Extra part-time job. Is this worth It? Am I nuts?

[carfreemama]

Just looking for feedback before I really commit to this.

I currently work full-time from home at a pretty well-paying job. I have 1 almost 7 year old daughter. I recently responded to an ad at her school looking for part/full-time lunch monitors. I have accepted a position for 3 days per week, though I know they would like me to be full time.

Here's the thing. I currently start work at 4:30 a.m., so that I can be done in time to pick up my daughter for lunch. In theory, the afternoons when she's back at school between 1:30 and 3 p.m. are supposed to be mine to take classes, see friends, whatever. A couple of nights per week, she goes to friends' houses after school (the parents take turns). What usually happens is that I get interrupted with work enough that those afternoons are for catch-up; which is fine, it means I don't try to finish work in the evenings, which is what used to happen.

We do.not.need.the.money.

Our combined income is roughly $90,000 before taxes, maybe a few grand more. This job would pay $11.60 per hour for 1.25 hours per day, 3 days per week. Not sure how taxes would work, we live in Canada; but we figure I might net $1350 or so per year.

I want this for fun money, maybe a travel fund. We budget closely and save quite a bit.

Dd likes coming home for lunch, but this way she would have to stay 3 days per week. She is not allowed to be in my lunch room. She seems okay with this, because she really wants to take a trip to Iceland and she knows this money would go towards that.

But it would mean finishing work and going directly to the school. I really like the kids, though.

I'm fairly high-energy, so this doesn't seem unreasonable in that respect. But I'd be giving up "special" lunch time with dd; though a lot of that time is spent getting winter clothes on and walking back and forth to school, anyway. We would still have 1 day per week together. Wednesdays I supervise skipping club at lunch and Friday afternoons I volunteer in her class.

What do you think? Good way to make extra cash, or good way to add stress for not much money?

[VisionaryMom]

I don't think I'd do it. At that rate, it'll take you 2-3 years to save up just the airfare for a trip to Iceland, and I'm not sure it would be worth that to me.

[carfreemama]

I'm starting to get the same feeling, visionarymom. I think that's why I haven't filled out the paperwork yet.

I almost think I could save $1350 per year by being less tired and better able to meal-plan and such. I don't know why I feel such a desire to earn extra cash. I think it's because we've been so careful with budgeting. There's room for fun, so it's not that. And no, the extra money wouldn't pay for Iceland; but it would bring it within reach. It would be just the extra boost needed to make it feasible. It's only an extra hour or so of work a few days a week, but still...

[CarrieMF]

I've done noon supervision.  IT IS THE EASIEST JOB IN THE WORLD!  I loved it.  I worked 1hour a day, rotating through 3-4 classrooms depending which pod I was in.  Every other week I did the outdoor supervision the 2nd half of lunch.  

The job is basically open any containers, make sure kids are not running around while they're supposed to be eating, kick them outside when it's time to go out.

I did it the full 5 days a week & depending on how many school days there were made between $150(dec with only 10 days) & 400 per month.

The pay is higher here than what you would be getting & I lived close enough to walk so there were no out of pocket expenses(ie, gas).

1 thing you'll find(if you do it) is you are treated differently by the staff.    You aren't treated as a parent, you get more inside info & have more knowledge of what is going on in the school.

You will not have any tax taken off your cheques, you won't be making enough. You will get a little(and I mean LITTLE) amount of cpp & EI taken off.

ETA - you will also be paid vacation pay so you will be making more than the $11.60/hour.  It won't be much more but it still will be more.  my "pay" was $14.54/hour but with vacation it came to $15.14/hour.

[carfreemama]

CarrieMF, that's good to know. So you mean that even though DH and I earn a combined income of say $90,000, we won't be taxed for this job at that rate? That's the part I've been having trouble understanding. That's good to know about vacation, too; every little bit makes it a bit more worthwhile.

We walk to school, too. In fact, I pick dd up for lunch every day, because that's what she wants and I'm glad. That's why this seemed to make sense as an income-earner. I'm already going to school at lunch, it just means dd would stay at school 3 days per week.

However, it also means no more wiggle room with my regular full-time job. That's the real reason for my hesitation. Instead of working 4:30-11:55 a.m. every day, I'll now be working 4:15-11:35 every day, or something; since we have to be there at 11:45. We also don't get paid for that 15 minutes. However, if taxes mostly don't come off that, it makes it more appealing financially. I just don't want to set us up for more chaos. My last income-earning scheme was to deliver newspapers at 5 a.m. when I walked our dog. That was just a plain disaster. I just need to figure out why I feel I need to earn more money. I say travel, but maybe I need to feel more secure or something. $90,000 for 3 people who don't own a car or have an otherwise extravagant lifestyle just seems like it should be enough and we ARE saving for the future. But if I can earn that little bit more...Just not sure how it will change the family dynamic and whether I should even risk it.

[waiting2bemommy]

I would not do it. Maybe your schools are different there, but I worked as a para at an elementary school and my friend was the lunch monitor. She comes from a family with 6 kids and her mother worked in a daycare center her whole life (and so did she, once old enough) and she hated the job. They didn't pay her enough for it to be worth the headache, she said. She stayed through 2 school years and then quit. The kids were rowdy, the messes were ridiculous, and the teachers and other staff wanted her to turn the lights out for "silent lunch" constantly, which she didn't agree with. I wouldn't want the job either. Around here there are constant vacancies for that position because no one wants it.

And I have to say that if my family was already making 90K a year I wouldn't be looking for extra work. Well, I say that, but I too have done work from home, delivering newspapers in the early AM and a variety of other money making hustles, often 2 or 3 different side jobs at one time. I just don't think the hassle for you would be worth the payoff (which isn't really that much.) If you really NEEDED it, that would be different. But if you are already comfortable I would say look more into why you are still feeling a need to earn more money, and not pile additional responsibilities onto yourself.

