smallholdingsister's strivings

pavlovs_dog

AlexLK wrote: »

NG: You clearly cannot see my point of view on this. I do not think it healthy to be all work and no play.

With respect Alex, I'm not sure you see NG's point that some people simply don't have a choice in the matter if they are to keep a roof over family heads and food on the table.

Some of us are fortunate enough than we can weigh up the opportunity cost of our decisions. Having ponyplops is a lifesyle choice for SHS, and it comes with a financial and time cost. She gets great enjoyment from the pony as does her DD. The consequence or opportunity cost of that decision is the ongoing commitment to the upkeep of the animal. I don't think livery is something she would countenance for a second under the circumstances.

I could choose to go PT at work so free up more time for me during the week. The opportunity cost of that decision is a reduced income, which not only restricts lifestyle in the here-and-now but also in the future. Slogging away now as the main bread and OPing the mortgage as much as we comfortably can affords me the option to more comfortably afford PT work further down the line when we start a family. I fully understand the argument that there is no point earning mega money if you don't have time to enjoy the fruits of your labour. My sacrifice now affords me choice later on. It is a conscious decision. We all need to cut our own cloths.

smallholdingsister

This morning we were not up and breakfasted til ten.
Second load of washing on and I have done a quick ring round for tyres.
I plan to do some dot to dot decluttering this morning, and the blog won't write itself.

Goldiegirl

smallholdingsister wrote: »

This morning we were not up and breakfasted til ten.

Good.


When you're working hard, a lie in is sometimes an essential

smallholdingsister

Blog updated. Finally.
Our internet is so rubbish.

AlexLK

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Well Alex, no one in this house irons much, I HAVE a cleaner/dogsitter (in fact there's the rest of my salary) and I wouldn't dream of sending the Plops to boarding school. Couldn't afford it anyway!

I should say I did the time and motion thing to see where I was wasting time not as a whinge, though it might've sounded like that.

Helen I Love the way you summed it up.

Now Alex, Pirelli Cinturato all season or Uniroyal

That's fair enough. No one in this house irons, we send it to someone in the village.

Are the tyres just for wet weather road use?

Karmacat wrote: »

Alex, GG has also tried to get you to see a different viewpoint. I'm sure everyone agrees with you that its not healthy to be all work and no play. NG is making the point about working long hours for *basic* bills to be met - its not healthy to lose your home, either.
...

Erm, I'm wondering if thats a joke, given the discussion between you, GG and NG, whether or not SHS could afford it. Excuse me if its not a joke, and you were being serious :rotfl:

Personally, I think there must be something going wrong if you are working very long hours in order to meet basic bills or you're living a lifestyle you can't really afford. I've no doubt someone will be along to tell me how "out of touch" with reality I am because I don't believe someone should be working 7 days per week for a lifestyle that seems nothing other than distinctly average at best. Not really sure why nobody can understand my points?

I wasn't joking at all. We don't own a pony but we do have a cleaner and someone who does ironing because it's something we don't want to do ourselves. Not sure why that would be a problem, it was purely a suggestion.

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

With respect Alex, I'm not sure you see NG's point that some people simply don't have a choice in the matter if they are to keep a roof over family heads and food on the table.

Some of us are fortunate enough than we can weigh up the opportunity cost of our decisions. Having ponyplops is a lifesyle choice for SHS, and it comes with a financial and time cost. She gets great enjoyment from the pony as does her DD. The consequence or opportunity cost of that decision is the ongoing commitment to the upkeep of the animal. I don't think livery is something she would countenance for a second under the circumstances.

I could choose to go PT at work so free up more time for me during the week. The opportunity cost of that decision is a reduced income, which not only restricts lifestyle in the here-and-now but also in the future. Slogging away now as the main bread and OPing the mortgage as much as we comfortably can affords me the option to more comfortably afford PT work further down the line when we start a family. I fully understand the argument that there is no point earning mega money if you don't have time to enjoy the fruits of your labour. My sacrifice now affords me choice later on. It is a conscious decision. We all need to cut our own cloths.

You're right, I don't see NG's point.

smallholdingsister

Not solely for wet weather use but it rains here for 364 days a year...

Two barrows of Pony plops collected, one pony and one labrabear exercised. Two neighbours gossiped with.

DH and DS have mowed the lawn and lit the fire.

Karmacat

Labrabear! I love it

Also Goldie's comment about the importance of downtime on a Saturday morning

As for the ongoing discussion - part of me wants to get practical, part of me wants to get metaphysical, and the rest of me knows that posting anything further, even on this thread amongst all the people I know to be of goodwill here, is not something thats good for me to do, in relation to my own situation. So I will send love and light to you all, and bow out of that bit of the conversation.

xxx

newgirly

Well Alex, he was not working 7 days a week for an average lifestyle as I was a sahm ( not many people get the chance due to the cost) and we live in an above average priced area, (near dh's very unusual job of which there are not many companies left in the country) to top it off we had an above average number of children (and the second child was twins , so you can't blame me for that )

I have to ask now Alex, what would you have done insead?

Sorry again shs , perhaps we should start a seperate debating thread

AlexLK

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Not solely for wet weather use but it rains here for 364 days a year...

Two barrows of Pony plops collected, one pony and one labrabear exercised. Two neighbours gossiped with.

DH and DS have mowed the lawn and lit the fire.

:rotfl: You sure you don't live in Derbyshire? Do you drive off road much? If not, I've heard good things about the Uniroyals for wet weather road driving.

I'll not mention the word Labrabear to Mrs K, she'll use it forevermore!

AlexLK

newgirly wrote: »

Well Alex, he was not working 7 days a week for an average lifestyle as I was a sahm ( not many people get the chance due to the cost) and we live in an above average priced area, (near dh's very unusual job of which there are not many companies left in the country) to top it off we had an above average number of children (and the second child was twins , so you can't blame me for that )

I have to ask now Alex, what would you have done insead?

Sorry again shs , perhaps we should start a seperate debating thread

I cannot answer your question, other than to say I'd take a completely different approach, as would the next person because each individual's situation is different. If you really want to know what my solution would be if my wife decided she no longer wished to work: we'd sell up, move into my parents' house and run the property business together. I'd encourage my wife to do some contract type work to at least keep her future options open because it would come as a shock and I'd wonder if it were a phase. I'd carry on with the music teaching and furniture / antiques. Really, it'd be quite simple and we'd ironically be better off financially but this is all likely completely irrelevant to you, so not really worth talking about.

My original point was that it is not healthy to have no time to yourself unless work is the be all and end all to you as it was to my parents during their working life. Alarm bells ring for me when someone says they'd rather not be at work / rather be at home and are finding coping with their work difficult.