job hunting

I've been actively job searching for a few weeks now. Actively, meaning that I am ready to start working - more than ready in some ways, health insurance was the only thing that kept me from being ready many months ago! So I'm applying for jobs with the hope of getting something to start at soon. My first mode of attack has been to contact all the nanny agencies in the area. And boy, there are a lot! I've interviewed with some, and others I've only spoken to. I still have a few more on the list to contact next week. The trouble is that there aren't a lot of full time nanny jobs at the moment. So, even with the feedback I've been getting from agencies (which has been mostly very good), I haven't got any leads yet. I really wish I was ready to start working a few months ago.. well, a year ago would have been much better for the job market! But things were what they were and this is the position I find myself in now.

I'm not desperate yet, and I really do believe that there is a job out there for me that will come up soon. I have lowered/expanded my criteria for the job in few areas. But I'm not at the point yet where I feel I need to look at jobs with a lot lower wage. I had one person contact me last week from a job search website, and they were offering a part-time job and wanted to pay about $4 less per hour than I want to earn. So I told them I wasn't interested. The job sounded like it would have been great (2 girls in Santa Monica, aged 18 months and 5 and a half years)... if it had paid more or even if it offered more hours. I really need to take money into consideration in a way that I've never done before. I need to be able to completely support myself with the money that I earn, and I'd like to be able to save as well. This is not a time in my life where I want to take a job that doesn't pay well simply because I will like it.