Is it worth travelling 4 hrs to work?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

My friend just got a job in NICU and she always wanted to be NICU nurse, pay is good but her job is 4 hrs away in rural area. She has been a registry LVN before becoming RN and my advice was if she can try registry for a while close to her home if she cannot find job of her choice. She has a 7 yrs old girl who'll be with grandma for 4 days a week. This is not travel job but she would be travelling 4 hrs, staying in hotel for 6 days work and drive back home.

I am wondering how many of us would be willing to travel 4 hrs for job they want and leave kids with grandparents. .

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

No, I don't think I would, not for six straight days.

Now, perhaps for three days on, four days off... big MAYBE,

but only temporarily.

I take it that there is no way that she can move closer

to the job... or, being that it's in a rural area, no way

that she WILL move closer to the job.

Specializes in Pedi.

I would take my kid and move closer to the new job. Why is this not an option for your friend?

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I think it is easy to sit on this side of the fence and answer that question, harder to sit where your friend is, with jobs being scarce and a child to provide for. She is getting damned because it is her dream job and far from her kid, but if it were med-surg and the only job to open up to her, would it still sound so damning? In the Great Depression people had to do things like this all the time.

If she needs a job, she needs a job and being on a "registry" (not sure what that is?) isn't going to guarantee food and clothing.

I think I would not want to be having to make that decision.

Absolutely no way would I do what you describe. Why is moving WITH her child close to work not an option? Even if that required contortions of significance, I should think them less stressful on the family unit than what she's considering.

It depends on the area. If that is her only foot in the door to the nicu, I think I would do it. BUT with a plan. I would do it to see if I like it as much as I thought I would, learn as much as I can, and then try to move closer to the job. I would also try to get 3 back to back shifts so I could be gone less. If it doesn't work out, she can come back and do the registry you speak of. But if it is her dream, why not give it a shot? Worse case it doesnt work out and she quits.

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to meet your goal. Sometimes you have to sacrifice. But it won't be forever. I think it is a means to an end. Why are you "pushing" her to do anything ? If she does what you are pushing her to do and it ends badly, guess who she is going to resent.

Dream big.

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

I did not even finish reading the OP's post before saying to myself: NO WAY!

theres billions of options and stuff.....

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I did it for 3 months. I don't have any children, but I'm married. Ten months after I graduated nursing school, I found a nursing job 250 miles from home. I'd had a job cancelled 2 months earlier, and I didn't want both of us to end up jobless in a strange city. I rented a room for a few months, with Hubby's blessing, to make syre the job was going to work out. It did, and he moved up 3 months later.

With a child, it would be different. If I had 3 12s a week, I could cluster the shifts, so I would only be away 3 days a week. I'd still try to move closer, and have my daughter with me full-time.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

That would take a lot of thinking on my part. Is she hoping to only work over weekends? How many hours a week is she working? Does she live in an area with bad weather like snowstorms? You can't always count on clustering your days, esp if you are new. And how much of her check is going to go towards housing, etc? There are a lot of variables in this. Is moving out of the question?

Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

I'm thinking about all the financial ways that this would not be beneficial. (I'm assuming best case senario- that your friend would be working 6 shifts in a row- Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues- 12 hours each, making that 36 hours per week and combine two weeks of work into one trip to the hospital.)

1. Hotels. You mentioned this is in a rural area, so let's say she finds a decent hotel in that area for $75 a night (that's probably on the low end of average for your run of the mill motel).

2. Food. Three meals per day, plus drinks and snacks. Let's say she can eat and drink for about $25 per day.

3. Gas. 8 hours of driving round trip, plus the drive from the hospital to the hotel and back. But just factoring in the 8 hours... let's say average driving speed is 50 mph. That means the hospital is roughly 200 miles away from her home. Let's say she drives a decent car, which averages about 20mpg. So we are talking 400 miles at 20 mpg = 20 gallons of gas. At the average gas price of 3.80 per gallon, she'll be paying an extra $75 dollars in gas, plus what she already pays to drive from home to work, run errands, etc.

Not to mention the extra wear and tear that an additional 800 miles per month will put on her car. Or the fact that she may very well be making this drive in inclement weather.

So let's add up just these three things:

Hotels = $75/night x 6 nights = $450 per trip

Food = $25 per day x 6 days = $150 per trip

Gas = $75 per trip

Total = $675 dollars per trip (assuming two trips per month = $1,350) in ADDITIONAL expenses, just for traveling to the job.

Now, how does this compare with what she will be making?

You said the hospital is a rural area, and your friend is relatively inexperienced. I'm not sure what state she is in, so let's just ballpark that her salary is about $25 dollars per hour.

12 hours for 6 days at $25 per hour = 1,800 dollars per trip, or (assuming two trips per month) 3,600 per month.

So what does the average person have for bills?

1. Taxes and insurance. I'll be generous. Let's say she has a great insurance plan through work that costs only 3% of her salary and covers everything. And (being generous here again) lets say her federal and state taxes are 20% of her salary.

3,600 x 23% = 828 dollars per month going to taxes and insurance. (I'm not going to calculate car insurance, and renters/homeowners insurance, but you can add that on mentally.)

2. Rent/utilities. This would be a total guess, but say she has a really cheap apartment and pays $700 per month in rent. Electric and heating bill will be pretty low, since she won't be there half of the month, so say, $50 per month for all utilities.

