Save long term or short term

Anire123

I'm 29 and have a call centre job
I'm part time 20 hrs p/w

Is it more worth while long term to work 20hrs p/w and get £100 p/w after rent & bills or work 50 hrs and get maybe £250-300 p/w after rent and bills.

Im trying to weigh out the pros and cons

50hrs = more hours, more stress, less free time, more time to mess up at the job, more expenses to get to work however more money

20 hrs= less hours, more relaxed, better work quality, less error due to better quality because I'm more relaxed, less expenses to work, last longer at the job however less money or more if I last longer at the job long term over many years.

Comms69

Anire123 wrote: »

I'm 29 and have a call centre job
I'm part time 20 hrs p/w

Is it more worth while long term to work 20hrs p/w and get £100 p/w after rent & bills or work 50 hrs and get maybe £250-300 p/w after rent and bills.

Im trying to weigh out the pros and cons

50hrs = more hours, more stress, less free time, more time to mess up at the job, more expenses to get to work however more money

20 hrs= less hours, more relaxed, better work quality, less error due to better quality because I'm more relaxed, less expenses to work, last longer at the job however less money or more if I last longer at the job long term over many years.

Well is you're getting £150, for 30 hours work, I'd be concerned about what you're paid per hour...


You're 29, where do you see yourself in 1,3,5 years?


Personally I had kids, worked FT etc by that age.


Also how are you surviving on 20 hrs per week? Is there a top up element from the state?

Anire123

Comms69 wrote: »

Well is you're getting £150, for 30 hours work, I'd be concerned about what you're paid per hour...


You're 29, where do you see yourself in 1,3,5 years?


Personally I had kids, worked FT etc by that age.


Also how are you surviving on 20 hrs per week? Is there a top up element from the state?

I have no kids and single

Standard rate £8 per hour

20hrs p/w £160 after rent (service charge relief 30 odd pound-Net £100

50hrs p/w = £400 after rent, taxes, expenses-
Net £220

All in all £120 better off per week for 30 hrs extra

Part time I have less travel and food expenses

Dox

Anire123 wrote: »

Part time I have less travel and food expenses

Take sandwiches with you.

If the work's available and you are fit and well to do it, build up some cash in the bank while you can.

Comms69

Anire123 wrote: »

I have no kids and single

Standard rate £8 per hour

20hrs p/w £160 after rent (service charge relief 30 odd pound-Net £100

50hrs p/w = £400 after rent, taxes, expenses-
Net £220

All in all £120 better off per week for 30 hrs extra

Part time I have less travel and food expenses

What kind of tenancy do you have that the rent fluctuates so much? Sorry im just confused.

TBagpuss

Are those the only two options? Why not compromise and work 35-38 hours (full time)

I think if you try to consistently work 50 hours a week you will run the risk of burning out, and will leave your self no time for anything much else.

However, working 5 hours a week rather than 20 would give you an extra £150 a week (or very slightly less if you have travel costs for an extra couple of days)

Food costs need not change at all - take your lunch with you to work, and it shouldn't cost any more than if you ate the same thing at work.

Doshwaster

Anire123 wrote: »

Part time I have less travel and food expenses

Depends on what you are doing when you aren't working. More time at work not only means more money coming in but less opportunity to spend it.

If you are 29, healthy and single then you should be earning as much as you can because in a few years time you may be needing it.

snowqueen555

It really depends on your goals. Like many people here, when saving is a priority we get into the routine of working a lot of overtime, but this isn't sustainable. Is your current goal to improve your savings?

Do you not get improved pay rates after 35 hours a week?

I would apply for other contact centre related work, you could maybe get a job earning £9-10 an hour, if not more.

Les79

20 hours per week @ £8 an hour = £8320 per year (roughly) with no tax paid.

40 hours per week @ £8/h = 16640 per year (roughly) and £14,696 after tax (roughly)

50 hours per week = £20,800 gross and £17,524.88 net (roughly)

Weekly nets are:

£160
£282.62
£337.02

There won't be massive increases to your expenses either:

- Travel will involve working, at most, 3 days extra per week (if you do 2x10h shifts then you'd have to do another 3 to get to 40+ hours). So that's maybe 12 extra per month at a push, which probably costs £5 or less per day so £60 max (and you'll find a lot of value getting MONTHLY travel passes for public transport. If you have a car, and I doubt that given your hours, £5 of petrol can get you quite far usually and may be good for at least 2 days).

