thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 3, 2011 11:52:58 GMT -5
Is it the best of both worlds, or the worst of both worlds?
If I could convince my boss to let me work part-time, and my responsibilities and my pay would reflect my decreased hours, what would I have to give up to balance the budget?
I would give up my cleaning lady. I would give up my lawn service. I would spend some time clipping coupons. We would probably eat out less (not that we eat out that much, anyway.) I would stop taking my car to the carwash.
So, yes, I would get more time at home, but I would also get a lot more chores. I would probably feel that I would need to do proportionally more chores than my husband, given he would still be working full time.
I think I wouldn't spend any more time with my kids - just more time doing chores.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jun 3, 2011 12:04:16 GMT -5
Yup, that's the way I see it. Not worth it to me.
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resolution
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Post by resolution on Jun 3, 2011 12:04:52 GMT -5
How many hours per month would you cut at work? How many hours does your cleaning lady clean your house? How many hours does the lawn service take? How much time would you spend on coupons and washing the car?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2011 12:05:44 GMT -5
I would like to work part time, but the stigma would not be worth it.
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Urban Chicago
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Post by Urban Chicago on Jun 3, 2011 12:09:01 GMT -5
I loved part time while I was doing it. I got to spend plenty of time with the kids, and the house was still clean, plus I got some income and some much-needed adult time.
Could you keep your health insurance?
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Jun 3, 2011 12:13:30 GMT -5
Yep, DH is self employed, so if I go PT, where do we get Health Insurance coverage. DH is borderline Diabetic, and I had cancer. DD suffers from migranes and has had two CT scans and a variety of other tests in the last 2 years.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Jun 3, 2011 12:15:46 GMT -5
Oh, yeah I remember reading that working part time is the worse that working full time or not working at all.
Everyone that knows you are not working full time will expect you to volunteer your time for their pet project, help at school, run the GS troop, coach the kids teams etc. You get to clean, do laundry etc etc. They say those that work PT work more hours than either stay at Home Moms or working Moms.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Jun 3, 2011 12:18:29 GMT -5
DH's employer expects me to carry my own insurance if I am employed. Otherwise they charge $24 a week for the privelege of having his crappy insurance. My benefits are far superior, cheaper and I can have both DH and DD on my plan. It makes sense for me to stay working full time.
So for me it'd be the worst of both, having to work but having to pay thru the nose for insurance since I would not be eligible for mine and it'd be a huge chunk out of DH's salary for me to be on his.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Jun 3, 2011 12:24:45 GMT -5
Once Spawn is born, I'm dropping down to 20 hours/week for a while (after my maternity leave). It is very normal to do at my work, so I will not get penalized for it (raises and promotions are still available, but if you work 20 hours/week, it takes twice as long to get a promotion as someone who works 40 hours/week). I still plan to split the house cleaning rougly 50:50 with my husband, but I may do a bit more if I feel like it (and will likely do more than 50% of the cooking and things like that). My husband will be working full time, but will also be spending about 1 day a week at home with the kid for a while (part paternity leave, part vacation time, part flex-time). We've decided we don't want to do full-time daycare (especially early on) and when we are home our "job" will be taking care of the kids, not doing housework. Because it's a decision we both wanted to make, we are both happy with living with a reduced income for a while. We will probably cut down on eating out and cut down on our non-retirement savings. This will delay home-remodel type projects that we don't really need anyways. My health insurance is already through my husband's work, so my benefits won't be affected by the shift.
But, if I would be reducing my hours to part time to just do more cleaning, that wouldn't be worth it to me. Everyone has to just do what they think will work in their circumstance/relationship.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Jun 3, 2011 12:33:21 GMT -5
I would not want to go part-time (though it's not really a possibility at my job anyway). I wouldn't mind working 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days, though...
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 3, 2011 13:52:30 GMT -5
Meh - I wouldn't do any of those things even if I won the trillion dollar lottery and had staff to hand-feed me bon-bons. It is easier to say "no" when I can just say "Sorry, I gotta work." But, I'm pretty sure I would be able to say "Sorry, that isn't my thing."
