PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Going part time at work

Options
124

Comments

  • Gem-gem
    Gem-gem Posts: 4,604 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    edited 3 February 2018 at 9:15PM
    Hi, I have just dropped from 100% full time to four days 80% part time. Due to health. And I am loving the extra long weekend. Work know that my aim is to only work three days 60% and then get well enough to come off my medicines. We have staggered the drop as really they need me there full time (we have recently lost two members of staff). This I am happy about as it is helping me to manage my work diary and workload, also it is allowing me time to adjust to the lower salary.
    The drop from 100% to 80% has not been too much of a financial hit, because I was saving the around 20-25% of my net salary each month plus the tax etc has reduced. For me it is getting the outgoings in order so that I can make the next drop and continue to save. I do not want to dip into the safety net.
    Hubby and I already do ys/frugal food shopping, home/batch cooking, fruit growing, use voucher or offers when eating out or going away etc. We are having raised beds put into the garden so that I can do more vegetable growing. I now do my own pedicure saving £20 every eight weeks. I have made a conscious choice that I will not waste money on buying brand new books and full priced DVDs. I use the library and charity shops.I am no longer going to buy expensive hand washes. I am going to use all my toiletries before I buy anymore, (I received lots for birthday and Christmas). We don not go silly at Christmas but I am going to have to have some chats with my family about how much we spend.
    I want to use my extra time growing more healthy chemical free food and spending more quality time with my husband, siblings and elderly mum, dad, aunts and uncles.
    Good luck the26thchoice on you life changing decision. I hope it works out for the best for you.
    2025 Fashion on a ration 0/66 coupons
    2025 Frugal challenge
  • Gem-gem wrote: »
    Hi, I have just dropped from 100% full time to four days 80% part time. Due to health. And I am loving the extra long weekend. Work know that my aim is to only work three days 60% and then get well enough to come off my medicines. We have staggered the drop as really they need me there full time (we have recently lost two members of staff). This I am happy about as it is helping me to manage my work diary and workload, also it is allowing me time to adjust to the lower salary.
    The drop from 100% to 80% has not been too much of a financial hit, because I was saving the around 20-25% of my net salary each month plus the tax etc has reduced. For me it is getting the outgoings in order so that I can make the next drop and continue to save. I do not want to dip into the safety net.
    Hubby and I already do ys/frugal food shopping, home/batch cooking, fruit growing, use voucher or offers when eating out or going away etc. We are having raised beds put into the garden so that I can do more vegetable growing. I now do my own pedicure saving £20 every eight weeks. I have made a conscious choice that I will not waste money on buying brand new books and full priced DVDs. I use the library and charity shops.I am no longer going to buy expensive hand washes. I am going to use all my toiletries before I buy anymore, (I received lots for birthday and Christmas). We don not go silly at Christmas but I am going to have to have some chats with my family about how much we spend.
    I want to use my extra time growing more healthy chemical free food and spending more quality time with my husband, siblings and elderly mum, dad, aunts and uncles.
    Good luck the26thchoice on you life changing decision. I hope it works out for the best for you.
    I too have just reduced from 5 days to 4 days. It will officially begin in April. I am allowed to work 2 days in the office and 2 days from home. I'm a little worried about the income reduction as there is just me but I am heartened to hear you managed it so well. Thank you.
    If you have built castles in the air, your work should not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them

    Emergency fund 0/1000
    Buffer fund 25/100
    Debt March -1,119 (April) -889 (April) -498 (April) -378 (May) -875
  • Gem-gem
    Gem-gem Posts: 4,604 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    edited 10 February 2018 at 11:22PM
    I too have just reduced from 5 days to 4 days. It will officially begin in April. I am allowed to work 2 days in the office and 2 days from home. I'm a little worried about the income reduction as there is just me but I am heartened to hear you managed it so well. Thank you.

    Just think, one day less travel, less work clothes ( I try and wear my bottoms for two days so only two changes of work bottom needed in a week).
    Try and adjust your spending now and if you haven!!!8217;t got anything to pay off put the differential for Feb and March away.
    I have worked out my budget for the year on my new salary. Now I need to do it for the 60% salary.

    Other changes -Andrex toilet paper to Lidl toilet paper
    2025 Fashion on a ration 0/66 coupons
    2025 Frugal challenge
  • IT might be a 20% reduction in your gross income, but in real terms it will be much smaller - you'll pay less tax, and as Gem-gem says, you'll be spending less on travel and clothes. And the time you gain is priceless, although I'm sorry to say that you probably won't get as much done as you think!
    Life is mainly froth and bubble: two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.
  • utopiah
    utopiah Posts: 316 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    I have also reduced my hours this year form 38hrs to 28hrs. I haven't lost as much money as I thought I would as I no longer pay tax (£50 under threshold). I also have time to look for deals, meal plan, go to different supermarkets to pick up offers etc. Weekends are no longer spent cleaning, shopping or batch cooking. I do all this in the week which frees hubby up to have a more relaxing weekend. I also walk to work now as i don't feel as tired. I save more on packed lunches as now just eat whatevers in fridge or cupboard whereas before i was buying things to eat specifically for my lunch. We still have a mortgage and manage to op but i can honestly say we dont feel any worse off than before. I guess we just have more time to be frugal.
    Mortgage free 25/9/2019 8years and 7 months early 😁😁😁
  • doingitanyway
    doingitanyway Posts: 9,776 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Mortgage-free Glee!
    Gem-gem wrote: »
    I have worked out my budget for the year on my new salary. Now I need to do it for the 60% salary.

