Work Advice Please:)

**Marie78** · 09-22-2007, 10:12 AM

I need some advice on taking on part time work in addition to full time work outside the home. My fiance and I don't have any children yet, just the two cats I treat like chidren

. I work 40 hours a week from 8:30-5pm and then come home and make dinner, clean up the dishes, and then crash during the week. On weekends I catch up on house work and grocery shop with my coupons and pay bills and wash laundry.

I have C.C. debt that I would like to pay off within the next couple of years. I made my last car payment in July 2007. I will make my last college payment in November 2007. I will only have CC debt dragging me down. In order to pay it off sooner I have been thinking about working 8 hours at a part time job each week. The problem is I am selfish and want my weekends to myself. My thought was, I could work 4 hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. That would allow me to have a three day weekend when I get paid Monday holidays at my full time job. I figure it will be about $200 extra a month for me and I can put it towards CC debt and building a savings account (I really need one). My fiance is in Grad. School and makes about what I do for income, he also works odd jobs through school to make a little bit more money for his own debts.

I would love to be debt free by 2010, when my fiance should be finished with Grad. School. I also don't want to have to rely on family for financial help ever again. I should still be able to continue my frugal habits, which would be hard to give up now. I'm just wondering if I will be too tired to take care of myself (healthly eating, exercise, and me time). I worked two jobs for three years when I was younger (right out of college) and was so burned out...but I was working those jobs to survive then and not for extra money towards debt. Thanks in advance for any advice.

**FrugalMomof3** · 09-22-2007, 10:19 AM

Well what about just adding the payments from the car that was paid off and your soon to be paid off student loan to debt?

It would be like paying the same when you still had those debts or you could take 75% of that and pay debt and 25% to savings.

If getting a part time job is something you really want to do, than do it but why work more if you already got rid of a car payment and in 2 months a student loan payment, JMHO.

**Marie78** · 09-22-2007, 10:28 AM

I should have added that I am doing the debt snowball: the money from the car payment and the college loan are going to go to the CC debt. The part time job I am considering looking for would be to add more money towards the CC debt and pay it off sooner. I also would like to start putting a little money away in savings for emergencies. All extra $ now is going towards CC debt

.

**Kitten20** · 09-22-2007, 10:32 AM

I agree w/ Tracy. But if you already have a PT job in mind with those hours and you really want the extra cash, I'd say go for it. I was just thinkin' it may be hard to find somewhere with such specific available hours, but I don't know what the job market is like where you live.

I tried the PT job (on top of my FT job) for awhile and I honestly did not think the $300/mo (or whatever it was) was worth the free time I was giving up.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do. Either way, great job on getting everything paid off!

**FrugalMomof3** · 09-22-2007, 10:33 AM

Well in that case a part-time job wouldnt gurt at all but that's up to you

Is there any other things you can cut down on in the home before getting a pt job?

What I did when I really wanted to kick debt outta my life was cut down things in the home, limit showers, etc... it helped and have not had any debt in 2 years (except for my recent used car purchase).

**YankeeMom** · 09-22-2007, 10:47 AM

I think that you feel differently when you are working a second job to get ahead, to pay stuff off, etc than working two jobs just to survive and because you have to.

There's something liberating about working at a (second or even only) job, knowing that you don't *have* to do it. It makes it easier to do the job, IMO.

You could always try it and if you don't like it, what are you out? A few hours plus a little ahead on your debt

**Marie78** · 09-22-2007, 01:40 PM

Thank you all for the good advice. I am sure there are some things I can look at cutting out of our budget to free some more money.

Thank you Heather, I was hoping there would be a difference in working because you have to and working because you are choosing to earn some extra money. I was so burned out trying to survive two or more jobs in the past. I am hoping if I take on a second job it will feel different this time around, because I'll be working on my EF and CC debt and not struggling to keep the car paid and the food on the table.

**Jerseygirl** · 09-22-2007, 02:42 PM

I would do it. There are plenty of places you can get hours like that, retail, especially with the holidays coming, home parties, group homes/per diem home health services, appointment setting, office cleaning. I would find something very different from whatever your regular career is.

**pita1213** · 09-22-2007, 08:23 PM

give it a try. the worst that happens is you don't like doing it and decide to quit. since you are already going to snowball the car payment and loan payment into your debt you'll still get ahead if the job doesn't work out.
right now i work a part time at dd's school. it's nowhere near what i used to make in retail, but there is no stress coming home with me either. my entire paychecks are now going to pay off debt. i am going to deposit my check into savings until it's time to pay the bill. since it's in savings dh doesn't notice it and it's not tempting him to spend it. his check goes into checking and that's what we live on. it's an out of sight out of mind thing with my check.
using it to pay off debt does make it feel a little more worth while since it's extra money going to the debr not just a minimum payment i'm working for.
good luck!

**Its_Donna** · 09-23-2007, 08:36 AM

I am currently working a part-time job; I do product demos at grocery stores about 2-3 times a month; only on a Saturday and the money I make from that is going straight to our EF.

Once DH goes out on the road I will quit as I want to always be home on the weekends when he comes home and DS and I will have more house work to do.

It does make my week crazy when I work on Saturdays and I am honestly looking forward to quitting. I REALLY like my home time.

Good Luck on your decision. Just keep in mind that if you do it you won't have to work like that forever.

**Edna_E** · 09-23-2007, 05:06 PM

I have done it both ways in the past - week nights vs week-ends. IMO it is harder to recover from the constant tiredness of the nights than it is to figure out how to be more efficient and use Saturday. One of the best PT situations for me was teaching test prep classes for Kaplan - I know you've got the degree so you might want to check them out (assuming they still actually HAVE classes - that was a lot of years ago). Also, check into some of the legitimate secet shopping type services (many are just one-time gigs so you don't have to worry about long-term effects).

**Marie78** · 09-30-2007, 09:06 AM

Thank You everyone for your help. I have decided I will probably work up to 8 hours of retail a week. It's very different from what I do now at work, and I am familiar with it because I have worked in a few different stores in the past.

I will apply in the middle of October after my trip to Boston, so that I won't be called in for an interview during those days. I hope that I will have good luck finding one, as the holiday season approaches.

My goal right now is that I can work on Tuesday and Thursday evenings each week. That will free up my weekends, I need my weekends

and I have many 3 day (paid Monday) weekends to look forward to

.

**banana** · 09-30-2007, 03:28 PM

why not look for a job where you can work from home and schedule your own hours?

There are many out there that dont require you to work a min amount of hours each week. go to www.workplacelikehome.com. They list lots of wahjs

Liveops is one that would probably work out great for you. you can work when you want.