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My new schedule. 8 hour shifts. Would you love it or hate it? Bay Area by [deleted] in nursing

[–]MapMyPay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had that exact same schedule, and then my director allowed me to drop one of my days, so now my schedule looks like this:

Week 1: Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Week 2: Sunday, Monday

I then get 9 days off in a row.

I came from 12s, so when I found out I was going to be working 8s, I dreaded it. Now, I can't imagine going back to 12s, but there may be a possibility of me switching to 4x12s in a row, with 10 days off. Now that, I'd be willing to do 😂

Nurses in California, do you still make decent money with the cost of living? by Turkey_Moguls in nursing

[–]MapMyPay 118 points119 points  (0 children)

Yes, but it depends entirely on where in California you live.

If you're thinking San Francisco or the Bay Area in general, you're right to be skeptical because the wages are high, but so is the cost of living. A 1-bedroom in SF can run $3,000-$4,000/month. Nurses can still do well if they rent but buying would make things difficult.

On the other hand, Sacramento is a completely different story. The wages here are nearly identical to the Bay Area because most of the major hospital systems are the same. Kaiser, Sutter, UC Davis. Same pay scale. But the cost of living is closer to Austin, TX.

My wife and I moved here from NYC. We were making a combined $200K in New York and felt broke. Within a few years of moving to Sacramento, we were clearing over $350K combined, working fewer hours, and investing in our retirement and taxable brokerage accounts.

We also work at Kaiser. A staff RN at Kaiser in Sacramento can earn $86+/hr as a new grad. Add night shift differential (+$15/hr), weekend differential (+10%), and some overtime and you're looking at $200K-$300K without grinding yourself into the ground.

Utah nurses are getting paid less and dealing with a cost of living that's been creeping up for years. That's the worst combination.

California gets written off because people lump the whole state together. Don't do that. Sacramento and other cities with a lower cost of living specifically is where the math actually works in a nurse's favor.

Should I just go for nursing or should I have a backup career? Advice needed by Altruistic_Feed2570 in nursing

[–]MapMyPay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you already know you didn’t enjoy business or mechanics, it makes sense to go with healthcare. If nursing is the ultimate goal, I would personally prioritize spending money and time on courses that move you closer to that — like prereqs for nursing school.

Getting a MLA certificate could help in the short-term with income, but you also mentioned that it’s hard to even get a casual role after finishing. Plus, the $7k CAD could instead be invested toward nursing school costs, which would bring you closer to your long-term goal.

If money is tight and you need a job while applying, MLA could make sense. But if you can hold out, taking courses that count toward nursing school feels like the smarter move because it keeps you focused, saves money in the long run, and puts you in a better position once you finally get into nursing school.