home in a Kent Village, though I never got to enjoy it due to 12 + hour shifts.
I now work a 6 Hour shift,have a far better quality of life (24 degrees here today), virtually no crime and a complete, lack of,fear of crime and can safely say that I'll never return to the UK.

lizziebabe

Interesting that we think the grass is greener on the other side. Of course the countries that were popular like, Spain and Italy are having mega problems.

My daughter is living and working in Melbourne at the moment and she has decided that she doesn't want to stay in Oz. It has got very expensive now and I think food is a lot dearer than here, as I go every few years. She is young and on her 2nd tour of travelling so she has been to a lot of countries. Of course I want her to come home but I know she needs to do this. However, as I said to her living in another country and working there etc is not any different than here except the weather might be better. She now agrees with me and when her visa is up she'll travel a bit more then come home. She loves travelling but misses her family and friends. She is very outgoing and easily makes friends so it isn't a social issue.

Unless you are serious about moving elsewhere in the world and integrating into their society and culture, we're not that badly off here. It also helps if you learn to speak the language of the country you wish to live in and abide by their rules. It is courtesy after all.
You also need to look into Healthcare and pensions/benefits in that country. It may be changing here but you are not necessarily entitled to the same as you would get here. You do need to do some research.
Good Luck

underthesea

Thanks for the advice claire16c

It could be the job, but any job that pays enough to live has you so tired out any evening or weekend. I'd work PT if I could afford but working 3 days a week would be like winning the lottery!

I work in London which pays more but have to live further out so commute is tough. Could live further out but would get paid less - can't have it both ways.

Interesting to hear about your sister and friends in Australia. Maybe it's not the UK and the world is off kilter with balance at the moment in history!

underthesea

ttoli, that sounds perfect. Are you an minority with that shift pattern? Do all your friends and people around you share such a good life?

lizziebabe, sounds the same as claire16cc. Oz doesn't seem like the golden land TV makes it out to be.

Person_one

What do you do? Is it a very physically demanding job? Do you have a long commute?

I don't actually think its normal to be so completely exhausted by a normal working week that you can't muster the energy to do things with your family, or need all weekend to recover.

If you're this tired from a 40 hour week and a reasonable commute (an hour or less) I'd suggest a visit to your GP. You could be anaemic or there could be another physical cause for feeling like this.

Maz

I sooo know where you're coming from with this.

I'll tell you what I did and it may give you some ideas. Not immediate results, you do have to put some hours in but well worth the pay off.

In my spare time I started some small, passive income streams, a couple online and one offline (this one pays me the best). I gradually built these up and now I choose whether I work or not, so freeing up my precious time to spend how I like.

Just trying to give you ideas really, there are more ways to make money than the 9-5 if you're prepared to put the effort in. Some people aren't willing to give up a few hours a week to achieve this though and want things to happen there and then.

meer53

Person_one wrote: »

What do you do? Is it a very physically demanding job? Do you have a long commute?

I don't actually think its normal to be so completely exhausted by a normal working week that you can't muster the energy to do things with your family, or need all weekend to recover.

If you're this tired from a 40 hour week and a reasonable commute (an hour or less) I'd suggest a visit to your GP. You could be anaemic or there could be another physical cause for feeling like this.

My feelings too.

I'm a single mum who works and does all the usual stuff too. I have no parents for backup and my nearest family are 150 miles away. I find that after a nights sleep, i'm recovered enough to do whatever needs to be done, whether thats going to work, gardening, washing the car. ironing, cleaning, cooking, shopping, taking the kids out and so on.

The only time i ever find things difficult is when i'm ill, which thankfully isn't often. There could be an underlying cause which makes the OP feel like this. I agree they could maybe have an all round check up just to make sure.

underthesea

It's not physically demanding as it is mentally and for stress levels.

Aside from that, no matter what the job is, it's being away from the family so long with every evening being a rush and before you know it bedtime. As I said with everyone finding it so normal, maybe i'm not cut out for all of this. Some people need more spare time than others but I have none. It doesn't matter what the job is as i've been in some really fulfilling jobs. I just want to do less 'being away' from home and spending time at home. I want to switch around the work vs evening time. Then again, who doesn't?

angelil

I moved to France in 2008, but that was to be with the man who is now my husband, rather than moving for the reasons that you state. I work in Paris but live outside the city, so like you face a demanding commute (an hour each way is the absolute bare minimum and rarely happens; most of the time it's an hour and a half each way). Like you, I'm exhausted, which just goes to show that a change of country proves nothing.

I agree with all of the others who say you really have to know what you're getting into before you move somewhere else. Ultimately you're just trading one set of pros and cons for another, so it just comes down to which set you prefer.