If you didnt work

[Teresa Pitman]

I would LOVE to not work. I was an at-home mother for 12 years, then got divorced and have had to work ever since. Now I have grandkids and would very much love to have more time to spend with them as well as my grown kids and my friends. I work because I need the money, of course, but I wouldn't miss it for a second if I was able to stop - and I'd be so happy to be able to spend more time with the people I love!

TP

 

[mefordis]

I quit work when my oldest was 8 months old. She is now almost 9. So I've been a sahm for about 8 years. I don't plan to return to work. My youngest is four. My day is spent taking them to school, to their activities, making their meals, cleaning, etc. I wouldn't want anyone else doing that for them.

I enjoy not having a boss anymore. Except for them -- they are my little bosses.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

If I were to suddenly become stinkin' rich, I wouldn't even bother to go back & get my pictures. Under any other circumstance, no I would hate it. I had 6 weeks off twice in 2002 while job hunting & it was brutal. Plus side, got to spend time with my then 2-year-old. Down side, sitting a 2-year-old makes it impossible to get anything accomplished outside.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Laundry takes little to zero effort if you don't let it pile up and then have to waste your whole day doing it. Dumping the laundry basket and sorting it into piles takes 2 minutes, tops, and folding takes less than five.

Not if you do it the way my wife does. Apparently, they have added at least 15 different laundry categories to the 3-4 that I grew up with. I've been banished from the laundry room for over 15 years since I don't do it correctly

 

[KristaTX]

I would not go nuts. I hate working, I have never wanted to work and only do so because I like the extras it brings. If I could do everything I wanted to do and not work I would quit in an instant.

I could have written that exact thing word for word. That's exactly how I feel. Luckily I'm only working a couple of days a week now.

I LOVE to be home, do house projects, work in the yard and gardens, spend time with my 65 year old parents who live across town, and get all the household and other occasional stuff (e.g. oil changes, taxes, veterinarian visits) done for me and my husband so that he doesn't have to spend any time doing it on the weekends. Then we are free to hang out at home or go out and do the things we like all weekend without him having to mess with that stuff. He doesn't enjoy doing those household chores at all, but I do enjoy doing them.

 

[Mom_Rides]

I would LOVE to not work. I think I was really made to be a homemaker. I was off for 6 months in between jobs at one point and other then the fact that we were dirt poor, I loved being home. My house was clean, my kids were happier, I made a lot more from scratch meals, and I was a better wife and mother.

 

[mariolatry]

My kids are 5 and 7 and this is the first year they are both in full-day school, and I am still at home. Part of it is that my husband works 80+ hours a week, rotating shifts and he cannot contribute anything to the household. There just has to be someone here to keep the family afloat. I honestly don't miss work at all. I lead my younger daughter's Daisy Girl Scout troop and volunteer for my other daughter's Brownie troop. I coordinate the Sunday school program at my church, plus teach Sunday School twice a month. I volunteer one half-day per week in the kindergarten classroom. I'm teaching my younger daughter to read. I am a friendly visitor/support person to a homebound senior from my church. I am more than busy.

I am the last mom out of my group/neighborhood to still be home. I realize now how much communities need people to hold them together. I sign for my neighbor's packages, let dogs out, provide the sole adult supervision at the bus stop for 12 kids from kindergarten-5th grade (because their parents are at work). We had two days off for the hurricane and a 1/2 day off for snow, and I received four phone calls by 7 am from parents looking for back up care.

Would I want to be working and trying to raise my two kids? No way. It wouldn't be worth the stress. I'm a lot better mother and homemaker when I can devote all of my energy to it.

 

[Goofyluver]

I'd be totally fine.

 

[dogluva]

I would go crazy thinking of what a waste my degrees are since I worked my butt off to get them. I also don't think of my job as a job, I think of it as a career. I am a special education teacher and I believe that every day I go to work I make a difference. My oldest two girls feel the same way about their majors.

 

[disney1990]

I was laid off the middle of July. If I don't go back to work soon, I am going to be widow (DH is retired). Just this weekend, I applied for a part-time Holiday job, just to get out of the house.

The problem is, being unemployed, I don't have the extra money to go out and do things, so I am home way too much.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

people who work do all that too- house still needs to be cleaned, clothes need to be washed, errands get run, volunteer work gets done on weekends and random weeknights- its possible to do all of that and work too--

Sure it is, and some people thrive on that, but others are stressed to the breaking point trying to balance it all and do it all well. Everybody is different.

 

[mhsjax]

people who work do all that too- house still needs to be cleaned, clothes need to be washed, errands get run, volunteer work gets done on weekends and random weeknights- its possible to do all of that and work too--

I am retiring in a few months, I will be just doing more volunteer work and working on my house. When I was in my 20's and 30's I would have gone batty staying at home and not working but after 30 years at the same company I am ready to let go LOL

Yes they do, but not everyone has the same number of kids and the same number of activities. Trust me, but with my family all of that really couldn't get done and my kids outside activities would suffer and that isn't something I am willing to give up.

I have been at home for 16 years. I LOVE IT. but trust me I AM WORKING.

 

[mhsjax]

Totally agree.

Exactly. I'm sorry, between the two of us, cleaning the entire house takes less than 2 hours a week (2 and a half if we clean all the windows, interior and exterior). Laundry takes little to zero effort if you don't let it pile up and then have to waste your whole day doing it. Dumping the laundry basket and sorting it into piles takes 2 minutes, tops, and folding takes less than five.

As for the OP's question... yeah, I would go batty if I didn't work. Thankfully, I have an avocation that will keep me busy and "working" (happily!) probably until I die, so I'll never run the risk of that soul-sucking drudgery.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would go crazy thinking of what a waste my degrees are since I worked my butt off to get them. I also don't think of my job as a job, I think of it as a career. I am a special education teacher and I believe that every day I go to work I make a difference. My oldest two girls feel the same way about their majors.

I tell my daughter all the time that she better not make me spend all that money on a college degree and then stay at home!

 

[mhsjax]

I tell my daughter all the time that she better not make me spend all that money on a college degree and then stay at home!

So she graduates college at 21 and gets a job. She works for 10 years or so before getting pregnant, and she decides she wants to stay home, you would be angry?

 

[beaucoup]

I used to work. Went nuts. Now I don't work.

Work is unhealthy for you.

 

[minkydog]

I tell my daughter all the time that she better not make me spend all that money on a college degree and then stay at home!

That's kinda sad. I used my two degrees (Nursing & Elementary Ed) to homeschool my kids for 12 years. Education is never wasted.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

I tell my daughter all the time that she better not make me spend all that money on a college degree and then stay at home!

So an education only has value if you are earning a paycheck?

 

[Saphire]

I would go nuts if I could no longer contribute. I never want to stop doing that, paid or unpaid.

 

[MM27]

If I could afford to not work and still live the way I do, I would stop working in a heartbeat. I have no problem finding things to do. I would also volunteer more because I would have more time.