The reason why I, a mom, work a part-time job at a 'late-night convenience store'.

I work a part-time job at a convenience store in the middle of the night just twice a week.

I go to sleep with my son at 9:00 PM,
wake up at 11:00 PM to drink coffee,
leave the house at 11:45 PM to ride my bicycle,
and work from midnight until 7:00 AM.

One way or another, I've been continuing that part-time job for a little over a year.


It was last March.

Since my son was finally starting kindergarten in April, a large amount of money moved for the first time in a while for things like the entrance fee and uniform.

When I suddenly looked at the balance in my bank book, I realized something terrible.


7,880 yen.


I couldn't believe my eyes.


This number represented the entire fortune of the Umekawa family.



When I got pregnant, I was working as a full-time hot yoga instructor. It was a good company, I was blessed with great colleagues, and it was a rewarding job, but it was quite a demanding one, so I just couldn't feel like I had the capacity to balance work and childcare.

Should I continue working, or quit?

After worrying and worrying and worrying, I decided to quit.


If we were to live only on my husband's salary, we would have to dip into our savings every month. But I figured we could somehow manage until the child entered kindergarten. Our savings would decrease, but I felt that being able to spend time with my child was more important, and that was what mattered. Once the child enters kindergarten, I'll start working and save money again! Let's do that!

With that kind of feeling, when I did a rough simulation of our finances, it should have been fine.


No, maybe it was fine, after all. Since my son was starting kindergarten the next month, it was a bit too close for comfort, but I could say we had somehow managed to get through it.



But a bank book with less than 10,000 yen had quite an impact. I felt an indescribable terror.


Just then, more sad news arrived.


'Due to COVID-19, we are postponing kindergarten enrollment.'


Huh? Then when am I supposed to work?
There wasn't a moment to lose anymore.


Because of that, I noticed a job opening for a night shift at a convenience store and applied immediately.


When the manager asked me, 'What is your reason for applying?', I blurted out, 'I ran out of money.' It turned out the manager had also struggled with money when their children were small, so we ended up talking for a long time. Even though it was an interview.

They negotiated with the owner to see if it was possible for a woman to work the night shift alone, and I was hired. And they let me take home a lot of discarded bento boxes, rice balls, and bread, saying, 'Take home as much as you want.'

I am so grateful to the manager who hired me, was kind to me, and encouraged me.


Since I could earn nearly 70,000 yen a month working twice a week, I was somehow able to overcome the crisis.



Triggered by this incident where my savings almost hit zero, I faced 'money' properly for the first time.

I watched YouTube videos about money and canceled all the insurance policies I had signed up for without thinking deeply. I sold things I didn't use that were sleeping in my house on Mercari, and reviewed the frequency of eating out and the amount of food we ate. Besides that, I became conscious of anything else I could cut back on in my daily life.

Then, my monthly expenses decreased significantly. And, with money coming back in a lump sum from canceling insurance, and the 600,000 yen in COVID-19 relief funds for the three of us coming in all at once, before I knew it, the number 1,000,000 was engraved in my bank book.


I will surely never forget the sense of relief I felt at this time. But I think this incident might have been a sign saying, 'You should face money properly.'


Well then.

The money situation has settled down, my son has started going to kindergarten, and I could quit the night shift and work during the day.


But I am still continuing the night shift.


It was a job I started out of necessity for money, but when I think about it, it might be a very convenient job for me as a mom.


Because when my son has a fever, I don't have to contact my workplace to find a replacement, and I can just sleep soundly at home with him.

I can let my son, who hates kindergarten, stay home on days he really wants to.

I can leisurely accompany him through his morning grumpiness.


For me, who feels abnormally stressed and irritated by 'being chased by time' and 'being rushed,' it is an even more grateful job.




Alone at the convenience store in the middle of the night,

leisurely washing the coffee maker,
washing the fryer,
polishing the floor and toilet until they shine,
neatly arranging products,
and working the register.

And taking plenty of breaks.
Playing with my smartphone, reading books, or writing like this.


I don't feel much of a sense of accomplishment,
but I don't feel any stress either.

I feel like it is the most 'energy-efficient' and realistic way for me to earn money.




But deep inside my belly,
something hot and burning is glowing.


I don't know how to turn that passion into money yet, and with my son who still needs a lot of care by my side, I don't have the time to be obsessed with it, nor do I have enough money to do it with all my might right now. After all, I was nearly penniless until recently.

But I want to do what I can, step by step. I want to take on challenges.

That is how I feel.




Me, working calmly at a convenience store in the middle of the night and earning money realistically.

Me, in the daytime, valuing my passion, not thinking too much about money, and pouring my energy into what I want to do now.

Me, spending irreplaceable time with my son, whom I love more than anything right now.


This past year has been like those three versions of me spending time in an exquisite balance.



If I were a very courageous person, maybe I would quit the part-time job and pour all my energy into what I want to do.

But I am a coward, and I don't have the courage to break this exquisite balance, so it doesn't look like I'll be able to quit the night job anytime soon.



But surely, even if I leave it alone, that balance will change so slowly that I won't even notice.

My son will move away from me so slowly that I won't notice, and the version of me that spends time with my son will become smaller and smaller. One of the other two versions of me will fill that void, and the three versions of me will find an exquisite balance again.


While doing things like that, if I continue to do what I want to do step by step, a day might come when it turns into money.

Then, the meaning of calmly continuing the night job will disappear, and this time, the two versions of me will start to find an exquisite balance.



For a mom who has people to protect,
that kind of feeling might be just right.




When I tell people who know me—the me who graduated from a good university, then went to a vocational school to learn web design, and then learned yoga, and has powerfully done various things as my interests led me—that I am working a part-time job at a convenience store in the middle of the night while raising a child, they get worried or surprised.

Sometimes I am looked at with eyes that seem to say, 'How pitiful,' and at such times, the feeling of wanting to make myself look even a little bit cool sometimes stirs.


But for me, this is the best balance right now.


I notice that I am becoming able to think that if I can give myself a mark of approval like that, then that is fine.


That sensation might be proof that I have become a 'mother,' I who used to be full of myself, with my head filled with my own affairs, and who never doubted that realizing my own dreams and goals was the greatest happiness.

There are many forms of happiness, and the exquisite balance of feeling happy changes from time to time. Now, I know that properly through my own life.




Before my son was born, I never imagined that a day would come when I would work a part-time job at a convenience store in the middle of the night.


Five years from now, ten years from now, what kind of balance will I have and what kind of days will I be spending?

I might still be working a part-time job at a convenience store in the middle of the night, or there is a possibility that I will be living a life I cannot even imagine right now.


But that 'unknown' is interesting.

I think life is truly interesting.

~I remembered that I wrote an article like this soon after I started note. I am writing about another reason why I surprisingly like my night convenience store job.~

[The story of how this convenience store where I worked was going to close at the end of April 2022]

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Thank you for reading until the end (^^)

I run a home salon in Minoh City, Osaka Prefecture. For those who came from note,the first 60 minutes are 2,500 yenfor treatment. If you are nearby, please come and visit♪