What Hours Do You Work?

Updated on January 28, 2011
T.L. asks from Cuba, MO
25 answers

I work in a very demanding job and work from 8-4:30 Mon-Fri. I on a frequent occasion work till 10:00 throughout the week and even get called out on the weekend. I usually average 60-65 hours a week and am exhausted. In betwen my kids, my husbands kids and our kids I feel that I am missing out on everything. I want to be a Mommy with a career, but also a Mommy. Also, this has been very difficult on the kids as I was a SAHM until about 4-5 months ago.

How many hours do you Mama's work?

1 mom found this helpful

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So What Happened?

What types of jobs do you mama's do where you can work from home? I would love to work from home at least some of my hours, but it might be stretching it with my job.

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C.M.

answers from St. Louis on

I work 630-300 Monday-Friday and never am required to work nights or weekends. I am a system analyst. Occasionally I can work from home and do so maybe 3x a year.

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L.L.

answers from Orlando on

I work from 8am-4pm (sometimes later) I gave up my lunch break so I can leave by 4pm and pick up my daughter by 5pm (I work about 45 min from home). I drop off my daughter at school at 7:30am then head to work and leave at 4pm pick her up by 5pm most days.

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A.R.

answers from Dallas on

40+
5:00 am - 3:00 pm, more when necessary; but I take a break at 7 to get my kiddos up and to school (I work from home)

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M.M.

answers from Boston on

About 16, used to be 40-45.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

When I worked in healthcare I worked 14 hours on monday, and 6 hours in the evenings tue/wed/thurs.

Currently I write freelance... so I write in my "spare" time. It works best when kiddo is elsewhere for a couple days so I can write straight through. I won't be writing seriously for publication again (1 or 2 novels a year, contracts, etc.) until kiddo is mostly grown. AKA a teenager and in college (we homeschool... most 14/15yos who homeschool in our area are in community college).

Next year I'm looking at picking up part time work on the mountain we ride at.. minimum wage... but it would mean free passes and lessons. I'll also be back in school fulltime next year. That's easy, I've been in school for 6 years out of kiddo's 8. It only means about 10 hours of childcare a week. I'll stop writing again next year I'm fairly sure... but I'm really just playing around with the writing thing until I have more time anyway. ((The way I write for pub is straight through.)) I'll just be taking winter quarter as my "summer" / the 1 quarter a year that college students can miss and not have it affect their academic standing.

1 mom found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

at my busiest when the boys were little i worked about 40-50 hours a week and it was very, very hard. fortunately i've usually been able to cut that back some. 60-65 is really stressful. can you make some changes so that you can keep the career you love without driving yourself to this extent?
khairete
S.

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R.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I currently work about 25 hours a week, during the evening hours at a restaurant. I went to school and have a degree in education, and am currently completing my Master's which takes up a week night also. I am eager to start my teaching career but I also do not want to put my youngest in daycare so I won't begin teaching until she starts full time school in 4 years. At that time I will be working 40 hours a week but will be basically on the same schedule as the kiddos. Your work schedule seems a little demanding so I can see how you feel spread thin. Is it possible to scale back your hours a little? I know we do what we need to to support our families so maybe that is not an option but maybe if you could at least eliminate the late nights and weekend work you would feel better. Good luck to you, these decisions are never easy and you should be proud of all you do!!

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M.R.

answers from Chicago on

I am at work from 6:00 - 3:30, so almost 50 hours a week. I make it work by ensuring that from the time I get home until the time my kids go to bed and on the weekends I am focused entirely on them. I do not regret a thing about my schedule and do not feel like my kids are missing out on anything.

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K.W.

answers from Columbia on

Wow, it sounds like you work way more than you should. I currently work 40 hours a week , but between me using personal time, for sick kids, and other errands, I have been averaging about 30-32 hours a week. I would not be able to keep up with everything.

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J.S.

answers from St. Louis on

I work 8 to 4. This works out pretty well with my 3 year old who's in preschool. However, I am due in 7 weeks with baby #2 and have a feeling that will not feel like enough time with them. 60-65 hours per week is crazy!! You must be Superwoman!!! ;)

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K.F.

answers from New York on

I work from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm. I rarely work overtime. I did have a job where I worked loads of overtime but really needed the money. I was a single parent with extra responsibilities. I also had loads of help from both family and friends. If I were you I would figure out how to better manange my work time and when and if the phone rang on the weekends I wouldn't always make myself available. More hours doesn't equal more productive. Figure out what and when are your most productive hours and try to work with that. Your job is interested in seeing you produce. Give them logic not emotion.

I'm an accountant and also the office assistant so I'm sent to other offices to help them catch up on their slack or lack.

K.V.

answers from Lansing on

I work 2:30pm til 10:42pm, I have to drop my daughter off at 1:30pm just to get to work on time and I don't pick her up til a little after 11pm. But with my job, they can spring on overtime at any given time (give you 10 minutes notice that you have to stay and work 12hrs). We already have 33 saturdays scheduled for the year and overtime every friday or saturday (depending on if 3rd shift works friday night) for 2nd shift. But we get generous holidays off, and a bunch of vacation time. My hours range from 40-60hrs a week.

S.J.

answers from St. Louis on

I work 7:30 am to 4:30 or 5pm M-F. I occassionally work in the evening from home on my laptop or blackberry, but really try not to do that. When I was working more hours, I was not happy and my family suffered, so I changed jobs ( I was in private practice working 50+ hours, now I am with a corporation with "set" hours). 7:30 to 4:30 is hard enough!

