A job with a 21 hr week?

[Josie]

I read the best ever article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8513783.stm) today and wondered why it wouldn’t be true 

Basically in this article they talk about how much better off we as a society and economy would be if we all worked a 21 hour working week and had more time to devote to other stuff.

Apparently this practise would make us all less stressed; better parents, citizens etc and we would be more able to do our jobs (http://www.careersandjobsuk.com/) effectively!!!!

Can you imagine that? It would be great, but what about the financial side of things? That is the only worry I have here – apart from that I am all for it hehe!

What do you think?

[Shizara]

On the same rate of pay that you might be getting now? Sounds good but highly unlikely. I would guess that half the hours equates to half the pay........

[Mellijelli]

It would be pretty cool to only work 21 hours a week yes, but, one would definitely have to deal with a pay cut im sure, this could work in companies who are thinking of making some posts redundant, meaning instead of cutting staff they could just cut the hours instead of the person loosing both their jobs and income.

Id love to work half day actually but just cant afford that luxury, most households have two incomes these days and cant survive otherwise where as before in the 70's and even 80's the husband used to work and the wife was able to stay home if she chose to do so, those days im afraid are long gone, life is getting way too rushed and quality of life is way down, I guess we just have to live with it :hmmm:

[Josie]

Maybe if they were to make things in general cheaper and life could go back to those days Melli then it would be a viable option????

I mean life these days is so far from back then - its so much harder to get by dont you think?

[Mellijelli]

Josie im just thinking now how prices now compare to 5 years ago EVERYTHING just goes up and up and up its crazy, how do they judge these things by what measures do the put the price up of things and continue doing so? the world started off with trade, you give me your corn and ill give you some meat or something along those lines, then somewhere along the way coins were introduced and we started paying for things that way, then money notes and taxes were introduced, credit cards etc etc etc its just never ending and now what? they have run out of things to make and so they just push prices up of everything until what happens? The world is going nowhere quickly, too much corruption too much greed, I dont like it at all what does the future hold for our children in another 20 years from now.....

[Josie]

Mellijelli I see what your saying and you have some very good points there but unfortunately who are we little people to change these things? :confused:

Greed does seem to have taken over that is for sure - I mean prices rise and rise and yet no one makes any more money to cope with the difference! Its also horrible to think of the amount of food etc we waste each year as a whole as well - that is awful when you think of all the people that don't have access to food the way we do! Something needs to change eventually but I dont see it happening anytime soon really do you?

[Shizara]

Expectations are so different now. My parents used to tell me of how, when they first married, they rented a room in a house, had a bed and apple boxes for furniture and "made do". My father worked, supported my mother and they coped. Eventually they moved into a house and as finances permitted they purchased other household items. Dad was a home handyman and was more than able to maintain and renew anything that needed attention. He made things for my sister and I, eg wooden stilts and my mother, like most women of her era, had a sewing machine, made my sister and I all of our clothes, knitted, recycled old woollen garments by unravelling, washing and reknitting. My sister and I had all the necessary things and were lucky enough to have a grandmother who had taught her daughters these skills and carried on helping and supporting the next generation, her grandchildren. We had no need for computers and electronic wizardy, in fact, they didn't exist like they do today. When I was 10 we had a black and white TV with limited viewing hours.

Today's world is vastly different. Not too many would be prepared to start married life with a bed and apple boxes in one room. We have become accustomed to having all the extras that the income of our parents may not have been able to afford had they been available then. To keep up with the "must haves" in life as well as the "need to haves" a second income is usually necessary, this means that when little ones are involved then so are nursery days when mother works if there are no other family members who can assist.

Each generation arrives with different expectations, wants and desires according to what is available out there in the world. Wanting these things isn't necessarily wrong but the difficulty is that to have them all now instead of gradually as the budget allows puts tremendous pressure upon the average household budget.

As for the food wastage, as mentioned in the previous post, that's another issue. The Use By, Sell By, Display Until dates confuse people at times and instead of using commonsense in deciding whether it is fit to consume if the date arrives and it isn't used, out it goes. It makes you wonder how on earth we managed before Nanny State came along and started holding our hands. I daresay, the stores do well out of it as instead of using things up, people throw them out and replenish.

[Josie]

Shizara you are completely right in what you are saying in your post here! Things have changed immensely since the days of our parents for sure!

One of the other big changes that I think has also impacted society quite a bit is that instead of learning the skills our grand parents/parents know and used to get by, children these days are all for technology and playing on their games and so on! I mean how many people can even sew these days? The simple things are what we seem to have forgotten for sure! I mean imagine how much money you could save with a few sewing skills or even the knowledge on how to make use of leftovers from food and so on!

People throw so much out unnecessarily and it definately makes more money for those out there selling these products thats for sure!

But maybe these very important life skills are not things that should be forgotten so easily like this?

I personally would love to be able to sew but cannot do much more than sewing on an odd button or so! My mum used to make us loads of little things when we were younger but she barely makes anything these days! Things just seem to have changed a lot since then!

Maybe with these skills in place like growing some of our own food and sewing etc it would be good to have a job (http://www.careersandjobsuk.com/) where you could work a 21 hour week! All things considered and all that!