love2kwilt

I'm so glad I found this forum to ask questions before I get myself into a bad situation! Thanks for the info on that hourly rate being so low. I don't intend to apply for any credit cards or car loans, but I'm sure renting a home will involve a credit application if done separately from the travel company. Also, I would hate to only be making $17/hr. for overtime! My potential start date is too far out to be talking specific details with them yet, but they haven't said anything about pet deposits or anything like that yet. Our hope is to sell our home before starting with the agency and renting a home on our own. If you take the housing allowance, do you do all the legwork in finding a place to live or does the travel company assist with that? Fortunately, I have family and friends out in the area who could help with previewing rentals for us! I really appreciate all the feedback. Thanks so much!

This is the pay package quoted in the email I received: Pay Package Includes the Following: $500 Travel Reimbursement $200 per month Medical Benefits Pay Package as Follows: $414.85 Taxable Wages ($11.52/hr * 36 hours) + $1358 a week tax exempt stipend ($123 Lodging + $71 Meals & Incidentals = $194 * 7 days) $1772.85 Weekly Gross Compensation ($49.25/hr blended) -15% estimated taxes on the hourly (adjustable based on your W4) $1710.62 Weekly Net Compensation after Taxes After reading all the comments about the tax advantage pay packages, this makes me wonder if this is ridiculous or not! I think I made about $11.50/hour when I started as a brand new RN 22 years ago!

I've been reading through the posts on this forum and getting a lot of great info. My family and I are about to put our house on the market (in Georgia) and move back to our native state of California. I have received some emails from a travel agency (not sure how they got my email address, but they are in a 2011 "Top Ten" list I found on a travel nursing website). We would like to move this summer, but that would depend upon selling our home. I am wondering if getting a travel assignment would be a good solution rather than trying to line up a job after we get a contract on the house. That would be a very stressful time to be interviewing, etc., when I should be packing! We could actually live out there while our house is still on the market, if need be. The real drawback I can see is if I am in the middle of an assignment when the house sells and we have to fly back and get our stuff out. I'm not sure how the housing options work, but it would be me, my husband, our 9-year-old son, and 2 cats. I have never done travel nursing, but it has always intrigued me because I dislike all the politics and things that are required of staff nurses. I can imagine that the wrong assignment could be a nightmare, but I endured the most horrid position for 4 months at a surgery center (totally unsafe staffing ratios) without walking off the job, so I think I could handle 13 weeks. I currently work on a cardiology floor (after having not been a floor nurse for 20 years - talk about a wakeup call!!) and have been there for a year. Although floor nursing is definitely not my passion, I have learned a ton and have improved my organization skills a million times over. I would love to hear any thoughts or advice from the seasoned travelers out there. I am looking at traveling options in south Orange County and possibly San Diego (my hometown). I would also love to know if there are specific travel companies that contract with Kaiser hospitals! Thanks! Kaycee