I wrote a guest post for The Fioneers summer of 2019, reflecting on my choice to cut down my hours at work and live out my #SlowFI priorities. A year and a half later, my husband has joined me in reduced work hours.
While I had mentioned the option to him many times over the years since I first cut my hours, he hadn’t really found a reason to do so. Like me, he doesn’t plan to quit work once we hit financial independence, so neither of us have the intense drive to find ways to stop working (unlike Purple who just retired at 30).
We might both enjoy our jobs for the most part, and aren’t looking for a way out, but that doesn’t mean fewer hours isn’t appealing. With better work life balance, I find I enjoy my job even more because I have time to do the other things I enjoy as well.
Equal Childcare and COVID-19
When COVID-19 first hit here in Washington at the end of February, I immediately pulled the kiddo from preschool and started working from home myself full time. Soon enough, those hours *did* become full time instead of my normal 80% time due to covid related and other work demands.
While the money was nice, juggling childcare and full time work from home wasn’t sustainable forever. My husband’s job requires him to be in the field at least 90% of the time, so making the switch to working from home wasn’t an option for him. Instead, I’d work from home while trying to occupy the kiddo, and then I’d head out the door for a long walk in the afternoon as soon as my husband got home.
Months later, once we realized that this was going to be life for a while, we knew that we would need to do things differently. Most things can be sustainable for a few months if they need to be, but after we’d been at it for almost half a year, it was time do make a change.
Part Time Work for Both Parents
After working full time (or more) hours for a quarter, I was able to drop back to my 80% time schedule at work. Instead of going back to five shorter days like I’d done previously, I adjusted my schedule to have four regular work days and one weekday entirely off to spend with the kiddo.
At the same time, my husband finally had the conversation to cut his own hours and work four days a week as well, taking a full day to be home with our son as well. While he was pushed into this initially due to the COVID situation, he’s since come to love his weekdays off with the kiddo.
We are extremely lucky though, because cutting our hours only covered two of the five weekdays. Our roommate is still out of work, so we have an arrangement for him to watch our son one day a week as well, reducing his living costs to where he is still able to add to savings while on unemployment, and we have an extra weekday covered for childcare.
The final two days are spent with our parents, masked. These days are harder though, so we keep them shorter, and they spend a lot of time outside. My husband has also made his schedule work to take the kiddo home those two days a week, allowing me to work longer on those days. While COVID is absolutely a negative in our lives, the added time with our son has been an absolute positive.
Homeschool Kindergarten
At the same time that we made the decision to cut our hours to take care of the childcare dilemma, we decided to homeschool our son for kindergarten. Our plan had always been to put him into public school, but with public school looking like full time Zoom, we decided to change our plans.
We still expect to send him to in person public school once it is safe, but for now, homeschool has been better than any of us would have expected. My husband and I both adore our days, getting to be hands on teaching him and spending time out in the woods that would otherwise be spent at work.
Our parents are also loving the “bonus” year with him, as they had been expecting to get much less time with him as he transitioned into public school and away from their preschool days together. While they may not be the same as pre-COVID, missing hugs and close up play and adding in masks, the time together is precious and the brightest spot for all of us during 2020.
Trading Money for Time
While we had to have employment that allowed for a cut in hours at work (a few other people we work with also have worked less than full time as well), we also had to have the means to do it financially. While we won’t hit a fifty percent savings rate yet again this year, especially since we are now making considerably less money, being judicious with our spending means we can choose how we spend our time.
In a year where so little feels in our control, knowing we have control over our finances feels like a really big thing. I know we are so fortunate to have held onto our jobs throughout 2020, and there are many we know who have not been so fortunate. That being said, the ability to have both of us pull back our hours at work while also spending on childcare (and homeschool supplies) that we hadn’t expected is something that we prepared for in years’ past.
We’ve been so privileged, but we’ve also worked hard and with intentionality. Privilege, hard work, and luck go hand in hand, and just because hard work is true doesn’t mean you can’t also acknowledge the parts in play that are out of your hands.
While early retirement may not be for everyone, financial independence absolutely should be. We’ve been intentional with our finances for years now, and that intentionality meant that we could both step back from work and step up for our son in the year that it truly mattered.
This is a wonderful, ideal situation and I am glad you both made it work. The time spent with the kid is very precious.
So precious. And since neither of us have him unrelenting for a full week at a time, I think it feels extra precious 😆
I love everything about this. When we think about FI we often think about extravagant trips and travel, but these are the hidden blessings of FI with a family. I also consider this a bonus year even though I’m not doing everything I originally planned to do. You are an inspiration and I hope many (who can) will follow in your footsteps.
There are definitely a few good things about this year, and pursuing FI sure makes those more possible.
Good job, guys! I know what a challenging time this has been, but it appears that both of you have transitioned gracefully and meaningfully. I may not ever be FI, but I did switch jobs to be on the same schedule as my children.
That’s a huge deal! Living for now is just as important as the unknown future.
It’s always interesting to hear how different families have managed to make things work with childcare and school and work during the pandemic. Everyone’s situation is so different. I’m glad you have found a way to make things work for your family.
We are so lucky to have the options we do. That part of life right now is good.
We’ve enjoyed similar benefits as well, having both transitioned to freelancing from home before COVID and now doing school at home for our kids simultaneously. While we don’t make as much as before and there are times when our focus is divided between work and schooling, it’s been wonderful to have the freedom of this option. It’s the key benefit of working towards FI; you don’t always know what options you’ll need until circumstances change. Flexibility is a huge blessing. I am looking forward to the kids (eventually) going back to in-person school, though!
Flexibility is a HUGE blessing! And yes, hoping for a (relatively) normal first grade year.
Glad you’re finding the joy in a tough situation and have some reduced work hours. Your home office is beautiful with all those windows with views of trees. I’m jealous! 😉
We are a lucky to be surrounded by trees!
This sounds like a win-win-win-win-win-win setup for everybody involved. It’s kind of magical when things work out like that (I might have missed the a couple winners in there). I think the line about making something feel in control in these out of control times stood out to me. Intentional finances bring so much empowerment. I was just thinking about how I was so intentional with my finances when I was younger but I had no idea how that gave me power since it would be another decade and a half before my eyes were open to the FI community. Even though mine is about to be a teenager and can be a little edgy sometimes – the extra time with her has been really nice and we have standing activities that we do together since the schedule is very open.
Totally magical, all things considered. FI (or the pursuit of) has definitely improved 2020 for us.
It’s amazing you guys have managed to find a balance in this craziness. Sounds like you have a great support network too, between each other, family, and your roommate. Did cutting back from full time impact health insurance benefits for either of you?
Nope, because we’re both 32 hours a week, so still technically “full time” in terms of benefits.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post sounds like you found the right balance. I have only started on my personal finance journey and still got a lot more learning to do, but being financially independent is one of my goals. Reading your blog has given me confidence to keep trying even if I’m scared and unsure.
Thank you so much! It’s definitely been a learning process over the years. And we aren’t FI yet!
I enjoyed this article. Time is certainly money and vice-versa. Some people use money to make time, but that sometimes becomes an endless cycle.
Once you hit the minimum of what you need to earn to cover the basics, I think it’s time to figure out how much those next dollars are worth 🙂
Catching up on posts and so glad you guys have found a way to make it work in this crazy strange COVID times. Looking back, I’m sure you will greatly appreciate all the extra time you both now get to spend with the little man 🙂
Oh yes. We are very appreciative of the extra time with the kiddo. They’ve been good days.