Update to: I want to quit my job

mexicolombiana · February 2014

Basically I discussed it with my boss and husband and I decided a good compromise for now would be to go part time at my job!

I will only be working 2 days a week. I won't be netting too much each month (after AGAIN having to pay the nanny those 2 days while I work) but I net something and so I THINK we'll be ok.

I have to REALLY budget myself and I've already fired our landscapers and cleaning lady, so that's a start. Oh and we're keeping cable but cancelling amazon prime, netflix, and I stopped donating to a charity. SO. I can make this work. Then the other 3 days I'll be home and doing fabulous things like taking my kid to school AND picking her up. Damn. I don't even know what that feels like.

I also enrolled my 2 yr old in some cheap-o-riffic park activities 2 days a week. Finally, I can still try to work on a side law practice a bit, without making the ultimate dive into being self employed with zero income at first.

I hope we can make it work but I'm really excited about this.

jlaOK · February 2014

Congratulations! When I had DS I only worked 3 days a week and I loved it. I work 4 days a week now because of paying for 2 in daycare but working PT is still great.

If you get into it and your budget is too tight I'm sure your boss will let you work more hours during the week. It's all about finding the happy medium between time with the kids and money in your pocket.

Congrats again.

jf198400 · February 2014

That's so exciting! I think working PT offers the best of both worlds. I'm totally jealous.

mexicolombiana · February 2014

jlaOK said:

Congratulations! When I had DS I only worked 3 days a week and I loved it. I work 4 days a week now because of paying for 2 in daycare but working PT is still great.

If you get into it and your budget is too tight I'm sure your boss will let you work more hours during the week. It's all about finding the happy medium between time with the kids and money in your pocket.

Congrats again.

Exactly, that's what my boss said.

djm31012 · February 2014

that sounds like the best of both worlds to me! glad it worked out.

WBMom · February 2014

Congratulations! Sounds like this will work perfectly for your family! ((I am jealous)) Enjoy!!

mexicolombiana · February 2014

Thanks. I'm SO FREAKING EXCITED.

*sparky* · February 2014

I did not see your OP but I hope it all works out. I work 3 days a week, and have a limited amount of consulting work on my off days, and overall it has worked out pretty well. Is your nanny ok with dropping to 2 days/week of income, though, or do you run the risk of her going to another nanny position?

mrsshawnavanb · February 2014

Good Luck! That sounds wonderful!

mexicolombiana · February 2014

*sparky* said:

I did not see your OP but I hope it all works out. I work 3 days a week, and have a limited amount of consulting work on my off days, and overall it has worked out pretty well. Is your nanny ok with dropping to 2 days/week of income, though, or do you run the risk of her going to another nanny position?

She's staying with us for sure. Part of the reason I considered going pt is that her daughter is having another baby that my nanny will be watching ft at her daughter's house. She can't take any other job because she has to watch the baby and stay at her daughter's house and drop off and pick up her other 2 grand kids. So if anything, she's lucky to get our 2 days!

I did feel bad telling her we were dropping her days now (this was all going to happen in Oct.) but oh well. She didn't seem to mind at all. We've had some issues with her daughter dumping her kids on our nanny while she's watching our kids. Generally we don't mind but it's been an issue, so now 2 days a week will be much better for us and since she can't really take on another nanny job due to the baby coming she didn't seem to mind.

NicoleWI · February 2014

Congrats and good luck! All sounds good..except that I can't get rid of my Amazon Prime! You are brave.

mexicolombiana · February 2014

NicoleWI said:

Congrats and good luck! All sounds good..except that I can't get rid of my Amazon Prime! You are brave.

Well it's paid up for several months, so I'll see how I feel then! haha. I want to find MORE Stuff to save $ on but I think I've maxed out our monthly savings!

ss265 · February 2014

Congratulations! Sounds like you have reached a good compromise between working and SAH.

groovygrl · February 2014

That's awesome> I wish p/t were an option for my job but hoping to find a way to do something related p/t in maybe a year so it is great to see others working it out. Good luck & enjoy!

KayteeGee · February 2014

SO awesome!! That's such a perfect scenario!!

Something that you may want to look into: we cut our sat dish but kept netflix and amazon prime. Between our rokus and apple TVs and a digital antenna we picked up (on amazon, LOL) we have a ton to watch. All the networks come in crystal clear and the digi antenna is like a 16"x20" white piece of thin plastic that just sits behind the TV. I was STUNNED at how easy it was and how amazing all the over-air HD stations look. Just a thought - our dish bill was like $110/mo!

KL777 · February 2014

Yay for you!!!!! That sounds great. You can make it work. I SAH the first three years and it all worked out.

Cashew13 · February 2014

Congratulations!! As an attorney, I'm struggling with wanting to work part time, and be home with my boys part time, but I can't right now because of income. I've started a side business in hopes I can make some money there and move into a lesser paying/less stress legal job soon...

court115 · February 2014

That's awesome!! Congrats

I am so jealous. I was part time for a year after I had my son. It was wonderful. I'm back to full time now and I hate it.

mexicolombiana · February 2014

Thanks everyone. I'm REALLY hoping it will work as far as money and our budget goes. The nice thing is my DH has the health benefits (though we pay $800+ a month from his paycheck for them) and he does crim. law so he actually takes on a good amount of work on the side that really helps.

