Full time mum or work?

Question

I have a gorgoeous three year old boy. I have worked since he was 6 months old. His dad and i split up 18 months ago and we had shared care this all went wrong and he is now mostly in the care of his dad we are working through alot of things and i am spending a lot more time with my son and also working things out with his dad to hopefully be a family again soon. I am missing my little boy so much when i am at work and am wanting to go back to work part time. At the moment i am working 2 jobs and work at least 60 hours a week but want to go back to part time work of maybe three or four days a week and some nights what are other peoples thoughts on this in similar situations and also i wont be getting anything from centrelink so i will have to work to get some income in what is a good way to earn income from home???

Answer 1

If you really put your mind to it with some of these jobs like Avon, Tupperware, undercover wear you can really earn a heap of money out of it.

To be honest I think mum's should try to stick to stay at home jobs for the first 5 years of a child's life if they can because this time is the most important for learning and development. Of course life isn't perfect and the world isn't perfect and to be honest I would not worry too much about it. Your children will benefit from the hard working example you are setting for them and when they grow up will appreciate that you were willing to do anything for them to have the best life possible.

Just remind yourself of the reason you work so hard, so that they have a good future.

Answer 2

surely you would be entitled to some sort of centrelink payments!! especially if you are a single mum and are doing some sort of part time care for your child, im d**n sure of it......if you miss your son then you should do 3-4 days a week and spend the rest with him and doing other stuff.....after all he is only young once and you wont be able to do it much when he starts school......only after school, but you can still do heaps after school

Answer 3

Avon and Tupperware! (there are outlay fees for these) Once you get a few loyal customers, you can really make a bit. Yes, they're dorky 80's ways to make money but if you're clever about it, they really can be money makers.

My mum earns stacks on eBay too (mostly selling all the c**p she's bought off it over the years though!)

I've got to say, I've looked at all of these work from home businesses and contract data entry and it's all rubbish. Trust me.

Do whatever your budget allows you to do - don't push yourself too hard and always treat yourself. I hope it all works out for your family.

Answer 4

Centrelink is Australian welfare and you should be able to get something  if your son is living with you full time.

Its a hard situation isnt it. You need the money to give your son a good life (and live in general) but you also need to give him your time. I recommend working out how little you can afford to earn and work to earn that much.

Good luck. Sorry i couldnt be more help but yeah its hard to advise as I dont know what Id do if my hubby and I split.

Answer 5

I have been a single mum (not by choice) for the entirity of my daughter's life, who is now six.  It was tough financially, but I decided to wait until she was at school to begin fulltime work.  While she was younger I did have a part time job of around 3 hours per day, in that time she went to day care which was extremely beneficial for her as she learnt to interact with other children which is so important these days.  It also gave me an opportunity to have some 'grown up time'.

Why will you not be entitled to Centrelink benefits??  I did a few jobs from home when my daughter was younger, they were by no means glamorous, but the money was nice.  These included:

--Washing and ironing for people - I charged between $10-15 per load icluding ironing and made a nice little income for myself.

--Catalogue delivery-  it was good for my fitness and my daughter loved the walks, I would make roughly $100 per week

--Online surveys - you can make anywhere from $25 per week depending on how many you do..

I guess at the end of the day, if you want to spend more time with your son you will have tighten your budget.  Money is not everything, and the more time you spend with your son the better you will feel about yourself and the happier he will be.

Answer 6

If you are able to do in home childcare, that is an excellent option.  It definitely takes a huge amount of patience to take care of other people's children, but this would also allow you to spend a LOT more time with your own child.  You obviously know how much childcare costs, so if you consider how much you would make from taking care of five children (plus the money you would save in gas money traveling to work and child care for your son), it could be a very feasible option for you.  

I have 2 kids of my own, my daughter is 5 and getting ready to start school, and my son is 10 months old.  I just finished getting licensed to do child care in my home so I am now able to be with my kids full time, plus they have other kids they get to play with.  This has been a huge blessing for me.

Best of luck to you and your family.

Answer 7

What is centrelink? I am a U.S. citizen so I am guessing that this is a U.K. thing.

Anyway, do whatever you can to spend the most time you can with your son. You will never regret it but you might live to regret it if you spend the time working instead.