How do you deal with having a full time and a part time job and still have time for fun things?

Question

I have a full time job at a chinese restuarant and i am probably going to be working a part time job at Dollar Tree.... i have bills to pay and a fiance which i live with but still need time to see him and spend time with him and relax also.... how do you deal with all this...it is only temporary until i join the military but i need the extra money to do things and get things i want.... what should i do? i need some advice from someone who had wen thru this or who is going thru this....can someone please help me.... thank you so much

Answer 1

The biggest conflict will be on the days when you are on both schedules. Allowing one hour for travel to and from home, one hour between jobs and eight hours for constitutional recovery leaves six hours for either the part time job or maximizing your joint commitment.

The answer for those days will not be here, but with your fiance. The attitude with which he encourages and supports this short time is not only critical today, but it is also indicative of his long term obligation. The more long days he steps up and manages, the more short days you will be able to cede to him for recreation; or, alternately, allow you more work time to reduce your monetary frustration. Either way, he needs to realize the situation is only temporary.

As my youngest brother said: "It's better to have money and no time than time and no money." More relationships end due to money problems than all other reasons combined. I have been through this same scenario twice (Three if you count the thirty-nine straight days I worked open to close when the manager training we quit with two days notice) and am finally completing a recovery. While my wife, who has enjoyed a decade of time off and part time jobs, probably seldom thinks about it; I often recall those days with a low grade sense of pride.

As the Tom Hanks character in A League of Their Own said: "Of course it's hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it." Good Luck.