Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Moving Down to One Job - Soon?

The other day, I got into a fight argument with my husband, which revolved around my second job. Words were exchanged, things were a little heated, but the gist of it was that the pros no longer outweigh the cons of keeping my second job.

My primary job is picking up, both in my commissions and responsibility and the second job is starting to affect my work there. More importantly, however, is the way it's affecting my sanity and my relationships. I rarely, if ever, see my friends and extended family. I try to see my parents frequently, but I find myself saying "I have to work" all the time. My husband's schedule is difficult to work around, so we don't always align our "off time", and when we do, it's mostly spent doing chores.

On top of all that, I am feeling rather burnt out. I knew it was bound to happen, and quite frankly, I'm surprised I made it this long. I started working two jobs in September 2006. Since then, I have worked almost every Tuesday, Friday, and weekend. I have only made about $11,000 from this job in that time. It was great to throw that right to our debt, but I am just... done.

There is a bump in the road, however. Due to some extenuating circumstances, our February paychecks may not be up to our regular income. This is causing a LOT of stress, and we should find out within the next 10 days or so if we'll be making enough money in February to cover our bills. (I apologize for being so vague - believe me, I am dying to discuss this.) Once I know that we'll be OK, then I plan to quit the second job. I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to enter February with only ONE job!

4 comments:

Sharon said...

I hope things work out and you can quit your second job. I would think you have no time to yourself...What do you do in your first job?

Anonymous said...

I hope everything works out well, I'm sure it will. I have just decided to be a little less gazelle intense too and I don;t think it's a bad thing. You do need to maintain some quality of life ... and your marriage!
Good luck!

JvW said...

Sharon - I don't really get a lot of time to myself, but I have today off for MLK day and I am psyched! My first job is in sales, so my income fluctuates based on commissions.

df - The gazelle intensity was killing me slowly. I just need to accept that the pace is going to slow down a bit now. Good point about the marriage - would it really be better to be out of debt and miserable? NOPE!

Sharon said...

You have your young age going for you, for sure. I wish I knew then what I know now. Definitely give yourself some free time!