I've been working on contract for more than 4 years for a stable company. Unfortunately the pay and the benefits are terrible, and the contract could be cancelled at any time. I really loved my job. Since I started there I've been able to take as much time off without pay as I needed. This year the amount of time off was cut back to 10 days. Having already taken 5 days this year I was in a real bind about going out of the country for my son's wedding. My request for an extra 5 days without pay was turned down. It's unfortunate that the policy changed after I took 5 days but in a way I understand that if they let me take extra time it would open the door for all the other contractors to have extra time.

In the meantime I have been working part time for another company doing the same thing as my day job. This was fully disclosed to my contract employer when I started last fall. I started doing about 2 or 3 hours a week and by June of this year was doing 60 hours per month. So with only five days of vacation available in my day job I knew I had to put family first. My last working day was in mid July. Now I work fewer hours for the same pay. I work from home. I was offered another part time job for 10 hours per week as well. Perfect!

So far so good. I couldn't have done this last year.

Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 tomorrow.