How many hours a week do you work? Want to drop to part time

[Knowingmeknowingyou1]

I work on average 37/38, 31 years old, have a partner but no children.
I know some people work way more but I even feel like this is too much and I'd like to reduce it by 5-10 hours.
I get paid hourly so it varies, but for 37 hours I can come out with around 1700 net. Dropping to 25 hours would see me coming out with around 1300 (as of July)
Part of me just wants to go part time and learn to manage on the 1300, thinking that life is too short. Another part of me thinks it'd be 'lazy' of me, that I should work full time hours as most people have to, and that I can put the extra 400 in savings.
Anyone else?

I’ve recently halved my hours at work and wish that I’d done it years ago. I honestly don’t feel worse off financially.

If you can afford to drop your hours then do it. Work isn't everything and your social life/private life/spare time is more important than work. No-one ever lies on their deathbed saying they wish they'd spent more time in the workplace and less time with family and their children.

I know you don't have children but I have heard many tales of children who had full time working parents and they really really hated not having their parents home and them always being at work. Just ONE parent being home more (the mum OR the dad) would have been OK.

It's just no life being at work all the time. Unless you have a fantastic career like a famous musician or actor or director or writer - who the fuck actually wants to work full time? It's a much better quality of life having more 'me time.' I'm sure there are a small number of people with 'normal' jobs and careers who love work but most people do it for the money and would not work given the option...

I've worked part time and full time on and off in the 30 years since I left school - currently work around 25 hours a week. But I've got quite a good and niche job that's actually quite well paid, so I actually get more than most people full time that I know. Some weeks I work more hours, some less but which usually around 25 hours. (3 full days.) Good luck @Knowingmeknowingyou1 . Also ignore any jealous fuckers who will berate you for being part time.

Salary based on 37 hours
on average I do 5/10 hours extra each week
never feel like I can WFH

60 in a good week. 72 if I do one day over the weekend too.

Would love to do less. Can't see it

How much of your wages are going into savings at the moment? If it’s nothing, then what will you be cutting out of your budget to save the £5,000 per year that you would lose?

Do you plan to have children? If so, how will you afford it?

34 hours over 4 days, dropped the extra day when I had dc. I have a good job, good salary but honestly it has negatively affected my promotion opportunities. It was a sacrifice I made, not sure if I'd do it if I had my time again.

I work 14 hours over three days (a little under 5 hours each day).

I love working part time and I wouldn’t want to increase my hours as my child grows up.

I do 1hr a week, can’t recommend it 😂 it was supposed to be 16 with a view to increasing to full time. I’m hourly and the rate is good. 16hrs would be putting 20% into pension, 30% towards uni fees and 30% to holidays. We can’t live off it but it would have made a difference to quality of life.

my ideal i’ve worked out would be 6-7hrs M-T, still couldn’t pay all the bills on it if we had to, but that allows me to get home and run DC to after school activities and have Fridays to recover (autoimmune diseases cause me fatigue) without burning myself out

I work 22 hours for health reasons, no children. Ideally if I was better I'd work 30 as that would give me more money for savings, but not possible for me currently. I think 30 Hours/4 days would be a good balance.

Most weeks, 14 hours. ( 2 x 7hr).

But I can cover sickness, holidays etc so sometimes it'll be 25-30 hours. I love it, I still get out and enjoy work but the balance is tipped towards more free time.

No DC, I have a DH, he works 30 hours (3 x 10hrs) I really love our work/life balance and feel very lucky.

Lots of free time so, house is always clean/tidy, I cook from scratch, plenty of time for hobbies etc. If you can afford it, do it!

I would consider whether u would want kids in the future and what maternity leave would look like (long or short or shared parental). Would you need to save money for it? Are there any other things you would like to save for (eg travel, a property, pension)? As PP have said - you can always practise living on £1300 while working your current hours.

i’m on mat leave but usually work about 37hrs per week (but flexibly).

