Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
We drive 10 year old Toyotas and need two for commute. No cable and only streaming is Disney+, no lawncare, we live like grad students albeit with kids and no Uni department events to sneak food from.
Housing, camps in summer are huge and vacations are modest but add up but really want to avoid cutting that (spouses preference, would rather work job that hates rather than give up vacation). House is a 40s sht shack, but location is close to work with decent schools no easy fix there.
Can your spouse really not downshift? If your spouse transitioned to gs14 or 15 role wouldn’t that be enough? How much are you paying for sibling? If you really need a side gig, would you be qualified to tutor, especially in math? You could easily clear $40/hr and it’s flexible and these days everyone is doing zoom tutoring.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
We drive 10 year old Toyotas and need two for commute. No cable and only streaming is Disney+, no lawncare, we live like grad students albeit with kids and no Uni department events to sneak food from.
Housing, camps in summer are huge and vacations are modest but add up but really want to avoid cutting that (spouses preference, would rather work job that hates rather than give up vacation). House is a 40s sht shack, but location is close to work with decent schools no easy fix there.
How old are your kids? How much longer will they be in summer camps?
And it also might be time to look to other family members to help care for your disabled sibling.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
We drive 10 year old Toyotas and need two for commute. No cable and only streaming is Disney+, no lawncare, we live like grad students albeit with kids and no Uni department events to sneak food from.
Housing, camps in summer are huge and vacations are modest but add up but really want to avoid cutting that (spouses preference, would rather work job that hates rather than give up vacation). House is a 40s sht shack, but location is close to work with decent schools no easy fix there.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
We drive 10 year old Toyotas and need two for commute. No cable and only streaming is Disney+, no lawncare, we live like grad students albeit with kids and no Uni department events to sneak food from.
Housing, camps in summer are huge and vacations are modest but add up but really want to avoid cutting that (spouses preference, would rather work job that hates rather than give up vacation). House is a 40s sht shack, but location is close to work with decent schools no easy fix there.
Anonymous wrote:I’m a Fed in a technical role who has been trying to land a higher paying job for years so spouse can downshift from their stressful job (law).
I have applied to hundreds of jobs, had dozens of interviews, and probably a dozen job offers — and none paid anymore than my GS14 job but required longer hours and usually actually less pay. And I could not nail down growth potential for salary, no bonuses, etc.
So it’s clear I’m not marketable in the $200k job market. So instead of changing jobs, I’m going to try to bring together a weekend job that maybe could bring in $30k (I know that’s a big ask), and looking for ideas. No entrepreneurs in my family or close friend circle, so coming to DCUM. I was thinking I might make a small useful app (I’ve had some ideas for parenting apps that I would use) and sell for $1 or what not (I don’t want ad supported software, it’s just a curse on humanity). Or maybe doing websites for small businesses? Or freelancer.com or something like that? Or should I just do dog walking — but that’s usually during work times, and as a Fed I need strict firewall of hours worked and this side gig (and I’ll get ethics approvals).
Thanks for any advice!
Anonymous wrote:All trades are in very short supply. If you can do handyman stuff you can make good money doing that, if you are reliable and in an expensive neighborhood.
Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
Anonymous wrote:Any ways you can cut expenses? Cars, vacations, house cleaner, cable, lawncare....?
Anonymous wrote:I'm curious, OP—why do you need the extra money? I assume that since your spouse is in a stressful law job, they must make pretty good money, and a GS-14 near the top of the steps isn't so bad, either. After taxes you're probably talking about an extra $20k. Hardly chump change, but not life-altering either. I certainly wouldn't want to give up my nights and weekends for it, if I were in (what I think are) your shoes.
I definitely wouldn't see writing an app as a way of making extra income. If you think it would be fun and/or useful, go for it, but I wouldn't expect much money from it.
Anonymous wrote:I’m a Fed in a technical role who has been trying to land a higher paying job for years so spouse can downshift from their stressful job (law).
I have applied to hundreds of jobs, had dozens of interviews, and probably a dozen job offers — and none paid anymore than my GS14 job but required longer hours and usually actually less pay. And I could not nail down growth potential for salary, no bonuses, etc.
So it’s clear I’m not marketable in the $200k job market. So instead of changing jobs, I’m going to try to bring together a weekend job that maybe could bring in $30k (I know that’s a big ask), and looking for ideas. No entrepreneurs in my family or close friend circle, so coming to DCUM. I was thinking I might make a small useful app (I’ve had some ideas for parenting apps that I would use) and sell for $1 or what not (I don’t want ad supported software, it’s just a curse on humanity). Or maybe doing websites for small businesses? Or freelancer.com or something like that? Or should I just do dog walking — but that’s usually during work times, and as a Fed I need strict firewall of hours worked and this side gig (and I’ll get ethics approvals).
Thanks for any advice!