3. Food/clothing: Maybe her parents are really nice and pay for almost everything for her daughter, while she's gone but she contributes $50 per week to her daughter's food, new clothes, medical care, school trips, etc. Plus what she has to buy for both of them on the says that she is home. So that's let's say $250 per month.

4. Cell phone, internet, TV: I'll ballpark a low figure for all three (she got a great bundle) at $100 dollars per month.

5. Gas: Additional on top of what she's paying to travel to and from the hotel to her house. The average person drives about 130 miles per week from work to home and running errands. So 130 mile per week = 520 miles per month / 20 miles per gallon = 26 gallons per month x $3.80/gallon = just about $100 per month in gas.

Finally we have:

Monthly income: $3,600

- expenses

Taxes and insurance: $828

Rent/utilities: $750

Food/Clothing: $250

Cell phone/internet/TV: $100

Gas: $100

Total: $1,572 surplus

Sounds good, right? Oh, but we forgot the additional expenses for traveling to the job: $ 1,350 per month...

$1,572 - $1,350 = only $222 dollars per month to contribute toward savings. And that's assuming there are no car repairs, house repairs, medical expenses, gifts to buy, or any other unexpected expenses (and let's face it, there always are unexpected expenses).

So, spending an additional $1,350 per month to travel to this job... Having only $220 dollars extra to budget for additional expenses each month... Does that sound like this job is worth it?

I'm thinking about all the financial ways that this would not be beneficial. (I'm assuming best case senario- that your friend would be working 6 shifts in a row- Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues- 12 hours each, making that 36 hours per week and combine two weeks of work into one trip to the hospital.)

1. Hotels. You mentioned this is in a rural area, so let's say she finds a decent hotel in that area for $75 a night (that's probably on the low end of average for your run of the mill motel).

2. Food. Three meals per day, plus drinks and snacks. Let's say she can eat and drink for about $25 per day.

3. Gas. 8 hours of driving round trip, plus the drive from the hospital to the hotel and back. But just factoring in the 8 hours... let's say average driving speed is 50 mph. That means the hospital is roughly 200 miles away from her home. Let's say she drives a decent car, which averages about 20mpg. So we are talking 400 miles at 20 mpg = 20 gallons of gas. At the average gas price of 3.80 per gallon, she'll be paying an extra $75 dollars in gas, plus what she already pays to drive from home to work, run errands, etc.

Not to mention the extra wear and tear that an additional 800 miles per month will put on her car. Or the fact that she may very well be making this drive in inclement weather.

So let's add up just these three things:

Hotels = $75/night x 6 nights = $450 per trip

Food = $25 per day x 6 days = $150 per trip

Gas = $75 per trip

Total = $675 dollars per trip (assuming two trips per month = $1,350) in ADDITIONAL expenses, just for traveling to the job.

Now, how does this compare with what she will be making?

You said the hospital is a rural area, and your friend is relatively inexperienced. I'm not sure what state she is in, so let's just ballpark that her salary is about $25 dollars per hour.

12 hours for 6 days at $25 per hour = 1,800 dollars per trip, or (assuming two trips per month) 3,600 per month.

So what does the average person have for bills?

1. Taxes and insurance. I'll be generous. Let's say she has a great insurance plan through work that costs only 3% of her salary and covers everything. And (being generous here again) lets say her federal and state taxes are 20% of her salary.

3,600 x 23% = 828 dollars per month going to taxes and insurance. (I'm not going to calculate car insurance, and renters/homeowners insurance, but you can add that on mentally.)

2. Rent/utilities. This would be a total guess, but say she has a really cheap apartment and pays $700 per month in rent. Electric and heating bill will be pretty low, since she won't be there half of the month, so say, $50 per month for all utilities.

3. Food/clothing: Maybe her parents are really nice and pay for almost everything for her daughter, while she's gone but she contributes $50 per week to her daughter's food, new clothes, medical care, school trips, etc. Plus what she has to buy for both of them on the says that she is home. So that's let's say $250 per month.

4. Cell phone, internet, TV: I'll ballpark a low figure for all three (she got a great bundle) at $100 dollars per month.

5. Gas: Additional on top of what she's paying to travel to and from the hotel to her house. The average person drives about 130 miles per week from work to home and running errands. So 130 mile per week = 520 miles per month / 20 miles per gallon = 26 gallons per month x $3.80/gallon = just about $100 per month in gas.

Finally we have:

Monthly income: $3,600

- expenses

Taxes and insurance: $828

Rent/utilities: $750

Food/Clothing: $250

Cell phone/internet/TV: $100

Gas: $100

Total: $1,572 surplus

Sounds good, right? Oh, but we forgot the additional expenses for traveling to the job: $ 1,350 per month...

$1,572 - $1,350 = only $222 dollars per month to contribute toward savings. And that's assuming there are no car repairs, house repairs, medical expenses, gifts to buy, or any other unexpected expenses (and let's face it, there always are unexpected expenses).

So, spending an additional $1,350 per month to travel to this job... Having only $220 dollars extra to budget for additional expenses each month... Does that sound like this job is worth it?

But that is only if she were doing it for the money, which I don't think is the case. It is a means to an end. A way to get the experience and training to help secure a job in her desired area. She might have to suck it up for a year, but then she can move closer or apply at a nicu closer to home and have a better shot at getting the job. It is not always about the money.

I would not do it. Gas is too expensive for a 4 hour commute. I'm not close with my own family, so there wouldn't be anyone to watch my children. I would move if it were that important to me.

+ Add a Comment