Leaving the workplace to 'work' at home

HairyHandofDartmoor

thriftlady wrote: »

Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn ?

I've got that! Some of it I didn't understand because it is very American, but it really got me thinking about how to save money.

What she said about how much money it costs to actually work (clothes, travel, takeaways as too tired to cook etc) I found very interesting. Also the money saved by reusing things etc when worked out on an hourly basis was intriguing.

Some of her money saving techniques were a little too extreme for me (wearing holey socks :eek: ) but it is definitely worth a read, and may influence some people to give up work as they may not be worse off at all financially by doing so.

It depends on whether you enjoy your work, but lots of people say they just do their jobs for money and would stop if they could so the maths could be well worth doing for them

Angelina-M

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Just add up your childcare and all the other associated costs of going back to work, together with all the savings you are able to make by just having more time (no takeaways due to having no time) and see what the difference is. You might find that an extra £whatever per month just isn't worth all that hassle and stress.

Its in that book, can't remember what its called, the American money saving one.....damn, someone will remember what its called. By that woman...........

Thats spot on. Once I took off my childcare costs, parking, money for my dinner in the subsidisesd canteen (I didnt ever have time to cook for me) petrol etc etc there wasnt a lot actually going into my bank. I really broke it down, even as far as the couple of pounds I'd need to put in the tin at work as it was always someone's birthday/wedding.... I had to work for thirty minutes for that.

I did everything as a saving of hours, so £10 a week petrol saved = just over two hours I didnt need to work. Its astonishing how many hours you save!

jellymid

As a mother of a 16 year old and a 12 year old who hasn't yet 'gone back to work', I did get quite defensive for a while when people asked.
Nowadays when I get asked if I work, I smile and say "Not in any paid capacity". Seems to work a treat - people assume whatever they want to!

Lotus-eater

thriftlady wrote: »

Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn ?

Thats it

Bollards

I'm a SAHM and now can't imagine being anything else. I was made redundant 2 days after the birth of DS1 and it's probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. I do miss the structure I had in the working day, and the financial independence, but realise that the stress I would endure putting my children into nursery would be far worse.

To me, it is FAR harder work being a SAHM than it ever was working in the office. I have total responsibility for my 2 sons 24/7 (DH is around too, but I am never able to switch off). I cook, clean, organise household maintenance, the finances and just about everything else I can think of, but I am very proud of what I have achieved in the last 3 years and am not at all ashamed to say that I am a housewife. I freely admit that before I had my boys, I did think that staying at home to look after them was the easy option, but I was soooooo wrong.

I do a bit of casual freelance work occasionally, which gets me out of the house when DH can look after the boys, and instead of it being a chore to go out to work for a day, I look forward to it as a rest!

kunekune

Careful, guys. Maybe some of us work because we want to? Maybe some of us earn enough for it to be worth working? I've been slightly following this thread and you have been pretty tactful but maybe another reminder here?

Also, there is an assumption that going back when kiddies are 6 months old is a choice. But it isn't. Not all jobs provide freelance opportunities. There are some career areas where you can't 'just take a few years off' while the children are young, cos you won't get back in (in my area, in any one country, worldwide, there might be 2-3 jobs in any given country a year. In a good year).

So please, just remember that all sorts of factors have to be taken into account, and just as you aren't useless for choosing to stay at home, others of us aren't selfish monsters just because we have chosen to try and keep our careers alive.

Angelina-M

kunekune wrote: »

Careful, guys. Maybe some of us work because we want to? Maybe some of us earn enough for it to be worth working? I've been slightly following this thread and you have been pretty tactful but maybe another reminder here?

Also, there is an assumption that going back when kiddies are 6 months old is a choice. But it isn't. Not all jobs provide freelance opportunities. There are some career areas where you can't 'just take a few years off' while the children are young, cos you won't get back in (in my area, in any one country, worldwide, there might be 2-3 jobs in any given country a year. In a good year).

So please, just remember that all sorts of factors have to be taken into account, and just as you aren't useless for choosing to stay at home, others of us aren't selfish monsters just because we have chosen to try and keep our careers alive.

Kunekune I dont think anyone has said anything against working mothers? You say you have been 'slightly' following the thread but I've been checking it carefully and I think everyone has said that its up to the individual.

I think we should all have a choice - my point is a lot of women are working who dont want to and its those that I hope will see the thread and think of a plan to see if it is viable for them to give up their job and concentrate on the home and children.

If a person wants to work then they should do and not worry what people think, exactly the same as a person who wants to stay at home!

Please dont feel that you are being picked on as from what i've read thats absolutely not the case :beer:

BusyGirl

I've been a primary school teacher for the past 15 years. I continued to work full-time after DD1 was born 11 years ago as we couldn't afford for me not to as we'd just bought our first house.
When DD2 was born 7 years ago I was able to return part-time doing a job-share so now I work 2 days one week and 3 days the next. This has been the perfect arrangement for all of us and I get the best of both worlds. I love my job as mum/wife but also as a teacher, so I'm really lucky.

But from my own personal point of view, going to work (in my job) is much harder than being at home. My job is full-on. I don't sit at a desk all day I'm on the go from the moment I walk into school, setting up the classroom, preparing lessons, teaching/caring for the children, dealing with problems with pupil/ parents/student teachers, tidying up, writing up observations, records, termly/weekly/daily planning etc
As I work with very young children the job is quite physical and I find I'm physically shattered after working my 2 or 3 days per week. However, I do enjoy my job but I look forward to the other days in the week when I can be a SAHM and be busy looking after my own children too. I also am lucky to have such great holidays which means I'm off with the children.

Everybody's circumstances are different and I do have friends who would love to be SAHMs but unfortunately they don't have that option. So I do appreciate how lucky I've been.

tattycath

I have been following this thread with keen interest. I have to say, I think that right through the thread it has been quoted that it is a choice thing and no one thinks they are better than any body else for working or being SAHM. Busygirl , I think you are lucky too, though I can imagine that it must be tiring-as well as rewarding. I help my OH with the business, though that doesn't mean it brings in more money-it's quite a fledgling business really and we are still bobbing about trying to keep our heads above water. I tend to be at work 5 days a week-unfortunately we can't work 'from home' at the mo as our home isn't big enough!!! So I waste over an hour a day travelling. Working with OH means my hours can be flexible and if my DDs need me i can be there but, it can be quite demanding too. OH didn't get in til 11.00pm last night. Anyway, I digress. I would like to be able to have more time as a SAHM and I am working on that. Problem is we just lack organisation. We do the job, we achieve the necessities, but desperately need organising. Any suggestions welcome please.

kunekune

Sorry, it was late at night so perhaps I didn't express myself as well as I might.

I should explain that I have been part of these wars so often I wanted to avoid one - you are much more sensible than the average American (wry smile) but it only takes one person to create a flame war. Everyone here was being very careful not to criticise, but especially once the quite anti-WOHM US material was being mentioned, the thread had the potential to go wrong.

I didn't feel criticised at all, but I did notice that most people who said they had chosen to work were doing it because they had to, not because they wanted to. This is a common fault line in any discussion. One of the ways in which SAHMs who are ideologically opposed to WOH manage to get on with WOHMs is by assuming we are only doing it for the money, and they may 'allow' us that motivation if it is based on true need. Hence in many discussions, it comes down to what one could give up in order to become a good mother. The WOHM in a low-income family, doing a job she hates in order to make ends meet, is much less likely to be criticised than the professional WOHM who has a job she loves and a partner who is also well-paid. Just as the SAHM who is a mum and whose children is young is much less likely to be criticised than the SAH wife without children, because WOHMs can see that it might not be practical.