How to survive a second job

Bigbobby

My overdraft is cleared and i am now concentrating on building up an emergency fund. I am aiming for a recommended 6 months expenses which for me is £6600. I have reached £1000.
I work 9-5 in an office and have taken on a second job working in supported housing for people with learning disabilities. In total for both jobs including sleep ins for second job on average in doing 72 hours/week.
In my full time job i am putting in 12% into my pension because i was advised to halve your age when you start a pension. I was 24 at the time and now in 28.
Has anyone ever worked this many hours and how they managed without burning out? How did you manage work life balance? Caffeine is what im living off at the moment. Yes i could do less hours but would like to build up an emergency fund asap.

Loanranger

I had two jobs when I was in my thirties and I worked a minimum 57 hours a week. It was hard especially as the two jobs were ten miles apart and I had a very tight time limit to get from one to the other. You can't keep up those long hours and the travelling between for long, I stuck it out for about ten months.
I did it because I was in debt.

Bigbobby

Luckily both jobs are in the same town so not much travelling. I think i get most tired when going straight from one job to another. I could do with a couple of hours down time in between shifts. Perhaps have 1 day off a week. I only plan to stick at it until my fund has built up.

Loanranger

Only you know if you have the capacity, both mental and physical, to do it but if you think you can then go for it.

Eliza_2

You can do it without problem if you're organised and view the day and week as 24/7. If you think of your life as being governed by the traditional 9-5, 5 days a week you will get exhausted quickly. It's all about mind set. What do you do in the evening/weekend now? You might as well earn some money as do your housework, shopping, go out, weed the garden, watch tv etc. Why is work more exhausting than any of those things? I have 5 jobs and a small business but have plenty of spare time still. (Though would be lost without my diary to tell me what to do each day!) I've been up and done 2 hours gardening today, then so far half an hours work, will do another couple of hours. I usually work at a shop on Sunday so would go in there for 11 - 5.30 but have taken today as annual leave - yay!

A friend of mine did nearly the same as you, an office job 9-4, then a ld supported housing job. She renegotiated her office hours to do 3 really long days, which then left her 4 x 24 hours for the care job and her own time. She doesn't sleep over though, but does take them out and about on trips etc during the day. She also has 3 teenagers and a husband!

Works really well for her, would it be possible for you to do long days instead? I know lots of employers are offering this as an option.

You're only young and if it's short term, I can't see how it need be a problem at all. Good luck with it.

Bigbobby

9-5 hours are fixed. I think sleep overs actually work quite well and would recommend them for people looking for a second job. Luckily in the supported house the 3 guys LD is quite mild. Sleep overs are mainly for safety e.g smoke alarm might go off, someone needing a paracetamol in the night.
When awake in my second job you also get a lot of freebies - trips to cinema, football, meals out. So i am getting paid for things i would have to pay for outside work.
Downtime still important so in going to make a rule of having one day off a week.

mum2one

A few yrs ago, (too many to count!!), I did 2 jobs, job 1 was supermarket, so was mixed hours, then I would Sundays (as an extra as it was overtime), I then took a 2nd job, working 2 x half shifts + 1 shift day off, I did that or 3 months and I was shattered... I didn't know whether I was coming, going or been,

Then I did the same thing again later in the yr or 8 weeks, that time I made sure that I had one day off a week.

I couldn't do it now but I would say set yourself clear boundries re times working, - make sure you get enough rest, at one day off a week to yourself. x

u39mm7

One thing I would be wary of is IF the jobs start to conflict - for example one employer wants you to work longer/later etc on a particular day you have committed to the other. Hopefully they can be reasonable, but it is not impossible that they will tell you that 'their' job is the most important and if you can't manage than you can basically just go.

Those thinking of a 2nd job might also like to check their contracts as many have restrictive provisions as standard requiring permission for any other employment regardless of its nature.