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Post by debtheaven on Jun 3, 2011 20:15:42 GMT -5
Is it the best of both worlds, or the worst of both worlds? To me it was both. I have nearly always worked PT (60% to 80% of FT). But I am in Europe and I think it is easier to do that here. I am educated so I wanted to work. I also wanted to spend time with my kids. No situation is ideal, I definitely "mommy-tracked" myself, but seriously, I have no regrets. I can see that it wouldn't be for everybody though. And at the time, sometimes it felt like I was in some kind of limbo, not doing either job properly. I still think it was a great opportunity for all of us, and ultimately beneficial. We have four kids, so I worked, but I also "ran" the house. I had one to two days a week for shopping / doctors' appts / etc. One merit to working PT is, I nearly NEVER took an unplanned day off in 18 years. I can only count one. We have never had lawn service, and I still have a cleaner. I pay my kids to wash my car (once a year) and we don't have coupons here. I hate cooking but I cook five nights a week (DH cooks on weekends). We don't go out to dinner often. I had the opportunity to leave my job with a nice severance package two years ago, when I only had two kids left at home FT, and embark on a new career. So I did. I still work PT but now I sometimes work crazy hours. Sometimes I go out of town for the day and I'm gone 18 hours. Other times I teach night classes. Other times I start at noon and get home late. That's OK though, the kids are older now, and I'm still home sometimes. But I feel like my regular PT work when they were all young enabled them to be steady and stable and autonomous, if that makes any sense. ETA: Today my two older kids (23 and 24) often tell me how lucky they felt growing up, because they had their mom at home sometimes, but not TOO often LOL.
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bring in the new year
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Post by bring in the new year on Jun 3, 2011 20:23:35 GMT -5
In this economy, I say no.
And I work part time.
The problem is depending on how stable your employment is, you become the first person they can cut. If it's only part time they think someone else can pick the work up.
So the more important questions to me are
1. Are there other established part timers in this office? 2. Are there other part timers who have worked here for more than nine months? 3. Is this office well organized enough that my being gone part of the day will not impact them? 4. How does my boss and their boss feel about part timers or flex timers or whatever they call it? Have they encouraged other people to do it or would you be the first?
If it's already a well established way of working in your office, if your boss will not actually freak because you left at 2 and it positively absolutely has to be there tonight, then you might want to explore it with them.
But in this economy I would be worried about looking unnecessary.
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pammy831
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Post by pammy831 on Jun 3, 2011 21:44:11 GMT -5
I work part time also and I think it's great. To be fair though, it's very, very unlikely that I'll be getting laid off ever. I drive school bus for the county that I live in and they are always hiring new people because it's a job with such high turnover. I think I'd have to do something really bad or try to cover something up for them to fire me. I worked there for a week at the beginning of the school year, quit to move home while my DH deployed, and then they gladly took me back at the end of this school year, if that tells you anything lol.
I work 25 hours per week and I don't think the stuff I do around the house equals up to 15 hours. To be fair, I don't have any kids though. In addition, I've never had someone to clean or do the lawn either, so everything I do is stuff I'd have to do whether I worked 25 hours or 40, that's just how I look at it.
I work kinda weird hours but it allows me to spend the maximum amount of time with DH during lunch breaks, school holidays, summers, etc. We've been married almost 6 years and he's been deployed for 3 of them so the time I get with him is more important than having this over the top great career. I work from 6 - 9ish in the morning and then 1:30 - 4:30ish in the afternoon (it just all depends on what route I'm subbing on or what route I'll get once I get my own). My goal is to drive the bus for a while and then probably try to transfer to some type of administrative assistant position within the school district where I'll still get the holidays and summers off. However, that's probably a risky move since administrative people probably get cut quicker during a school budget cut than a school bus driver because it's like required that they run the buses.
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upstatemom
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Post by upstatemom on Jun 4, 2011 7:37:36 GMT -5
I work 20 - 25 hours per week and it works for me and my family. I do volunteer for community and school groups and I love that my schedule allows for it. It also allows me the flexibility to to attend my kids sports events, groceries shop during the week instead of tying up weekends. This time of year I could use more time to clean the the house, but hey Martha S. is not coming in anytime soon for a white glove test. I get my hc benefits thru DH and I do participate in my companies 401k.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on Jun 4, 2011 8:04:20 GMT -5
I have been lookingfor PT work for about 6 months. I have read a BUNCH of ads for jobs I can/have done & am VERY familiar w/how much time the listed responsibilities actually consume. NOT one has had a realistic idea of what a responsible, already trained and reasonably efficient person can accomplish accurately in 20-25 hours/week.
