If you work part time, what do you do with your spare time?

[losenotloose]

I've gone down to three days a week this week and I'm so excited! Lots of people have asked me what I'm going to do on my days off as if it's a bad thing, and yesterday a friend said be careful you don't waste your time on housework, cooking etc.

So, what do you do to fill your time?

single mum, work 3 days a week. On my 'non working days' I do, washing, garden, allotment, shopping, any DIY thats needed
My son has additional needs so I try and fit in all appointments related to him, any paperwork etc on those two days.
My son can be hard work so I fit in the gym and occasionally a massage/facial to keep myself sane. I also go to a support group every two weeks or so, we have breakfast, laugh, cry and support each other

I work for 3 hrs in the evening from 5-8 so my days are filled with school runs, baby groups, naptime (for the little one, and sometimes me), feeding, cleaning, appointments, general life stuff really.

Thanks for all your responses. I honestly think going part time is going to do great things for my mental health. I suffer with a degree of anxiety and working full time along with everything else doesn't help.

NorthEnd, sounds like you're doing well!

I work three days a week. I have no 'spare time' because I've got a one year old and a three year old! Frankly I get more spare time at work.

I work 3 days a week. On the other two days i leave off and collect my eldest to school, and as of last week my middle one to nursery. I have my 2yo at home with me, which is a full-time job in itself as he no longer naps. I volunteer at a church run Mums and tots group one of the mornings a week. I spend any other free time prioritising getting all the housework done so that we can enjoy our evenings and weekend as a family. Occasionally my Mum will take the youngest kids for a few hours and I can get my hair done, but that's only every 6 or 8 weeks or so.

Agree part time is amazing for mental health. Work issues became less significant and the work/life balance was so much better. I enjoy my family so much more now that we aren't frantically trying to cram everything in in the same way. It's a more laid back pace of life and I love it.

I work 3 days and the other two I do housework, family admin, cooking for the freezer, house stuff, kids stuff, exercise, volunteering, seeing friends. I get all of the boring stuff done so we can enjoy our weekends. DH works very long FT hours and often travels so most of the house/family stuff is down to me.

I love the balance, I know I'm lucky.

I work 3 days. On my days off I have 3yo ds. We do housework/cooking/occasionally meet a school run mum friend for coffee... and I do my planning and marking, which takes priority over all the above and takes loads of time 🙄

I do afterschool clubs in a primary school so I only work three hours a day. I love it because I have a 15 month old little girl so it means I get the whole day with her up until I have to go to work late afternoon.
Generally in my free time I keep the house looking nice, take my little one to playgroups and swimming, meet up with friends who also have young children, run errands around the shops, all that jazz really. I go and visit my mum a lot when shes looking after my daughter so thats lovely too.

I intend to go down to three days next year.
On my days off I intend to do absolutely nothing, apart from watch tv , read and drink copious amounts of Gild Blend
Really don’t care what others think of me

Gold

At the moment, I'm writing up my doctorate thesis. It's not much fun, to be honest. When I get a little bit of time, I like to sit and read, cook, sometimes go for a run. A friend has a dog and we love a long, long walk through the fields. When I'm feeling a bit stressed my favourite thing to do is to turn on Woman's hour and sort out some cupboards. Half a day doing the garden now and again is also lovely, when you don't have children underfoot. My son also has additional needs and meetings and appointments can take up a lot of time, as can attending school events, concerts etc. Like a PP, he's hard work at times and I need time just to recharge. I'm not quite sure I could work full time now, I love having peace, quiet and a little time to myself.

Assume you have school-age DC? Otherwise most of the time would be taken up with parenting.

Lots of SAHMs and PTimers I know do exercise often.

I work 2 days. The other days I take the kids to school, batch cook, clean, do a big shop, gym, help out with a charity and see friends. Love it!

Yes, dc are 12 and 10. Exercise is on my agenda but I'm putting it off!

Exercise is great if you find something you enjoy. Loads and loads of options. I’m no athlete but find it invaluable for my mental health.

Well I'm not going to have much of a budget so it'll have to be running or dvds! I'm planning on joining a running club once I've improved my fitness a bit.

I worked part time for around 6 years before having children.
Over the years I used it variously for:

• IVF (appointments & sleeping due to the drugs)
• helping attend appointments with PIL who lived an hour away
• swimming
• shopping & household admin
• volunteering in a nursey & after school club
• adoption homestudy

You need to find what works for you, the whole family and your DH/DP if you have one. What others do is less relevant.

Part time worker and parent of older DCs, it's probably fair if you do most of cooking, cleaning, organising and running DCs around, but you certainly shouldn't be the one that does everything. DCs are old enough to start doing some things for themselves, and DH should do some of the house stuff to.

But yes, you should be wary of the house stuff filling all your time and making time for exercise when you have the day to yourself is probably a good thing - you can run in daylight in winter or go to the gym when it is quiet.

But it's also probably not fair to your DH if you only do things for yourself during those two days, if he's working full time or more. He might decide he wants to work less than full time too.

But as long as you can afford not to work full time, there's endless possibilities that don't involve filling your time with housework, or going back to full time because you have run out of things to do.

I work 3 days a week. On my days off I have 3yr old DS2 and school runs for 5yr old DS2. A large portion of my time is spent doing cleaning, washing, cooking and general life admin. I try to take DS2 out to a local park, soft play etc. Or meet with friends and their children for a couple of hours. My house is a shit hole again by the end of my 3 working days.

I'm not sure what to do when DS2 starts school next year. I feel as if I should up my hours, but also know that means more days to find childcare in the holidays and less time to get stuff done. Also, I really like the thought of a bit of me time. I'd like to have time to excersise more.

I look after my two children, so it's the usual household rubbish. I have an incredible DH who always pitches in so I can actually spend my days with the kids WITH the kids. We do a few clubs/playgroups locally and visit family.

I work four days a week and generally split my day off between having a lie in, cleaning (couple of hours maybe), mooching around town, watching TV (currently rewatching the second series of ER!) and generally just relaxing. I had a mini breakdown a couple of years ago due to my vile ex-boss and took four weeks off work. This made me realise how much I needed a day off in the week to recharge and I dropped to four days soon afterwards. I'm not bothered if I seem a bit weak to be only working four days when I'm in my 30s, my mental health is waaaay too important to me.

Enjoy your days off!!

I work mon-wed

Thursday/Friday I take DD to school, pick her up, take her swimming/beavers.

During the day I'll go for a run/long walk. Then wash up, laundry, food shop, general housework so that at the weekend we can spend the time as a family rather than worry about what needs doing

I work 4 days, and my DC are now both at secondary school, so my day off is child free (term time). I exercise, do about 10 loads of washing (ok usually 4 or 5), do a perfunctory tidy for the cleaner, house admin, sometimes I'll fit in a lunch or coffee with friends, any appointments (hair, doctor, dentist, optician, personal trainer, nails! car repairs etc). I'm treasurer for a sporting event, so for about 6 months of the year I'll need to do some work on that.

1 day's never quite enough

I'll certainly do more of the housework than dh, he'd love to work part time too so I'd be taking the piss if I didn't!