SAHM starting back to work on Thurs... NERVOUS!

[Ladyw/theTramp]

I've been a sahm for the last 8 years!!! (Geesh! HOw can it have been that long already!?) Anyway, DH and I have decided to really take the debt bull by the horns and me going back to work seems to be the best way to get a handle on it... but I am sooooo nervous! (Read "scared to death! )

DS 7 is in 2nd grade and DD6 is in kindergarten 1/2 day... My husband works nights , so I think it won't be too often that we'll need help with the kids.... (except summer..! I can't even think about that yet!)

I'm just shamelessly looking for encouragment... these last few days are seeming to go by tooo fast! I feel like life as I've known it is about to end!

Anyone else made the switch from SAHM back to full-time work and NOT needed Xanax!?!?!

Thanks!!!

 

[pigget74]

Good luck with everything. Just take it one day at a time and think of your debt decreasing each day.

 

[Aliceacc]

Yep!!!

I was home from 2000 until fall of 2006. Like you, it just reached the point where we could no longer get by on my husband's teaching salary, despite all my tutoring and the photography he did on the side. I went back to work in September of 2006 in the school I left in 2000.

Honestly, it's been a LOT easier that I had imagined. I managed to find the most wonderful sitter!!! She gets to my house at 7, picks up where I've left off, gets the 2 older kid on the bus at 8, either watches my youngest all day or takes her to nursery school, picks up the older kids and gets homework started. When I get home at 4ish I start dinner and pick up where the homework has left off.

With your husband home during the days, you'll be fine. And I bet you can find a teacher or college kid to take over for the summer.

What kind of work do you do?

 

[gladstoneganderfan]

About to be doing the same thing here! I am sending you good thoughts & lots of pixie dust!!! You will do great!

 

[hinodis]

I am going back to work on Monday. I have been a SAHM for 20 YEARS! I am afraid too. I hope I can handle it. My DD10 keeps saying don't work Mommy I need you here. My hours are 9-2 M-F. She will never even know I am gone Best of luck to you in the work world.

 

[MrsPooh]

Good luck!!!

I am also starting back to work at a new job Thursday after being a SAHM for the past three years. My youngest is turning 2 this month.

I really don't want to work but, well, we need the money right now as dh is in the mortgage business and it's not doing so great right now.

I'll be working at a non-profit so the pay isn't great but the flexibility they are willing to offer is worth the pay difference. My dh can work from home one day a week and my college-aged dd will watch the little one one day a week. She has only one class that day so I'll take a long lunch and stay with the little one during her class time. The other days she'll be with a dear friend of mine.

I'm not excited about it but truly this is the best possible situation I can imagine if I do have to work.

I'm planning to try to live on a very tight budget with a goal of being able to stop working again within three or four years. Having that goal will really help keep me motivated to continue to live on a low budget.

I hope things work out great for you on your new life adventure. Give it a bit of time and I'm sure you'll get into the groove of it.

 

[sjms71]

Wow, good luck to all of you!!! I've been a SAHM for 10 yrs I have a 7 & 9 yr. old. I've been trying to got back to work for the last few months and no one seems to want to hire me. I'm starting to get discouraged. I did medical billing for 8 years before I became a SAHM with a great work record. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm going to take some different certification classes at my local college starting the end of January so hopefully that will get me something. I too am desperate for a job. Good luck to all you you again.

 

[sweetmonkey]

Good Luck! I am sure you will do great! It is a big shift but it is also (for me) a nice change from being home.

And think of all the help to the bottom line!

Beth

 

[odd1]

It won't be as difficult as you imagine. I was a SAHM for over 5 years and went back to work last year ... trust me, being a SAHM is MUCH more difficult than any job in the world!!!!! You're over-qualified, baby.

Best of luck -- not that you'll need it!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Wow, good luck to all of you!!! I've been a SAHM for 10 yrs I have a 7 & 9 yr. old. I've been trying to got back to work for the last few months and no one seems to want to hire me. I'm starting to get discouraged. I did medical billing for 8 years before I became a SAHM with a great work record. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm going to take some different certification classes at my local college starting the end of January so hopefully that will get me something. I too am desperate for a job. Good luck to all you you again.

Sorry you're having a hard time finding a job! I also do medical billing, and we could use you....can you commute to Ohio???

 

[jeankeri]

Have fun!!! I remember when I started back last year (SAHM for 10 years before that!) it was hard to think of what to say to my co-workers, or if I should be talking to my co-workers during work times, etc. I was lucky to have a really great lady showing me the ropes, so I could go to her with any questions, things I forgot, and not feel like a dunce. Now that I've been there a year, and know everyone else much better, I can't believe how shy I was, and how convinced I was they all wondered, "Who hired this gal?"
All told, it took about a month before I was sure I knew what my job was, and another month before I could go through the work day and not mentally make sure I had gotten everything done. Have a great time out there with the grown-ups, and keep us posted!

 

[sjms71]

Sorry you're having a hard time finding a job! I also do medical billing, and we could use you....can you commute to Ohio???

