[Self-Introduction] The Results of Trying Both: Working Mom & Stay-at-Home Mom
Nice to meet you! I'm the wife of the N family.
I started a note today. I didn't know what note was at all, but I started it for now, and here I hope to share useful information for moms struggling with working while raising children or moms worried about money. Nice to meet you!
Well then, let me introduce myself briefly.
I am a stay-at-home mom in my 40s, originally from the Kanto region and currently living in the Kansai region.
Until 9 years ago, I worked as an office lady at a company listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
I am part of the ice age generation born in 1980, so when I got a job offer from a first-section listed company,
my parents were so happy. (Though I wasn't convinced myself.)
I married my husband, who was a colleague at that company. (A common pattern.)
We moved into company housing in the suburbs of Kanto. At the time of our marriage, the talk was, "Let's do our best to get by as a dual-income couple even after marriage!".
And before long, I got pregnant and gave birth.
Since women's empowerment! was already being shouted, I completely believed that
that is the right path!. Naturally, I had no intention of quitting and took my first maternity leave.
I returned to work without hesitation -> 3 years later, I got pregnant with my second child.
I worked while feeling nauseous from morning sickness.
I took maternity leave early due to threatened premature labor -> second maternity leave.
-> Returned to work. However, I failed at 'hokatsu' (nursery school hunting) and they went to separate kindergartens.
*This was seriously tough...
The older child graduated -> hit the 'first-grade wall'.
Raising two children, doing housework, and working was truly grueling, and I can really understand the feelings of Reiko-san from the currently trending drama 'Taigan no Kaji'.
-> My husband passed the Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultant exam. He started job hunting.
My husband got a job offer at a consulting firm in Osaka.
At this point, we were living in Kanto."Wait, we can't do this without moving, right?"
"Please quit your job for my career" (He didn't say it clearly like this, but he said almost the same thing indirectly.)
Honestly, at that time, I hit the first-grade wall, and I was at my maximum level of irritation, so
I was taking it out on my children (especially my son, who was 2 years old)...
"Isn't it time to call it quits? (Husband)"My heart just broke...
If I give up on various things and focus on advancing your career, will everything work out...
If I advance your career rather than struggling in my position as an OL (general staff), is it more beneficial for the family as a whole...
If I face my children carefully as a mother, can our family live happily...
There were many more conflicts that I can't write here, but in the end, I decided to quit my job and spend time at the same eye level as my children, who were still young.
And then, moved to Kansai. Actually, my husband is from Kansai. It was a distance he could somehow commute to his workplace in Osaka. After much back-and-forth with my husband's parents about where to settle down, we decided on a rental apartment near a station in the same city.
That was 9 years ago, in March 2016. Moving from Kanto to Kansai, while feeling the language barrier, my younger child entered kindergarten. I met stay-at-home moms whom I had secretly looked down on when I was working, and a life with more time began.
9 years since then.
My daughter, who was in 2nd grade when we moved, is now in 11th grade. My son, who entered kindergarten, is now in 7th grade.
Was it the right decision to quit my job?
It wasn't a significant income, but wouldn't it be a problem if the amount I was earning disappeared? I was anxious about that too, but actually, before I knew it, we had reached 30 million yen in financial assets. Thinking about it that way, it means that even with a single income, you can build up assets steadily if you are resourceful. I think I can say that our family is doing pretty well, having built assets while also having more time on our hands.
I'm not particularly good at saving money, and I'm not usually that conscious of it, but I think that with just a little bit of mindfulness,anyone can build assets.I believe that.
I would like to share this little by little on "N-ke no Wife" under the title Our Family's Asset Building Story! Please follow and like my posts. That's all for my self-introduction. I look forward to connecting with you all.
N-ke no Wife