Working from home?

[WaitingTesting]

Hello. I'm fairly new to the boards, so I'll give you a brief history. Hubs and I have been married a little over a year. We both work, him in a government job, and me in upper education administration. We are not rich by any means, but both make very decent salaries, mine moreso than his. I also am about to finish up my Masters Degree in Dec. and will be starting law school in Jan. for the weekend program (Sat. and Sun. 9am - 5pm for three years). Hubs wants very much to have a baby. I am not adverse to this, but I do not want to have a child and then put the baby in day care 5 days a week and not be with the child Sat. and Sun. because of school. I also do not want to pass up this oppt'y for going to l/school. So, I am thinking if I could find a way to work from home and bring in a regular and dependable salary, M-F that it would be extremely ideal for our situation. My question, how do I do that? I've figured out on paper that I need to be able to bring home at least $500 a week so that hubs is not drowining in trying to support us alone. I have a lot of ambition, and know that I can have it all (successful family, a child, a career and school) I just am not sure how to go about it in this new way that I am considering. If anyone has any ideas that might help, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you.
WT

 

[Cathleen]

You mentioned you're in education admin., are you certified to teach as well? You could tutor (I know you don't need a cert. but it's a plus).

Do you want to stay in a particular field? Do you want to try something totally different? How many hours would you give to the job if you do have a child? Is that a reasonable amount of hours to both - it'd have to be flexible.

Medical transcription is running through my head at the moment. Web design - graphic design. Something that has few hard deadlines, you'll need the flexibility in your schedule.

What are your interests?

Welcome to Lit too.

 

[WaitingTesting]

Thanks for the welcome, Cathleen. I'm not sure really, what I'd like to do, I'm pretty open to any and all suggestions. I'm looking at the medical transcription information now via Google. Thanks for the tip. Any others, from you or anyone else, or posts on any similar experiences, pro or con, would be great.

As for time, I am willing to work my butt off, just want to find a way to do it at home so I'm with the child and he/she isn't being raised by a daycare. Please, no one take offense at that, I have nothing against day cares, would just like to find a way to avoid them if possible for our (future) child, if possible, at least for a few years.

 

[TBKahuna123]

You're facing a decision that many couples face these days. My best friend was adamant that when they had kids that his wife was going to stay home with the kids, because that's what she wanted to do. What they found is that it was impossible to make ends meet with only one income.

You might consider a compromise: Work part time 3 days a week and spend two days at home. A gal I work with does that and it seems to work well for her. Just an idea.

 

[Ezzy]

One of the big questions on my mind is how old are you?

I know it is not a question a gentleman should ask a lady, but the facts are sort of interesting.

If you are going to do your college work on weekends 9 - 5 and work from home M-F and you think you can do work that will bring in enough to cover all your weekly expences there are a couple of things you could think of that would be it line with where you are and what you want to earn / do.

The time commitment is the area that will hurt the most if you don't work it all out.

Take a look at the requirements for child care in your area? There may be a need for good child care from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday and by filling that need and employing others to help you, you can have help to look after your baby and still be able to earn. Where I am you can't get a place for less than $250.00 a week per child for structured child care.

If you are still in your 20's you may want to go get the education while you can, without the added strain of trying to maintain a job, home, kids and an education all at the same time, once you have the education you can start to work in the law and then get pregnent this will give 9 months experience before the birth and with your education taken care off it should be much less stressful.

You will sort through the pro's and con's of this question a lot over the next few months

 

[Eilan]

Apologies in advance because this isn't quite on topic.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd focus on education for now. My experience has been that whenever I have a lot of things going on at once (kids, job, housework, etc.), I don't do any of them well. And if you're a driven, perfectionist-type person like I am, that can be difficult to deal with.

You've mentioned that your husband is the one who wants the baby. That's nice, but is he also willing to assume at least 50% of the housework and child care responsibilities while you're juggling at least a part-time job and a fairly demanding course of study? If you find some at-home work, it may enable you to stay at home with the baby, but it's really not quality time if you're spending a good part of the day working.

A few years ago, I went back to work five days (yes, I said days) after giving birth. I got up at 5:00am to nurse the baby left for my 8:00 class at 7:00 because I needed to leave the kids with their grandparents. I taught until noon, and then I picked the kids up and came home. I'd spend the rest of the day caring for a newborn and a toddler and trying to grade papers between housework, nursing, changing diapers, and playing with my kids. My ex worked all day, He had a "hobby" (no, it wasn't another woman--yet) that took up his evenings; if he got home at 9:00, it was an early night. Sunday was generally the only day that I could count on any help from him. Add physical exhaustion and postpartum depression to the equation and you have a marriage just waiting to explode.

It was a horrible experience. It was, however, financially necessary. I vowed that I'd never allow that to happen again, even if it meant not having any more children.

I'm not trying to come off as condescending or anything. If it seems that way, I'm sorry. I believe that you need to do what's best for you, and making sure you complete your education will enable you to be an even better provider for your future children.

Signed,

The Overeducated Stay-At-Home-Mom

 

[Ezzy]

Elian just reminded me I wanted to add.






