Working?

[SabbathD]

So, who is going back to work? Have you already gone back? If not, are you still planning on going back? For those of you opting to stay home, is it something that you had to change some of your lifestyle options to make it financially feasable? The reason I am bringing this up, is because I was planning on going back to work, but I just REALLY don't want to. I don't know what we need to do to cut corners around here, but we would definately have to cut corners for me to stay home, and I didn't know what tips other mom's might have. Also, I was just interested in the mom's that ARE going back to work, how are you planning on handling baby care?

[MsGrizzle]

I'm the breadwinner, so no choice but to work. Would love to stay home though! I have a neighbor lined up to watch the baby. She came highly recommended from several different people so hopefully it will all work out. I dread returning to work and leaving him though. I remember a lot of tears when I went back last time...I will be returning around the end of October.

[SabbathD]

Originally Posted by soapdiva

I'm the breadwinner, so no choice but to work. Would love to stay home though! I have a neighbor lined up to watch the baby. She came highly recommended from several different people so hopefully it will all work out. I dread returning to work and leaving him though. I remember a lot of tears when I went back last time...I will be returning around the end of October.

s mama!

[Maxine45]

i'll be staying home.
corners we are cutting to make it work include:
cancelled cable - baby won't be watching tv anyway
cancelled cell phone - never used it, just kept it for labor communications
no more lunches out for me during workday - easily 200/month
no more commuting costs for me

we don't blow cash going out to dinners anymore - can't really take newborn out anyway. (i guess this is a temporary change though)

[TanyaS]

Five years ago I was planning on going back to work. Then my ds was born. Even my dh, who thought I should go back to work, just couldn't let someone else be responsible for him. Our decision was what we wanted for our family and may not be best for another family. We are by no means wealthy (far from it, actually), and are still suffering from bad financial decisions pre-single income, but we have juggled our finances from the beginning to make it possible for us. We're constantly tweaking our budget and looking at things from a fresh perspective. Things we couldn't do without three years ago, we now question. Each family has their own comfort zone they are in. What we do is approach it from a new perspective. If our goal is to have me stay home with the kids, how is what we are doing helping us achieve that goal?

It made it easier for us because I might as well have been paying my employer to be at work after all the expenses. We were so undecided until the very last minute that I ended up back at work to give my two weeks' notice. I felt that I should, so I pumped for two weeks. It takes a huge committment to make pumping and working work. I have a huge respect for the moms who make that committment. Also, I had to ask myself some hard questions about being a WOHM. I had to admit to myself that the little bit of extra income would not be worth my sanity. I know myself well enough that I would be a completely stressed out mama and it would not be good for me or my family.

The things we don't have we don't really miss. Sure, vacations to far off places would be nice, and someday our finances will have room for that. But those places will all be there long after the childhood years of my children are gone. We also don't have cable tv, but I can't stand 3/4 of what's on it anyway. I wish I could just subscribe to local channels, PBS Kids, Discovery, TCL, etc, but I can't. We don't feel deprived of anything. We still eat out, and spend too much money, to be honest. DSL internet connection is the one thing that we splurge on each month. It's our entertainment!

So now I sit here still waiting for our third baby and I'm still home with the kids. They are totally worth it and I'm so thankful that I'm able to be with them. To me, the only downside to being a SAHM is the boring, boring housework. But you know what? That would still have to be done if I worked outside the home. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm vacuuming the floors - again!

As far as the intellectual stimulation of work goes, I found an organization who's cause I truly believe in and have volunteered for the last three years. It is my passion and what I think is my true calling. It's also very, very far from where I thought I would be when I was in college. But it's what I love, and nothing I studied in college was what I loved. When my children are older, I will probably look for a new focus. Maybe education for myself or something else. The beauty of it is the wide array of possibilities.

[ashtree]

Im not going back to work. We dont really have a lot of credit out-and I got rid of my car because we are moving to a more biker friendly area (Side note-Sabbath-my husband got a job offer in Auburn WA-we will probaly be in Olympia by September-hope its as cool as people make it out to be )

Other than that Im doing a two week meal plan to cut down on eating out, and we are avid coupon cuters!!!

I dont really know what else to recommend-we dont have television but my DHs commute to work tends to be the most expensive monthly expense, so he drives with no AC-which is not easy when you live in Texas.

[SabbathD]

Originally Posted by ashtree

Im not going back to work. We dont really have a lot of credit out-and I got rid of my car because we are moving to a more biker friendly area (Side note-Sabbath-my husband got a job offer in Auburn WA-we will probaly be in Olympia by September-hope its as cool as people make it out to be )

Hey cool! Olympia is awesome, very crunchy. If you don't mind me asking, if he got an offer for Auburn, then why all the way down in Olympia? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Olympia, but that's a bit of a drive. My husband works in Tacoma, which is north of Olympia and that's still half an hour away. Are you already in the state? If you were gonna be closer than Olympia I would say you should come and join us at our knitting group, but it's up in Kent and that's even more north than Auburn.....

Very, very cool!! I may have to PM you and get some more details....

[fenwickmama]

i'm staying home. my last paycheck was issued last week-now the nailbiting begins! not to mention, dh is jobsearching and will probaby have to take a paycut to move into the work he wants to do-it should be interesting!!!

[~pi]

I'm going back to grad school, not work, so it's a lot more flexible. I'm officially starting back in January, but may do some work between now and then because I'm starting a new fellowship and it will be easier if I start back already a little ahead of the game.

DH is taking paternity leave January - April. For the summer, we'll just catch as catch can. I don't have to be at the lab as often in the summer, anyway. We'll have to see how we're doing at that point.

We may start part time daycare in Sep 2007, or I might try to organize a co-op with some other grad student parents I know.

[mimi_n_tre]

Well, its official....

I go back to work next weekend. I will work 2 days a week, so it will give us a little extra income that we desperately need. I guess I should start pumping.

[gumby74]

I have two interviews scheduled for next week. One of them is for 20hours/week and the other is for 30 hours/week. I'm going back mostly to have a way to meet people and socialize. It has been a hard transition for me since we moved and I need to get out more. I also enjoy being able to bring in my own money, but don't want to do it full-time. Not sure what we are going to do about daycare yet. If it ends up costing more than I will be making, then I guess I won't be returning to work. Also worried about how I am ever going to be able to trust someone enough with my DS?

[JenMidwife]

Originally Posted by gumby74

I'm going back mostly to have a way to meet people and socialize. It has been a hard transition for me since we moved and I need to get out more. I also enjoy being able to bring in my own money, but don't want to do it full-time.

Lurking from the August DDC (waiting patiently to meet my babe!)...

I know that you're not looking for validation, but I just wanted to give a little shout out that these are all really valid reasons for wanting to go back to work. Every mom who works doesn't neccessarily work for financial reasons (I wish that everyone had that choice)...

My aunt insists that she is a better mother because she works part-time. Since she's able to continue her professional life, she is able to be more fully present & appreciate her family life. & that makes a lot of sense to me, knowing her personality.

Just my 2 cents.

[KarenEMT]

Luckily I work at home, because I got no (paid) leave at all. I just got this great job during the pregnancy and promised I would keep working as much as possible. So Elizabeth was born last Friday and I went back to work part-time on Monday. The plan is to increase my volume until I'm back at regular work levels in mid to late September once BFing is more established, etc.

For my part-time job as church organist, it is so very hard to get a replacement. I took off last Sunday but will be back (with baby) this Sunday. I have everyone's blessing to nurse at the organ if I need to.