Burnt out nanny need help deciding what to do?

[Anonymous]

I work three jobs, seven days a week and I'm starting to get to the point where I'm getting burnt out. All my jobs are on a steady schedule and also in between I babysit.

Job One- Nanny job with infant. Starting in summer I'll keep her older brother also. Three days a week, every other day off. Im off some Fridays. I'm here for ten hours a day. Job has the best pay and gives me stability.

Job Two- I watch a little girl every Saturday for about five hours. Her parents pay pretty well and the extra cash is also a big help. It's very hard for me to ever have a weekend to myself because I have to be here. But I love this little girl. I've never called out in the almost three years I've been working with them.

Job Three- The Gym, I've been here for three years. I work here three days a week. Two days for 3 1/2 hours and One day for 5 hours. We have a steady schedule for the most part. Our staff only really consists if 5 people. No subs if anyone needs a sub or to switch we do it amongst us. My commute there is about 30 minutes long, since I don't drive family it's me out and everyone is getting tired of this. I've tried to bring my problems to our manager (we've been under new management about a year) but she's selfish and talking to her is like a brick wall. She refuses to understand that I can't keep coming for such little hours. My average check is $150.00 bi-weekly. My boss eats most of the hours up for herself (35 hours) This job has been here when I had nothing else and I'm not sure what to do. Stay or go. One thing that is nice is a lot of the families I do babysitting and even my Saturday gig I met here.

My question is what would you do if you were in my shoes. My goal has been to drop the gym job and find a steady job for Tuesdays and Thursdays (easier said then done I've been looking since November with no luck) and at least I could have Sundays off and probably take a vacation this summer and call off for one Saturday. My goal has been to rise my income up enough so I can get my own place. I make enough just not on paper since I don't ask the Saturday gig to pay taxes. The other two do. Please help.

[Anonymous]

My question is what would you do if you were in my shoes.

Take a deep breath? Seriously, this is not sustainable. It's been 20 years since I've done the three job routine, it made me sick, literally. Here's what I found - it's a lot easier to work very hard and long hours at one, single job than it is to shift gears like you're doing. So find a single gig that will pay you enough to have your own place, even if you have to lower your expectations as to what that means. Don't put yourself in a position where the roof over your head is dependent on the madness of multiple jobs.

[Anonymous]

Wow. That sounds like a lot of juggling. How old are you? This is the kind of thing that you can do for a few years in your early 20s, but it is not sustainable for a long time. I agree with the PP that you should be aiming to find one job with benefits that pays you what you need to make to live, even cheaply, on your own. What is your level of education? Can you drop one job and drop the idea of moving out for a while and get an Early Childhood Ed degree? A job at a daycare would be more stable than being a nanny without benefits. The gym job doesn't seem to be generating enough money for the time, so that is probably the job I would drop first. Good luck!