When I first decided to go ahead and go full time working at the gym, I *thought* I had it figured out that I would be able to make enough on 36 hours of min wage per week to cover expenses, with the exception of Cobra. However, I must have miscalculated something somewhere, because even without Cobra, I am still coming out at least $80 behind.
I chose to not pay for Cobra, because in September the discounted rate would end, and I'd be out $1500 and still be without insurance (when it went to the 100% rate of $425/month.) So, really, what would be the point?
So I have been watching the gym losing more members than they are gaining. I've seen the last two income reports. It doesn't look good. I'm seriously wondering how much longer E's mom will be willing to throw away $2-3K+/month on gym payroll when it's mostly coming from her inheritance - even if they do consider the gyms to be a "mission."
Yesterday when I got to the gym, E was interviewing a new person. He's also hired on someone just for the summer. Personally, if I was E, I'd be scared to death to hire anyone new. How does he know that these new people would be willing to put up with bouncing paychecks, or having to hold on to a check for two - four weeks before it finally cashes? Stuff like that is liable to tick someone off in a not good way.
So, even before going to the bank three times this week, after being assured the money was there to cash my check, and still coming out with no money, I started to seriously consider what other options may be available.
The pros of this job: Lots of free time for studying once I start classes, one weekday off each week - so only work 4 days a week, ability to exercise a lot.
The cons of this job - overwhelming stifling boredom, minimum wage, never knowing if check is going to cash or not, inability to just deposit check due to knowing it may bounce, Boredom, gym closes for any and every holiday which equals loss of any pay for those days
Like I've said before, I like E. He is a good person, and he really tries to make everybody happy. This fact has made it somewhat easier to deal with the paycheck problem. Today though, after stopping by the bank once again, hoping to come out with money in my hands, only to come out empty handed, I was very very aggravated.
So, I'm really not sure what to do. Should I just stay until my lease is up on my apartment and hope the business is still around until then? That way very little will be going out of savings each month. Then I can quit there, and move into a room wherever I find the least expensive option and live off of savings + whatever odd jobs/temp jobs I can come up with?
Or should I try to find something else entirely?But if I somehow manage to find something else, then what would happen with school????
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This job is just such a perfect thing for when I start school - it would allow me to go full-steam ahead because I could fill my working hours with studying. But is the aggravation over the money worth it?
I wonder if I switched my day off from Wednesday to Friday, and then signed up with temp agencies. Mondays and Friday's seemed to be the two most assigned days. That way I'd at least have one check I could count on, and could have it direct deposited. Of course,that's assuming that there are any temp day jobs even available right now - unemployment hitting 9.4% I heard today.
Before today, I had been trying to think of what I could do to just bring in an extra $100/month - to fill the gap between the gym income and my outgo. I have some things I could sell via Ebay or Craigslist, but not more than maybe a few hundred dollars worth (if that.)
This is my budget for June:
Rent: 665 (lease ends in Sept.)
Cell: 48
Internet: 20
Gas: 40+
Tolls: 25
Food: 60
Roth: 50 (Can't stop because its under 3k)
Meds: 25
Total: 933
Income: 854
I can't cancel my cell phone because its under contract and its my only phone.
I do manage to make *some* money via the internet (blogs, youdata, surveys, etc) plus its my main means of communication with other people.
Gas and Food ... I'm trying to keep them in those ranges, but with the way gas is going up, I don't know if it is a reasonable amount. Food .. as long as I leave my cards at home except for planned grocery days, I can do that amount.
My July budget looks even grimmer. My first paycheck (once cashed) is minus a normal 12 hours pay due to Memorial Day. Then I have to get my registration renewed for my car. Oh yeah, starting this coming Monday, I will have one hour less a week due to ending my Mondays at the South gym which closes earlier than the #2 gym.
My mom asked me if I was having money troubles. Technically, the answer is no, because I have plenty of savings to fall back on. But realistically, I am living way above my means - with really nowhere to cut.
Feeling slightly aggravated. (rant/ramble warning)
June 5th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
June 5th, 2009 at 11:20 pm 1244244046
On the ROTH - where do you have it? You can invest $1k in Vanguard Star. IF you have at least $1k I would consider that (it's a balanced fund - stocks/bonds). At worst, you can move it into a bank account (probably no minimum). I wouldn't contribute $50/month in your situation. (The exception if you are close to $3k at your brokerage, because they often charge a fee to move a ROTH, etc. IF you are close, I'd stick it out). But yeah - just to point out the option you can move it somewhere with less of a minimum, in the meantime.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:27 pm 1244244448
June 5th, 2009 at 11:44 pm 1244245449
1 other thing- if you are bored at work...can you maybe teach a class or two? Get certified to be a spinning instructor online and head up a class? Maybe have students pay a $2.00 each fee per class and you get the $2.00 per person. Just a thought.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:50 pm 1244245841
That is something I am afraid of. Arriving one day to find out that all the gym locations have closed. I know they are talking about closing the South location by the end of August if they don't get more members.
There are a LOT of people who've bought one-year memberships. Good luck to them trying to get their money back.
Spinning? Uh... no. Tried that twice (first and last.) But I do get what you're saying. The location I work mostly in doesn't have a cardio room / area, but I could possibly go over to the #3 location which does. I would need to get myself in much better shape than I am in now though.
June 6th, 2009 at 03:42 am 1244259743
You probably already have meds as cheap as they can go, but have you checked the price at Walmart or other places that have cheap generic prices? Or what about mail-order? Sometimes that works out to be a better deal.
June 6th, 2009 at 03:54 am 1244260478
Once my dosage is stable again, I can get a 90-day supply which will save 6 or 7 dollars. But, in a way, getting them monthly is a bit cheaper because then I can take advantage of the transfer coupons. In April I transferred to Tom Thumb and got a $30 gift card, then transferred it back to Walgreen's in May and got a $25 Walgreen's check. So the two coupons paid for 2 of the 3 months prescriptions. I can't count on that happening every time, but it seems those coupons are coming out more often recently, which makes it almost worthwhile to not do mail order. (I take synthroid, and it seems to be the same price no matter where I look. I won't take generic of it - the generic of this particular med is NOT the same as the brand name.)
June 6th, 2009 at 01:48 pm 1244296116
I wouldn't worry about the losses right now. You have other things to worry about.
June 6th, 2009 at 04:12 pm 1244304731
June 6th, 2009 at 06:48 pm 1244314106
June 7th, 2009 at 06:22 am 1244355734
An idea for you could be to substitute teach. This is my plan if I lose my job. Our state pays $77 a day for subbing. If you did this two times a week, you could make over $100 a week. And you could take homework with you to work on. You can also sign up to sub as an office worker, or librarian. Everything in our school district is automated, the phone calls you and you press to accept or deny the job. Easy! You could skip school sometime if you needed more money, or just work one day a week. Maybe you could pick up some tutoring jobs this way too, and don't forget pet sitting! You could advertise for that!
Good luck!
June 7th, 2009 at 08:39 pm 1244407176
I know that I will eventually get paid, it just takes forever sometimes.
Substituting might be an option once the school year starts again - although I think I prefer the idea of working in the office or library to the classroom.
Pet sitting is another good idea. I have signed up with Sitter City which is a website where you can list your info for pet sitting, house sitting, kid sitting, tutoring, etc. So far, nothing has come of it - but maybe something will soon.