i quit my job

April 28, 2009

in spending,work

gone
Creative Commons License photo credit: Josephers

Last night I quit one of my part-time jobs.

I have been working part-time at a local health club as an assistant coach for the swim team. I grew up with the neighborhood pool literally in the backyard, and spent years coaching, teaching lessons, and about 13 years as a competitive swimmer, so this was a good fit for me. It was fun being back around the pool again.

I really enjoyed the break from family life, getting to know the swimmers, the health club, and the perks (free gym membership for me). Due to a change in the schedule for summertime it became difficult for me to work during the times I would need to be available. Mainly it’s due to a camp my daughter is attending, and my hubby’s job. Of course his job comes first when it comes down to it.

I was completely shocked this morning when I ran the numbers on how much I had actually earned. Below is a breakdown. All numbers are rounded to the nearest dollar.

Earnings so far: $1,020
Anticipated Approx Earnings: $400

Total Earnings: $1,420

Expenditures:
Clothing: $90
Gas: $94
Eating Out/Convenience Foods: $500 (this is an estimate based on actual eating out + approx. amount from grocery purchases)

Total Expenditures: $684

Earnings-Expenditures= $736 ($400 future earnings)

It seems like such a small amount when I add it all up! I’m honestly surprised how much we spent on eating out and things that were easier to make with only one parent at home in the evening.

Though it did (and will) boost our savings, I am not sure the time and effort was worth the small amount of money. It certainly gave me more than just money. I had fun, and also was able to use the gym a handful of times (it would have been more often had I not been so sick this winter).

I’m definitely not looking at replacing the job right now, since I think I can save more just by being more frugal and cooking all our meals at home again.

Of course this will give me more time to be with the kids which has its’ own rewards, and blogging.

I still have another small part-time job on Sunday mornings, and I will likely work on growing my own business.

Kelly

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About Kelly


Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.

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Tagged as: income, spending, work

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  • Lisa

    The same situation happened to me. I had a part time job to supplement our income after I became a stay at home mom. My husband is the primary bread winner so his job came first. When his travel made it impossible to keep my part time job and they were not able to give me time off that I requested at Thanksgiving, I quit.
    When I got my statement of earnings a couple of months later I was shocked that for all my hard work over the past year I had only made $1200!! It was SOOO not worth it and I wish I had quit sooner.

  • Lisa

    The same situation happened to me. I had a part time job to supplement our income after I became a stay at home mom. My husband is the primary bread winner so his job came first. When his travel made it impossible to keep my part time job and they were not able to give me time off that I requested at Thanksgiving, I quit.
    When I got my statement of earnings a couple of months later I was shocked that for all my hard work over the past year I had only made $1200!! It was SOOO not worth it and I wish I had quit sooner.

  • Kelly

    I wanted to add that I have been can return in the fall, and there would be longer hours, so it may be worth it then, but I’ll have to decide at that point. It may become something that we use to pay for our gym membership, which is worth it for the amazing facilities, and all the programs the kids can be involved in.

    Thanks for all the comments everyone! I appreciate you stopping by!

    Weakonomist, you’d love coaching. You really get so much out of it, and being around the pool again is fun. :)
    I was a free/fly girl til my shoulders wore out, then I did breaststroke.

    MLR, if I was coaching my kids I would stay. They aren’t swim-team ready, and I have lost all hope that my oldest will be. I’m planning to get the littler ones in lessons again this summer, maybe they’ll be ready for the team next year.

    Crystal, I was making a decent hourly wage, and if you tack on the gym membership it close in on $20/hour, but with 6 of us eating out is SUPER expensive, and being gone at dinnertime was the big hurdle I couldn’t get over.

    Baker, thanks! I am having SO much fun blogging and working on my business that I’m going to throw myself into it for the summer. Fortunately I have the hubby’s support. :)

  • Kelly

    I wanted to add that I have been can return in the fall, and there would be longer hours, so it may be worth it then, but I’ll have to decide at that point. It may become something that we use to pay for our gym membership, which is worth it for the amazing facilities, and all the programs the kids can be involved in.

    Thanks for all the comments everyone! I appreciate you stopping by!

    Weakonomist, you’d love coaching. You really get so much out of it, and being around the pool again is fun. :)
    I was a free/fly girl til my shoulders wore out, then I did breaststroke.

    MLR, if I was coaching my kids I would stay. They aren’t swim-team ready, and I have lost all hope that my oldest will be. I’m planning to get the littler ones in lessons again this summer, maybe they’ll be ready for the team next year.

    Crystal, I was making a decent hourly wage, and if you tack on the gym membership it close in on $20/hour, but with 6 of us eating out is SUPER expensive, and being gone at dinnertime was the big hurdle I couldn’t get over.

    Baker, thanks! I am having SO much fun blogging and working on my business that I’m going to throw myself into it for the summer. Fortunately I have the hubby’s support. :)

  • http://manvsdebt.com Baker @ ManVsDebt

    You go girl!

    Great job running the numbers and realizing this wasn’t a great fit for you anymore.

    On a side note, I swam my senior year in high-school, but I was too fat to swim anything but the 50 free. That’s just so the entire meet wouldn’t be stalled waiting for me to finish a longer race!

  • http://manvsdebt.com/ Baker @ ManVsDebt

    You go girl!

    Great job running the numbers and realizing this wasn’t a great fit for you anymore.

    On a side note, I swam my senior year in high-school, but I was too fat to swim anything but the 50 free. That’s just so the entire meet wouldn’t be stalled waiting for me to finish a longer race!

  • http://www.brunetteonabudget.com Crystal

    I think you made an excellent decision! Working at the pool sounded like fun, especially since you grew up swimming, but the time and energy put into the job didn’t sound like it “paid” as much as being a little more frugal and getting more time to spend with your kids (that is priceless!). I’m often shocked at how much I spend eating out, too. I have to reel that in as well. :P

  • http://www.brunetteonabudget.com/ Crystal

    I think you made an excellent decision! Working at the pool sounded like fun, especially since you grew up swimming, but the time and energy put into the job didn’t sound like it “paid” as much as being a little more frugal and getting more time to spend with your kids (that is priceless!). I’m often shocked at how much I spend eating out, too. I have to reel that in as well. :P

  • http://www.MyLifeROI.com MLR

    I can’t wait to have a boy or girl so I can coach baseball or softball :)

  • http://www.MyLifeROI.com/ MLR

    I can’t wait to have a boy or girl so I can coach baseball or softball :)

  • http://Weakonomics.com The Weakonomist

    I swam all through middle and high school (short and long distance free). I hope to someday coach a team myself. It’s been years since I put on a speedo but I still think I smell of chlorine.

  • http://Weakonomics.com/ The Weakonomist

    I swam all through middle and high school (short and long distance free). I hope to someday coach a team myself. It’s been years since I put on a speedo but I still think I smell of chlorine.

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