My Second "Job"

Horses are expensive. I've written about that extensively here, here, and here. And as we all know, it's not just horses; mortgages, cars, groceries, shampoo ... they're all expensive, especially if you live a First World existence. To make ends meet, I teach fifth grade.

My classroom.

​In all honesty, my salary is a good one, and my health benefits are second to none. My salary isn't exactly consummate with my level of education though. But whose is? The 49ers quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, signed a five-year contract worth a guaranteed 137.5 million. Dollars. My husband earned his B.S. and now makes twice what I do. Neither of them has taken more classes than I have. I clearly should have learned to play a sport or review banking contracts as pay both better than what teachers make.

Feeding horses or cake for classroom parties?

Since I don't make 27.5 million a year like Garoppolo, I've had to figure out ways to either stretch the dollars I do earn or find a way to earn a few more. One thing I could stop doing is spending so much on my classroom. Just this month I've spent $100 on classroom rewards and parties. That's my feed bill for the month. ​But since no teacher ever chose this career because she wanted to get rich, I've had to find other ways to subsidize my salary. One way I've done that is with detention.

I can't actually show the detention kids. You know, laws and such.

Our Parent Club pays for someone to monitor students during our lunch time recess. Our kids go to lunch at 12:00 and spend up to 30 minutes getting their lunch trays and eating. As a side note, my district provides our schools with pretty good lunches, including a legit salad bar. Beginning at about 12:20, kids who have finished can head out to the playground for recess until 1:00. Kids who have been assigned detention get to line up to eat first, but then they sit at a table in the back of the cafeteria. The detention teacher picks them up at 12:30 and walks them back to his or her room where they miss lunch recess.

My time card sits on a window sill behind something else, so it gets pretty warped as I wait to fill it up.

I earn about $15 dollars each time I monitor detention which is every Friday and Monday. It's not much, and it's not exactly fun dealing with the naughty kids who get assigned detention, but I remind myself that it's paying for Speedy's Prascend - his prescription to control his Cushing's Disease. Over the years, I've used the money I earn monitoring detention to pay for shows, boots, vet bills, and a host of other things. 

Detention for pills.

I am about a third of the way through what it will take to pay for Speedy's next box of Prascend. Each box of 160 tablets costs me $342.02. A full time card will generally cover that cost and maybe leave me with enough money for lunch. 

Will work for drug money is my new motto.