2022 - Moving forward

jwil

I dislike milk too, and if I eat cereal, have it with yoghurt.  I don't drink hot drinks at all.  I'm more fussy with drinks than I am with food.  I drink water 90% of the time with the occasional 7up or coke, or orange juice.  I very very rarely drink alcohol but if I do it's vodka based, no wine, beer, cider, other spirits etc.

I only have two 'textural' issues with foods - bananas and eggs.   I dislike the taste and texture of bananas so never eat them.  I used to be almost phobic about eggs, but have largely got over that.  If I do eat eggs they need to be rubber - I can't stand a hint of runny yolk or white.

jwil

I've sold something on ebay today so that's a nice surprise.  Something I was contemplating reducing but hadn't got round to so even better.

I was so glad I didn't have to travel with all that rain today, I don't like motorway driving in the rain.

I'm contemplating putting in for compressed hours at work - so do my full time work over 4 days instead of 5.  I'm trying to think through the pros and cons.

Pros -

• a day off in the week - time to myself and also a clear house to be able to do housework/hobbies.
• One day a week guaranteed with the kids when they are on school holidays
• Still getting full pay and pension
• I could probably do 2 days at home and 2 in the office, so no extra childcare needed.
• Better work/home life balance.
• If work agreed and I wanted to change back again if it didn't work out, they'd let me.

Cons - 

• 2 very long days in the office would be needed if I wanted to keep the two days at home from not being too long
• Those 4 days would be tiring and busy, but I would have 4 days of busyness rather than 5.
• I wouldn't build up as much flexi as it wouldn't be easy to do additional hours, but I'd have the extra day each week anyway.
• Hassle if the kids were ill or I needed to collect them from school - though I could work from home and now have childcare help as well.

Am I missing anything else?  I've spoken to DH and as usual he's just told me to do what I think is best 🙄.  There's no guarantee that work would agree, but I don't see any reason why not.  I worked compressed hours before, but it was just 4.5 days rather than 4.  I stopped as I didn't really gain from the half day. I prefer longer days rather than shorter days as I can get stuck into things.  It would be 2 days in the office rather than 1, but I think I'd need to do that to get the hours in and avoid getting distracted when the kids come home.

I probably won't do anything for a while, I want to mull it over a bit.

beanielou

All the people who I know who do compressed hours love them.
Go for it is my vote.
As you say if it does not work out then you can revert 

CRANKY40

@jwil my son and I both have sensory eating issues. I don't like wet food and he has similar to you. Bananas make him gag and he won't eat eggs because "they look wrong". He's never had a fizzy drink - he drinks water. He has dyscalculia and we're both hypermobile. When I was in junior school I was bullied for using long words (I read a lot). We work with coping strategies when we can. Discussing a situation and working out what might happendoes help. High school was easier for me as that's where I met my best friend and she just punched anyone who upset me....

jwil

beanielou said:

All the people who I know who do compressed hours love them.
Go for it is my vote.
As you say if it does not work out then you can revert 

Thank you   I love the idea but wonder if I'm being blinded by the thought of a day off.  It's good to know that you know people doing it and enjoying it

CRANKY40 said:

@jwil my son and I both have sensory eating issues. I don't like wet food and he has similar to you. Bananas make him gag and he won't eat eggs because "they look wrong". He's never had a fizzy drink - he drinks water. He has dyscalculia and we're both hypermobile. When I was in junior school I was bullied for using long words (I read a lot). We work with coping strategies when we can. Discussing a situation and working out what might happendoes help. High school was easier for me as that's where I met my best friend and she just punched anyone who upset me....

Thank you - that's a really good idea about discussing and talking about what may happen.  I shall do that.  She does respond when I do things like that.  Your best friend sounds amazing

Sunshine_girl2

jwil said:

I've sold something on ebay today so that's a nice surprise.  Something I was contemplating reducing but hadn't got round to so even better.

I was so glad I didn't have to travel with all that rain today, I don't like motorway driving in the rain.

I'm contemplating putting in for compressed hours at work - so do my full time work over 4 days instead of 5.  I'm trying to think through the pros and cons.

