As you know, I've started working at a cafe a few hours a week while my kids are in school. At first I thought it would be "no big deal". The kids are in school, so I'm not missing anything. I still have two full days PLUS the weekend at home to catch up on chores. Oh, and the extra money would be fantastic! I figured it would be ideal.
WRONG
You can't have BOTH worlds.
I am so exhausted when I get home, making me pretty worthless at night (keep in mind even though I get off work when my kids get off school, I don't get home until after 6:30 because of soccer, dance, etc). I am unable to keep up on daily chores (like laundry, cleaning floors, etc). So, three days a week I get NOTHING done. On the two days off I have such a huge amount of housework, I can hardly catch up. Another BIG negative is: When do I help out at the school? One of the main reasons we felt at peace about putting our kids in school was our personal involvement AT the school. Now I have little to no time to volunteer. NOT good.
Now let's dispel that myth about making money. Lets do a little math.
After taxes I make $150.00 a week
Extra gas to get to work $15
Extra cost of my kids having to buy school lunch $40
Convenience foods for dinner 3X a week $45
Cost of my own lunch 3X a week $15
My total work costs: $115
So, I'm working for basically $35 a week. Pretty dumb huh.
Let's not forget the non monetary costs! Uh, like my sanity. Or maybe my lack of time to exercise? The lack of time I have to be in God's word.
Let me let you all in on a little secret. I miss cleaning my house! Yes, I said it. Oh, and I miss planning frugal menus, and baking for my family. I miss volunteering. I had it SO good as a stay at home mom, I feel almost guilty!
Now I'm left with some choices to make. I just told the cafe I was going down to 2 days a week (which was all I was originally supposed to do, but they keep scheduling me for more UGH.) I want to quit, BUT, I also want to set a good example for my children. If I left immediately I would leave the cafe in a terrible situation (and it's a small town... I'd have serious evil gossip about me). So, I guess we shall see how I get myself out of this one.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Stay at Home Moms Should STAY HOME!
Posted by ConservaChick at 7:59 AM
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11 comments:
You are worth WAY more than that! Sometimes I think about finding some part time work to help with expenses but I remember the last time I worked and how it took all of my energy with nothing left over for anything else. Now I have more kids and I just don't think I could do it. Sure sounds fun though in a really un-realistic way.
We're in the same boat. I so badly want to bring in money to help pay the bills, but I know that it wouldn't be worth my time.
I haven't worked in years so I don't even know if I could handle going back into the work force...lol.
I found it to be a lot of work when I taught preschool a couple of days a week- I only worked till 2, but getting out of the house in the morning almost killed me! And that was with just 3 kids. Hopefully you can just faze out of your job. I can appreciate you not wanting to leave them in a tough position. I have found that when someone says that they will stay on a job until someone else is hired, often the business is less motivated to find someone. Maybe if you want to quit, you could give them a reasonable time limit.
I TOTALLY understand where you're at. I decided to quit (and I only work 1 1/2 days). I wasn't working for the {very little} money anyways. My problem? I actually enjoy what I do when I'm there so it seems strange to give it up. But I guess my sanity IS worth SOMETHING! ....and so is yours. :)
I hear you! I have toyed with the idea of WOTH but with 2 kids in school and 2 needing childcare, it's not worth the $$$. I do lots and lots of Ebay to bring in cash for Christian school tuition.
Hang in there!
Sounds like you've thought it through pretty well. I spent some time recently agonizing about working from home and decided against it. Reading this post encourages me much and confirms my decision. So thanks! :)
I think you are realizing that you're much more valuable to your family if you are at home. I think the Lord will bless you tremendously with wisdom and ideas on how to be a full time SAHM and have your financial needs met.
My son is 10. He didn't have problems today and I'm hoping that continues. :-D
Angela
I work too, but have found a little hidden treasure, called self employment! I clean homes and offices some nights and some weekends-this works better for me because I homeschool. It pays really well...like over $20 an hour well! I get to make my own hours, work as many hours as I want and I get to say I have my own business =) I have been doing it since Sept '01 and I have not advertised since maybe '03 '04. Word of mouth has been all I have needed. At one point I had 5 employees and about 25 or so clients, but that got to be too much on a homeschool mom who just had a new baby so I scaled back to only what I needed.
Just wanted to share that with you so you could have another idea to think about instead of working for someone else.
Latte
Nice on doing the math on that. A real eye opener.
~Amy
oh wow. i'm at the threshold on this decision on whether to go back to work or not. this gave me a whole lot to think about! great advice on this one!
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