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I have a part time job as a procurement operative. Lily need summer school uniform and I rotated winter school uniform out of her drawers. She also somehow has run out of leggings. I went online and tried to buy new leggings, and then I decided new clothes are expensive and so I used Vinted to order her new clothes. For £25 she now has 6 pairs of leggings, two dresses, 5 shirts, and a new (to her) pair of pyjamas on the way. Way cheaper than buying new, but also must include the price of my time hunting for the right clothes, using the app, making the offers, putting together bundles... and eventually collecting the items. While it is a bargain it's definitely not free.
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I have a part time job as an events coordinator. It involves four kids, ages 1-6. Includes making plans for sunny days and rainy days, and coordinating activities that are fun for all, but fit within the parameters of ability and nap schedules. I keep a reserve list of indoor and outdoor activities and ensure that appropriate activities are planned to fill the spaces available.
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I have a part time job as a CFO. I tally up the finances, produce a rough P&L, and monitor spend vs. budget for a household operation.
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I have a part time job as a social secretary. I coordinate play dates, I liaise with parents I like who have kids of similar ages. I consider the weekend activities with my events coordinator and check whether any event can also become a social event.
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I have a part time job as a documentarian. I take photos of the kids, record funny things they say, and produce yearly albums of our adventures as a family and as individuals.
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I have a part time job as an interior decorator. I continually see how spaces are used, what looks cluttered, what could look better. I suggest new pieces to fit our functional needs. I purchase upgrades to household decor as necessary
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I have a part time job as a chef. I can make a pasta dish with anything in the kitchen, in under 20 minutes.
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I have a part time job as a facilities manager. I know how much soap there is, how much toilet roll there is. I know how many fish fingers are in the freezer.
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I have a fulltime job too. And I have hobbies and friends. But... it's a lot of jobs. I also married someone with a lot of jobs. He's a bicycle mechanic, a handyman, a cleaner, a school administrator... his list goes on too. We are just in a period of lots of jobs.
What are your part time jobs?
WHEW, yes, you have a lot of jobs! This was both amusing and tiring to read. I also work at some of these jobs (funny, I don't remember applying for them???) but I think the time commitment has shifted on a lot of them over the years. Like, Driver has taken over while Cleaner has dropped to a very manageable amount (except on special occasions).
ReplyDeleteOh I have heard about the driver job but I am definitely (thankfully) not there yet.
DeleteDaria from momofchildren.com
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel, this was amazing and I can def relate. To all of it.
Yes! I think about this sort of thing A LOT! So true.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I can add more already and you could add WAY more!
DeleteYup. Just yup! I think about this all the time. Sometimes it feels like an unrealistic amount of things to fit in all the time!
ReplyDeleteAll jobs that you didn't really apply to, but are doing nonetheless! I think there are some jobs where you are like, oh, that sounds like something that would interest me and be fun and that I would be good at, and then there are a lot of jobs where you just have to do it and so you do, and you get good at it, but you never thought it would be something that you would do or be good at!
ReplyDeleteI became the unofficial (and unpaid, and underappreciated) organizer of my friend's weekend activities and after a while realized that I don't want that job so I quit and nobody else did it and so the activities stopped happening. I was kind of sad, but also I left on a bike trip so it did not affect me since I was not there as much, but if I had been I wonder if I would have reluctantly picked the job back up!
I’ve retired from most of these, but remember them all. Though with an only child, it was more manageable. I like that you included your time in the calculation of whether the online thrifting was a bargain or not. If you go to the thrift store, is it any better? Or does that just add time because you have to go and get home, and of course have to figure out whether it’s insane to bring the kids with you or not…
ReplyDeletePart time jobs I still have - sometimes cook (my daughter and husband both have this gig as well; facilities manager; CFO; events coordinator (no longer play dates, but usually if there is a family get together I’m in charge of figuring all of that out. Lately I’ve been backing off on this one a bit, and am delighted to say that my husband steps in pretty quickly without being asked.
I "joke" that my dog is my part-time job. It's at least 1.5 hours of daily walks, at least another half hour feeding/grooming/training. 10-15 hours a week is definitely a part-time job.
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