Try your best to make some changes, and if you can afford it, hire a cleaning lady, even if it is just once or twice a month. That has helped us tremendously. Try cooking all meals on the weekends and freezing or otherwise storing them so reheating is all that is necessary. Try to cut down on your hours if you can. This time with the babies goes so fast! You can have both, you just have to have a good balance.

Best wishes!

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T.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

I was a SAHM until a few weeks ago. I work 10am-2pm (mon-fri). I still wanted to take the kids to school and be here when they got home. Is there any way you can cut back your hours? I know that is easier said then done. I hope everything works out for you.

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I work two PT jobs. O. 2 days per week. (I leave after child gets on bus/taken to school) and get home about 6:00 those days.
The other job is a set-your own hours sales job that I do on another day--or two--while he's at school--usually 4-5 hrs per week MAX.
Do you HAVE to work so much/so hard/for so many hours? I would hate that.

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T.R.

answers from New York on

WOW, that's a lot of hours. Is there anyway you can cut back and still do the same job? Are you salary? I work 8am-4pm and I drive an hour to get to my job so I'm constantly on the go. I leave the house at 6:30am with my son, drop him off at daycare, head to work, then I'm home by 5pm. Thankfully I have an amazing husband who picks my son up at daycare and has dinner ready most nights by 5-5:30pm.

I think you need a vacation already, even though you just went back to work. Phew! Good luck girl!

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M.H.

answers from Detroit on

I work 8.00-3.00 child minding (this is 1/2 day at my house and then over to the baby's house for the other 1/2 off the day), and I then pick my kids up from school, take them home to my babysitter so that I can go to work at a college from 4.30-9.00 (Mon - Thurs).
I am lucky that half of the day is at my house so I can get on with household stuff like vacuuming, laundry, dinner etc, this leaves my weekends free to really concentrate on having fun with the kids.

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J.L.

answers from Chicago on

I am a modern woman and love to be self sufficent and independent...but I have three youngsters and I am missing out even working 7-4. I changed careers so I could work no more than 40 hours a week but even that is too much. While I know that some moms have to work as it is a necessity to survive and pay the bills, if you can be a SAHM even better. I am trying to convince my DH that I need to be home...and yes I am very career oriented with a MBA but I have come to realize that if you can stay home do it....We are finally talking about it to see if we can make cut backs for me to do this.

Can you work part time? I am realizing our kids are little once and they'll be grown. We can never capture their childhood again...but we can always have a career....

M.A.

answers from Detroit on

I am a single mom so I work 24-7...
I have a full time job at an area university (50+ hours a week,) and a part time job (30+ a week) that I can do from home if I choose (data base-grant related clerical items.) Luckily me that both jobs are in the same building-just different bosses. 6:00 am - 8:00 am, then 6:30 pm - 12:00 am (plus weekends) I work my part time job. From 8:00 am - 6:00 pm I work my full time job. I will be working more hours in the summer as a workshop coordinator. Crazy, but you have to do what you have to do to pay the bills (and momma needs a new roof installed this spring…)

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V.N.

answers from Chicago on

I work part time and am scheduled from 26 hours but it can vary greatly too. I usually work until 7 or 8 but sometimes I stay anywhere from 9 to 11. More frequently I leave around 8. Your job seems intense. I think you can do both but something is going to be sacrificed.

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T.V.

answers from Kansas City on

I negotiated 30 hours in the office, 10 hours out so I could leave at 3 to pick kids up from school. I'm in heating and cooling sales...LOVE my job, partly because I love interacting with families and partly because it allows me to interact with MY family. It sounds like you are definitely looking for more of a balance. Would your work be willing to let you work some hours from home?

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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

Before kids: 40-60 hours.

After kids: Part-time, mornings only. Self-employed, so I can set my own hours. ETA: I'm a freelance public relations writer.

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P.O.

answers from Harrisburg on

You are definitely overworking yourself. Can you find another less strenuous job. I work 40hrs and in my opinion, that's already too many!

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E.I.

answers from New York on

I work 32 hours per week. My husband makes most of our household money. My job is flexible with my hours . I get my work done within the timescale so they end up only having to pay my position about 3 weeks worth of pay rather than 4. It's a win win. I have been there 10 years also.
Honestly I don't know how you mamas that work 60 hours a week do it. I sometimes think I don't spend enough time with my little girl as it is. If I was able to stay at home I would.

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J.B.

answers from Atlanta on

TOO many! I have a lot of decisions to make soon. In these rough economic times, I was blessed last year to not only get a full-time job like I had been looking for only 2 miles from my house, but at the same time, a work-from-home job I had contracted to do part-time in fall of 2009 finally came to fruition. The project I had been hired for got canned, but the day I got my FT position, I came home to tons of project requests. I decided it would be foolhardy to look a gift horse in the mouth, but after a year of working almost 2 full-time jobs with two small children -I'm DONE. It's been great to save extra and get some things for the house and whatnot, but I'm exhausted and just finished. I would like to only do the work-from-home because it would give me a lot more time with my children and my house, but that would cut our income by thousands a month, sooooo -it's a hard call. I work all day, pick up one or both kids between 5 and 6 if I don't go work out, get home and spend time with them until they go to bed by 8-8:30. Then I do the from-home job until between 12 and 2am. See if you can find a different job that will only make demands of you (usually) at work. This may not put you on a fast-track career-wise, but you'll probably be happier right now.

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