How to Manage Multiple Jobs

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When you’re trying to get out of debt it can all be overwhelming. I’ll never forget the day I totaled up my debt to $201k with a salary of $56k as a first year teacher. I knew I would need to do some drastic things to get myself out of this hole quickly.

The reality I quickly faced was that I had cut all of my expenses as much as I could. I moved back home with my parents, bringing my housing expenses to zero. I was making my breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at home and making sure to eat cheaper meals while still being healthy. I wasn’t going out, except for the occasional celebration.

My minimum payments were $2,000 a month, trying to pay extra was hard. I knew I had to make more money, but I was drowning as a first year teacher.

I eventually got it figured out and now I manage multiple jobs with my full time job, it’s a lot, but there are certain things you can do to make it easier.

1. Always have your schedule on you.

I use a Day Designer to organize my days personally, but I love using Google Calendar on my phone. I was always a paper planner girl, but I quickly realized with me working so many jobs, that it just wasn’t practical.

I’d be finishing up at one job and they’d ask my availability the next week. I’d always have to let them know. It wasn’t a big deal at first, but eventually when I got more and more jobs, it definitely became hectic trying to remember to contact them after.

It made it so much easier to pull my phone out and let them know my schedule. I make sure to update my Google Calendar immediately. Then, I use my Day Designer to plan out each individual day to make sure I get the most done.

They serve two different purposes, one is to keep my schedule going, the other is to organize my time. You can totally do both in Google Calendar, I’m just a paper planner girl for life. Some things will never change!

2. Keep a consistent schedule.

I try my best to keep the same schedule each week with all of my jobs. This obviously isn’t realistic for everyone, but if you can, it can help a lot in managing your time.

For example, my teaching hours are basically always the same, that’s easy. I work the before and after school program, that’s always the same time. I privately tutor the same kids at the same time every week. If there needs to be a change one week, I make sure to update my Google Calendar immediately.

This allows me to keep a consistent schedule for the things I can control. For my babysitting side jobs, that’s completely unpredictable. It helps that the rest are consistent because it allows me to easily schedule babysitting.

Keeping a consistent schedule when working multiple jobs always helps your body adjust to working so much. Eventually it just becomes part of your routine. Which leads me to the next point.

3. Slowly add on more jobs.

Make sure you consider yourself when you are planning to work so much. I don’t recommend going from just working your full time job to working 4 jobs. You are more likely to burn out and overwhelm yourself.

I suggest slowly adding side jobs to your full time job once you are comfortable with your full time job. For me, this looked like adding 1 tutoring client after my first few months of teaching.

Eventually I got into the swing of things at my full time job and was able to add many more side jobs. This has been a work in progress for many years and I don’t recommend adding so many right away.

In the fall, I will be getting a new job and I am purposefully planning to work less side jobs while I adjust to my new school. It’s obviously going to slow down my debt free journey, but my mental health and sanity is worth it.

Of course, my full time job always takes priority, it provides me my benefits and my salary. I don’t want to risk losing my full time job because I was spreading myself too thin with my side jobs.

4. Plan out your week to make it easier.

This is why I love the Day Designer, I can plan out my week and my days to get the most accomplished. For example, I plan out what I need to get accomplished for my blog each day in order to keep it up and running. If I didn’t do this, I would let the blog go on the back burner when I feel overwhelmed. Plan out what you want to get accomplished.

I also highly recommend meal planning and prepping when you do have time. For me, I spend time Sunday meal planning, going to the store, and prepping my meals for the week. It doesn’t take much time and makes my life so much easier during the week.

It is so nice to come home after a long day to meals that are cooked and a lunch already planned to bring to work. If I didn’t do this, I would definitely grab lunch out or pack random, not so healthy meals for me to eat at work.

5. Remember that this is temporary.

This is probably something I remind myself daily. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by how much I’m working I just tell myself that it’s temporary. I don’t have to work these jobs and I won’t forever.

Of course, I love working multiple jobs and I probably will for a long time, but the volume that I work will drastically change once I am debt free. It’s important to remind yourself of that when it starts to be too much.

With it being temporary also means that you need to keep yourself in mind when working all of these jobs. If it starts to be too much, figure out an exit plan and stop working so much.

Yes, these jobs are great to get out of debt, but if it is impacting your mental health, you need to stop working that job. Extra money is great, but not at the cost of your health.

I recommend finding jobs that you have interest in, it will make it feel less like work and make it easier to get there.

Managing multiple jobs ultimately comes down to scheduling.

Multiple jobs can absolutely feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be if you schedule out your days, weeks, and months a bit more. When you have your meals prepped, schedule ready, and know what you want to accomplish each day, it definitely makes it easier to manage. How have you managed multiple jobs?