It's been a couple of months since I posted so I thought I'd post an update.
I've been working per diem at Urgent Care since the end of May. To date, I've done 12 evening shifts and 1 Saturday. It's been going well. Due to some schedule conflicts, I've only got 3 evenings and a Saturday booked for September but then I've got 5 evenings and a Saturday in October.
As for my regular full time job, my partner and I have had several conversations about my status there. We're trying to work some things out to ease my workload a bit. Also, starting October 1, I'm shortening my Tuesday schedule by 90 minutes. That frees me up to work Urgent Care Tuesday evenings which I couldn't do before time-wise.
My wife doesn't like me working a bunch of extra hours but honestly, so far it really isn't bothering me at all. The Urgent Care work is generally much less stressful than the regular job. Most of the time, it's actually kind of fun compared to the hectic pace at my office.
The best part, of course, has been the extra income. We did pay off my wife's van last month so that loan is gone. We took out a $15,000 student loan for our daughter but I'm hoping to use at least $1,000/month from the new job to make payments on that so we don't keep it around for too long. In October alone, I should take home about $2,500 extra. The other good thing about the per diem gig is that if I ever really want to work more, there are usually shifts available.
The new location that was supposed to open in July got delayed but is now definitely opening on September 12. It is about 3 miles from my house and I already have a few shifts scheduled there. That will be extra nice because the place I've been doing most of my hours is about 18 miles away. This is a 5-minute drive.
So that's where things stand. Still working one job full time but trimming my hours a tiny bit in October. Gradually increasing my hours at the per diem job. And overall enjoying the cushion that the extra income is providing. I don't know what the next step will be but at some point I'll probably want to further trim my office hours. The first target would probably be to shorten Mondays also the way I'm shortening Tuesdays. I work until 5 but I go in at 7:30 so it's a long day. Even cutting it back to 4 would be nice. We shall see.
Job update and stuff
August 28th, 2016 at 02:35 pm
August 28th, 2016 at 02:37 pm 1472395040
August 28th, 2016 at 03:20 pm 1472397642
As for doing it while we're still here in NJ, I'm really not sure. Urgent Care is relatively new around here and has been expanding rapidly but none of us are sure what the future will be for it. Is it a bubble that will pop? Or is it really the wave of the future. By the end of this year, one main road that runs through my town will have 5 UC centers on about a 6-mile stretch. Is that sustainable? Nobody knows. So part of me is hesitant to jump in 100% and find out a year or two from now that the market is over-saturated and centers start closing. As long as I reasonably can, I think I'm going to keep one foot in family practice and one in UC.
August 28th, 2016 at 09:01 pm 1472418101
Sounds like you are doing well money wise and smart of you to pay stuff off.
August 29th, 2016 at 12:39 pm 1472474349
August 29th, 2016 at 04:58 pm 1472489923
So I think that UC will replace ER as people get more comfortable. And more companies will pay for that since it's cheaper than going to the ER.
August 29th, 2016 at 07:28 pm 1472498880
The soonest we would possibly do it would be probably 3 years from now. DD has 2 more years of college and we definitely wouldn't move while she's still in school. Then it would take time to do everything involved in prepping a house for sale, finding a new place down there, etc.
I think you're absolutely right about UC putting the family doctors out of business. It's sad but that is the way things are going. People don't want to wait even 24 hours to see their doctor today. They want everything done immediately. This is actually even starting to be an issue at UC when they're really busy and people come in and get upset because there's a 1-hour wait to see the doctor.