Pros -

• a day off in the week - time to myself and also a clear house to be able to do housework/hobbies.
• One day a week guaranteed with the kids when they are on school holidays
• Still getting full pay and pension
• I could probably do 2 days at home and 2 in the office, so no extra childcare needed.
• Better work/home life balance.
• If work agreed and I wanted to change back again if it didn't work out, they'd let me.

Cons - 

• 2 very long days in the office would be needed if I wanted to keep the two days at home from not being too long
• Those 4 days would be tiring and busy, but I would have 4 days of busyness rather than 5.
• I wouldn't build up as much flexi as it wouldn't be easy to do additional hours, but I'd have the extra day each week anyway.
• Hassle if the kids were ill or I needed to collect them from school - though I could work from home and now have childcare help as well.

Am I missing anything else?  I've spoken to DH and as usual he's just told me to do what I think is best 🙄.  There's no guarantee that work would agree, but I don't see any reason why not.  I worked compressed hours before, but it was just 4.5 days rather than 4.  I stopped as I didn't really gain from the half day. I prefer longer days rather than shorter days as I can get stuck into things.  It would be 2 days in the office rather than 1, but I think I'd need to do that to get the hours in and avoid getting distracted when the kids come home.

I probably won't do anything for a while, I want to mull it over a bit.

Ho Jwil , always a lurker on your diary but I do compressed hours so thought I would give you my perspective . I started off originally on 10 days in 9 , then 5 days in 4 . I work 7.30 until 5 with 30 min lunch. I found it hard at first , but now would never go back to 5 days a week. I don't have children though so can do the early start. The thought of only doing 4 days spurs me on every Monday morning. What day would you like to take off ? 

I am going part time in June but still doing 2 9 hour days . Your pros and cons list is very good . 

savingholmes

If you are considering compressed hours - while it is tempting to pick a Monday or Friday as a day off - you may benefit more from a mid week day off. 

I've sent you a PM Jwil about autistic traits in girls - which are different to those of boys. I found it really helpful.

peb

Joining in on the compressed hours, I did 7.15 to 5, I'm an early riser so it worked.  However I really was shattered by Friday and it meant Friday night was a right off.  I had a relatively easy drive in but using the park and ride meant less buses so traffic was bad it was easy to be late.  I went home in rush hour traffic.  I preferred this so I could swim on the way home which I'd have struggled with if I finished later.  I did it so as to look after my mum one day a week and give my dad a day off so my none working day was tiring which didn't help.  

another_casualty

Forgot to ask a strange question regarding cereal 🥣
I had decided a couple of weeks ago to get special k ( no milk ) . I noticed it looks different since I was a kid . It tastes sweeter for some reason and looks darker . Maybe it's just me.
I do porridge with water ( minimal ) with honey now and again ,and have thought about the dried cereal approach just for a change . 

Anyway ,   as you were ...😼

Humdinger1

another_casualty said:

Thanks @EssexHebridean😼
we're not too unsimilar regarding milk / cereals / texture etc 
In my most horrendous situation in infants school , " dinner ladies"  forced me to have salads with mash which  was hard and wasn't cooked properly etc 🤮.
The good news is that they are probably dead now . Some of the  salad had  caterpillar type things in them . I can still remember me sitting in the back of the classroom with other pupils in the infant school , and I saw my mum in the distance with her hands around 5he head priests throat. He had a reputation as being too strict . She never knew it was the " dinner ladies " that were causing me to bite my nails and fingers till there was swelling and green puss building up 🤮. Everything stopped after that , and I never had school dinners in that school again . 

I still detest spring onions , salad and most veg to this day .

Enough of that , I'm gonna have some green &blacks 🍫 😼

@another_casualty I love the sound of your mum! Did she, by any chance, go on to shoot the sheriff? I refused milk and was luckily at a pretty advanced school that didn't insist.  Mind you, we did have one insane teacher who berated us for not noticing that the class budgie had vanished and then informed us that the headmaster had 'shot it with his big gun.'  Was there a hidden message in there or perhaps it was Cockney rhyming slang?