I don't think i'll be able to do too much on the side from my job but I will try.

As far as cutting cable, I would love to (we pay $121 a month for cable) but DH has adamantly opposed cutting cable because we watch GOT on HBO, boxing on showtime & HBO, walking dead, etc. and we want to be able to watch them live when they come on and not later online somewhere. We also watch a lot of other things on cable. I would be able to live without it but he really said no way in hell, so we're sticking w/cable.

I need to find other places to cut $ but I think we've reached our limit!

mexicolombiana · February 2014

kdc2007 said:

re: cutting other expenses - have you called your cable company to see if they are have special offiers going on? I was able to get Comcast to cut me a discount for 12 months as an existing customer. Same thing for cell phones (AT&T is running a promo right now, it cut our cell phone bill by $100/month). I also called around and got new pricing on our trash pickup and changed providers.

Yes! My DH actually already called the cable company and that IS our reduction! We were paying like $150 or more. He got them down to like $120. I actually have to check our bill to make sure since it's on auto-pay. We have lots of premium channels. I know this is one of our weak spots!

I have AT&T and we both have iPhones that we use excessively. I wonder if we can cut down on anything there.

We live in Chicago and don't have the option for private trash pick up, it's free. (well we pay for it in taxes and stuff but ykwim).

ss265 · February 2014

Regarding cutting costs, have you considered downsizing your house? Not sure if that is an option since you live in Chicago. And it's definitely more of a longer term thing. I know a family recently who moved to a house half the size of their previous one because they wanted to spend less on their mortgage. Just throwing it out there.

kmh2201 · February 2014

Congratulations! Sounds like a very exciting change! If I could do part time too, I totally would. Enjoy!!

mexicolombiana · February 2014

ss265 said:

Regarding cutting costs, have you considered downsizing your house? Not sure if that is an option since you live in Chicago. And it's definitely more of a longer term thing. I know a family recently who moved to a house half the size of their previous one because they wanted to spend less on their mortgage. Just throwing it out there.

We just bought our house like 2 years ago and it's totally affordable and SUPER small. We bought the cheapest house on the nicest block we could find in Chicago. We live on the far NW side bordering the suburbs surrounded by cops and fireman. (like literally we have 6+ cops on our block). This is our forever house. It's small but nice and we love it.

That's why I'm saying I don't think we can find any more expenses to cut down on! But i'll keep trying. We also have one car payment of $240 and I don't have a car payment on my car. Our problem is our MASSIVE student loan debt, but I'm going to try to reduce those suckers to zero under IBR or close to zero.

Curls218 · February 2014

What a great compromise. I actually switched to only working 3 days a week and I love it. It keeps my foot in the door of my industry but I get time to spend with DS.

mexicolombiana · February 2014

christel811 said:

Sounds great and exciting.

Will you save money on any work related expenses?

Hm. I guess a little on gas. But I have a small jetta and fill up once every 2 weeks at about $40.00 as it is, so not too much there. I'll still be driving DD to pre-k and going out with them a little.

I will definitely be saving on Dunkin Donuts every morning. I spend $6.00 almost every morning on dunkin donuts because I rush around every morning to run out to work. So now, i'll be able to eat breakfast at home! (yes I realize I could have done this before but I didn't). And I'll be saving about $8-10 on lunches that I buy during lunch.

I'll be cooking and actually attempting to meal plan so hopefully we'll save $ there too.

MommaP12 · February 2014

@mexicolombiana you are my hero! I am so happy for you, yet jealous of course, ha. But good for you for making it work so you can be with your kids. I really hope I'm right behind you!

I live in Chicago too! Where are you? I'm in the south loop.

mexicolombiana · February 2014

MommaP12 said:

@mexicolombiana you are my hero! I am so happy for you, yet jealous of course, ha. But good for you for making it work so you can be with your kids. I really hope I'm right behind you!

I live in Chicago too! Where are you? I'm in the south loop.

Thanks, I don't think people understand how excited I really am. To have Tue, Thu. and Fri. off of work is going to be amazing. I just sat down with my boss yesterday and figured out my exact hourly rate and my exact net pay and I think it's very do-able since I was paying so much to my nanny before. He also said I can have my job back whenever and add more hours whenever I want/need.

You should really sit down and assess your budget and see if you can cut hours at work (if possible of course) I think I read in another post that you have the dependable paycheck and insurance. See for us DH has that, so he could never quit right now or reduce hours. I do consider myself really lucky I could even attempt to go PT. Now it's a matter of seeing how it goes!

I'm on the far NW side of the city bordering park ridge and harwood heights.

jess9802 · February 2014

Re: cell phones. I made the switch to Virgin Mobile and am SO glad I did it. I waited until they were running a deal on their phones and got a Samsung Galaxy (they do have iPhones). I basically got a $100 credit on my account. Anyway, it's $35/month for unlimited data, web, messaging, and 300 minutes of talk time. No contract, and it sort of sucks having to pay full price for a phone, but I had been unwilling to get a smartphone when I was with AT&T because of the monthly fees. I really don't have any complaints about the quality of calls, and I live in a suburban area that is still on 3G....

MommaP12 · February 2014

I have been thinking about switching to Virgin Mobile for a long time...good to know about them!

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