To stay home or not to stay home***I DID IT**

[Avalon1984]

Jenn, I'd love to hear more about your horse farm.

Deb, you can in my new newly established Diary. I am glad I started it. You guys are just wonderful!

 

[Avalon1984]

I'd love to stay home if I could, homestead all the time. It is what I want to do. But we do what we have too.....it is my adult dream. I am still in teen town

Deb is exactly right, you keep working on it step by step. Everything takes time and lots of dedication. I cannot count how many times people asked me out for dinner or to the movies and I had to think Do I want to spend $20 on something intangible, or do I want to save it for a new barn? You do that enough times, youd be amazed at the money you save and then you can begin investing into land, buildings, equipment, livestock, whatever you like. You pluck away at it every single day and you will succeed!

 

[Seven Hens Farm]

Oh, and go ahead and type up a letter of resignation now. Don't sign or date it yet but carry it with you. Just doing that helped me tolerate my job so much, knowing I could pull that out, date and sign it and turn it in at any time. I've actually had it on my desk for two months lol.

That is a great idea. Resigning is going to be a hard one for me. I work in a very small office and my leaving would definatly cause a stir. I just cant do it anymore though...I cant stand taking orders from another man. Not that my husband gives me orders, I just think that I should be working for him (cooking, tending to the house, etc.)

We have been so s l o w here that I just surf the net all.day.long. The days go very, very slow. I sit and think about all of the stuff I could be doing at home.

 

[Avalon1984]

Oh, and go ahead and type up a letter of resignation now. Don't sign or date it yet but carry it with you. Just doing that helped me tolerate my job so much, knowing I could pull that out, date and sign it and turn it in at any time. I've actually had it on my desk for two months lol.

That is a great idea. Resigning is going to be a hard one for me. I work in a very small office and my leaving would definatly cause a stir. I just cant do it anymore though...I cant stand taking orders from another man. Not that my husband gives me orders, I just think that I should be working for him (cooking, tending to the house, etc.)

We have been so s l o w here that I just surf the net all.day.long. The days go very, very slow. I sit and think about all of the stuff I could be doing at home.

That is always a great motivator. I had the same doubts about leaving but one day my boss asked me if I wanted to go part time. I said in the job I have, part time would be possible but I would have to think about it. The topic didn't come up for q few months and all of a sudden he presented me with an offer to do an order entry job part time. I said "no" this is not what we talked about and I am not interested in this position. He did it 3 more times and the last time he said you need to take it or we will lay you off and when you try and get unemployment we'll tell them that you refused this job offer, oh and by the way, your current job doesn't exist anymore. So here I am, biting my time. The nice thing is, I am fairly irreplaceable now so if I leave on a minutes notice, he will really be in trouble. Can't wait. I will also take the advice on typing up such a letter.

 

[Seven Hens Farm]

In my office, it's me, a 62 year old lady and a commission salesman. He is worthless and she is retiring any day now. They will be screwed without me.

 

[Avalon1984]

In my office, it's me, a 62 year old lady and a commission salesman. He is worthless and she is retiring any day now. They will be screwed without me.

Well, it is their business (I supposed) and their responsibility to make sure they are adequately staffed. I wouldn't feel bad if I were you. There is a saying I lvoe that says that you are only as loyal to your company as to do the best you can in teh time you are there, for your company is not loyal to you.

 

[hwillm1977]

I've been home since the birth of my daughter about 17 months ago... it's been a huge adjustment for us, and although on paper it seemed like we could afford for me to stay home, we really can't and we're drowning at this point. I'm expecting our next daughter in 8 weeks and I will have to get a part time job or a night shift job opposite to my husband's because we can't afford day care for two small kids, and my house is too small to take in other kids so I'm stuck finding another job. I'd love to be able to work from home, but I just don't know what to do... there are offices that have work from home positions, but we live in a rural area and high speed internet is not available here so I can't do most of those. I'm trying to do pet portraits from home, but one or two portraits here and there isn't paying the bills... if I could get busy doing them, I'd have it made

Don't feel guilty about quitting a job, I was totally loyal to the job I had before I went on Maternity leave and had every intention of going back... then I was laid off on the day I was supposed to return to work, and I'm sure they didn't feel too bad about it. There are lots of other people looking for work around, and they'll just have to hire and train someone else... there's no reason they couldn't, if you give adequate notice that you are leaving.

I've absolutely ADORED the time I've gotten to spend with my daughter, and I'm only going back to work until we have a little more debt paid off so that we can live on hubby's salary and I will be back home again in a flash A year or so of sacrifice will mean I won't have to work again... we should have prepared better the first time I went off and done a lot more planning.

 

[baymule]

Make a list of what it costs you to go to work. How many miles round trip, how much in gas, wear and tear, tires, etc. Do you have to wear special clothing? What does it cost to feed your family weekly and how much of your weekly grocery bill could you replace by growing it yourself? It feels real good to set a table heavy laden with the bounty of your labors and realize you provided everything on it except the salt, pepper, sugar and tea. I have worked/not worked during the growing up years of my children. I stayed home 7 years while they were small, during which time I babysat other children (gave my kids someone to play with), I did crafts and sold them, and I went to Community College for 2 semesters for upholstry classes. I then opened up a upholstry business in the garage and made money with that.