LOL!! I wish thanks though

 

[bdcp]

I went back part-time after 14 years (5hr/day) 10 years ago (boys were 12 and 14)so I was home when they left and when they got home, and then went to 32hr/wk (4 -8 hr days/wk) the year my youngest graduated HS ('04). We adjusted to the new income and now are somewhat dependent on it and I make pretty good money although not as much as my DH who is an engineer since I don't have a degree. I actually miss being home, but I know I would also be somewhat bored so my perfect job would be 16-24 hr/week because I love my days off. Being a SAHM was my most favorite job ever, but I never found it that difficult because I loved it so much. My work job isn't horribly difficult either, but does put a crimp in my shopping time

 

[miatamel]

Oh, boy, I'm feeling ya. DH told me a couple of weeks ago I'm going to have to go back to work next year. I DO NOT WANT TO GO! I was 36 and 39 when I had my babies--felt like I had done the working thing and don't want to go back to that mess. Waited so long to have kids and I'm just not ready to leave them. But we are making it harder and harder in this country for moms to stay at home with their children and our big thing, as DH is self employed, is health insurance. As in, we have NONE. And can't afford it. I've been trying to tell him it's not a guarantee that any place I work will even offer it, but he thinks they will. Bad thing is, I've been out of the work place 7 years, before that I worked three years running my father's businesses (who has since sold out) so that leaves me 10 years out of the real work force (read: computer skills have been outpaced) and with no college degree and over a certain age and no longer cute and skinny and in a no-jobs-but-Wal-mart very small town, let's just say it ain't going to be easy to find one. Probably talking a 30 mile commuter which means bus for the kids and day care after school and 5:30-6 getting home. It makes my stomach hurt to even think about not taking my kids to school (they are now 6 & 4) or being there when they get home to hear about their day and start homework and then have to start supper, homework, baths--it just seems like in my mind I will never get to have any real time with them that isn't rushed or stressed. I know millions of moms are doing it every day-and doing it well-but it just doesn't seem like something I will do well. Plus, worrying about being a good employee vs. good mom when I need to stay home with them sick--do you send them to school or take a chance of being in trouble at work? Blech. I JUST WANT TO BE A MOM!!!

I've read the Walmart thread, the financial difficulty thread, the health insurance thread and it has all made me terribly pessimistic here on the precipice of a new year. Don't know where the country is heading but it sure doesn't seem like up. As liberal politically and socially as I am, I think I long for the days when moms stayed home (and weren't looked down on for doing so) and dads were able to make enough at their jobs for them to so where they were loyal to companies and companies were loyal to them. That is probably very rose-colored-glasses-ish, but that is just the way I'm feeling lately.

 

[roadtripper]

Best of luck with your new job. I remember being in your shoes--5 years as a SAHM. I felt like I had forgotten how to do my job, how to talk to grownups about something other than potty training, etc. However, within a few weeks, it felt like I never left.

You'll do great-- being a mom is the hardest job there is, and you've become an expert at that. You have lots of skills that are important and will be valued. Best of luck!

 

[dahrjo]

I am also going to start a job in the next couple weeks. I have been sahm for 11 years! I worried about how to get everything done at home, that I now do. Shopping, cleaning, homework help, cooking, appointments, etc., and I will miss being at school functions.

 

[Cindy B]

I was a SAHM mom working very part time (less than 5 hours a week) for almost 5 years.

Just last year, I made a huge jump. I knew I needed a degree so I went back full time college at age 35. Yes, with all these 18-20 year olds.

It has been wonderful. I really enjoy it and I have a great time. It has been very very fullfilling and extremely different than anything else that I have experienced.

I remember going on my first day, nervous out of my mind. Will I be the oldest one? What if the other students hate me? Will I get lost? Anyway, I survived with some pretty intense classes and get fantastic grades.

I will graduate in May. I will have a marketable degree and I am taking post graduate courses as well.

 

[Kay1]

Oh, boy, I'm feeling ya. DH told me a couple of weeks ago I'm going to have to go back to work next year. I DO NOT WANT TO GO! I was 36 and 39 when I had my babies--felt like I had done the working thing and don't want to go back to that mess. Waited so long to have kids and I'm just not ready to leave them. But we are making it harder and harder in this country for moms to stay at home with their children and our big thing, as DH is self employed, is health insurance. As in, we have NONE.

Blech. I JUST WANT TO BE A MOM!!!

.

I have no idea what your town is like, but maybe you could work for the school system for benefits. Our neighbor just took a job driving a school bus. She works short hours but gets the insurance her self-employed husband can't provide.

 

[Cindy B]

I have no idea what your town is like, but maybe you could work for the school system for benefits. Our neighbor just took a job driving a school bus. She works short hours but gets the insurance her self-employed husband can't provide.

I was a teachers aide for a while for the very same reason. Nowadays due to NCLB, all teachers aides need a degree or 60 college credits.

 

[jennz]

I'm starting as a sub next week, the news is it will be during or close to the time dd, in 4th grade is in school and I'm nervous about it too! How will I get everything done? I know, the way everyone else does but it will definitely be an adjustment.

I was going to suggest the school system too to get a job w/shorter hours. Requirements vary by state. Good luck!

To the OP...you will be fine!! This is just stepping out of your comfort zone, but remember you used to work and get everything else done so you can do it again. You're qualified for the job otherwise they wouldn't have hired you!! Did you have to buy a bunch of new clothes?