Monica’s nursing paycheck was $75.95 for two full weeks. That came right after one of our best months ever. Monica and I always try to be open about our money, so here is what happened and how our numbers look now.
These numbers are from April 2024, when this was first written. Pay changes every year, so check current rates in Map My Pay.
Our best month, then a $76 paycheck
Some nurses on social media brag all the time about how much they make. They never talk about the times when money is tight. We want to show both.
In February, we had one of our highest-earning months, both at our jobs and in our business.
We brought in a combined $34,282.72 gross from our jobs and $5,297.59 from our business. The business income came from social media and sales of our spreadsheets.
If every month went like that, we would have grossed $474,963.72 by the end of the year. But it sure didn’t last.
Why the per diem shifts dried up
Monica’s hospital has been cutting the number of shifts it offers per diem nurses. It is hiring more nurses with benefits and more travel nurses instead. Her department now has its lowest vacancy rate, less than 8%, since the hospital opened.
Monica did not work from March 24 to April 6. She still got paid $75.95 because of a pay error from an earlier pay period.
From March 24 to April 20, she only worked 3 shifts. Staffing didn’t even schedule those. A coworker asked Monica to pick them up so she could take time off.
This is one of the risks of per diem work. For the upside, read about per diem nurses who get benefits in California.
Where our income stands now
Even with this hiccup, we still made an average of $14,228 a month in net income as of April 20. To earn that, we work a combined 35.02 hours a week on average.
If we keep up this “slow” pace, we are on track to earn at least $246,439.79 from our jobs by the end of the year.
How our business fills the gap
Our business brings in an average of at least $3,399 a month. With that added in, we are on track to earn at least $287,227 by the end of the year.
We do that working just 35.02 combined hours a week. That is an average of 17.51 hours each.
To see how this compares with past years, read how we each worked under 20 hours a week in 2023 and how much we made as nurses in 2024.
Your next move
See what you’d take home, then make the move
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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.