To consider a pay cut of over 50%

[Believeitornot]

AIBU to take a massive pay cut in order to get better quality of life and work closer to home?

I currently work in a senior job, earn a high salary etc. But I am tired of the commute (nearly 3 hours a day), missing the dcs and the stress.

I've started looking for more local jobs which are either a short walk or drive from home. I could massively reduce childcare costs (we have a nanny and I'd switch to before/afternoon school clubs) so my net pay wouldn't be much lower.

However as I'm still young (early 30s), it seems a bit of a waste to essentially throw away my career. I've no guarantee I'd even get a lower paid job or that I would be able to work my way back up to a better paid one.

However I'm fed up. I've wanted to leave this job for years and I feel depressed. Sometimes I struggle to get up in the mornings and just want the world to stop.

has anyone taken a huge pay cut and can they tell me if it worked out or not?

Could you wfh two days and stay over in a travelodge on one night?
I did this for a little while and did two incredibly long days on my "staying over" night (7-11 on the first day ,5-7 on the second day then home). That meant on my other three days when I was wfh I could spend more time with the dcs.

Yabu, if you consider hours travelling as part if salary. Eg if you earned £10 an hour for eight hours. You'd be paid 80 per day, but actually its 11 hours. So more like £7 per hour....plus the cost of childcare sounds like a no brainer.

If you stay where you are, will you regret it in a years time? If the answer is yes I would move jobs.

How does a 50% pay cut affect finances e.g. Mortgage,outgoings,quality life
Will a local job offer same progression,stimulation?
Is your dp not prepared to negotiate any change in his work pattern to collect kids?
would you consider a move closer to your work when kids approach high school age.so you don't have immediate disruption and you keep career
Plenty families relocate when higher wage earner need to be near work,only difference is it's usually for a male wage

If the status quo is making you this unhappy, I'd look to change something. As others have pointed out, there might be other ways to do that aside from the one you've mentioned.

It couldn't hurt to see what's out there locally though, especially as you say you've disliked this job for years (so quite likely before having DC). Or investigating remote options. Also, what do you mean by a pay cut of over 50%- net or gross? Because you'll find that if you drop from eg 50k to 25k you'll still end up with a lot more than 50% of your previous take home.