- Extra food costs are negligible if you make your own (it might even work out cheaper than your current method if you go to canteens etc).

So it all really boils down to what balance you want between money and spare time. I've worked in a call center and known people to work 20+ days in a row. I've also known some who jump at the first opportunity for an early dart and swap most of their weekly hours to have days off.

Theoretically, though, you could be maybe £80-£100 better off EACH WEEK going from 20 to 40 hours per week. On paper, that will allow you to save up loads. One thing I have found, though, is that more hours correlated (for me) with more desire to go out at the weekend (either clubbing or a meal or a day out etc) = more money spent.

One final thought which nobody has brought up: TAX/NI. Now, I have no idea how it works but I think that "means tested" JSA is linked with your NI contributions. If so, someone like me (40+ hours a week) may benefit more from you (20 hours no tax/ni contributions) if out of work in the near future. I don't know precisely how that works like, but just a thought.

Also pension contributions, but suspect that you (and many others) will be less interested in that

Anire123

. 20 hours per week @ £8 an hour = £8320 per year (roughly) with no tax paid.

40 hours per week @ £8/h = 16640 per year (roughly) and £14,696 after tax (roughly)

50 hours per week = £20,800 gross and £17,524.88 net (roughly)

Weekly nets are:

£160
£282.62
£337.02

There won't be massive increases to your expenses either:

- Travel will involve working, at most, 3 days extra per week (if you do 2x10h shifts then you'd have to do another 3 to get to 40+ hours). So that's maybe 12 extra per month at a push, which probably costs £5 or less per day so £60 max (and you'll find a lot of value getting MONTHLY travel passes for public transport. If you have a car, and I doubt that given your hours, £5 of petrol can get you quite far usually and may be good for at least 2 days).

- Extra food costs are negligible if you make your own (it might even work out cheaper than your current method if you go to canteens etc).

So it all really boils down to what balance you want between money and spare time. I've worked in a call center and known people to work 20+ days in a row. I've also known some who jump at the first opportunity for an early dart and swap most of their weekly hours to have days off.

Theoretically, though, you could be maybe £80-£100 better off EACH WEEK going from 20 to 40 hours per week. On paper, that will allow you to save up loads. One thing I have found, though, is that more hours correlated (for me) with more desire to go out at the weekend (either clubbing or a meal or a day out etc) = more money spent.

One final thought which nobody has brought up: TAX/NI. Now, I have no idea how it works but I think that "means tested" JSA is linked with your NI contributions. If so, someone like me (40+ hours a week) may benefit more from you (20 hours no tax/ni contributions) if out of work in the near future. I don't know precisely how that works like, but just a thought.

Also pension contributions, but suspect that you (and many others) will be less interested in that

I'll stick with 20hrs

That £337 quickly becomes only £227 after rent.
I probably would get burnt out, it is calls. Very trying work. £227 I don't think is worth the effort. I take an extra £30 off for seeking expenses leaves. £200 or £800 a month. Being burnt our carries risks. Still not a great amount.

All my previous call centre jobs were full time as the standard. After 3 months in previous call centre work I'd be fed up.
A bit saved up, maybe 2.5 k in the bank but I'd be tired and end up being late, missing days and be back on JSA, which I hated. Is maybe have a holiday but I'd regret even over doing myself for nothing.
I think I value spare time more which I use to just chill out and relax or exercise. I work less hours and save less but I am more relaxed.

Doshwaster

I worked in a call centre for about 18 months after leaving University. I did part-time at first then changed to full time hours with as much overtime as possible as it kept me out of the pub.

There was so much staff turnover that it was easy to work your way up to supervisor or team lead positions if you wanted to. Once you had been there 6 months then you were one of the most experienced people around. I used to volunteer for acting-manager positions on evenings and weekends to handle escalations as the money was better and it was mostly sitting around drinking tea and waiting for an occasional call to be passed to me.

Surely you must have more ambitions in life than just to "chill out" as much as possible.