It’s important to be realistic when it comes to holding down more than one job. While the different career paths, new skills and additional income are all great incentives, having multiple commitments can be fairly stressful. Here are a few hidden costs to be aware of before saying yes to a greater workload.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

While the thought of earning more money may sound great, your job choices could eventually have a negative effect on your relationships. Your partner, friends and other family members could begin to feel neglected, particularly if you are going for long periods without spending quality time with them.

If you are going to juggle multiple roles, ensure that your work life doesn’t completely take over your social life. Find time for coffee with your closest friend, a walk in the park with your kids and a romantic dinner with your other half.

Extra expenses

While a second or third job will enable you to earn more money, you will also need to consider any extra expenses that they might create as well. For example, if you have children, you may need to organise and pay for childcare if other family members or your other half can’t look after them while you are at work.

Additionally, you may need to take transportation costs into consideration. Depending on how you commute between jobs, you could find yourself paying out for petrol, bus tickets or train fares to get you to each location – and these could soon add up. If you carefully weigh up the most cost effective way to travel, you should be able to stay on top of this, but you can also consider borrowing money from a trusted lender should you need to.

Scheduling

To prevent your roles from clashing or overlapping, you will need to draw up a solid schedule to stick to. However, you should also prepare yourself for any instances that might result in you turning up late for your second or third job. Before something like this happens, ensure that your employers are aware of your other commitments. That way, they will know why you can’t stay for that extra half an hour after work.

When it comes to scheduling, you may also need to take into account the time it will take you to commute from one job to another. If you have got the school run on top of all this, it could prove quite tricky.

In your spare time between work and home life, ensure that you take enough time for yourself. Exercise, meditate, or relax in front of the TV – after all, you don’t want to burn out.