to wonder how on earth working mums manage, both financially and mentally/physically?

[superv1xen]

by financially, i mean mums who are on minimum to average wage mostly.

i would love to go back to work, my DC are 18 mo and 4.6 but i honestly don't know how people do it. if i worked in the day i would have to pay for childcare and also juggle taking the DC to school / childminder, getting both kids ready and myself presentable for work, then get to work, do a days work then pick up the kids. and i am unlikely to get a job that pays much more than minimum wage, especially in the current climate. and after we have paid childcare i doubt i would have much change from my salary.

the other option would be to work evenings or weekends but i couldnt do that because after a day doing chores ie laundry, tidying, cleaning, school run, sorting the kids out etc i am as knackered as if i have done a full day at work (which i have really!) and couldnt imagine having to go out at night to work when all i want to do is collapse in front of the telly. i would just be exhausted. and if i worked weekends i would miss dp too much as thats our "quality time" as he works all week and is out of the house 12 hours a day in the week.

it isnt a criticism of working mums BTW, i honestly admire anyone who does it, i just dont know how they do it! :o

It must depend on your job a lot but I enjoy working so it's something I've fought to keep going, despite having three young children, and that helps enormously. Yes, you have to be more organised but the busier you are, the more you get done, if that makes sense? I find it impossible to just do one thing eg, if I am watching TV I make sure that I'm also ironing, or catching up on paperwork etc. I look back now on my child-free 20s or even when I jsut had my DD1 and wonder what I did with all that time. But if you have children who don't yet sleep through etc, it's very difficult to be energetic and organised in the daytime.

I'm going back to work full time on Thursday, DP is being SAHD so I suppose I'm lucky, we looked at childcare and decided that what we would pay weekly for childcare was DP's weekly wage therefore we decided that I'd do fulltime and he'd stay at home.

At work I get to sit down all day but it's mentally tiring...DP drew the short straw in terms of who will be busier.

OP - you do work and dont let anyone tell you differently

I have 2 jobs, 2 days a week I work for my parents, my mum looks after the dds and I cram in 2 10-12 hour days. I used to be full tine abd my work load has not really dropped to reflect the drop in hours. It's also 100 miles away so it means staying overnight, which I hate as I like to be at home in the evenings.

My 2nd job is closer to home and I work 12 hours over 3 days. Dh works flexi hours 1 day, so takes care of the dds that day then goes to work when I get home at 2pm, the remaining 2 days dd1 is at preschool and dd2 goes to a cm.

After paying basic rate tax and childcare I have about £25 a week left, and I've thought about quitting but my employers are really flexible and understanding when dcs are ill.

Dd1 starts school in September so I will be giving up job no 1 then, just doing 1 weekend a month as I am a director so need to earn my dividend, will need to increase hours at job no 2 then which my bosses are positive about.

It is a logistical nightmare and I'm knackered, but will hopefully start paying when dd1 is at school and dd2 gets a funded preschool place.

I haven't worked full time since DD was born 6 years ago for various reasons (divorce being one of them).

I am 38 weeks pregnant with DC2 (with my now DP) and haven't worked for the whole 9 months as I moved 200 miles to live with DP just after falling pg, so no employer would touch me with a barge pole. Plus we could not afford after school care for DD as DP's wage does not stretch that far and we wouldn't get much help from the govt.

TBH I don't want to work FT with young children, but that is MY preference not an opinion on what other mums do before I get flamed.

However, on the other hand I do worry alot about how shit my CV looks and the implications of how hard it may be to get back into work. In the current recession, with no degree/career, a patchy CV, 2 young kids and technically still of child-bearing age I know that I would be at the bottom of most employers lists for financial reasons.

I am intelligent and hard-working, but that is only my say so in an interview I suppose. I had planned to get back into education and go to uni to study Occupational Therapy, however, with the fees hike DP and I realise that may never happen now.

Hopefully I will be able to get a part time job when baby is a little older, I would probably be working more for my own gain (self esteem) than for financial reasons, but I cannot imagine staying at home for the next 10 years (even if I am a bit of a slattern lol).