Is it best working shorter days or less days?

[FlissL]

Hi all

I am hoping when I go back to work next month, I can work my hours so I either work five days a week and finish early every day, or work say four longer days each week. My question is, what do you ladies think would be best?

Thanks ever so

Shorter days better for the kids, longer days better for you

I do do five days rather than four for 2 main reasons:

1. I would still have the same responsibilities of I did four days as I would doing five but I'd get paid 20% less
2. Nursery costs the same for four days as it does for five

I do 5 short days (4 hours a day) and I specifically chose those hours because when DS starts school in Sept, I will be able to take him and fetch him (my hours are in the middle of the day during our busiest time and to enable me to cover lunch breaks)

I guess it depends on how old your DCs are and what your childcare arrangements are/will be?

Yes, and whether you are a lone parent or not, maybe. I needed a day 'off' a week without two young DCs in tow (no car) just to do the bloody food shopping and various domestic jobs.

Linerunner get your food shopping delivered, I honestly cannot understand how any parent has time to do this themselves!!

Fewer days. Oh, sorry, it's not pedant's corner. Backs out again.

But I needed to hunt for bargains! Seriously, I was on about £20 a week at one point after the Ex left.

You are right though in the longer term, I should have shopping delivered these days now I am a bit more stable (in a manner of speaking...), to save valuable time.

preschool - 4 long days.

school age - 5 short days.

If your mum is looking after the kids would she not prefer a full day off? Have you asked her?

I think shorter days are dangerous as you might get roped into staying a lot longer than you are paid for, particularly if they know it's your Mum looking after them.

I went back to work full time, 5 long days, for approx 6 months then found it was all getting too much, not enough time with DD in the evenings and too knackered even if there was, going down to 4 full days with a whole day off just for devoting to her was the best decision I ever made. Its made everything a million times nicer even the days I am at work don't feel so bad now! My mum on the other hand did 5 short days for the 15 or so years between me and my youngest sibling growing up and she reckoned that was best for routine etc. Seems its a bit if each to their own depending on what you want from the time off. Hope you get the right outcome to suit you and your DCs. :)

Hmmm. I guess it depends how short or long the days are. Atm I doing 3 long days and it is tough not seeing them at all on those days. Also I am picking up much more of the domestic slack on "my days off". I have worked 5 shortish days previously and there was much less expectaion of what I should be doing. I also had the odd day of leave with childcare-bliss :). Maybe I am just grumpy on the train after leaving home @630 this morning

I do 25 hours a week. I do four longer days as opposed to five short days. Love having that extra day of a weekend, especially when the kids are young.

And line runner, I do my shopping without kids to get the bargains. Online shopping can cost me a lot more and I just don't have it.

smokinaces, I used to go into town with my twenty quid, and all the coupons I could lay hands on, and come back with everything that was the cheapest possible, and the best deal. I remember Tesco used to take coupons even for things you hadn't bought - they just knocked it of the final bill at till!

The best bargains are when the supermarket is about to close. My best bargains have been packs of king prawns for 10p, massive BBQ packs for 50p and diced lamb for 25p. All on a Sunday night at about 9.30. I guess that's not much use for single mums though as the kids will be in bed

cantfindamnnickname - do you mind me asking, what hours did you do when our children were much younger? My firm are very flexible over hors so long as job gets done but am trying to consider what is best for my clients too

OP- I used to do 4 days with one day off and this year I have switched to 5 mornings, as my DD is at school it has saved me a fortune in after-school club and I can pick her up each day. My DS is at nursery and 5 mornings (plus one hour lunch) is slightly cheaper than 4 full days.

I found that when DD started school my 1 day off was not really much of a day off, we all had to get up and get to school by 8.45am and then back up to the school at 3pm to pick her up. Never seemed to feel like DS and I had time to ourselves. However when just DD was small having the day off with her was lovely. This may suit you better when yours are still tiny.

I will say this, not having to rush around preparing tea etc at 5.30pm everyday is brilliant. We get back from school run everyday and please ourselves for a bit, go on a bike ride, have friends to play, go to see a friend or dd can do clubs/activities without me saying no. I can start cooking a meal much earlier if needed and then just finish it off at tea-time/when necessary. DS and I also have an hour or two after I pick him up of just 'us' time before school pick-up, sometimes he just wants to watch the telly...which is fine, I do the washing! Would love to say I get my housework done but that would be a lie, I have a cleaner who does 2 hrs a week

Trix, those are amazing bargains. Which supermarket? And are they cheap because they're close to the sell by date?

The lamb was from waitrons, in that shop I also got Heston bacon for 25p, salami for 10p and a few other things. The king prawns and BBQ packs were sainsburys It's just your luck depending on what is going out of date and hasn't been sold. If you get there at the right time they reduce things massively to get rid of them. Best times are weekend nights about 9.30.

Waitrons =waitrose. Stupid phone!

Coop is where I get my fab bargains.

I am now on 5 shorter days,and would love to go back to when I was able to do longer hours for 4 days and have a day off.(but I can't)

When the kids are at school,even a shorter day doesn't give you much 'free' time. You can't have a full day of doing anything alone.And a day off is perfect for things like dentist etc where it's a PITA to take the kids.

I have worked 5 short days since having DCs.
It has its pros and cons. The commute is a pain ( even though only 1hr round trip) everyday. No day off, obviously, and no time without DCs (apart from in work).
Pros are having afternoons to do nice things - particularly in summer, being able to pick DD up from school, not having housework build up etc.

However, the reason I work short days is because my job requires me to be in everyday (line management responsibilities) and I don't want to work full time.

I do 3 short days during the week & a long day on saturday, it works great for us, I LOVE being there for DD1 as she comes out of school, & it was particularly good when she started school as she is an august birthday & so was the 2nd youngest in the school, she needed mummy standing there waiting for her at the end of the day

DD2 is about to start school & I am desperate to work extra short days and get the saturday at home with my girls, but thats another story..

different things work for different families, do what feels best for you OP

I am going to take myself off to Sainsbury's tomorrow night. Just did a TESCO online shop and, even with discount codes, it was still more than I want to spend this week.