This seems...tight. Possible. But tight.
And there would be no opportunity for saving except for the "Keep the Change" thing my checking account does automatically.
Shortly after working out said budget I started searching for a second job.
Ideally, this job would be student-friendly, and still allow me to be able to travel home for spring break (perhaps this is babyish of me, but I would love to be able to see my family again before August. That's kind of a priority for me.) I feel like this instantly throws your standard retail/food service jobs out of the running. I applied to the library (not sure if they're hiring), and looked about for things like church childcare and French tutoring, to no particular success. Of course, if I'd be willing to forgo visits home, I could open up a lot more options...I'm not sure if I'm ready to make that sacrifice just yet.
Conversely, I could always see if I could bump my CCFOF hours up to 2 hours a day instead of 1 (this makes me sound lazy, but the salary is good enough and the work is often slim enough that 1 hour a day is reasonable). This would depend a lot on if I'd have enough work to do...it would be bad to run out of tasks all of a sudden. And, actually, I've been having trouble even making myself work 1 hour every day. This is mostly from a lack of motivation and being overwhelmed and depressed all the time last semester. (Remember that "Make Work a Priority" goal?) If I set aside specific hours to work - effectively giving myself a "work schedule" even though I work from home - I'm pretty sure I could bump up the hours and therefore the salary. Whether or not the CCFOF could afford to double my pay is another question altogether...being a non-profit we function completely off donations, and something like 98% of donations goes directly to French ministries (in case you were wondering).
If I find another job, I feel like it would be good if it was something sporadic yet well paying. Once last semester, my friend Danielle and I got paid $100 ($200? I forget) to be ushers at Danielle's mom's friend's daughter's wedding reception. I had several friends who were servers for a catering company and only worked a couple events a month. If I could find something like that, it'd be good...especially since I'd have to give up this potential second job by August in order to do my church internship. Babysitting would be good if I could find kids to babysit...a bit difficult since I don't know many families with children.
It's all quite complicated, and if I didn't live so far away from family that I desperately want to be able to visit I'd be in less of a predicament. That's the glory of working from home with the CCFOF...if I have my laptop, I can do my job. It's not location-specific. I wish more jobs could be like that.
Ideally, the library will be hiring, and will want to hire me. So fingers crossed everyone!
(Also, please feel free at all times to send money to the Celia-in-Grad-School Fund, Dallas, TX. Just kidding. But really...)
So along the lines that you were thinking, there is this magic job of being an "on- call banquet server" and it happens at hotels- such as a Hyatt. I worked as an on-call banquet server the summer after my freshman year, the pay was nice, and it was a great experience. I've often described it as a waitress that doesnt deal with money (unless you get a $20 tip), and you get to see neat events such as a Jordanian wedding, a bat mitzvahs as well as your more boring things. And sometimes, if you are lucky you get to do off-site events at cool museums.
ReplyDeleteI got hired directly through Hyatt, but the hotels use a great deal of temp workers for big events...
I don't know if that is helpful, but I thought I might pass it along! :)
Good for you! You doing this and talking about your resolutions is reminding me to post about mine, as they relate. I've decided to collect reciepts this month to see where my money goes... I'll create my budget next month.
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