Wherediditallgo’s ‘path to enlightenment’ bankruptcy diary

wherediditallgo

2 Nov - I've now completed two weeks back at work, & it's given me a lot of food for thought. I've been exhausted getting home from work even though I'm only part-time for now, & it's made me realise just how much it's going to take out of me once I go back full-time, even allowing for my stamina increasing as I get more used to it. I'm not sure I can cope with this amount of work, or even that I want to. In all the time I've been there, several members of staff have died while in post - none of them got to see the pension they'd been paying into for years, & though there was the life insurance element to go to their families, some of them didn't have children & if they'd just wanted life insurance they could have got it far cheaper on its own. I don't want to end up like them, paying for something I'll never see the benefit of, but I'm also not prepared to wear myself out trying to work full-time when it's too much for me.

We're into November now, so I'm going to use up what annual leave I've got left to get as much rest as possible when I need it, & see if I can reduce my hours to a 4-day week after Christmas. I don't want to do it before then what with the inevitable Christmas spending to contend with, plus leaving it until then will show I've tried but found I can't cope with it. It'll mean a reduction in my income, but it won't be by too much as I'll be paying less tax anyway. I also don't care about it affecting my annual leave entitlement, as I'll have more time to myself anyway. I want to get back into my writing & performing, & having that extra day to play with will give me a chance to do some things for myself & still get the rest I need. My own health problems plus yet another colleague dying has really reinforced why some things are more important than money in your pocket. Reducing my hours wasn't an option when I had all my debts dragging me down, but as I haven't got those any more :j:j, I've got more freedom to make choices - I'd sooner reduce my income & get the benefit of the extra day off each week, than get home absolutely shattered & feel like I'm spending my whole weekend trying to recover from the week before instead of actually enjoying it. Who knows, my income might also fall enough for the OR to suspend my IPA or cancel it completely.

wherediditallgo

rog2 wrote: »

I hope you soon get back into the swing of things at work - and catch up with all the gossip. :rotfl:

Same here. It's horrible feeling out of the loop, & you start to think you can't do the job & that you don't belong, though you were able to do it for years.

Apart from one person, everyone's been really nice & supportive. This individual apparently thinks I shouldn't have been paid for all the time I was off, though she has no way of knowing whether I got paid as she hasn't asked me & has never seen my payslips, plus I only got what I was entitled to under the sickness policy. I'm waiting for her to raise it with me, so that I can tell her (a) she could have every penny I got if it would make her a happier person & meant I got my health back, & (b) I've got an excuse for sometimes being miserable as I'm not well, but she doesn't as she's just sick. Once she works out what I mean, she'll be livid. She's the mouthy gutless type though - she wouldn't dare say 1/10th to your face of what she's perfectly happy to say behind your back, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over what she thinks.

rog2

wherediditallgo wrote: »

Apart from one person, everyone's been really nice & supportive. This individual apparently thinks I shouldn't have been paid for all the time I was off, though she has no way of knowing whether I got paid as she hasn't asked me & has never seen my payslips, plus I only I got what I was entitled to under the sickness policy.

There will ALWAYS be one person who thinks you are 'ripping off' the system. :mad:
Funnily enough, though, it will probably be that SAME person who feels they should get EVERYTHING if they ever find themselves in your situation.
As you say, wdiag, it's not worth losing any sleep over. :beer:

wherediditallgo

3 Nov - I think my old pc has died. It won't re-boot into Windows, & I can't find the cd that came with it. I can't afford to get it repaired, & I'm not even sure it would be worth doing anyway as it's a good 4 years old now. I'll have to keep trying with it. I can use my laptop, but it's not connected to the internet yet & I haven't had a chance to put my most needed programs on it either. I'll probably have to go into work tomorrow to finish a document that needs to be e-mailed to everyone for tomorrow morning.

wherediditallgo

7 Nov - my broadband with TalkTalk got activated yesterday, but can I get the wireless connection to set up properly? No chance, so rang Technical Support, which went totally against the grain. The people were less use than the words "can I have credit?" in a brothel. :mad: I only signed up because it's included in the telephone service & has a decent download allowance, but if it's going to be a lot of hassle I'll get rid of it within the 30-day limit. To make matters worse, someone in the vicinity has an unsecured connection which my laptop keeps connecting to as the nearest available signal :eek: - I know it's probably illegal for me to use it, but I can't do anything about it until I get the set-up sorted out.

wherediditallgo

8 Nov - rang Technical again & it's the last call I'm making to them. It's just as well the call was free - it took over an hour to get through & I'm still no further forward. I'm going to have to wade through forums (using the dodgy connection ) until I get it sorted out. There's no way I'm paying TalkTalk £25 to get help from their Geek Squad - I'm a customer & the help should come through a normal call to Technical. :mad:

wherediditallgo

9 Nov - Hurray, my wireless is finally sorted out! :jI spoke to someone on another forum, & what I'd done wrong was to set up a secured network before making sure an unsecured one worked properly. Once I removed all the security features & re-checked all my other settings, my own network showed up properly in the list of available ones. I then went back & secured it, & now it's working! I've saved myself £25 & a possible visit from investigators. :j

tigerfeet2006

Wahey!!! Glad you got it sorted. We've been thinking about Talk, talk or possibly Sky.

wherediditallgo

I have Sky at home, but I went for the TalkTalk deal because the cheapest Sky package useful to me would be a good £20pm more than I pay now, & I'd have to commit to a year's contract when I'm thinking about changing to Freeview next year. TalkTalk's included in the phone service, so I don't have to find extra money for it. I also don't like my Sky connected to a phone line because that connection makes it harder to resist the temptation to do those online polls etc . When TalkTalk works it seems fine (you have to sometimes repair the connection, but I think that happens with all suppliers), but the instructions are very poorly written & Technical Support is too hard to get. If I hadn't got help on another site, I'd still be without a connection now.

wherediditallgo

17 Nov - Did loads of cheap shopping today. After being so ill over the last few months, lots of my clothes don't fit me any more - I've lost over 4st, & have gone down three dress sizes! :j Took myself off to the market today, & got 6 jumpers for £2.50 each, & a gorgeous camel jacket-coat for only £5! Also went through my wardrobe at home trying on clothes I haven't been able to wear in years & finding they now fit me beautifully! Got loads of cheap veg at the market too - they do these huge bowls of veg for £1 a bowl, so I got a bowl each of mushrooms, carrots & onions at a fraction of what they'd have cost in the supermarket. I've just made a huge load of beef stroganoff (some for dinner, the rest for the freezer) with loads of the mushies & veg, & I can't wait to tuck in.

Also had a look at Martin's savings calculator today. I've taken it a bit easy over the last few months, but now I want to get down to some serious saving. It'll be harder to do it once I go part-time, but I want to set up regular savings that I can stick to long-term, even if it's only £50pm.