My hourly rate definately drops after about 5 hours.
I do my money in that time, Im fortunate to own my own home and not have a mortgage, my hours I work pay my household bills, my tax, pays for my car, I have a rather expensive hobby which my job pays for I take at least two foreign holidays a year to go scuba-diving; and when Im at work I work hard if I want to and sometimes take it easier if I want to.
Im in my mid-forties, which isnt old I know, but Ive worked physically outdoors all my life. Physical work will start to take its toll after a while. A post a while back on this thread implied if we moan about feeling tired then we're woosies (or something along those lines). What tripe!!
Apart from 9 years of shining Ive also done 11 years of landscaping (45 hour week) and prior to that was an Agricultural labourer. Ive worked physically as much as the next man, but when it comes to work Im not shy; my joints are what they used to be, simple.
As for working PAYE hours, well, thats one of the reasons I started do shining, all of a sudden I didnt HAVE to work 45 hours, hey presto all of a sudden I could take time off to go to the dentist without having to organise it with the boss or get my haircut on a Wednesday afternoon or take a day off as the sun was shining.
Sod the days of working under the conditions imposed by someone else.
I will have done my money by 11am tomorrow for the whole week, the guy that took over my last job will have another 16 hours work to do at a quarter the hourly rate I earn today.
Matt