"Simply not solvent!

lucielle

Hope everything goes well for you today. Just trying to keep busy as my interview isn't until 1.30.
L

chevalier

Not sure who has the interview, but good luck whoever it is.

Seax great news about OH going on a course. Any sort of paperwork is going to be good isn't it, as my impression is that it is a stumbling block to him getting regular teaching work?

Hope that by now they have let you know what you he is going to be teaching next term so that you can factor that into the money equations!!

chev

tyllwyd

I've been thinking about the proper job v freelance dilemma quite a bit over the last few days ... I just saw a job advertised at my old employer which is very very similar to the one I left to go freelance when my youngest was born. I'm still on good terms with the people in that department, so I'd be in a really good positition to get the job if I went for it, and it would be so nice to have a monthly salary and holiday pay. But I added it up and by the time I'd paid out for a train ticket to commute there, plus childcare for two kids every day after school I'd probably be taking a pay cut overall. It is so frustrating because in some ways I'd love to go for it, but I've got more freelance work than I can cope with, and the freedom to take time off if the kids aren't at school, or to do the shopping if we have a busy weekend, and I just can't make it add up. So I guess I'm stuck freelancing for a bit longer at least.

Seaxwyn

Hi tyllwyd - that's a dilemma I constantly struggle with too. But so far freelancing has always won.

If the idea of the job appeals to you strongly, could you apply for it and negotiate different terms, so that you don't need the after school care, for exampel, or can do some of it at home or something?

I'm waiting to hear about a part-time maternity leave job I applied for (and feeling I probably didn't get it) - I applied because it's only for nine months, so a way of trying out the monthly-salary-and-holiday-pay thing without making a real commitment.

tyllwyd

Yes, that's what I've been turning over in my mind, but I can't come up with a good option. The biggest trouble is travelling - I'd need to allow an hour door to door each way, so if I'm doing the school run that doesn't leave much time. And if I asked if I could work from home, then that's not really much different from what I do anyway, except that I'd lose the flexibility I've got now to choose my own working hours. The other problem is that I wouldn't have time to work for my other clients - with things as they are, is it better to work ad hoc for four or five companies, or on a more formal basis for one company, which potentially could make you redundant or go under ... ? It's too difficult to decide!

Fingers crossed for your maternity cover job!

taxi73

Fingers crossed Seaxwyn xxxx
Tyllwyd...that's a very valid point about spreading your work amongst 5 companies as putting all eggs in one basket may backfire in these uncertain times...

hypno06

Hi guys - all I can say, from one who has been there, is that when it is the right time for you to go back into employment (as opposed to self employment), you will know it. Something will tell you that it is time to make that change.

If you don't want to do it, for whatever reason, then don't. Simple! All I know is that when I found the advert for my current job, back in my "old" career, I was so excited about the prospect of it, that I just knew it was what I had to do.

If you end up making a list of "fors" and "againsts" but your heart isn't in it, then it won't work for you - ok, you may have a regular salary coming in, but if it is making you miserable elsewhere in your life, then it is not worth making the change.

taxi73

Hypno put it better than I could...I totally agree with the above x

Seaxwyn

Hi all.

Tyllwyd - my gut feeling would be.... stick with self-employment! As you say, you have more clients, can earn more, and the potential is of course there to raise your prices, get even more clients etc, all with the hours under yoru control.

Hypno, I am sure you are right, and if and when the right job comes up, we will know it. I think the choice you faced was more clear-cut than it is for tyllwyd and me: You knew your could earn more by taking the job. Whereas we can earn more freelancing, so it's more the security/simplicity that we stand to gain.

Other news... I asked our builder neighbour's opinion on a big crack running down the side of our house. He said it was baaaad - and we will never sell the house with it. Not that we are looking to sell the house immediately, but it's worrying to know we would have to do serious work before we could. He said he was amazed we had got a mortgage on the property. Eeeek! I trust him too - he bought the house next door to ours and did lots of work to bring it up to scratch.

OH has been working hard in the garden, moving and rat-proofing the compost heap.

And my mum gave me £100 today towards DD3 going to Scout Camp.

hypno06

Actually, I earn about the same in this job as I did when I was self employed - the big difference is the knowledge that I will be paid at the end of the month, whereas the self employed stuff was a little more sporadic.....although somehow my diary always seemed to produce enough clients......by the seat of my pants stuff though!!!

For me, the knowledge that I get paid at the end of the month, and can pay my bills has helped my mental state no end......and that then feeds into the other areas of my life.

Plus, of course, it is a job that many people would die for.....(although obviously nowhere near as glamourous as they think it is!) so there is a great deal of satisfaction in me being able to do such a job, and to still be able to get such a job. (yes, I am shallow!!)

Sorry to read about the structural work that needs doing - check your house insurance, you may be able to get something towards it from your policy.....paying an excess would be preferable to paying the whole lot.