Thoughts on "work"

Hello everyone,

A few weeks back, I posted in SGF (the other blog I write in) a little ramble about my thoughts on pocket money, rich and poor. In that post, I wrote a little bit about my thoughts on "work" and I thought I'd expand those thoughts here.

See I like work. Its true I do. And when I say I like work, I don't just mean paid employment - I am talking about all the things that people call work - making my house nice and clean, ironing my clothes, and re-ordering/decluttering my house. Most of all, I enjoy helping people with their work.

To me work is primarily about being social and being healthy. Since the dawn of time, we have worked together to survive - to hunt or grow our food, to build our houses and our towns. Through work, I have learned how to get things done with people who are very different from me and most of all I have received the social benefits that come with being productive. "Work" is a tie that binds.

My children walking someone else's dog - not because they wanted money but because they wanted to help out...and they really love this dog. :P

The weird thing is that for some reason there is a predominant view that "work" is something that we should try to lessen. The less work we have then the happier we should be. Is that really true?

I don't know about you, but when I don't work...then I feel:

a) overwhelmed - because I am unorganised and it takes me longer to get ready for the day because everything is all over the place,

b) socially inept - because I inevitably arrive at social gatherings unprepared or with the wrong things

c) lethargic - because for some reason, the less I do, the more tired I am and therefore find it harder to even start working.

d) unproductive - because...well, hardly anything is getting done.

On the other hand, when I work, I get the satisfaction of seeing the results of my work and the self-confidence that comes with knowing I have done a good job. I am active and have more energy. And best of all, my world opens up as I connect with people who are very different from me and through those connections, I know that I have many sources of support.

Now some of you may have noticed a benefit of work that I have not mentioned - money. That's because to me money is only a secondary outcome of work. See, I love my work. So I pay attention to it. I spend time learning all the different ways to do it and take care to get it done right and well.

And because I want to learn about it and take care of it, then at my paid work this approach has resulted in an increased income in the form of promotions and bonuses. At my unpaid work at home and to my community, it has meant increased savings because I have been able to make things or fix things, and swap or receive things from others.

But while I enjoy the security that comes with an increased income and increased savings, I know that it has come about because I have loved work in the first place and appreciate the joy it can bring into my life.

And so to me, the best thing I can pass on to my kids is a love for work itself. Because if they love work, then they will always reap the personal and social benefits and with that will be the increased income and savings that work can bring.

What about you? Do you have work that you love?

"Manly" :P

Hello everyone!

Well, here I am still sporadically blogging...just when you think I've stopped, I pop up again! hehe. As you can see, I FINALLY have changed my blog template for 2011!

A quick update on what's been happening (mostly for my relatives, so feel free to skip this paragraph). I've been super busy at work, with two major projects nearing major deadlines. It was stressing me out trying to cope with the workload 4 days a week, so I decided to temporarily start working full-time until the deadlines have been met. My children too are now becoming more and more interested in doing more activities (they had previously chosen, with my encouragement, to just do 1 extra-curricular activity) and so I have now agreed for them to do 2 activities each. They are now doing Sea Scouts, which they absolutely love. So now I am trying to balance their need for "down time" and their need to have peer groups outside of their school group.

In terms of budgeting and saving (and now more related to this blog), I have now saved enough to start kitchen renovations at my new house! Even though the work has not yet started, I have to say I'm very proud that I didn't have to go to the bank to borrow the money (though at times, its been tempting!). I hope I can continue to save (its been 2 years now of automatically putting in at least 10% of my pay into savings and then at the end of my pay period, automatically putting the rest into savings.)

Speaking of renovations, one of the things I have been slowly learning to do are the "manly" things around the house - you know, things like putting up shelves, changing tap washers etc. Its funny, I realised today that my anxiety over doing things like that pretty much stem from the same sort of thinking I used to have over sewing and crafty things. Back then, I had thought I couldn't learn those sorts of things because I wasn't creative. Now, I thought I can't learn manly things because....well I'm a woman - not a man.

Photo by Vince Connare

You know I never realised that a modern woman like me could harbour such "old fashioned" ideas... but I do wonder how many women also subconsciously think the same thing?

One of the challenges of becoming a sole parent, has been trying to make my money stretch a bit further. While my simple life has gone a long way in helping me with this, inevitably, the task of doing manly things can help save a bit further. At first, this meant learning how to operate a lawn mower (yep, I didn't know how to do this!) or hang a heavy picture on a wall (nope didn't know a thing about struts or whatever you call those blocks of wood behind the gyprock wall. lol!) But slowly, slowly I learnt - mostly because I didn't want to have to hire a handyman for every little manly thing that needed doing around the house.

Shelf I put up in my daughter's room (with the help of a friend who told me about those screw/nail thingies that expand behind the wall and the help of the hardware store man, who told me how to use liquid nails properly....and no, liquid nails are not a good replacement for actual nails. :P)

Then slowly I realised that it didn't have to stop at "little manly things", I could (just maybe) learn how to do bigger things around the house. And so I have. Since then, my list of "big manly things" (lol) has been replacing a wardrobe door, installing my dishwasher and fixing my leaking fridge. I thought about taking photos of my finished work, but I've realised that unlike crafty things, taking photos of doors and appliances aren't really very exciting. :)

So how did I fix those things? Basically I learned in the same way as I learned to sew - by asking people (strangely enough, mostly men) to help me, by reading it on the web and watching it being done in You Tube. I'm still not quite there - and I have to admit, I am still a bit anxious over doing these things, but just like sewing, the more I do, the more willing I am to try and do a bit more.

And hell, if it fails then I can always try to fix it...and if I fail again, then I *could* pick up a phone and call a handyman!

Next project will be to replace my kitchen sink and tap - but as I have ordered a new benchtop for my kitchen, that can wait until the benchtop is ready to be put in. (Which gives me plenty of time to talk to people and watch it being done on the web...because I'm sure someone out there has already thought of filming how to put a kitchen sink in! hehe)

What about you? Do you do "manly" things around the house?