Thursday, March 23, 2006

To work or not to work....

That's not really the question though....
I had always thought that I wouldn't return to work after my children were born. Then Ryan came, before the wedding, and the expenses were massive and, sadly, my salary was needed. After going back I realized that, as much as I love being home with my child, I always like being in the workforce. ***I should note here that I am not one to criticize ANYONE's decision. I know SAHM who love it and I know working moms who wouldn't have it any other way! This is just me trying to figure out what I should do and where I belong!
Okay, back on track...
After the wedding I decided that I wanted to work a shortened week - 32 hours (Monday - Thursday) and spend Fridays at home. Really how much money could I lose by cutting 8 hours out of my week? Sadly, more than I thought! Like $300 a month after taxes! Anyway, I back burnered the whole issue and continued to come to work every day and pretend I wanted to be here.
I can't do this any longer. My new plan? To cut my hours to 32 a week until the end of the year. Then cut to 24 hours a week in January. I need to stay at at least 32 hours to keep our health insurance until the next open enrollment in the fall where we can switch to Rob's company plan.
ANyway, this is the plan, but I am not sure I can do it for a few reasons:
1. Do we need my full time salary
2. with all the changes going on around work, will they even let me????
I'll probably blog about this more in the future, but I am just getting ideas off my chest right now....

2 comments:

Julie said...

Andrea, all I can say is that as much as you think and you plan, the right answer will become really obvious when your second little one is here. You might be miserable at the thought of returning to work, or you might be going stir crazy at home with two kids, or somewhere in between.

Life is much tighter on one income, but somehow you quickly adjust to your new means and find a way to get by. There are also lots of expenses you save being at home - childcare, clothing, eating out, gas, etc.

Oh, and a thought on your health insurance. If your health insurance gets dropped, that is usually considered a change in status which should allow you to go on Rob's plan even if it's not open enrollment. He should be able to verify that with his HR dept, but that's the law in IL.

Anonymous said...

I hope you are able to figure out and do what will make you most happy.

Isn't it almost annoying how you (not YOU but everyone) feels the need to throw in a disclaimer whenever you mention a choice of yours. I always do that when I talk about BF "I don't think you are a bad parent if you don't BF!" Wish it wasn't necessary. Or wish I just didn't care :) As a SAHM I never would be offended if you perfered to work.