    How are you getting on downshifting the additional 20%Gem Gem?
    I only have a few weeks left of a F/T salary. I currently pay for a weekly pass but as I will only be in the office 2 days a week I am thinking of paying fares for 2 days and setting myself a challenge to walk/cycle everywhere within a 5 mile radius on days not in the office. That would save me £12 a week :)
    If you have built castles in the air, your work should not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them

    Emergency fund 0/1000
    Buffer fund 25/100
    Debt March -1,119 (April) -889 (April) -498 (April) -378 (May) -875
  • Gem-gem
    Gem-gem Posts: 4,604 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    edited 4 March 2018 at 7:04PM
    Haven't spoken to family yet regarding cutting down - hopefully seeing siblings either at Mother's day or Easter.
    Car - my car is 5 years old (only 24,000 miles on the clock) Hubby's car is 7 years old with (40,000) on the clock - he will get wis freedom pass this year - so I am wondering a) do we need both cars if I am am only working 3 days - should we sell one? b) shall we keep both but when the time comes not replace it - then downshift to one car?
    Looking at what I am happy to down shift on eg expensive hand washes/ shower gels /jeans/ face washes - what I call consummerables but not deep hair conditioner/ face cream or good quality shoes, which can affect your body. Deep hair conditioner / face cream ( hubby bought me for Xmas - so presents will become more needs rather than wants.
    This year I have worked my budget out on 80%. What I need to do is reset the budget to 60% by April and start to live off it and save the rest and see how I feel.

    See that you are going to walk. Work is two miles away, sometimes I am in the office all day. Other times I am out and about. If on the days that I am only in the office - I should walk in. I will trial it because April I have to sign up for the car park again - cost £100 a year to have. (Which is a bargain - It is £5 a day if paying daily).
    It is all about choices. How much do I want to cut my hours down?
    2025 Fashion on a ration 0/66 coupons
    2025 Frugal challenge
  • Gem-gem
    Gem-gem Posts: 4,604 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Gem-gem wrote: »
    Haven't spoken to family yet regarding cutting down - hopefully seeing siblings either at Mother's day or Easter.
    Car - my car is 5 years old (only 24,000 miles on the clock) Hubby's car is 7 years old with (40,000) on the clock - he will get wis freedom pass this year - so I am wondering a) do we need both cars if I am am only working 3 days - should we sell one? b) shall we keep both but when the time comes not replace it - then downshift to one car?
    Looking at what I am happy to down shift on eg expensive hand washes/ shower gels /jeans/ face washes - what I call consummerables but not deep hair conditioner/ face cream or good quality shoes, which can affect your body. Deep hair conditioner / face cream ( hubby bought me for Xmas - so presents will become more needs rather than wants.
    This year I have worked my budget out on 80%. What I need to do is reset the budget to 60% by April and start to live off it and save the rest and see how I feel.

    See that you are going to walk. Work is two miles away, sometimes I am in the office all day. Other times I am out and about. If on the days that I am only in the office - I should walk in. I will trial it because April I have to sign up for the car park again - cost £100 a year to have. (Which is a bargain - It is £5 a day if paying daily).
    It is all about choices. How much do I want to cut my hours down?

    Ps: I know that I can do it short term but what about long term? - I am frugal through choice but it allows me to be extravagant in other ways/ travel to some amazing places eg see polar bears in their natural environment. I enjoy the challenge/ Chase of a bargain but will I if it wasn't a choice? I need to prove to myself that I can still save on 60% so that if i Need to replace something I can without hitting my savings / still travel (okay with it not being so often).
    2025 Fashion on a ration 0/66 coupons
    2025 Frugal challenge
  • Siebrie
    Siebrie Posts: 2,971 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 4 March 2018 at 10:38PM
    Moneywise I am sure it will not be a problem, as you will have more time for thriftiness. Workwise, however, may be different.

    I work as an Assistant to a member of the Exec Team and went from 100% to 80% on a government scheme (in Belgium, called time credit, where govt pays me EUR107/month for staying at home 1 day a week to take care of my child under 8). I had an Assistant colleague, and she was given a promotion last year (overdue - she deserves it!). Now, the work of 10 days (2 ft), needs to be done in 4. Trainees/temps/students/colleagues have been promised, but were never actually searched for or hired.

    I am off on Wednesdays, because dds school has a halfday then, which is slapbang in the middle of my working week, and not he best for the job. I do some thrifty stuff in the morning, then bake pancakes for dds and friends and spend the afternoon with them, building memories :). They are my focus, I am as loyal to my job as the job is to me (- not, they would fire me at the blink of an eye if it suited them).

    Sorry, I did not mean to rain on your parade. I think I just want you to make sure that the job can actually be done in the lesser time, and that you have the guts to say: these are my hours, they have now finished, see you tomorrow!
    Are you wombling, too, in '22? € 58,96 = £ 52.09Wombling in Restrictive Times (2021) € 2.138,82 = £ 1,813.15Wombabeluba 2020! € 453,22 = £ 403.842019's wi-wa-wombles € 2.244,20 = £ 1,909.46Wombling to wealth 2018 € 972,97 = £ 879.54Still a womble 2017 #25 € 7.116,68 = £ 6,309.50Wombling Free 2016 #2 € 3.484,31 = £ 3,104.59
  • A good point, Siebrie - I think there is a real risk in some roles that, in reducing your hours, you are just going to end up doing the same amount of work in less time.

    Is there someone else who will take on some of it, or are there certain discrete parts of the job that you can hand over to someone else/say that you're not doing in future?
    Life is mainly froth and bubble: two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.6K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.8K Life & Family
  • 256.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.