Every holiday season, nurses give up time with the people they love for an overtime check. Monica and I did it for years. Don’t make the same mistake.
The holiday shift swap
Picture this. It’s a week before Christmas. Christmas is the one holiday you have off from work this year.
A coworker walks up and asks if you have the day off. “Yes,” you say. “Great, I need someone to work for me. You’ll get paid overtime for working the holiday!”
You think about it for a few seconds. You picture your partner, your kids or your family spending time together. But before you talk to any of them, you answer. “Sure, I can work for you.”
That was us for years
That was Monica and me for a few years after we got our first nursing jobs. We gave up a lot of time with each other. We were living like we could afford things we couldn’t. We went on one lavish vacation after another.
Part of the reason we moved to California is that we had enough of that life. We wanted freedom from work. We wanted time with each other, our kids, our family and our friends.
Think about the people who matter most to you. Think about what you will miss with them if you live the way Monica and I used to live.
Save the overtime for another time
When we remember a special Christmas, it is not the presents that made it special, but the laughter, the feeling of love, and the togetherness of friends and family that made that Christmas special.
Catherine Pulsifer
It doesn’t matter how big that overtime check will be. Save the overtime for another time.
Nine in ten Americans say they celebrate Christmas. Religious or not, this time of year leaves you and your loved ones with memories that last.
So stay home or go out this holiday season with the people who mean the most to you. Cherish these moments. It may be the last time you get to spend with some of them, and missing it is a regret that stays with you forever.
If overtime is how you keep up with your bills, read why OT is keeping nurses broke. To see how we got out of that cycle, read how we paid off our debt and cut our hours.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
Map My Pay shows what nurses take home after taxes and rent at 465+ hospitals and in 21,000+ cities. It’s the app I co-founded so you can compare cities before you pack a single box.
The Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the plan Monica and I used to go from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California: license, city, hospital, and what to do with the money after.
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Written by Jason, RN. I went from $37 an hour in New York to $143 an hour in California and paid off $128K of debt in under a year. I share our numbers in the Nurses to Riches newsletter and on YouTube.