Planning

Dealing With a Job Loss: Redistributing Home Work Loads

Photo by meaduva

When I was not working, one of the things I found I had more of was time. I know that seems like a no-brainer, but it was a bit of a shock to realize what that meant in reality. It meant that I now had either more hours a day in which I could choose what to do.

My husband, on the other hand, had an increase in stress from realizing that the financial support of the family was now entirely on his back, since I was denied unemployment. With my wealth of time, I decided that I would take over some of the tasks that he usually performs around the house.

(That is not saying I was sitting around doing nothing otherwise – I finished off long-put-off projects, thoroughly cleaned the house, took over grocery shopping again, and cooked all our meals from scratch. But I still had time left over.)

In my book, it seemed to me that doing some things my husband would normally do was the least I could do. It didn’t seem fair that I would be sitting at home during the day, and still expect him to come home after work and work some more. Plus, in some cases it gave us more flexibility. With more hours in which it is possible to perform a task, other factors, such as weather, become less important in getting the task done. Also, as his evening time freed up, he was more relaxed, and weekends became time for family fun.

I didn’t necessarily have the skills for all things, but I figured I could learn. I decided that the biggest impact I could have was to take over lawn care, of which I knew very little. It didn’t take much to become proficient enough to troubleshoot the tasks (especially with the help of two stay-at-home moms who would laugh when I stalled the mower, but still help me get it back up and running). By taking over that one task, which only took up two hours, I was able to give my husband an evening or weekend day back.

It’s something to think about. If you suddenly find time on your hands, is there something you can do for someone else that will give them the gift of time?


Photo by meaduva


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