How many hours a week do you work?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Just wondering, what is stopping poeple from actually putting family first?

I think it is much of what Bookie said. Lots of people think they are putting family first by working a zillion hours so they can buy lots of stuff for their family. Of course, stuff isn't what makes a happy family. Time together is what makes a happy family. But far too many people don't see that.

The other piece of that is that lots of people build their lifestyles when they are young and newly married. Once kids come along, they don't want to give up the lifestyle they've gotten used to even though there are now more demands on their income, so they work more to cover the added costs of raising a family.

Originally Posted by lrjohnson

I'd take a 25% pay cut today to work 25% fewer hours. It's not that i don't love my job, it's that I'd love spending more "me" time: reading, seeing friends, travelling, puttering, learning new skills. I've mentioned this to people, and they just look at me like I am crazy....25% less money??? Somehow they don't see the free time as valuable!!!!

I understand this completely as I've actually done this. From 1993 to early 2000, I worked in a very demanding job. Lots of hours, 2 late nites/week, on call every other weekend, etc. I really enjoyed it for the most part, learned a great deal, got terrific experience and was being reasonably well compensated.

But when I first started, I was married less than a year, didn't own a home and had no kids. Once I had a house and a child, the job gradually became less appealing. By 2000, my daughter was 4-1/2 and old enough to start wondering why Daddy was never home. I decided I had enough and quit, even though I had no other job prospects lined up.

I was out of work for nearly 3 months and honestly put almost no effort into finding another job. I enjoyed every moment of that time. I spent time with my family. We traveled quite a bit - 10 days in Disney World, a week in Las Vegas. I sold on ebay heavily which I love doing. Finally, a job came along. It was part-time at first for about 1/2 of my previous income. I took it and I'm still there over 6 years later. The hours and pay gradually increased, but even now I'm making less than if I had remained at the old job. BUT, I work fewer hours, have less responsibility, have weekends off and spend a lot more time with my family. So I very willingly and happily sacrificed money for time and don't regret that decision at all.

[abowers]

As a preschool teacher I worked 40 hours a week, and took overtime occasionally -- but working four 10 hr days, I would have burned out much sooner if I took overtime every week. I needed that break in the middle of the week to recharge!

Now I am a graduate student -- I'm taking 12 credit hours of grad classes afternoons & evenings (I have class until 10pm, 3 nights a week), I am working 20 hours during the week, plus babysitting 10 hours every week, with an additional 6 hours of babysitting every other week.
That's about as much as I can handle right now while needing to do tons of reading and other assignments & papers for grad school.

On the side -- I also make knitted bags to sell, which brings in some extra income (more in spurts than continuous, because they sell at shows, etc.), as well as do some surveys online, which brings in marginal extra income ($10-20/month).

I take any additional weekend babysitting if I can fit it in.