Holy cow, the Travel Nurse chaos of new assignment paperwork is upon us! If you thought your Nursing License was meaningful, think again. Each hospital quizzes travelers to be "sure" they know their stuff. They don't just accept the validity of a license no matter which state it comes from. Just the hospital orientation ALONE has been 8.5 hours of unpaid, video watching followed by quizzes with a "must pass" quota.
Here is a tip for beginners: From the time you leave your old job to beginning the new job, be sure to leave several days open so that you can fulfill all the paperwork, orientation, and tests without having to also go to your current job. My husband is completely slammed for time as his recruiter only told him it would consume 3 hours "max" to complete everything. Ridiculous! Desperate times call for desperate measures, so he called in sick one day this week to get several things done. This wasn't an issue since he had used NO sicks over the last 18 months. As it turns out, he now knows to leave several days open for next time. Apparently, each hospital has their own set of tests and orientation videos so this, I'm sure, will be a repeated process quarterly for us.
Next, with all of the tiny little cities that had openings for assignments (with populations under 5,000) we instead selected a larger city and we chose to take the stipend of $1,700 a month. We did some research before we made the decision and discovered that average rents for a 1 bedroom apartment averaged about $550-$750 per month. We know that we likely will opt for scant furniture so we are are prepared to live very simply for the first assignment and see what we will adjust for next time. It also helps that I will be flying back home after three weeks to work on the house some more, therefore, I can pick up more personal effects that we would like to have with us on the road.
Electricity, internet service, and renter's insurance are the only three expenses we will need to supply. Three month leases are more expensive than a 1 year so the cost goes up slightly. We will also be increasing the distance from the hospital so that is also factored in for gas costs and time.
The property manager of the apartment we selected recommended a furniture rental company, however, it is located 70 miles from the complex and is expensive. $170 delivery/pickup fee followed by a $237.99 monthly rental fee for the basics. This cost also is more expensive for 3 months leases, by the way. Too expensive for us, so we agreed to wing it. We do not have children and we are not retired, so as long we have a coffee maker and a comfortable place to sleep and shower, then the rest is negotiable.
One thing to be aware of; if you are a hotel or airline points hog and believe in credit card churning, know that each apartment complex you apply for quarterly performs a hard pull on your credit report. That is 4 extra pulls per year which may affect your credit score slightly. For more on the glorious and thrilling world of credit card churning and it's perks for free travel, I read The Points Guy blog every day. Hotel points and frequent flyer tickets will really come in handy for those times when an apartment won't be ready for us in time and we will need a hotel. That gets expensive if we pay out of pocket. Therefore, it is my job to work the credit card signup bonus angle during this lifestyle experiment.
Next up.... figuring out how to create a portable household so we don't have to keep buying over and over for each assignment. Call me crazy, but I'm fine with the two oversized tv trays I found today to be used as a dining table and computer stand. I've heard from other travel nurses that they swear by Space Bags so I picked up a pack of 5 today. I'll need to figure out the bed thing next! Good thing I lived this way for most of my 20s and have some experiences to draw upon.
Tomorrow those challenges begin.
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