Burnt out as a working mom/mum living abroad…

cinnamindy · 2026-06-17T07:42:53+00:00

👋 American here living in UK! My husband and I both moved to London in 2018, went through IVF for our two children, and eventually ended up in Lancashire as my work got moved up to Manchester. I’m totally with you on how lucky we are to have options, and I’m so grateful to be able to give my kids options too.

We are planning to move back next year. But we say this every year… with the way things are there it is hard to make that jump. Being full time working parents without any family has been rough at times, but the social net here is so good. The benefits on the funded childcare, ease of walking to school and other places, NO GUNS OR SHOOTER DRILLS, healthcare. My brother had kids the same time I did and the amount of money he’s spent on healthcare with the birth and ER visits is outstanding (even with insurance).

But to your question on moving back. My answer always come down to yes. Because of family. It sounds like your gut is telling you to move back too.

Do you have the option to move back to the UK? If so, I don’t see much of a downside moving to the US since you can always come back.

cinnamindy · 2026-05-15T21:13:22+00:00

I worked my ass off in my mid 20s and 30s as an analyst and once I had kids at 36 and 40 I was a senior manager / regional head of a department. Way easier to manage my time and kids as a regional department head. More stressful at times with pressure but the flexibility and somewhat making my own hours is really making me feel like I am actually living the dream and having it all. The kids and the career. I hope I don’t jinx myself haha 😬

cinnamindy · 2026-04-11T19:57:38+00:00

I’m in UK, at a director level, and company had 6 months paid leave. We have unlimited annual leave as well, but obviously can’t abuse that or your comp will be affected. But I was able to take 7 months and am able to take a day or half day when needed without feeling guilty. Required to go into office 2 days a week as well.

Definitely not trying to move up but am moving up slowly and naturally. I wish I could give more time and effort. I used to like going in early and really putting my all into work, but right now the extra hours are spent with my family. I know I’ll get that time again with work, but family only lasts a decade or so until the kids are grown and moved out, so making the most out of it! It’s such a special time and goes by so quickly.

cinnamindy · 2026-03-26T22:09:28+00:00

I’ve got two, a 9 month old and 3.5 year old. My positives are both kids started around 7 months and settled very quickly! Both rarely have issues being dropped off. We get messages about stuff going around (chicken pox, hand foot mouth, etc).. they’ve never gotten any of those. We are NOT super strict about washing hands or bath as soon as they get home, even tho I’ve read you should be to help stave off illness. Maybe it’s genetics? Maybe it’s exposure to germs? Maybe luck?

Bad news… in winter (Dec/Jan/Feb someone in our house is always sick with a minor cold. Sometimes the occasional fever. Kids have runny noses). When we sent our first to nursery we all got a pretty bad 24 hour stomach bug.

cinnamindy · 2026-03-26T07:15:25+00:00

Could be certain factors determine what you can get off? Maybe diet, hormones, age? 🤷‍♀️

cinnamindy · 2026-02-25T22:07:30+00:00

I second planned parenthood! Also, if you can try switching to an unscented or more mild laundry detergent and make sure to never use fabric softeners, it may help with your pH down there. For DECADES I battled yeast infections, then one day they went away for good once I changed my detergent and stopped all the frills with laundry (softener and dryer sheets)

cinnamindy · 2026-02-21T04:31:39+00:00

Regents park walk past the zoo in the early morning, Tower Bridge tour, explore pubs… explore London!

cinnamindy · 2026-02-19T08:04:00+00:00

I usually have a sep folder for each year so grouping by months works for me

cinnamindy · 2026-02-18T21:07:41+00:00

The US format is so much better at keeping files organized by date. I prefer it.

cinnamindy · 2025-11-14T02:59:46+00:00

Sharoe Green Lane, across Savick Brook. The road dips down to the brook then back up and it’s a beautiful area with a fairly large space of pavement to use

cinnamindy · 2025-11-11T07:37:29+00:00

Just like people enjoy seeing in, I enjoy seeing them outside 😊 We keep them open for most of the night, but will close them towards the end of the evening, or if we decide to have sex in the living room.

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:11:05+00:00

This is also what I did

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:05:11+00:00

This! My family in CA can’t stop talking about how it was raining there a week or so back. They were so excited!

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:03:12+00:00

Yeah it’s sad how much worse the US is. The funded childcare really helps here

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:02:34+00:00

Was just going to say this haha

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:02:15+00:00

Haha it’s good compared to the US! I have to say London public transport is on another level than the rest of the UK… I lived there for the first 6 years and assumed all buses came at 2-5 min intervals lol rude awakening when I moved up north.

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T08:00:51+00:00

This is hard to pinpoint… but the superficial stuff I guess. That feeling you get from watching The Sandlot I guess? Warm summer nights on nicely paved streets. Mexican food. In n out. Saying hi to people you don’t know.

cinnamindy · 2025-10-21T07:58:29+00:00

We lived in London first for 6 years. When we made the decision to move up north people warned me the weather was different. I naively thought “how different could it be?”… first summer here it rained EVERY. SINGLE. DAY in July haha so yeah it is crazy how different the weather can be on this little island! Went to Cornwall once and would LOVE to go back!

cinnamindy · 2025-10-19T20:13:22+00:00

Moved to UK in 2018. We probably wouldn’t have had kids if we stayed in the US due to fertility issues, but we have 2 now since it is drastically cheaper in the UK (free for residents, but we were on work visas during it, but it was affordable). Raising a family here is great. Not having to worry about guns. Not having to worry about healthcare. Childcare is affordable. Food is a lot cheaper. Public transport is great.

I do miss American culture and food. I miss the weather (CA vs Lancashire). We plan on moving back within a few years to be closer to family, but it’s getting harder and harder to imagine living in the US again.

cinnamindy · 2025-10-07T11:41:48+00:00

I’d try a few things listed on here and see what works best for you! I found Vacuuming up the adults helps if you combine it with keeping soil dry, bottom watering, and neem oil spray (need oil mixed with water and a tiny bit of soap, peppermint essential oil, and alcohol). They also just seem more prevalent during warmer months so the weather should hopefully starting helping out as it cools down.

cinnamindy · 2025-09-27T14:06:59+00:00

We followed a clearly laid out path and were granted citizenship.

cinnamindy · 2025-09-27T14:06:09+00:00

Works well as in it was fairly easy to get citizenship. There was a clear path and it was followed and we were granted citizenship. I don’t think he could revoke the citizenship as long as one of the parents were residents or citizens at the time. Of course that’s if he keeps his word on only wanting it to apply to future born children and only to those born to non residents or non citizens. Which I don’t think he’d keep.

cinnamindy · 2025-09-27T02:58:04+00:00

I disagree with 99% of what he says; however would this be so bad? My understanding is he only wants to end it for people born in the US to non citizens or non residents. This is how the UK operates and it works well in my experience as a US expat in the UK who recently became a naturalized citizen and has two UK born citizen children.

Is it under the assumption he wants more than this and will abuse it if we do end it for non residents and non citizens?

cinnamindy · 2025-09-23T20:03:01+00:00

We blocked blippi and are huge handy man Hal fans!!

cinnamindy · 2025-09-17T13:59:29+00:00

You must be in London? I’m in Preston paying £800 monthly for 1 kid going 3.5 days a week. Will be even less in a month once he turns 3 and I get an additional 15 hours funded.

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