I always had a part time job throughout high school. I worked a few days after school and usually a weekend day. I think the first time I worked steady 40 or more hours a week was when I worked as a mover the summer before college 18/19 years old.
My next full-time job was when I was a junior in college. This is when I distinctly remember being 21 years old, working at my full time, overnight job that I thought to myself that I probably will not be able to do this steady for all the upcoming years and that I probably will not be able to have children because of the pressure of having to always work 40 or more hours a week. I didn't even consider all the additional work of kids, that was just based on me always working 40s. I ended up not having kids and I do not regret it.
I'm 44 now and this has been a constant theme throughout my life. I've always considered 40-hour work weeks to be a miserable existence. What is interesting is that 32-hour weeks or less is basically not that hard on me and life can be enjoyable. I only worked full 40-hour weeks maybe 7 years out of the last 25 years.
I will think back to my high school days, and I wonder why I wasn't bothered at my workload back then. 5 days of full-time school plus another 20 or so hours of work per week. I guess it was still so new to this life and I often had jobs I would work with friends.
It's interesting to me that if we were to work 4 days a week, that would leave 3 days off 4/3 is very close to 50 percent workdays, 50 percent off days/ 57 percent days are workdays. Yet, just adding that one extra workday now throws the ratio completely cockamamie at 5/2. 72 percent workdays.
We all know that basically Sunday isn't really a “day off” because of the stress of knowing what will happen tomorrow (Monday) and the long week ahead. Working 4 days a week makes Sunday more of a day off because you are not as stressed thinking about the upcoming week. It's only 4 days and then a long weekend which isn't that bad so it's nothing to stress over.
There are jobs out there where you can choose what hours you work. This was a realization to me when I decided to try being an overnight stocker at Target for a few months last year. I had totally forgot this was a thing that you could choose to not work 40s but of course I remember that from high school applications, that's called “part time” You could choose what days and shift lengths you work each week. I ended up choosing to work 3 10 hour shifts each week, with a nice 4 days off in between.
My most recent job I worked as a maintenance person at a hotel. I started out working 40's then I asked to go down to 4 days a week, which I did for a few months. Then a coworker quit who worked the weekend shifts so, I asked if I could just work 2 16-hour days in a row and just sleep at the shop with a portable bed that we have around for guests, which they allowed me to do.
This also made it, so I only had one commute each week instead of 4…. 2 trips instead of 8. It was an easy job where I was waiting around for calls, while sitting down watching tv shows, so working 16's was not a big deal. I would clock out Sunday night at 11pm and then I had 5 days off until my next shift Saturday morning.
I know a lot of people think they can't work anything less than 40s because of the expenses of life. I like to point out that the average person who is living paycheck to paycheck is spending tons of money needlessly. If we take the 3 necessities of life 1. Food 2. Shelter 3. Transportaion. I like to point out an average American is spending 2,400 a month more than they need to and that just these 3 necessities of life. People spend 800 more in each category than needed
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You can live on 5 dollars a day for food and eat very well. Don't eat out. Many people eat out every day and multiple times a day and spend 30 or more dollars on food every day. Plus, to add insult, it's terrible food making you unhealthy.
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You don't need your own one-bedroom apt. Spend 200-300 more than a one bedroom and get a 2 bed 2 bath and have a roommate. This will save you 800 a month in rent and it's super easy.
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So many people have a new car with large car payments. Transportation doesn't need to cost 900 a month. Ride the bus or bike to work. Use a car share if really needed. Share a car with your significant other or friends and split expenses. Most people don't need a car 7 days a week.
That's 2400 right there you could save each month and that's not even including entertainment, where people really burn their money for no good reason.