Do you have a garden now? Do you have room for one? Do you have room for a milk goat, maybe a feeder pig to butcher in the fall? Do you keep chickens for eggs or meat? You can raise or grow most of what your family eats and it will be better than anything you could ever buy at the store. Does your husband like to fish? Join him and trotline, you can catch a years worth of fish in the spring and freeze it. Or just go as a family and eat the rewards of your fun time together. Bake your own bread. Make cookies with your 11 year old. Time is short, kids grow up and then you think of all the things you never had time for and wish you did, but it is too late.

Go pick berries and make jelly. Can tomatoes from your garden. Use your own eggs to make pasta. Cook "breakfast for supper" omlettes stuffed with harvest from your own garden. Feed kitchen scraps and garden trimmings to the chickens. Dry the egg shells and crunch them up in the garden soil. Plant fruit trees if you don't have any and then can the fruit to enjoy all year. Sometimes you can find somebody with fruit trees that will let you pick the fruit. Just remember to give them some jars of preserves or jelly.

I just quit my job of 5 years because my Mother had a stroke and is in rehab in a nursing home. It took my husband all of 3 seconds to tell me to quit and take care of my mom. I take her a doughnut and bottle of Boost every morning and spend an hour or 2 with her. Then I go back in the afternoon and make sure she gets to go outside for awhile before it is time for supper. Then I get her a salad from the buffet, drink, silverware and whateverelse she wants. Then I go wait on other residents as well. The staff is overworked, sometimes shorthanded and they just can't get to every resident when they think they should be waited on. Because of the attention my Mother gets, she is progressing rapidly and will get to go home soon. Then I will devote more time to her, as much as it takes. I deeply appreciate my husband insisting on me quitting my job to care for my Mother.

We have 16 acres outside of town where we keep our horses. We recently had part of it bulldozed so I could plant pasture. I hired a former co-worker to help me put up a cross fence to block the horses from stomping down the new grass. I have done burn piles, picked up sticks missed by the bulldozer, sown my grass seed and prayed for rain to make it grow.

We live in the middle of our small town and I have gardened in the front yard for years. I built another bed with stacked brick and shoveled compost in it. I reworked the fall garden into the spring/summer garden. We have 8 hens in the back yard in a coop I built 3 years ago. (it took several months of working on Saturdays to get it finished ) I picked 3 gallons of blackberries in a friends pasture and froze them. Blueberries will be ready in June and I will go to my favorite u-pick place and stock up. I have beat myself up over the past 3-4 weeks getting major projects done before my Mother gets out of the nursing home. I still have to add onto the chicken coop and will get that done next week.

This is the first time in 18 years I have been unemployed. My husband is loving it. While caring for Mom takes time, there is still time several times a week to cook really good meals, the kind that you can't sling together in 30 minutes or less after working 10 hours.

QUIT! RUN! DON'T WALK! RUN HOME NOW! You will be glad you did and my bet is you'll never look back. Spend that precious time with your child now while you still can. Make your family nutritious healthy meals they will enjoy. Make your house a home.

 

[Seven Hens Farm]

Do you have a garden now? Do you have room for one? Do you have room for a milk goat, maybe a feeder pig to butcher in the fall? Do you keep chickens for eggs or meat? You can raise or grow most of what your family eats and it will be better than anything you could ever buy at the store. Does your husband like to fish? Join him and trotline, you can catch a years worth of fish in the spring and freeze it. Or just go as a family and eat the rewards of your fun time together. Bake your own bread. Make cookies with your 11 year old. Time is short, kids grow up and then you think of all the things you never had time for and wish you did, but it is too late.

Yes, I have a garden now. Actually, I told hubby that I need his big strong arms to till me up some more space. On top of all the other crops, I plan on growing corn, mangle beets for the chickens, and sunflowers for them. I ordered 100 each of wide and small mouth Tattler lids for all the bounty! I made Lemon Curd this past weekend, thanks to Enola Gay over at Paratus Familia Blog, and tested them out. They worked great! Im really excited!

Last fall we raised 30 meat chickens. Best thing ever. I found out that I need to buy their feed in bulk though. I really didnt realize how much they ate! We also have chickens and ducks for eggs. Got a chicken and a duck co-parenting on a nest of 20 eggs. Not sure how that one will turn out. Also, we have 4 chicken eggs and 10 duck eggs in the bator, they will be hatching anyday now.

I have been wanting goats for awhile now, just gotta get some fencing up for them. The same with feeder pigs.

Thank you Baymule for your post, it was very touching and inspirational!

 

[TTs Chicks]

Oh, and go ahead and type up a letter of resignation now. Don't sign or date it yet but carry it with you. Just doing that helped me tolerate my job so much, knowing I could pull that out, date and sign it and turn it in at any time. I've actually had it on my desk for two months lol.

That is a great idea. Resigning is going to be a hard one for me. I work in a very small office and my leaving would definatly cause a stir. I just cant do it anymore though...I cant stand taking orders from another man. Not that my husband gives me orders, I just think that I should be working for him (cooking, tending to the house, etc.)

We have been so s l o w here that I just surf the net all.day.long. The days go very, very slow. I sit and think about all of the stuff I could be doing at home.

I can so relate to this - I have been complaining that they don't have enough work assigned to me. I work an hour from home :/ I sit and think of everything I could be doing at home too. This week we had a conversation about me working part time from home . . at least that way I can care for critters, take care of my garden, clean house, wash clothes or whatever during my down time. I just have to stay on top of my boss and not let him forget that he is supposed to be working on the software for me to be able to do this.

If I had it to over again, I'd have stayed home after middle ds was born. I was home for a while and then went back to work and haven't been able to stop since. If you have the opportunity to stay home I say go for it !