Stitching together paychecks a struggle for many

Weaving back and forth on a soccer field each weekend, Fiorella Garuba’s goal is to keep order in both the game and her own life.

Last Saturday, the Norcross woman refereed four youth games at Jones Bridge Park. Sunday, she reffed two women’s games at Piedmont Park. She takes as many as she can get, she said: “There are times I have refereed 10 games in a weekend and I can’t feel my legs on Monday.”

But it’s fun. It's outdoors. And it's necessary.

Like millions of Americans, Garuba is trying to stitch together small paychecks to fashion an income that will feed, clothe and shelter her family. Even when it’s enough, it can be a struggle.

Pay for a game ranges from $20 to $50, depending on the league and whether she is lead referee. About 10 hours a week, she hires out doing medical transcription.

She and her husband, Rashid, had a business designing homes for builders. About two years ago, the housing bubble burst. “We went to complete nothing," she said. "We had clients, builders who had been in business for 20 years, who were wiped out.”

They have three children. Her husband’s income now is minimal. She has searched in vain for a job as a medical secretary or office manager.

So she stitches.

Housing woes also halted Ryan Crooks in his tracks. The Atlanta man had a business as an architect.

“I do residential housing and light commercial,” he said. “It’s pretty quiet.”

His wife, also an architect, has gone back to school to become a pharmacist. They have a 14-month old son. So Crooks also does graphic design for web sites. He has another job as a freelance “how-to” writer.

“I make the bills,” he said. “At times it’s tough.”

The official jobless rate in Georgia rose last month to a record 10.5 percent – a half-million people. Yet those figures don’t count people who have stopped looking or returned to school. They also don’t include people who want one full-time job but can only find part-time work or cobble together more than one job to pay the bills.

For instance, Sarah Morrow, 29, loves teaching. She just can’t find enough of it.

She works 19 hours a week as an administrative assistant. Two days a week, she teaches English at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, making the 200 mile round trip from Atlanta.

“I have found my vocation and my avocation,” she said. “The trick is to figure out how to do it full-time.”

She calculates that roughly one-third of her income is from teaching, one-third from her administrative assistant job and the remainder from her family.

“If any of the pieces disappeared, I’d be sunk,” she said.

The upside is flexibility. But she receives no benefits, no vacation pay. She has no life insurance or dental insurance and must buy her own health insurance.

“There’s a certain stability that comes with full-time employment,” she said. “I am still standing – shakily, but I am still standing.”

Not everyone piecing together a multi-job living is forced into it. Some choose that path, looking for more control over their time or picking work that falls outside regular office hours, said Jodie Charlop, executive coach at Potential Matters Inc.

“It’s called portfolio careers. It’s not a new concept – creative types have had to do it for years: Writers, marketers, communications professionals," Charlop said.

But the idea doesn’t fit everyone, she said. “They can make a professional feel fragmented, versus having one clear place to go every day. It can feel unstable.”

Or harried.

Ginny Vaughan, for example, was living in Canton, working in a north Atlanta office and teaching dance in Dallas.

As a real estate agent she had seen two employers fail, then landed a job at a thrift store only to be laid off.

“I went through a lot of fear,” she said. “Emotionally, it drains you. It was a nightmare. Especially since I’m a single mom. My son was looking at me – I couldn’t afford to buy him clothes.”

Three months ago, she got a job as a customer service rep for Healthy Life Sciences, which sells herbal supplements, as well as weight loss and multi-vitamin pills.

“It was like winning the lottery,” she said. “I was so thankful.”

About 9 million Americans work part-time jobs but want to work full-time. Roughly 7 million Americans – more than one of every 20 workers – has more than one job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Darci Rodenhi, of Atlanta, has four: Two restaurant jobs, a third making quilts and sculptures and another job as a French translator and interpreter.

“My office is wherever my bag is,” said Rodenhi, who was laid off in 2008 from her job with an environmental group.

Her income is erratic since she relies on tips, she said. “You cannot assume you are going to get paid 20 percent.”

Sometimes all the small pieces do not add up.

Fiorella Garuber and her husband filed for bankruptcy protection in November. Their home has been listed as a “short sale,” which means the bank would take whatever it can get as settlement of the mortgage.

“I'm looking forward to a second chance,” she said. “As long as I wake up in the morning, I have the power to change my future.”

That future must be stitched from each day’s opportunities, she said.