Would you take a second minimum wage job if you earned £36k per year?

[rabidruth]

I need some savings desperately - losing my main job soon. Main job is skilled professional but I can't find a viable alternative.

I've applied for a second job to help me start making some savings but it only pays minimum wage - will clear only about £6.30 an hour after tax.

A family member has criticised me for "selling myself short". I'm always very stressed anyway and short of time. I'm due to start second job this week and I don't know what to do. We have a cleaner and dog walker, both of whom we pay more per hour than I'll be earning in second job!

Would you take a second job in these circumstances?

Would it not work out cheaper to get rid of the cleaner and dog walker and use the time you would have spent doing this second job to clean and walk the dog?

Wouldn’t you be better financially just getting rid of the cleaner and possibly the dog walker rather than exhausting yourself with a second job?

Why would you work for less than the cleaner / dog walker?

I'd at least stop the cleaner. Maybe not the dogwalker if stopping would mean dog doesn't get enough walks. But if you feel you need the second job then do it, a higher paid main job might not come along so easily.

Dog walker unfortunately can't stop as they come while I'm working at primary job. Cleaner could get rid of but would save only £6 an hour - me and DP pay half each. So £12 an hour for cleaner costs us £6 an hour each.

I agree that ditching a cleaner and dog walker would make more sense. Walking the dog twice a day will be good for your stress levels. Cleaning can be therapeutic too. (Sometimes.)

Just put aside the money you usually spend on them each week in a separate account. Then use the time you would have spent on a second, poor paying job, hunting for one which pays as well or better than your old job.

get rid of the help , do it yourself,

Would it be cheeky to ask DH to put aside the £6ph he pays the cleaner towards your emergency fund if you do the cleaning?
I'd rather clean other people's houses for £12ph as a second job than work for minimum wage and pay someone else to do mine.

I'm a professional who has taken a minimum wage job to make ends meet. Sometimes you can't afford to be fussy

What's your set up with DP? can they help out more so you can save on cleaner/dog walker?

I would become a cleaner and a dog walker

I would cut these non essential things before I took a 2nd job. When does your primary job finish? £36k is just under what me and DP make jointly.

The cleaner costs you £12 p/h. It doesn’t matter who funds it surely if you have a house together as the household will suffer by only 1 person having a job

If you need savings desperately, I’d say a cleaner would be the first to go-that’s a luxury in my eyes.

Have you started looking for a new main job?

I'm not sure about ditching the cleaner personally - our cleaner runs her small company and brings and employee and her own heavy duty vacuum cleaner etc. They clean solidly for 1.5 hours (so 3 man hours) and get more done than I'd get done in a day spent mostly cleaning.For me it's not really accurate to compare 3 hours of my wages to 3 hours for the cleaner, because they save me more like 6 hours of my time, plus rows with the rest of the family about why the hell I should be the one cleaning...

The £12 an hour for the cleaner might be worth more than £12 an hour in that context.

Do you and DP have entirely separate finances?

I'd be concentrating on finding a new primary job not taking in a low paid side job and spending more time on housework on top.

Primary job focus as absolute priority.

Could you move if you can't find anything where you live now? This is where I wonder about the DP, the seperate finances, and whether you have to stay put...

Concentrate on getting a new primary job. Do the cleaning yourself . If you need to save more take a second job as well. Life can throw hurdles at us all but fingers crossed you seem very proactive and will manage it well.

As a skilled professional worker can you work locum shifts etc. Can you register for supply in your profession?

You must be able to find something more than minimum wage surely? What qualifications do you have. Maybe consider retraining?

Your DH will stand by and watch you do two jobs rather than fund the cleaner himself?

Depends on the job I think. Personally I would prefer to do a job I liked potentially and keep my cleaner. As another poster has said she cleans way more efficiently than me plus was hard to find. If you are planning on continuing to look for a job that is more akin to the one you have now then you may need the cleaner again.

If you're a skilled professional, try looking for better paid interim work. You can surely do better than min wage, trawl the reed job site and sign up for temping agencies. I would prioritise finding a better job in the short time you have now (acknowledging I don't have the full picture of your circumstances).

Can you give an idea of your profession or skills? Maybe we can come up with some work ideas you haven't thought of while in the thick of what is surely a stressful situation.

In the meantime, you can 'earn' money in little time by making changes to your spending. Do you have the cheapest gas&electric? Can you reduce your food bill short term?

I wouldn't. Particularly because of this "I'm always very stressed anyway and short of time"
This will get much much worse of you have two jobs and your unlikely to have the energy to find a better paid main job.
I'd look at your overall outgoings first.

*if
*you're

I would do babysitting if I needed to earn some extra money, people like having a ‘mature’ babysitter & you would get better paid & hopefully it would be less hard work (depending on the children). But if you about to lose your job surely your focus should be on getting a new one?

And review your financial arrangements with your DP. Is he doing a second job?

Yes DP has a second job but is self employed in his second job and not presently taking an income from that company.

I work in a job which most people don't know even exists and thus could be outing. It's quite specialist which means I am paid well to be effectively a glorified administrator, because there aren't many qualified people around. The flip side of that also means that there aren't many companies looking for people with my skills (outside London, at least). It's not something you can do freelance unless you've worked at a very senior level already.  Wishing I chose a different career right now to be honest!

I am not exaggerating to say that the only job which has come up recently which is a perfect fit is in Glasgow - I'm in the Midlands.

In terms of finances at home, they are quite separate and always have been. DP is not my DC's parent. The house we live in is mortgaged in my name only. We both pay an identical fixed sum into a joint account each month and everything else we keep for ourselves.

DP did support me financially for 6 months or so whilst I tried being self employed in a completely different field. It didn't work out, needless to say and by some miracle I found my current role nearby to home.