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Making Career Decisions with Your Spouse
By
Staff Writer |
April 30th, 2009 |
Category:
Marriage |
8 comments
Making career choices once you’re married has an impact not only on your lifestyle, but also on your entire family. Hence making career choices which will suit the entire family and their routine is important. Here are some points to be considered while changing or taking a new step in your career.
How much money does your family need?
It’s a difficult question to answer, but it’s an important one. Bring up this topic with your spouse. Write down your expenses and additional needs for the year and predict the requirement for at least 3 years.
Check your current salaries and find out if you are currently making enough money or if you need to make more. Based on the answer to this question you will be in a better position to make a decision while making changes in your career.
Do you need to focus more on the family at this point in time?
If you have a small child or an ailing parent, you may have to change your current job to meet the family needs. First, check if you can manage your family needs by giving up some of the responsibilities of your current job. If it is not possible, look for options which offer part time or the ability to telecommute and work from home.
It also may be the case that it’s easier for your spouse to take a work from home option for a while, when you are making career decisions to cater to the family needs.
Get your priorities right.
The ideal priorities for the family for many of us are:
- Your first priority is your marriage. Always make career choices in consultation with your spouse.
- Your second priority is your children. Your children require your attention, and managing their care while making career choices is important. Children are resilient, and will follow your lead as long as you keep a positive attitude toward the changes.
- Once you have managed the first two priorities, your third priority is your Job. You should do your job well and put the required amount of time, but let it not rule your life and eat into your first two priorities.
- You last priority is recreation, which can be taken up once your other priorities are well taken care of.
Involve your family in work related parties and outings and encourage your spouse to do the same. This one of the best ways to keep your family involved in your work.
Making career choices which work for the entire family is a big challenge. Don’t be heartbroken if you need to take a step back in your career as a sacrifice for your family. Remember your priorities will change over time and there is no other happiness than leading a happy and content family life.
Family Friday: Time to Share!
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Oh, what a great idea. participating this week was sort of an accident but I have been thinking about writing the little ones birth stories. I guess Friday would be a good day to do it
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Excellent! My husband’s teaching/coaching job doesn’t pay squat, BUT we get to be part of his day and that is priceless. Truly, if you learn how to manage your money and make a few sacrifices, small salaries can stretch big time!
@Jenn: What a great idea! I feel bad that I don’t have birth stories written, because I wasn’t blogging yet when my son was born. Good motivation for me too – thanks for the reminder!
Barbi
@Amy – It’s wonderful to look at the trade-off like that. I am still amazed that we squandered so much money all those years when we were living on 2 incomes, and now on 1 income we live on WAY less and do better! Thank you for coming over for FF, Amy! It’s always a pleasure.
Barbi
Very timely reminder as my husband is currently unemployed due to our decision against relocating to another state and moving away from our family homestead. With five kids from 5-15, family security is more important right now to them than any job. We’re going out on a limb with this, but know we only have this short season. We couldn’t justify moving away from their cousins, aunt/uncles, and since we prepared for months for this decision, we have some time.
Five years ago, he initially took this job at a huge pay cut so we could invest in our family, and not necessarily our fortune. It was the best decision we ever made….even though now is another growing opportunity.
I agree, Danelle! We squandered away so much money when the 2 of us were working. Now with just one income we are living so much better, on lots less. Definitely a feeling to be treasured! I worked long hours, and because of that, unfortunately my family suffered. Glad to have made the choice to stay home when I did.
Great Post!