I am so bad at making decisions!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
I am so bad at making decisions!
5
Sat, 08-15-2009 - 9:13pm

I got a call today from a good friend. She's looking for a teachers aid...a reading assistant. She knows that I'm a reliable person and they need someone quickly as school is starting. It's at an unbelievably good highschool, just built in a rich town. The pay is approx 12 dollars an hour and the work week is about 40 hours. There would be benefits and the ability to grow. I actually got excited for a second. It sounded like a fun job. I'd probably be good working with highschool students. Then I got to thinking about the details. 12 dollars an hour would bring me 450 a week before taxes. Then I'd have to deal with daycare for my 2 year old. I have no idea what daycare costs these days but on the internet they said that the national average is 156 a week. That brings my pay down to about $300. Then I'd need before school and after school care for my 2 older sons. I don't know how much that costs either but a friend of mine used to drop her son off early at the boys and girls club and it was $60 dollars a week. Let's just round up to $100 a week for 2 kids. That brings my total paycheck to $200 dollars before any taxes are taken out. Then there's the toll it would take on my kids schedule. I figured that if I needed to be at work by 7am, my kids would need to be up and ready by 6am so I could drop them off at before school care and then drop my 2 year old off at daycare and I got to thinking...OK, that would really be quite an adjustment for them and me! This would all be well and good if I wasn't going to work for 40 hours a week only bringing home $200 dollars a week. Now I have to compare that to what I currently do. I'm a piano teacher and although I hate my hours because I'm not home during the late afternoon when I feel my family needs me the most for dinner and homework, I do only work 10 hours a week (including my driving time) and I bring in $186 dollars a week. That's 18 dollars an hour and I currently have about 8 more slots open for more students if I wanted to fill up my time every day. I'm just waiting for the right students to come along and I'm not actively searching (right students being where you live and what day you're interested in lessons). So it seems that it's a no brainer. Even though my hours aren't perfect, at the most I'd only be working 20 hours a week making around $330 a week pretax. And I'm able to be home with my 2 year old and I'm there when my kids leave for school and get home from school. Daddy is available when I'm at lessons.

I'm just so conflicted. I always question myself when it comes to what I do for a living. Should I just get a regular job? Is it worth it? Everyone else seems to do it and make it work. Then again, not everyone can be a piano teacher and although I don't always love doing it, it definitely has the possibility of being a great paying job for the amount of hours I put in. Then I compare it to 40 hours a week on little pay while having to put my kids in daycare and school programs....

Basically, I have a plan for my career. In 3 years my youngest son will go to full-day kindergarten. I'll have my days open again AND my plan is to find homeschoolers looking for a music teacher. I could potentially fill my days with piano lessons at people's homes. That would solve my problem of hating my hours as a piano teacher. Will this be easy? I don't think so...how many homeschoolers are in my area that are looking for a piano teacher? But it's my goal. My perfect job!

And I have to keep that goal in mind. When little roadblocks come up....people are always telling me about jobs...I have to remember my bigger picture.

Avatar for sullengurl
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-16-2004
Sun, 08-16-2009 - 7:13am

It's hard being in this type of situation because a lot of times people can take the attitude that you should just be thankful to be in such a good position. But making that decision is such a tough one....It sounds like you have a long-term plan that you would be very happy with and what you are doing now is helping you to develop and work toward that plan. So how would the 40 hour a week job move you toward that plan? Would it? That would be my first question to myself. How would this job help. How much you make is really secondary because it might be a stepping stone to a bigger goal. Don't forget to factor in the benefits including possibly a retirement plan. Knowing me, I would probably make a list of pros and cons to be able to see it all in front of me...


The daycare thing would get to me because

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2009
Sun, 08-16-2009 - 11:00pm
It sounds like what you are doing now is a better fit for your family at this time.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Mon, 08-17-2009 - 8:56pm

Remember that you would be teaching at a high school - what is at high schools?




iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2009
Mon, 08-17-2009 - 9:20pm

I would stick with your plan. If I didn't have a deadbeat ex and could find something local with decent pay for the living costs here I would try to find something less agonizing...Right now I pay $258 a week for daycare for my 5 year old and $340 a month before/after care for my 10 year old..about 22k a year--@30% of my take home pay! At one point I stopped thinking about it because I was barely breaking even, but he will be in the before/after with her next year so I'll save @700 bucks a month that I can use to finally decimate the debt :)

Then next will I will work hard to certify and earn more so I can write my own ticket...

Sorry I rambled but it sounds like you have established yourself a great reputation and career already as a piano teacher. This came from your hard WORK and you get paid for this also so its a REAL JOB. Don't sell yourself short. When I was in the Army and I was thinking of re-enlisting my SIL kept saying I should get a REAL JOB. I ripped her a new one.

I'm very impressed with your setup, and when everyone is in school you will expand as you planned and be so happy, I bet. Piano teaching sounds like something you really like doing, if so I'd stick with it.



iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2008
Tue, 08-18-2009 - 3:07pm

You are not bad at making decisions. You do have a lot to consider though. Don't forget if you or the kids get sick it is a lot harder to organize believe me. Give yourself a little more time to go back to work. You have a lot of years left in your working life. It doesn't sound like it would be worth it at this stage of the game.