It varies. Between 30 and 60 hours a week. I’m freelance so it depends on how many projects are coming in. I don’t mind the long weeks - which involve a lot of 8am to midnight days - but I would love to have regular weeks off to recover.

Just looked at my calendar - over the last 6 months I’ve had one full week off, and then stayed home for 5 days with Covid. Other than that, I get one day off every 2 or 3 weeks. Which isn’t enough because by that point the workload is so big that I spend it preparing the next batch of projects.

I’m taking a full week off this summer (uncommon in the industry) and I can’t bloody wait. I need a break, mentally and physically.

What are your reasons?
How much savings have you got?
i personally think you’re quite young to reduce your salary so much, especially with the cost of living increasing.
I’m 10 years older than you and I’m part time after having children but looking at going full time eventually. I think having more money would be really useful with how much everything is going up but that’s just me.

What are your working hours / breaks - this sounds good

I do 24 now, three days a week. I worked FT until I was 54 though and had 35 years pension banked and mortgage paid off.

Unless you have all that covered, mortgage, savings, pension etc I think it’s a bit indulgent at 31.

I do 24 hours over 3 days but do 6 days in a row because we work on a week 1/wee

Sorry posted too soon.
We work on a week 1/ week 2 pattern so it means I get 8 days off.
I'm a single parent so I do get a universal credit top up. I love my schedule!

I'm on maternity leave but I did work 37.5 hours (officially - but in reality a lot, lot more!)

I'm dropping to three days Chen I go back and then increasing to four days when he's older.

I never, ever want to work a Friday again.

I work a standard 40 hour contract. I'm 38, no kids.
I toy with the idea of dropping a day when I'm 40 - I could comfortably afford it but, honestly, I'm enjoying having the disposable income. Our house is a project, so I figure I should probably work full time until it's 'done'.
I don't think it's 'lazy' of you to be considering reducing your hours, but 31 is so young. Don't you want to build up a nice savings pot while you're fit and healthy?

I'm the same hours and money at you. I have three children (two not yet at school) so dropped my hours for childcare reasons really.

Three days is very noticeable as part time, I agree with you on that. I remember when I was younger a woman I worked did three days and I thought it was really weird, but I love it and now totally get it.

There is a stigma to working part time when you don't have children and I think this needs to change. Some people could do with working less for lots of reasons, but prioritising your own physical and mental health isn't valued in the society we live in. I doubt I'll ever work full time again, by the time my youngest child is at high school I'll be in my 50s and I'm knackered as it is! But people assume I'll want to work full time ASAP because it's the norm.

@dostuff I do 8.30-4.45 with a 45 minute dinner break in the nhs. Start of band 5 so take home pay of £1380pm.

Seems unwise to go part time on a fairly low wage, what about your pension? And the rising cost of living?

With no kids you already have hours and hours of free time per week.

Why does your partner work so little?

I do 30 hours, usually 9-3 but if I want to I can change those hours or take a day off etc as long as I do the hours, although nobody checks. I get about £2500 net pm but I also have a freelance job that gets me £500 pm for 2 days a month, which again I can do when I want
My DC are teens so pretty independent so I could do more but I don’t want to and we don’t need me to financially
I suppose it depends on your commitments, future plans and what your partner thinks (if it will impact him financially)

I’m in my 50’s and do approx 20 hours per week, but it is well paid. I love having the time and freedom to do other things with my time. I’ve always been a work to live person though, I’d happily stop working tomorrow if I won the lottery!

Full time (with the long commute I had) was a killer in the end. By the time I’d got home, eaten etc the evening was gone. Weekends were spent catching up on things. I did have more money but no time/energy to enjoy it! I’d never now do full time again.

I work 25 hours a week but I'm upping to 30 hrs a week soon (just because work needed the extra hours - they really wanted me to up to 40 hours a week (FT is approx. 50) but this was the compromise).
I've worked part-time for 18 years now - went back to work PT after birth of first DC. DH has always been FT though and financially it has worked fine in terms of paying off mortgage, saving and collective pension pots - I would've gone back FT if this wasn't the case.