Side Gigs

My major goals for 2012 are to 1) pay off my credit card debt completely and reduce my overall debt load and 2) save up healthy nest eggs for emergencies and moving/apartment expenses.

So far, I've been (mostly) on track with cutting expenses and automating my savings plans.  But then, I get to worrying about the future.  In a couple of years, I hope to marry C. and start a family.  Weddings and new babies cost  A LOT of money.  And my retirement savings are meager.  I worry about becoming the bag lady who subsists on dry catfood, so I don't want to put off saving for retirement any longer.

Enter the side gig: a sporadic job here and there that provides me with a little extra income for savings and/or debt reduction.  I currently hold two semi-regular side jobs during the school year:  I tutor Spanish twice a month and I babysit for a 7-month-old once or twice a month.  The tutoring money ($21 for one hour) is deposited into my savings account and the babysitting money is deposited into an old-school ceramic piggy bank for apartment furnishings. 

This Saturday, I start a new side gig: tutoring 3rd grade reading at my school.  We have some high stakes standardized testing coming up in a few weeks.  Though it's a completely new standardized test and the Texas Education Agency says the results for the first year don't "count", we're still orchestrating weekend cram sessions for the most struggling students.

This current gig pays $25 an hour for a minimum of 3 hours on Saturdays.  $75 on a Saturday is nothing to sneeze at, folks.

I'm happy to snap up additional income opportunities while I'm still relatively young and single, and I'm hoping to find some work over the summer.  Still, I worry about burnout and missing out on my own life.  I'm still navigating a healthy balance between work and leisure, spending and saving.

Your Turn: Do you have any side gigs?  How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?