Question: Should I take an office cleaning job at $8-$10 per hour to supplement my income or focus my free time on self-development.
Background
I am 26, live in a relatively small city (80K population), currently have a salaried, M-F corporate position, paying around $55K per year. If I calculated an hourly rate, I'd be around $25 per hour.
I have a significant amount of student loans ($60K about 4% weighted average), no credit card debt, and a relatively small ($5k) auto loan (3% fixed).
My estimated net cash flow for 2015 is $18K, after tax, 6% 401(k) deferral, monthly expenses, and minimum debt payments (all of which I am paid months ahead of schedule).
As I'm typing, it seems like a lot of free cash flow, but I am currently in a poor cash position to begin 2015 (about 2 months of expenses in cash). I have always been light on cash, but new internal reporting at my company has made me realize my job may not be as stable as I have thought.
I'm not in love with my job, but it is bearable. I don't think there's a large chance of insolvency in the next couple years, but financial targets keep getting missed and lay offs could happen. Additionally, I am a relatively new employee and my boss was doing most of my job before I came on board a few year ago. In this sense, I feel disposable.
Options
I value my spare time, but I also value financial freedom. Most of my spare time is spent reading finance, biographies, working on websites, and overall improving myself.
There are several opportunities for part-time office cleaning jobs in my area (15 hours per week @ $8-$10 per hour). They start after I am done with my full-time job and typically are done around 9pm or 10pm, my normal sleep time.
I live with my girlfriend and she already has a side gig tutoring for $20-$30 per hour, split between weekdays and weekends. Settling for $8 seems to be a huge downgrade, but I can't work an extra hour at my current job and make $25, so the impact on my cashflow will be positive and I can pay off debt/save more.
Here is my pro and con list:
Pro
"Guaranteed" cashflow compared to working on various skills
Pay debt/save at a faster rate
Could likely listen to audiobooks while office cleaning
Cons
No free time during the week to continue on websites and learning new skills
My current job can sometimes require 10-12 hour days and adding another 3-4 on top of that could impact my effectiveness at my primary job
Here are skills I think I have, but I don't think they are developed enough to monetize:
Accounting - I have an accounting degree, but my professional experience was financial statement preparation focused. I do have some tax experience, but not enough to feel comfortable preparing beyond very basic returns. Our bookkeeping software was more advanced than Quickbooks, so I don't have any experience with small business accounting software.
Option: Take a class on Quickbooks and buy the software to become proficient/expert in it.
Websites: I have dabbled in web design since I was 15. Even back then, I had support from others and Freelancer.com to help. I have bought domains, hosting, themes, installed wordpress, etc. I have the knowledge to edit wordpress themes, but not the knowledge to develop anything from scratch.
Option Pursue web designing, website building, SEO, etc. I am passionate about this, but likely need at least a year to be proficient enough to monetize it.
Develop current websites I have had over 10 domains in my lifetime, with two being successful when I was in high school/early college. Back then I could dedicate significant time to them, but my hourly rate was probably below minimum wage. Others were on topics I deemed interesting and things I was doing on my own time anyway (research, stock market, etc). In order to monetize the current websites, I would need to dedicate time to writing articles and blog posts and likely and eBook to make them successful.
Mustachians
I am not in a terrible financial situation, but I am not comfortable in the situation either. I plan on increasing my emergency fund to a year's worth of expenses in 2015. If I already had a year of expenses, I would never consider working for under $15 an hour for general labor.
I have been tracking my expenses to the dollar since 2012 so the improvement margin is pretty thin.
What would you do?
Would you work a part-time job you are overqualified for, or work on skills that will be relevant for years to come? The decision would be easy if I was debt free, but $60K of debt with a relatively disposable job makes me consider alternatives.
Thanks in advance!