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upstatemom
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Post by upstatemom on Jun 4, 2011 8:08:10 GMT -5
Part time often works well. In many ways I think it is beneficial. I am sure many of you will disagree with my points, be here me out. First, i think it is helpful to one's homelife and marriage. It is helpful to have someone home a bit more to take care of problems like waiting for repair people, getting the groceries, banking, done, etc. I think it helps relieve stress off of both of you and can make for happier and more relaxed time together. NOT SAYING THIS APPLIES TO EVERYONE! HELLO! Also, for me, i am simply not a "high energy" person. God bless those who are, i wish i was one. I wish i could easily tackle full time employment, kids, home, church, volunteering, helping my mom and on and on. Sorry. I can't. I want to be home as much as possible with my kids. I want to be home as much as possible to make dinner and make the home function more smoothly. THAT IS ME! YMMM. So, for me it is the best of both worlds. i are not really part time but self employed but i have managed to set up a schedule that had reduced my previous full time hours. The bad points - you aren't getting benefits. Maybe some but not much. You have to weigh the loss off those benefits of sick time, vacation time, contributions to SS and retirement, life insurance, etc. For me, as self employed, i get NONE of those things. No work, no pay. I make my own life health, disability and retiremement plans. And PT is not necessarily a detriment to employers but a good thing for them. It is often cheaper for them to employ you. You might be able to offer them some flexibility, etc. Many employers WANT PTers. And, you could try it and if you don't like it, you could always go back and find a FT job as well. Ultimately, it depends on what your goal is. For us, it was to allow for a simpler lifestyle, a more relaxed family life and more time together. We want enough to be secure and comfortable but we can forgo some material things in preference to living how we want to. But, that doesn't mean we live check to check. Our home is paid, our cars our paid, we have retirement plans, etc. We just both know that life is short and we want to enjoy it while we can as well. Again, for 'high energy' types, i have friends that can do it all 24/7 without batting and eye. For them, it just wouldn't make sense. Well said Snerdley, I am in complete agreement about the part time work simplifing our family life for so many of the reasons you stated. I truly feel I have the best of both worlds for this state of our life. Once our children are in college I will seek a full time job or a second pt job.
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naturallyfrugal
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Post by naturallyfrugal on Jun 4, 2011 10:11:37 GMT -5
I work part-time (20 - 25 hours per week, on average) and it works really well for us. Like others have said, I am able to get the grocery shopping/errands done, mow the lawn, and straighten up the house (I'm not a good housekeeper) during "regular working hours." I'm also able to take our son to the doctor/dentist, sports' lessons, etc... without having either me or my husband taking time off from work. I worked full-time before moving and I still made time for everything, but this makes things so much easier/nicer for our family.
I should also add that my huband's income does make this possible and I know that's not always the case with other families.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 10:50:48 GMT -5
I worked part time for about 18 months and it was one of the happiest 18 months I ever experienced. I got laid off from one full time job and consulted for 18 months until I got my next (more than) full time job. I would work 4 hours in the morning and then hike or do my volunteer work in the afternoon. I might mix it up a bit and work a full day including field work and then take the next day off. I don't think the situation was going to be sustainable though. I had three paying clients and to keep my little consulting business going I would have had to spend time marketing my services. I've done it before when I was a real estate agent but I have to admit I hate making the rounds telling everyone how wonderful I am. The plan was to give my future employer a chance to "try before you buy" during the 90s recession. Because of the public agency process hiring me took a little longer than originally planned (14 months to create the job, fund, and hire). And while I didn't mind the time I was very lucky that DH had a great job that not only supported me but also had good health care benefits.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Jun 4, 2011 11:06:37 GMT -5
Snerdly,
I completely understand what you are saying, but as I said my DH is considered "self employed" so he has not health insurance benes. He does however have a thriving business, so as soon as he got busy he would put me to work - so I would not spend any more time at home than I do now.
My plan for the summer is to get my kids doing more house work. Wish me luck!
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telephus44
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Post by telephus44 on Jun 4, 2011 12:24:08 GMT -5
Honestly, I've been thinking about it. There was a woman in my dept who said she was coming back after maternity leave, changed her mind while on leave that she wasn't coming back, her replacement quit, and she ended up with a "work from home consulting" type position. She's hourly, keeps track of when she works, and just submits for her hours. Last time she was in she said it was about 30 hours a week. I really don't really want to work from home, but I would love to work out a 30 hour week with my employer. However, I do carry the benefits for the family (medical and dental). We're currently going for #2, so maybe I'll just see what the situation is when that finally happens.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 6, 2011 11:25:34 GMT -5
A lot of energy can work for you, or work against you. When I was younger I couldn't focus the energy into a lot of productive activities - but I had plenty of energy to get into all sorts of trouble. Now, I'm much better at channeling the energy, but I still find it works against me in certain situations. I wish I was the type of person who could just sit and focus on things like "hanging out" with my kids. I find now that unless my time is productive, it holds no value to me.
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fairlycrazy23
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Post by fairlycrazy23 on Jun 6, 2011 11:32:08 GMT -5
I thought this was going to be about 'extra' part time work;which normally isn't worth it because of our tax code, sweeping the floors for the local mom/pop store for minimum wage doesn't look so good when that is money is taxed at your maximum rate.
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Post by jospaced on Jun 6, 2011 11:33:33 GMT -5
I think it depends upon your personal circumstances. For me, I work 25 hours a week and collect 2 pensions. This allows me to take care of my elderly parent more than I ever could have working full time. My employer offers healthcare benefits and sick, personal, vacation time as long as I maintain the 25 hours. It works for my particular situation.
