To have an afternoon for housework?!

[Bea1985]

If you had the choice would you rather work:

2.5 days per week - profit to household for doing so (after travel. Tax, NI and childcare) =£107 per week. (Also with this option , after my half day at work and travelling home, I would have c. 3 hours "to myself" aka to do housework before having to pick DD up at 5.30)

OR

3 days per week - profit to household after same deductions = £134 per week. No 3 "free" hours for housework, would all need to be done at weekend or when DD in bed. (What most people probably do).

Work have said I can choose 2.5 or 3 days. Difference in net profit to household is only £27 per week so tempted to only do 2.5 and have an afternoon to catch up with chores.

Cm does not do half days. DD will be in childcare the whole time I am at work.

DH says it's up to me (my wages are not much compared to his anyway). I think I'd be so much happier having an afternoon free to catch up with myself , give the house a once over, get some laundry put away, put a Tesco's delivery away.....but is it decadent?!

I have a big and often messy house, hairy moulting animals, husband who is always working / works away..... so if I did work 3 full days and had DD the rest of the time it may be that we end up getting a cleaner for 2 hrs a week or so anyway (no idea what that would cost) to avoid living in a total heap.

Oh... dd will be 1 when I return to work so no free hours at childcare.

I am writing this as the mother of a 7mo DD who barely sleeps and I can't get any housework etc done when looking after her .... I'm imagining it will be similar when she's 1 and that the free afternoon would be a godsend.

Or am I just being lazy?!

Housework every time. If you hired a cleaner it would cost a minimum of £30, think of it that way.

Go for it! Why not do what you can to make life easier? I would!

Take the less hours- it’s not decadent cleaning up the house and doing the chores that value the family as a whole. Good on you.

If you can afford it do it!

I’d go for 2.5, especially if you’re not going to miss the extra money. It’s only 3 hours, but you’d get much more done then you would with dd at home and it’ll free up your evenings and weekend.

Just saw 2 hours for cleaner so possibly evens out. Still have the time off, you'll be glad you did.

I would go for the 2.5 hours

*days not hours!

2.5 days in a heartbeat

I’d take the 3 days and get a cleaner I think - it sounds like it adds up fairly equally but you are more employed = bigger investment in your future and you don’t have to do the cleaning!

It's an afternoon for cleaning, hardly roman orgy levels of decanance! Will you be relaxing in a bath with wine and chocolate.....or cleaning the bathroom?! Take the afternoon.

Thanks guys. Part of me felt like I should work as many hours as she is in childcare ... I've always worked till exhausted so felt a little guilty for wanting to "sneak" a couple a extra hours into my week. But then it is to blast the house, I'll be sweating by the end of the 3 hrs but like one poster said... I could get SO much done in that time and won't have to spend my weekend cleaning.*

*i know that loads of people have to do this and it sucks.

I would take the 2.5 days, definitely!

If you work the full three days it prevents housework being entirely your responsibility though.

Just remember, the fewer hours you work, the less you’ll pay into any work pension... the difference of half a day won’t seem a big deal now, but believe me when you’re in your 50s, you’ll see the value of working in a whole new light

Yes, 2.5 days. Those 3 hours will be a godsend.

I used to work a contract for 4 full days and take Fridays off; allowed me to keep on top of things.

I miss my Friday off .

I'd take the 3 days and get a cleaner. But I hate cleaning and am desperate to get one. I work full time, large house, pets and kids. I hate my limited spare time being consumed by housework.

If you do the housework during your 3 hours then you can have more quality time at weekend. I would go for it.

Go for the 3 days and get a cleaner. Mine is £30 for 3hrs, 5 bed house. Having one makes the odd jobs eg laundry seem much more manageable as there is less pressure to get things done.

(I don't mind cleaning. It's a bit of a work out in this tall house. Loads of stairs. Whack some music on.)

Also, will totally try and increase my hours once DD school. (Unless I have another bablet).

I'd do 2.5 days.

I'd consider asking if I could do it as two days one week and three the next to reduce travel time too, and so I'd have a whole day every other week to do a really good clean fortnightly rather than a few hours weekly. I found the dust stays away much longer if I can actually move things around to clean under them.

2.5 days no contest.

I do three days and have a cleaner once a week. However I can work from home at least one day a week, so can feed the laundry through and dry it whilst I work.

The extra pension is worth it to me, plus it reminds work that they need me!

Not at first, but at some point after I went back to work after my eldest I had a half-day of childcare over what I needed and it was an absolute sanity-saver. I could switch off work brain and deal with "stuff" more efficiently with a defined piece of time like that. Kept to a similar principle after my 2nd, at least at first. (after - suffice to say attempting a full time lab-based degree was a mistake)

But it's not just the cleaning.

It's the feeling that you have the afternoon child-free. Choose to do a bit of shopping, or prepare dinner, a quick tidy round, a lazy cuppa. Don't get yourself into a frazzle or pressure yourself to do everything.

You'll be surprised how much difference you can make even in an hour or so, assuming it's not too bad to start with.