I remember the first time my Laser card was rejected. It was 2010, and I was just back at work after my second maternity leave. I was trying to buy some groceries, and couldn’t understand why my card wouldn’t go through. I checked my balance. Forty-three cents. Mid-way through the month. It took a few hours for it all to sink ...
I'm guilty of feeling guilty. Too much. Worrying about the time I spend away from the kids. Worrying that because both of us work, they're missing out. Worrying that I'll regret it all some day. I know that I have to work for the income, but I also know that I like working. Which of course just adds to the guilt. While ...
“I knew that our wages would not cover a second child in crèche so I saved enough money to pay the second child’s crèche fees, for the 9 months until my older daughter starts the free preschool year this September. I’m hoping by then the burden might ease off a bit. It’s not easy, but I ...
We've waited for today for weeks now. A whole day off. I'm not at work, and they're not at school. It was going to be the best one-day mid-term EVER. We made no plans - we were going to take it easy - see where the day might take us. And that worked out just ...
“I usually collapse in my pyjamas by 8.30pm… I flake out on front of the TV, watching soaps…taking off my make-up and putting Sudocrem on my spots.” This week’s interview is with Lucy Kennedy; TV presenter on The 7 o’ Clock Show and mother of two. She talks about childcare, trying to do everything, working mother ...
Ooh Valentine's Day - maybe we'll book a romantic night away in a hotel. Scrap that - no babysitter, no money. But I'll buy him a card and a present. Well, a card anyway. Those are nice cards! I'll get one each for the kids as well. Oh wait, there's €3.99 each. Maybe I'll just make cards for the ...
Recently, I asked my seven-year-old if she remembered Sequoia Parc, the campsite we stayed in, two years ago in France. "Of course I do - it had a dragon pirate ship thing beside the pool," she said. "No," I said, "That was Clarys Plage, last year." She was sure I was wrong. I was sure I was right. ...
“It is usually women… who see the raised eyebrows when they actually have to leave their desks to go and pick up their children and can’t stay late, but who maybe then put in another few hours on the laptop when the children go to bed” Originally from west Clare but living in Dublin, Joanne is ...
We're in a coffee shop, I'm talking to a friend. Another friend across the table catches my eye and nods towards you. You're perched on my knee, engrossed in something. I look down. You've unscrewed the pepper lid and tipped the contents onto the table. That's the signal - coffee time is over, we should ...
I'm delighted to introduce a first ever guest post on Office Mum this week; Kate Gunn is a mother, blogger and freelancer. She spent her 20's travelling, her 30's getting married and having babies, and is now hitting her 40's newly single and back living in her old home town in Co. Wicklow. You can find her ...