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Jun 6, 2011 11:43:25 GMT -5
I always worked part time from the time my kids were born until they were in middle school. And even then I was working 4 9hr days. I always liked part time. I thought it was the best of both worlds. I got to spend time with my kids growing up and volunteer at school and stuff. But I would have gone crazy as a full time at home mom. I never planned on having a housekeeper or lawn service. DH did carry all of our Health Insurance and I did save as much as possible for retirement. I admit I never really advanced, except in salary and experience. This is a health care field. So part time flexible hours are fairly common and there isn't that much to advance to. Only in the last few years have I become a supervisor and worked more than 40 hrs a week.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Jun 6, 2011 12:21:18 GMT -5
I think the ability to work part-time and still have a stable job depends a lot on your individual work environment. At my company, many of the managers/bosses work part time (or did when they had young children) and some have it set up to work part time from home. Because of this, they are a lot more understanding and willing to work around schedules. We also have two different types of part-time workers, casual part-time and regular part-time. The regular part-time workers are treated just like regular full-time workers, they just recieve reduced pay and benefits according to their number of hours.
Also, I'm not particularily worried about getting let off. I've had two of my managers completely freak out in the past few weeks when they suspected I was quitting. I'm thinking if they are worried about me quitting, they probably don't want to fire me... Because it's so accepted in my company to work part time when you have young kids, it really doesn't make you more likely to get fired. My companies policy is if they like you and like the work you do, they will do what they can to keep you on-staff as long as you want to be.
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ohmomto2boys
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Post by ohmomto2boys on Jun 6, 2011 12:58:18 GMT -5
I started part-time when my son was born. 26 hrs per week at a job I had for 15 yrs. They took one major component of my job and gave it to someone else (I was not sad about this) so that I could work reduced hours. Love it. However, I do most of the work around the house since I work less. I clip coupons. I take the kids to dr appts, pictures, etc. I don't really mind.....it beats working 40 hrs a week. Hopefully, I will never have to go back to full-time. My oldest son starts kindergarten this August and I can change my work schedule to 5 - 5 hr days. So, no before or after care required. I can get him on the bus (or take him), go to work and be home before he gets home. My work will have to fire me to get rid of me.
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Jun 6, 2011 13:08:41 GMT -5
I interviewed for a Clinic Lab job once and said that I would prefer part time work. The manager said he didn't like to hire part time because he thought they placed their families before their job. Well, duh! Needless to say, I was not a good fit.
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kimber45
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Post by kimber45 on Jun 7, 2011 9:50:06 GMT -5
I guess I'm kinda strange but I worked pretty much full-time, even after DS was born. There were a couple of years when I was "laid off" for the winter months at one job.
When I lost my last full-time job, DS had just graduated from HS. I went on unemployment for 6 months (the max at the time). I lucked into my current job which is part-time 20 hours a week.
There are times when I feel guilty that DH has to carry the load of a full-time job to provide our health benefits. I would like to be able to do that someday so he can retire and run our shop full-time.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jun 7, 2011 16:15:14 GMT -5
So, yes, I would get more time at home, but I would also get a lot more chores. I would probably feel that I would need to do proportionally more chores than my husband, given he would still be working full time.
I think I wouldn't spend any more time with my kids - just more time doing chores.
How part-time are you talking? 5 six hour days? 5 four hour days? 3-4 eight hour days?
Don't forget if you work 6 or less hours, you probably won't be taking a lunch break, so that's an extra hour/day you'll have at home.
How many hours/week do you think it would take you to do the chores you currently hire out?
How much time could you free up in the evening if you didn't have chores to do?
What do your kids do now after school and would that change if you were home?
If your kids spend their time after school at activities with their friends and you do most of your housework on the weekends and the only things you worry about during the week are dishes & dinner, then maybe it wouldn't add more time with your family. If you really hate the chores, then maybe working full-time is worth it to you.
If you currently spend your evenings running around doing laundry and helping with homework and gathering things for the next day, how nice would it be to be home by noon or 2pm and have the errands all run in the middle of the afternoon when the stores aren't busy and be able to have the chores done by the time the kids get home and have homework done and one-on-one time with the kids before your husband gets home and dinner on the table earlier, so that dishes can be done then the whole family can relax together for a few hours every evening and free up time on the weekend to do fun things rather than running errands and not be exhausted when you get to bed?
How much to you spend on the carwash that it would be cheaper to do it at home? I pay $12/mo for unlimited washes and you couldn't pay me to wash the car. If it wasn't that cheap, the car would just stay dirty.
How many hours/week is your cleaning lady there? Maybe 3-4? Would it really take you much longer once you got used to it? What about the lawn service? How much time would that take? How much time would you really spend clipping coupons and planning meals? If it's more than an hour/week, then you're being obsessive.
Would your work let you take some personal time and try the schedule for a couple of weeks to see if you like it before you ask for it to be a permanent thing? Or maybe it would be a summer thing?
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