I’m having a little dilemma in regards to my second job. Kate knows- I spent a bit of time last night emphatically encouraging her to not get one.
Basically, I just don’t know if my time is worth the money.
It brings home about $100 a week, at most. Lately it’s been less because I’ve been hella sick (oh, my strep totally came back, by the way. I’m medicated this time). Has the extra money been useful? Of course. Of course it has, and that’s why this is a problem. The cash is useful, especially in the last two or three weeks wherein we have been going out way too much. But I just hate it so much. I want my time back. My precious weekends (I’ve been making an effort to get at least one weekend day off, which helps, but still doesn’t feel like enough)!
Logical solution: stick to the damn budget we created forever ago. Blamo, problem solved. I should modify said budget to allow for X amount of entertainment dollars (bar nights, dinner out, etc) and when that money is gone, it’s gone. Learning to say no would also be helpful. No we are not going to the bar with you, we are staying home for Netflix and popcorn!
That said, even if we manage to accomplish that successfully (god, we are the worst), that doesn’t negate the fact that the extra money is nice. We have a credit card to pay off, and every little bit helps. Darren and I are sitting in the same boat here. There are big parts of both of us that want me to quit Macy’s, because it eats up a lot of my time and is making me crazy. But we both recognize the benefit as well. On the other hand, the debt is not huge. We can pay it off without the added money. It’s just, extra dollars = quicker repayment. Obviously.
The other thing is, Darren’s job is a long-term temp assignment. Could he be hired on in this position permanently? Yes. But there’s no guarantee. There’s no specific end date either, so who the hell knows. Maybe he’d be able to get unemployment, hopefully he’d get another assignment or a permanent job quickly, but either way would there be enough income? There are just so many uncertainties and I’m a giant worrier so the end result is me going batshit because I don’t know what to do.
I have a loose plan right now, and that is as follows: take the job day by day, with a definite end time of late May regardless of financial standing. I’m not spending all summer working non-stop, that’s for damn sure. Barring potential disaster, of course. Ideally I will be done sooner, but I’m just going to see what happens. Work on budgeting, spend a little more money on groceries rather than going out whenever we’re bored with what’s in the fridge. What else can we do? Nothing but get our shit together and be responsible adults. I mean really.
The good news is, we don’t owe taxes this year. Not federally, at least. Getting some money back even, which we can put into savings because oh yeah, the car’s transmission is going and goddamn that thing just costs us so much money we really just need to replace it (seriously, ever since we got it, something breaks right before Christmas and we have to spend several hundred dollars on that rather than Christmas presents. But it was free!). On top of everything else. Adulthood is so. Much. Fun.
Mkay. Rant over!
I’m going to end on something happy: the weather is supposed to be decent for the next couple of days, so I am wearing a cute skirt today – with leggings – and it is delightful. Yay!
fearlessly, myself. 