Must of missed it. Sorry man. Thanx now.

Re.: If you can settle for less than what you're earning now [by decreasing your work volume as a freelancer], do it - you'll feel better.

Depends on what you call "settle" and how "less." I began free lancing full time in the early 1980's and was what you'd call мужчина-lite, in terms of dough and in quite a few other respects - the typical unhappy 30+ year old hollow-eyed sovok-размазня standing in those damned lines for everything. I'll hang first that settle for THAT ever again.

Re. If you can't, how will you survive on the significantly lower salary that comes with the in-house job you're considering?

Again, why do you guys think all that in-housers are worse off by definition? Don't tell me there are exceptions. There's employers galore that shell out 6o grand a year. You need only find and persuade them to hire you.

Re. I hope you do catch my drift now.

Half.

Re. I do have a part-time in-house job that is almost completely unregulated, both in terms of time and effort - unregulated meaning I can come and go as I please and reject work assignments if I don't feel like doing them.

Sounds like a great place. :) Will they keep you through that recession?

Re. But jobs like that are hard to come by.

Conceded.

Freelancing, however, if done right,

Done right! Here's where's the snag. You are your own Marketing, your own Orders & Customer Care, and your own manager (but NOT boss, mind you). You may be a true pro language practitioner, but you may remain a damn bloody amateur in those three depts. Whence your problems. OK, any free lance’s. You got to learn that somewhere on a pro basis.

Concede?

Re. does make you free - even if you get there through trial and error, and some failures along the way.

Right. Before you have trodden on a truckload of rakes. Thanks :) Been there, seen that :)

I was going on the OP's assumption: "to be on the staff (a job which gives you more pleasure and spare time but twice less money)". I'm not saying *every* in-house job pays less than freelancing. There are many variables and just as many ifs and buts. But the OP specified that the job paid half of what she's making now as a freelancer. I made it my assumption as well. Besides, experience shows the numbers are roughly the same world-wide.

RE: Depends on what you call "settle" and how "less."

She's considering a half-the-income salary-based job - that's how "less" :) THE alternative to that is staying a freelancer and keeping half the income by reducing the volume by half -- or even more, because she can choose the better-paying, less stressful jobs out of all the ones she has now. That's what I'm really proposing.

Second. "I was going on the OP's assumption" Assumption?
She started off with a breezy HYPOTHETICAL: "If you face with alternative..(more money vs more PLEASURE)?" It caught (with me) and carried on. I never felt any tragic dilemma. You must be finer tuned if you did.

A propos, I wonder exactly what pleasure (or more of it) may be on staff? More hours of jabber on fashions between coffee breaks? (YOU know the type, dontcha?)

On with it. You: "There are many variables and just as many ifs and buts.

On the face of it, right. But go deeper and you'd see very plain, basic things. Like I said, I have been in both genders in language practice and got the best (and the worst) of the two worlds. :)

Re. "But the OP specified that the job paid half of what she's making now as a freelancer".
Too bad the OP didn't try to find as good staff job. Trust me, good research is half the job. If you can't do it, hire someone who can. I did so many times.

Re. "Besides, experience shows the numbers are roughly the same world-wide"
Mike you've shot too low; level at best. Yeah I know it's damn easy to say, 'Aim at the top.' Still. I have and I've won. A spot of luck, yes, but for starters only. Flukes just dont last 17 years running, do they?

Re.: She's considering a half-the-income salary-based job - that's how "less" :) THE alternative to that is staying a freelancer and keeping half the income by reducing the volume by half -- or even more, because she can choose the better-paying, less stressful jobs out of all the ones she has now. That's what I'm really proposing.

Point taken. The question is if she manages THE alternative.
But know what. The worst thing I can remember of my own free lancing is hating to REJECT, esp a long-time one, almost a buddy. The thought he'd write me off one day and I'd end up with couple of shitty publishers scared shit out of me.

