Quote Originally Posted by mickyc View Post
Wow this is a lot of time off! That is wonderful you can do it. I don't take much usually 5 or 6 days a year and it is usually just a day on top of a long weekend. I might be on the fast track to burn out! lol ah well, I would rather have kid stress than money stress - can't afford much more time off than that.
The two weeks off for surgery was not something that I could foresee at the time that I booked my summer vacation otherwise for sure I would have only take a week at that point. The biggest lesson I have learnt in the 8 years I have been doing home daycare is to look after myself first. In the role as a caregiver I need to be in top form and the only way I can do that to the best of my ability is to take regular time for myself. I budget well in advance to be able to afford to take time off and I do not get any paid days off beyond stat holidays so it's not like I have that advantage. In the last 12 months my earnings have been the lowest ever so I have learnt to live on much less. When I went to FL this summer we chose to rent a villa with a pool and spend many days there relaxing versus going out everyday eating out and spending money on expensive theme park tickets and other mad money activities. We just wanted a change of scene and a place to relax. So when I go on vacation I am out of pocket financially and we have to think harder when planning activities but it forces us to actually spend time together as a family versus doing "stuff" which detracts from being focused on each other. Board games, swimming and family cooking is my kind of fun.