Need extra cash - am I mad to consider a Christmas job?

[PurpleSky300]

So I work in a corporate 9-5 NHS job, salary 37k, I’ve just bought a house and I'm looking for ways to find a bit of extra cash to make things more comfortable. My current outgoings are:

Mortgage: £750
Council tax: £98
Energy: £150
Other bills: £250
Groceries / toiletries: £200
Transport: £100 (Bus & Rail travelcard)
Petrol: £60 (local journeys)
Birthdays / Xmas: £50
Rainy day ISA: £50

… which leaves me just under £400 per month. It doesn’t stretch very far and every time I look around the house, I see something that needs updating – carpets, lamps, wardrobes, etc. A couple of nights out or a trip to the cinema eats through my disposable income so quickly and I’m just thinking that even an extra £200/£300 for a few months would really help me. I don’t want to use credit as I’ve just dug myself out of credit card debt. Would a Christmas job be a decent idea? Could I even find something that was only evenings and weekends? I’m open to anything at the moment.

I did it last year when payroll fucked up my December pay and then shrugged their shoulders and said I would be paid what I was owed in January’s wage despite me literally crying on the phone because I wouldn’t have been able to pay my mortgage with what they’d given me!

I rang round a few bars and got a job for the Christmas period. Seeing patients coming in for their Christmas drinks was bizarre

Ah right, how did you find it? For some reason I was thinking mostly about retail but bars sound like a much better fit in terms of the hours I could do.

How come you're only taking home £2100 a month OP?

I earn just under £35000 and take home £2091. That's after student loan and union fees too.

I earn closer to £38K and only take home £2100. Likely she’s in Scotland so higher tax band and maybe paying into a pension too.

I'm also in Scotland and paying into a pension. I already assumed she would be paying into pension being NHS.

I'm thinking about similar. I work 9-5.30 five days a week and take home a decent enough amount but that's been eaten up by mortgage and energy and everything else increasing. I'd really really like a holiday abroad with my teens next year as it's likely the last time we'd go together (and the first time in over 5 years) so am thinking about picking up an extra job to pay for it.

My pension contributions are 9.8% and then I have student loans, I imagine it's that.

I see. Think my pension contribution is only about 6.2%

Yeah exactly, money just doesn't stretch. I miss holidays and 'fun'! I need to save for very, very boring house things like a new boiler, some plastering, furniture bits etc and a little cash injection would help. I'm hoping in a year or two that my mortgage rate might come down, it's 5.2% so I'm hoping it won't get worse.

I worked in a bar at nights and weekends when I was hard up. I quite enjoyed it and made good money in tips.

Would you be comfortable with a lodger? It might be less effort than working longer hours.

There's also fast food delivery too.

If you work Mon-Fri, taking on a weekend retail or hospitality job isn't a bad idea. Only if it's temporary though, it wouldn't be sustainable long term.

It was the norm in previous cost of living crises - early 1990s when mortgage rates went sky high, many people took evening and weekend work just to be able to pay their mortgage.

Shouldn't have to of course, but if you are able to it's definitely worth doing. Bars and restaurants are really short staffed and there's also the 'corporate party' option, but that might require experience.

Also worth reviewing your 'other bills' to make sure you're getting the best price for broadband, mobile phone etc and that you're not paying for subscriptions you don't use, only have the TV licence if you actually want BBC/live TV etc.

Moneysaving Expert is a brilliant resource, as well as signposting to reducing costs for the above, also to ways of making bits of extra cash, eg running a second bank account that you keep moving for the introductory bonus. Get the weekly newsletter and also look at the budgeting section to start.

You could do a few waitresses shifts, or take a lodger, or do matched betting. It's miserable being skint, give it a go.

I worked part-time in the day and applied for an Xmas job at a well known store, stipulated I wanted a max of a couple of evenings a week and only to work one day out of Saturday and Sunday. I was given what I wanted. Saturday is our busiest day of the week, so I'd say it's to your advantage if you can work that day.

Oh you live alone? The extremely low grocery bill.

Try an agency for evening work. My friend owns a recruitment consultancy business and they're already recruiting for the supermarkets for autumn winter. Might be just the thing for you.