Comments on: Is A Second Job Really Necessary?

By: Slinky

Slinky — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:17:58 +0000

I would do a lot of things to avoid taking a second job. I would hate being away from home and having to deal with people all day. (I wonder if it’s more common for extroverts to have 2nd jobs than introverts?)

If that’s the only reason they need a 2nd car it does seem silly. If there are other reasons like one person needing a car for their job or occasional 4AM-noon shifts or occasionally unpredictable periods of overtime caused by high priority projects, than it seems a bit more necessary.

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:46:03 +0000

I agree with what you say. Of course these things are a personal choice, but if people don’t have a goal and the discipline to stick to it they may find their second job becoming a permanent fixture. If you are not in control of your finances to start off with it is easy for loan/card repayments to go up to the point where you need the second job.

By: FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:10:37 +0000

I’m erring more on the trimming expenses part than getting a second job.

Like you, I consider FabulouslyBroke.com to be my second job (amazing how many hours it takes… but the time just flies by).

But if I had to, I’d get a second job to get out of debt, make ends meet etc.. but I’m doing everything in my power to prevent it from happening in the first place

By: BM

BM — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:03:08 +0000

I do occasional freelance work on the side that takes up few hours during the week. Although financially I do not need the extra money,the reason I do it is because I can.
.
I am fairly young now with two little kids (3YO and a new born) and I only work after they have gone to sleep. I never do any work when they are awake or during the day time on week ends. I do not need an 8 hour sleep every day. 5-6 hours is plenty for me. I think as I get older, I may just get too busy with kids or too tired to do extra work. So my attitude now to to may hay while I can.
.
My In-Laws are generous with their help in taking care of my son. They pick up my son from the day care on the days when I have to meet a client after work. By the time I pick my son up from their house, they have already given him a bath and fed him dinner. If I did not have such help, I would possibly never have done additional freelance work
.
Another reason I do additional work is it helps me gain experience with technology and skills not used in my day job and finally doing additional free lance work gives me some practice to run my own consulting business in future

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:53:58 +0000

I agree with absolutely everything you have written here, (including the fact that I have expenses I could trim if I wanted to! :) ) I do like my second jobs enough that even if I made twice what I do at my day job, I would still do the second jobs. In fact, I also volunteer at all those places (they are nonprofits so I do some paid work for them and a lot of volunteer.) But, here is the kicker – they do take up time. When you figure you spend 9 hours at a day job (with 1 hour lunch) and say a half hour each way getting there, you now are down to about 14 hours left in your day. If you sleep for 8, you now have 6 hours left. Assuming you need to shower, eat and get ready in the morning, you may only be looking at 4-5 hours free time on a given week day. Something has to give. Though I love what I do, there are times driving there that I think, “Why am I doing this?? I just want to be home.” There are good reasons for getting a part time job, but you do have to weigh all the factors first.