Part-Time Jobs - Short Term Overload

After struggling to get more than one part time job for the past two years, I now have the opposite problem - too many part time jobs at the same time. I had five seasonal part time jobs in March, down to four by the end of April, and was trending to three by June. However in early May, I received an offer for a short term part time job to which I applied in 2008. So, I'm back at five part time jobs for the rest of this month.

I don't have an issue with the work load. However, I'm learning there are some issues which may prevent me from working five part time jobs in the future, even for a short time.

Too Many Hours - The most recent part-job requires a minimum of 30 hours per week. Fortunately, they have been flexible about when the hours are worked since they are open 24/7. However, it is likely I will work over 50 hours for some week during the next two months, which is the duration of this job.

Being retired for over two years, it just feels working 50 hours or more cuts too much into my personal time for family, entertainment and projects :-)

Competing Priorities - Every part time job would like me to give them top priority. Priority management is pretty easy with two to three jobs. Four jobs is still manageable, when the hours are between 5-10 per week for most jobs. However, managing priority for five jobs is testing my capability, especially since one job would like 30 hours per week.

Schedule Management - Only one of my jobs has a set schedule and one job has no schedule. The other three make a weekly schedule about one week in advance. Thus, I have to juggle three jobs schedules when submitting preferred work times.

Paycheck Tracking - Although three of my jobs have been accurate in paying me, my fourth job has already had two paycheck errors. The most recent part time job has recommended up front that I confirm I'm being paid the correct amount with each paycheck. I've also learned that some employees from this new part time job have already experienced incorrect payments.

At this point, I plan to complete the work period for all five jobs. I made a commitment for a specific time period when I accepted the offer for the fifth job and plan to keep it. However, if they offer to extend my work session, I may decline. Finally, I may decide not to apply for a short term event part time job, which I was offered last year but couldn't work last year. If this job requires too may hours per week, I may pass on it for this year, even though I would love to attend the event for free.

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This is not financial or job advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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