Saving Money & Managing Two Jobs
In this post, I also want to talk about how I save money. This year at school I have no meal plan so I am currently saving for groceries during school, my sorority fees, things on my apartment shopping list, and gas money for my car. There are a few other expenses here and there that I need to pay for such as recruitment clothing and utilities for my apartment as well but I want to share how I save money to help pay for all of these things.
First, I want to talk about managing two jobs. I work at Lilly Pulitzer as a sales associate and I also work at a popular local restaurant in Richmond as a waitress. I work 6-8 shifts a week depending on how the scheduling comes out. I try to split the week in half between two jobs. I keep Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday completely reserved for Lilly Pulitzer. That means I reserve Monday, and Thursday entirely for waitressing. On Tuesdays, I work in the mornings at Lilly Pulitzer and once that shift ends, I will go straight to the restaurant to waitress for a night shift. Tuesdays are definitely the longest days of the week but, there are so many things I need to pay for that I am okay to sacrifice my Tuesday for work. On Sunday's I am usually scheduled at both jobs. Lilly is usually in the morning until the late afternoon and then the restaurant schedules me at night. I never really know if I'm going to work a double on Sundays until the schedule comes out. I typically end up working 15-20 hours a week at Lilly and another 15 at the restaurant.
The key about managing multiple jobs is to split time evenly between the two. I will say, in the long run I make more money waitressing than I do working retail. The reason for that is because you never really know what the customer is going to tip you when waitressing. I can make $70 one shift but at the same time, I can make $20 on another night.
When it comes to how I work the blog in, it doesn't seem to be too bad. The key for keeping myself productive when I'm not working is by waking up early on my mornings off. For example, if it's a Monday and I don't have to work until 5pm that night, I will still set an alarm for 9am so I can get up, eat breakfast, and get my day started. This is super important for managing outside commitments when working two jobs. I will wake up in the morning and sit at my desk and draft out the next day's post. It's nice to get it out of the way and just schedule them for the days to come. There have been a few days this summer that I've been so tired that I just couldn't get to the computer, but I think I've been pretty productive this summer.
As far as blog photoshoots go, I usually try to schedule those on days where I will only work one shift at work. If I'm working a 9-2 morning shift at Lilly Pulitzer, I will immediately head to location after work and meet my photographer there. Shoots usually take between two to three hours so I'm normally home by 5 or 6. If I work an evening shift around 5pm, I will shoot in the morning, head home, change for work, and head back out again. I take multiple outfit posts in one photoshoot to help save on time and it also helps me stock up for when I go on vacations. I will say that having a blog is like another job. I put about 9 hours a week into the blog between shoots, writing, editing, responding to emails, planning, and everything in between.
As much as I love spending money and shopping, I did have to adopt a plan for saving money. I will say, at the beginning of the summer I went a little crazy with spending money and purchased a few more things that I should have. Halfway through June though, I gave myself a reality check and told myself I was going to be #brokeandhungry this fall if I didn't step my saving game up. I started with opening two savings accounts. One was for my sorority dues, the other was for food, utilities, and other things I would need for my apartment. I try not to keep too much money in my checking account because I don't want to be to tempted to spend. When you waitress, you make cash at the end of the night rather than a paycheck. When I have cash, I find it so much easier to spend money. The way that I save that cash is by completely leaving it at home. By the end of the week I can have upwards of $200 just in cash ready to go to the bank. I hosted an Instagram Livestream the other day where I discussed how I save money and how I manage two jobs. A lot of you were commenting about how one does that and manages a full time blog, as well as saving time for family and friends. It might seem a little difficult from a distance but I promise, there is time for it all as long as you're willing to sacrifice a little bit here and there.
Clearly, there aren't too many days off this summer but it will be so worth it this fall when I can pay my sorority dues in full and not have to worry about them. Both jobs have been super flexible this year too which has allowed me to go on fun trips this summer like our Chicago trip back in May, the beach trip in June, family vacation in July, and a road trip in August. If there is ever a day where I get an entire day of no work at all, I will usually clean my room, catch up on errands, sometimes see my friends or sometimes just lay around and watch TV. If you are interested in having two jobs and keeping busy, it is totally doable! You'll also feel super productive!
Stay Preppy,
Lucy
