Edinburgher's balancing act

edinburgher

Must. brush. self. off after moaning of last few days!

Payday today, so the usual tranquil glow of having a healthy bank balance is upon me. Have transferred all the usual monies, including a little extra to my prepaid credit card (we need a new HEPA filter for our super powered Vax and I've found a decent midweight outdoor jacket for less than £19) and a few extra pounds to the savings.

Looking forward to Monday in particular, as there will be over £1,000 in my savings/emergency account for the first time in a year. Will also need to keep money aside for our European city break next week...

Doing a little shopping today and will pick up some Lush goodies for the GF for Valentine's Day, as well as giving considerable thought to card purchasing. She's boasting of having the best Valentine's Day card ever, so I'll need to come good with my choice! :lovethoug

On the work moaning front, there would seem to be little I can do in the immediate future. I'm in a lease for my current flat until November and I can't afford to make a change before then regardless. I think that one of the reasons I find work so gloomy at the moment is the fact that my position is very insular (my boss is essentially the only other person on staff who knows what I do). To that end I will be looking to go on lots of trips to other libraries (lol), network a bit and try to find some decent training courses for the year to break up the routine a bit and to further my skills. In addition to this I will paint myself as a 'Johnny on the spot' in my annual review meeting and point out that I want to get involved with the work of my wider team with a view to seeking promotion next year (stranger things have happened).

beanielou

Have a great European break
Is that you down to one debt?

edinburgher

Is that you down to one debt?

I have been for a few months now thanks beanielou - with any luck I am now 1-2 paydays away from having none!

beanielou

Excellent news then

Swinstie73

Brilliant news on almost being debt free edinburgher! I'm still about a year away!

As for jobs that aren't challenging, I get paid more in my not as challenging job as I did when I worked in HR, but I like it and don't get hassled too much. An un-challenging job though for someone with a degree is pants though!

InaPickle

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm just a little worried that I'm looking in the wrong places and that my deliberate decision a few years ago to opt for a 'safe' job has skewed my vision on what I'd like to do and realistically, what I can.

I'm not an idiot (2:1 degree and postgraduate qualification), but sometimes I just feel a bit thick, as I can't figure out this sort of thing for myself!

Ed, I feel your pain. I now need to get myself into one of the different types of career I am aiming for, but I seem to have chose some of the hardest to get into careers, and when I get a full-time job (imminent), it means that I will have less time to pour towards work experience etc. But despite all that, I just CAN'T bring myself to have a crap day job. I just can't! (Yes, I work in a shop, but I can do it if I know it's only temporary and for the money, but if I had the impression it was forever, I would go mad!)

Best of luck.

edinburgher

I just CAN'T bring myself to have a crap day job. I just can't!

Cheers Pickle - I'll try my hardest to remain optimistic. What I've found is that the more you earn, the less likely you are to risk a change on something else. Maybe when the Civil Service pay freeze kicks in next year I'll be incentivised to look around a bit more as I won't be seeing another payrise until 2050!

edinburgher

I am currently rewarding myself with a cherry Coke after being uber well behaved and spending the best part of two hours cleaning the inside of the oven (twice!)

The trip to the shops was fairly productive and I managed to pick up Valentine's gifts and cards for the GF (now wrapped/written), a pair of jeans for less than £20 in M&S (oddly enough, their jeans are the only ones where the cut suits me), a lunchbox for £1 and a guidebook for the upcoming holiday. Also popped into Lakeland and managed to find some food safe string (which I have been looking for to cook stuffed slow roast pork belly).

Now looking forward to finishing off the dishes and then plonking myself in front of the Wii for the couple of hours before the GF gets in from work :beer:

edinburgher

Lordy - it was freezing last night! It took the flat ten hours to heat up from yesterday afternoon

Was out bright and breezy this morning, visited Boots, made my regular payment towards my credit card (signature updated) and will be ordering a new jacket from Amazon this afternoon. £18.98? Thanks for the tip MSE

edinburgher

Brrr - it's cold today, isn't it!

I've not posted for a while as a) I've not had a whole lot to report and b) I had to come home sick from work yesterday as I was feeling light headed

All shopping for the month has arrived (very pleased with the £19 jacket) and our city break was great fun, with plenty of beer, chocolate and relaxation. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot to do in Brussels and the only thing the profusion of beggars know to say in English is 'please' and 'I hate you' when you tell them no! Sorry you weren't able to guilt trip me into giving you cash 'desperate mother', but your kid was the size of a house and you were immaculately presented for a supposed down and out... :eek:

Unfortunately for me I started feeling sick last weekend (nausea, sore stomach, disorientation and fatigue) and it's been wearing me down slowly but surely. Having today off was a good chance to recoup my energy, but I'm going to need to register with a local doctor on Friday. I've had a few spells where I went from fine to shakingly exhausted in the last six months and I want to make sure that there's nothing long term wrong.

Our rates weren't billed this month (no more to pay 'til May) and this money was dutifully chucked at the savings, as is the style these days. I've looking forward to both Valentine's day and the possibility (a little slim, but still there) of being able to offer up to 65% of my outstanding credit card balance as a one time offer by the start of March (just over three weeks' time). Trying not to get my hopes up too much, but this amount would only be £300 or so less than the DCA has already offered me to settle.