I'm free of that scare now. FREE, Mike, sabe?

I don't know if the OP had a specific job in mind, but she did outline the choices. I felt bound by them. I know the real world offers a lot more than that, i.e. an in-house job CAN be a lot more rewarding AND and a lot better paying than the freelancer's fare, BUT it can also offer a lot less of both. If she wants to keep looking, good for her. Like I said, there are many variables. I was only going on the assumption she provided, hypothetical or not.

RE: "The thought he'd write me off one day and I'd end up with couple of shitty publishers scared shit out of me."

You're not saying you had just 1 good client, are you?

I have at least 5 good customers I can rely on to provide adequate monthly income. If any one of them doesn't come through, I'm actually happy because it means my workload will be *doable* and I won't have to outsource any of it. If two of them stay silent, I'm just as happy. If three of them keep quiet, I enjoy the time off. Other random clients always pop up anyway. If four of them stop sending me jobs, I get busy doing other things that always nag at me anyway (you know, family stuff, self-improvement, self-marketing, and things like that). If none of them send any jobs... well, that has never happened to me.

A few. Remember those V/O Shitimport, VAO Pissexport and their likes? As clients, they were HIDEOUSLY irregular and damn demanding in terms of time. They paid enough to pick up tabs for almost daily lunches in Moscow’s only 'Chinese' restaurant ("Пекин" на Маяковке) and return cab fares. My wife shopped in line-free markets. No brag, mark you. It was scarcity time when you didnt know what to do with your EARNED money, remember? Yep I saved a bit a bought the largest available 3-room 'cooperative'. (No mortgages then, of course). Yet I feared to lose any one of those bullshitters.
The sorest price was I missed the kid growing.

Man, if you carry on like that, you are in for trouble. So may I offer a piece of advice - with the full benefit of hindsight?

Do like this. A soon (I MEAN "soon," make it Tuesday of next Saturday at the latest) as you are done with the job, pull your kid aside, show him as a furtive pack of crackly hundreds, and whisper you earned that over last (i.e. this) weekend. Then go both to a toy store and buy him his pick. Think ahead how much you can afford.
Mind you, do so before you're paid for THAT job. Your latest work and you kid's latest and best remembered frustration AND his new toy as a reward must connect. The sooner, the better.
Do so every time you get in a fix. Bail out NOW or you'll be sorry later.
Same goes for your wife. Reread what Mike posted. You may not farther, if not nearer. You may be in for a surprise. You never know. Take her out to eat, buy expensive perfume (ask the make first), flowers, AND, of course, do a spot of washing up, dusting, cooking, cleaning, whatever. Invest.

:P

To Sir Real:
I live in Belarus, Brest.

ЗЫ I love Belarus, y'know ;)

"(though I have no country to defend)"
Never mind! There is always someone or something to defend - more precious than even a country.

What do you love Belarus for? Just a pure interest...:)

Re.: What do you love Belarus for? Just a pure interest...:)

It's women, sis, always women... :)

Btw, speaking of your free lance workload--have you ever tried to go patners? Teamwork pays sometime. It did in my recent past. Lots of benefits.

I your shoes now, I'd stay free lance and learn to say No to overflow. SirReal got it right. Learn to manage your orders.
Look around for potential partners.

Для кого бездарная, а для кого и очень даже "дарная"!

Да уш да... Верхужек однех понафатались, вот и выёживаемся...

Re. " ll think about it - honestly. :)" Please do. Give it a THIRD thought too, before you commit.
Приходите ещё :).

Под одноразовым ником можно брякать все, что угодно, не отвечая за базар.

Мы не так сделаем.

Serendipitous... Перепишите в ЭТОЙ же ветке мои (Sjoe!) рунглийские посты на "английском" английском". Наши коллеги их тут... заценят. И если ваша правка (evident typos, типа "that" вместо "than" excluded) будет принята, я заплачу вам деньги. Идет?

SR, you on? :)