Which job would you take?!

[RedPandaMama]

I've been offered two jobs both starting in March/April. DD will be around 8 months old by this time and I have to go back go work so we can afford to buy a house.

Which job would you take? Both are with the same company.

Job 1 - £18k a year, office-based 15 minute drive from home, 9-5 Monday to Friday, sort of a PA secretarial type job. Possibility for promotion etc in the future.

Job 2 - sales type job, customer facing and quite busy, £17k first year, then £18k after that plus £500 bonus for every 'thing' I sell (this is a legit thing, a relative works in the same company and last year the 30 people doing this job earned between £18.5 and £54k depending where they were situated). Could be placed anywhere in the county (up to an hour and a half drive, more likely around 45 mins). Hours 10-5 working Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

I'm edging towards the second job despite the longer commute as it's a later start every day and 2 days less nursery costs (as I'd be home to look after DD Tues/Weds) however I'd hardly see DP who works Mon-Fri leaving at 6am and home around 6pm so we'd have evenings only.

So which would you choose?

Job 1.

Your DP might think the money in Job 2 is better, but it's all based on "if" you sell more to make it worthwhile. In the meantime, you'll have a longer commute potentially, and be gone all weekend each and every weekend. Is he prepared to do more at home? Is he prepared to be in charge of the children by himself at the weekends? Is he prepared to do the shopping? Is your marriage going to suffer if you don't actually see each other more than a couple of hours a week?

If your marriage falls apart because you never see each other, or resentment builds because each of you think the other isn't picking up the slack at home, etc, then you'll never get to house buying together...

Job 1 - why anyone would work at a weekend if they didn't have to is beyond me (sorry for those that do!). Not just financial, but most socialising, downtime with children, meeting friends (in other words the "fun" things) are done at the weekend. Whilst you might be thinking you can do these things on a Mon, Tues etc - no one else will be available to meet for lunch, playdate etc as they'll be at work. You can't put a price on happiness and I wouldn't choose that lifestyle just for money unless things were so desperate I had no choice, but even then, I would be looking for something else with more earning potential Mon-Fri.

Personally I'd do job 1 as I'd hate working weekends.

Job 1- for the commute sounds a lot better. Wouldn't want to work every weekend either, what about family parties, weddings, day out etc. Sales jobs tend to be more unstable, esp if u don't sell anything