Going from full-time to part-time work

[goforit99]

For those of you who went from full-time to part-time, how was it for you?

a little about me. I am a single parent, working full-time, studying law part-time and I also have a partner. My little boy goes to school this Sept and Is currently In nursery/childcare. I am absolutely exhausted from juggling everything. What’s worst for me, is since I started full-time( after being a full-time mummy for 2.5 years) I spend on average around 2 hours per day with my son, 45 mins in the morning where I am rushing to feed him, clothe him and take him to nursery, then pick up, dinner, quick cuddle time then bed time. I see my partner twice a week for a few hours and then every other weekend when my son is with his dad, so hardly any time for myself. I can’t help but feel my life shouldn’t be that way, my son deserves a mum who is present. Often times I am drained and can’t look at my books to study! The money at work is good, the benefits are great but I don’t want to lose these precious years for the sake of money.
how has full time vs part time work been for you? I know money will be less but probably the least of my concern vs my mental health and spending time with my little one.

I went part time when I returned to work after maternity leave. Little one is nearly 8 and I'm still part time. So much better for both my mental and physical health. When I was full time I was often ill, much less often now. Highly recommend a 4 day week to everyone!

I did 3 days a week for 12 years.
Best of both worlds, kept my employment, pension contributions, earning reasonable salary. But also had more days at home than at work. The whole family benefited from me being able to pick up the slack. Able to do school pick up, have play dates etc 2 days a week.

I'd recommend it if you can afford it

I love it and I care so much less about work stress now!

So long as you can earn enough for what your family needs, then working part time can be a very good decision in terms of quality of life for everyone.

I dropped to half time when my DD started school - her school day plus my travel time for drop off and pick up really made FT unfeasible, and I wanted time with her. When she got to secondary age my employers asked if I wanted FT again... nope! A good work-life balance is worth more to me than more money in the bank.

I was lucky enough to work in an industry where I could half my hours and go onto two 10hr night shifts a week. Night shifts paid an extra premium rate so rather than losing 50% of my pay, it was more like losing 30%. I also did consecutive nights so I handed over to dh at 9pm one night, had minimal involvement next day (have an hour with the dc and dinner with them) and picked up the reins after school on the second day. It felt like work was only part of my life for 36 hours a week, then forgotten for the next 132 hours.