Simplicity is Freedom

It's the dilemma of modern families across Ireland - how to balance work and family life in a way that you can meet your expenses and the needs of your children. Tradition suggests that a couple should marry, buy a house and have children, in that particular order. Unfortunately, for many, that now translates to being tied to a job to pay for an expensive house in a location that no longer suits your new lifestyle as parents. And if you are not committed to a mortgage, do you choose where to live because you can get a higher paid job, more amenities, shorter commute, cheaper area? How can a family thrive if both parents have to work five days or more a week? Less time means you make bad decisions - fast food, buying things you could make, looking for the quick solution, compensating for time lost with your children by lavishly spending money on them. Then there is the guilt and emotional strain.

The massive personal choice that the developed world offers to us brings freedom and potential for happiness but also so much complication and stress to our lives. We have so much available to us but is it really making our lives better? I hear so much negativity around me every day, so much illness and stress. Even though the choice I'm making is a good one, is it the best one? Have you ever spent hours online comparing products and agonising over them? Each one looks good, but which one is the best!? By the time you've finished, you've forgotten what the first one was like. It's not our fault, we are part of a bigger machine. The machine of society that we design. The chicken and the egg situation?

Rather than work a full week to have more disposable income, I would champion less work, less money and more time. I believe that no person, no matter what your situation, should work a 40+ hour week. Part time work for every one means that no person should be without a job, and all the work will still get done. It would cut down traffic, work related stress, sick days.

If only it was that simple... I realise that everything would have to change, cost of products and services, the way businesses are run....

But still, my dream is a three day week for workers everywhere!