[carfreemama]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. The lady left a message on my answering machine yesterday, fully expecting I would be taking this job. I have to call her back. Right now we're on spring break, I was supposed to start the first day back. It's too bad, because the kids and parents are excited I will be their lunch monitor. It's a pretty small school of about 300 or so and for the most part, it's really nice and personal. However, I'd be alone with 25 kids and yes, they are often rowdy.

I do think I can start to see the problem. I grew up in a really poor family, surrounded by really wealthy kids. Obviously, we're not poor; but a lot of the families at dd's school make A LOT of money. They do things like go on Disney cruises, have "cottages" that are bigger than our house, fancy cars...I remember that feeling of not having what my friends have. I think I have some issues to work through there. For one thing, my job as a lunch monitor is not going to close that gap and for another, we are actually really globally-thinking people who totally get how lucky we are and are trying to conserve resources.

So I think it's time to spend the energy scaling back and simplifying. That's where our money must be. For example, I just put a dress on hold to pick up for dd's birthday. It's $45 on half-price and I want it for birthday pictures. She absolutely DOES NOT need this dress. That's one week's salary right there. I'm not like this all the time, but I can see that I am starting to get into the mindset of spending money and then, of course, we "need" more.

[ilovemygirl]

In your situation, I wouldn't have looked for a job like this to begin with but I wonder what the consequences will be for backing out of it now. It sounds like you've already accepted the position even though the paperwork is not done. I'd imagine the school wouldn't be too pleased if you turned it down now and it also sounds like the other parents and kids know you took the job. Is it feasible for you to gracefully back out of this without it affecting your relationship to the school, other parents and possibly your dd? 

I can totally relate to the feelings you are having about money though. I feel the same way most of the time. I never feel like we have enough and I get jealous when I hear everyone talk about their fancy cars and homes and such even though I have no desire to have those kinds of things. Then I feel awful for being jealous because I know we have it better than so many others but since we are surrounded day in and day out by those who have so much more than us it's hard to keep it in perspective properly. 

I'd try and cut yourself some slack emotionally. There's nothing wrong with indulging in a small want now and then like the dress if you are being frugal most of the time and can afford it.

[Kyamo]

Originally Posted by carfreemama 

CarrieMF, that's good to know. So you mean that even though DH and I earn a combined income of say $90,000, we won't be taxed for this job at that rate? That's the part I've been having trouble understanding. That's good to know about vacation, too; every little bit makes it a bit more worthwhile.

Carrie is right that they won't take tax directly off of your paycheque due to the low amount (unless you fill out a form for them to take off the correct amount). But the tax you owe and your marginal rate will still depend on your total income (your DH income doesn't matter for your tax rate, he is taxed separately). For example, if you already earn 50k from your fulltime job, that will put you at a marginal rate of 22% for federal, so any extra income you make will be taxed at 22%. (This is not the same thing as 22% of your total income, the money in each bracket is taxed separately.) So you will still owe taxes at your higher marginal rate on your new income, but you won't owe it until tax time, unless you fill out the form to have the correct amount withheld. Carrie is right about the vacation though, it is 4% I think.

[ameliabedelia]

I would not do that.  The lost sleep in the mornings and lost flexibility would not be worth it to me.

[carfreemama]

I'm now thinking maybe I can just do it a day or two every week, instead of 3. The job just came up 1 day before this weird 2-week break we're on due to the Canada Games. It's just the kids of the parents I'm friends with who know and I'm pretty sure they'll understand. The lunch coordinator won't be happy, I know. However, I do supervise skipping club every Wednesday lunch and I volunteer in dd's class every Friday afternoon. I also volunteer for things like book fairs and class trips, so I'm pretty involved in the school. I should have thought this through a bit more in terms of its real implications for the family, but it really seemed like a good idea at that moment and the job was offered to me on the spot when I went to talk to the coordinator about it. I guess I already feel like I spend a lot of time at the school. The catch is, I love it and I love the kids. I probably would enjoy the job. I don't mind kid noise!

I really need to look at my money-making impulses. Maybe I do want to go back to school or something and potentially earn a higher wage. Not for "things," really, but I do wish we had more money for travel and we have dreamed about buying a camper van. I'm not sure why it seems like we can't do those things with our current income and that's what I'm trying to figure out now. I think we're good at budgeting; we hardly ever eat out, don't have cable, no car, etc. But we do spend fairly lavishly on things like organic food, children's books and fun outings. This is helping me figure out which it is; do I want a lifestyle that is beyond our means and if so, do I want to work on letting go of that or making more money to support it? Can I make our money go further if I decide travel really is a priority? Big questions. I'm not really worried about our financial future. We had a big enough down payment on our house that our mortgage is less than $800 per month. Really, the more I type the more I think I really shouldn't need this extra cash to achieve my material goals, given our current income and low overhead. But we do budget! Really!

[GearGirl]

I would try it and if it doesn't work out just tell them it isn't in the best interest of your family.

[nadia105]

It might be worth trying it at least.  There are only a few months left in the school year, so if you didn't like it, it would be easy to just not do it again next year.

[MsFortune]

Why not?  If it is not working, give them a big notice period and quit.  

[crazyms]

The tax would still be owed. It wouldn't be taken off automatically because you don't make enough at THAT job to owe taxes but when you file it'll show your total income and you'll owe tax on it. It sounds like a good way to make a little extra cash but if you're already working ft from home and don't need the money I wouldn't bother.