Signed,

The Overeducated Underpaid Stay-At-Home-Dad
On a good week I can make $500.00, on a bad week I can't.

 

[FurryFury]

Working from home you need a contract with someone that guarantees you have a certain amount of work that will provide a certain amount of income which you need.

Let me stay up front, it's not easy to work from home. When you are a contract worker you have to be very disciplined. There is not way you can imagine how tired and caught up you will be with kids.

I know a lady who was phobic of being with others. She didn't have kids. She made a good income from typing up medical transcripts something like that might work in you are into it.

I work partly from home and partly in public but my kids are older.

Working from home you can have less childcare, food, clothing, transportation costs and save in a lot of ways that could help you not need so much income if you are really smart and willing to let go of some luxuries.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Don't rush into anything.

Fury

 

[WaitingTesting]

Ezzy: Your question hit the whole reason we're considering doing this now. If we wait much longer, we'll be too old to do it. In fact, as it is now, we'll already be in our 50's when the child graduates high school (I'm 35 and he is 40).

Eilan: I agree with you that doing too many things at once may leave you unable to focus on any one thing enough. Truth is, I'd prefer waiting, but age really is a factor here. I'm just running ideas around in my head and trying to cover any and all angles so we can make the best and most informed decision for our situation (this is a tough one, to be sure).

Everyone who replied: Thank you for the kind and thoughtful responses. We have a lot of thinking to do, and I appreciate your considerateness in taking the time to put down your thoughts. They really do help, and sometimes an outside point of view will ring a bell in your head that you may not otherwise have heard. I like the idea of maybe working just a couple of days a week, but again doubt it'd bring in $500. Like TBK said, one income can prove difficult in raising a family, and in our case this would apply. I do think, however, that I may have overshot my runway over w/the amount. I was figuring the bills the way they stand now. If we cut down drastically like FF suggested, that figure could be significantly less.

In any case, thank you all again for your replies. If anything else happens to come to mind regarding this, please share. Many thanks. You're a very cool bunch.

--WT

 

[FurryFury]

If you have anyone you can truly trust with any kids you have that are relatives you could make a good arrangement with them.

Childcare can cost a LOT. I know one girl who works about three days a week. She puts the kids in Mother's Day out at her church but she also has one afternoon covered by her Mother In Law who I believe she does pay a bit.

She also has a play group and in that group some of the parents take turns having the kids over on a regular basis so the other parents can work, run errands and such.

I also know a lady who takes her grand kids over night every Friday. She loves the chance to spend time and really know her grand kids but not all grandparents are like that and it's a shame in my opinion. In our case I couldn't trust relatives but that is another long story. While this particular lady keeps the kids, her children have "date nights' with thier spouses.

I personally loved Mother's Day Out after I got used to leaving my child there, which was harder for me than for each them the first time. We had a really high quality caring learning place for the kids. I had a chance to run errands or work.

I also hired a sitter once a month to come in so we could have a date. I REALLY recommend carving out couple time, which except for the babysitting itself, doesn't have to cost much. It's just so important.

Also YOUR time to be you is so very important. This is an area I let go and I tell all my friends having babies to paid better attention to that when they have kids and stay home. It doesn't have to be a lot but believe me, you and the people around you will be better off if you indulge your passion in something or visit with your friends sans kids once every month or so if not more.

Another thing that can REALLY help is to have a "mother's helper" this can be a younger sitter that entertains the kids while you work. You are still there in case something comes up that they feel they can't handle and it costs less than a regular sitter.

It's really good to build up a financial cushion and/or paid leave time so you can take that six weeks of leave too.

Kay, enough said, for now but I just had to mention all that.

Fury

 

[Guest]

 

[WaitingTesting]

Thanks, FF and Scalywag, your advice is well appreciated. We have come up with a couple of thoughts (both spawned from my reading your replies on this thread, thank you!) one: child care in our home (obtaining certification does not seem too lengthy or difficult) but while I love children, there are many down sides for us there...restricted schedule, little to no time off because parents will be depending on us, etc., and two, maybe teaching. If I could get a position teaching online, that might just be what we are looking for. I've applied for two positions that start in January, one teaching Poli. Sci., and the other American Gov't at a local college...both are online positions. I realize there would be faculty meetings and office time required, but am hoping if I get either position that it would provide a lot more flexibility than a regular 8-5 schedule. I'm not really sure how it would all pan out, and am a little apprehensive to be considering giving up my job that I love, but we'll see how it goes.

Again, if any ideas come to mind, please post. We're looking for the perfect solution here, for us, and all ideas are certainly welcomed w/open arms.

 

[Ezzy]

Presently I have an office set up in the basement, but will hopefully be moving up to newly refinished space in the attic sometime in Dec.
,

Moving up in the world are you ?

 

[WaitingTesting]

Moving up in the world are you ?

Sorry, Scalywag, it's funny. You said you've worked in various capacities from home for quite awhile now. What kind of work/businesses have you run from your home, if you don't mind my asking; it's perfectly okay, of course, if you prefer to keep that private.

 

[Guest]

 

[WaitingTesting]

After getting screwed several times by companies that had receivership taken over, I find it preferable to work for an established company.

Noted. T/Y.