Oh God! What have I done!!!!!!

Muppet81

I really need a shoulder to cry on right now.

Yesterday I resigned from my job. My boss who I loved working for had had a brain heammorage and her replacement is a total idiot with no consideration for his staff. I have really struggled to cope but decided last night enough was enough and that my stress levels were getting to high.

The letter is in the post and now the awful realisation is hitting. :eek:

I am very lucky in that I have a wondeful and supportive OH but we are really going to struggle for money. I read your posts regularly and ofter marvel at your ability to manage on so little for food. I admit that we have always eaten very well and spend around £450 - £500 a month on food, wine, eating out and household bits and bobs. Scadalous I know but I don't eat meat, OH does not eat fish or veggie and every meal involves cooking two seperate meals. This does not help with cost. Also, OH does enjoy his wine with meals and a beer or two a week. He works damned hard so he deserves it.

I have never in my life been out of work or not paid my way and I am 50 now. Right now I feel I have turned into a freeloader and OH deserves better than me.

Have already sent my CV to an agency and scoured the local paper but at 50 and with no particular qualification it won't be easy. Any good ideas for working from home? I think I have had it with working for employer for a while.

We have family commitments lined up for the next few weekends in that we have invited elderly relatives to stay for the next few weekends. The intention was to spoil them whilst they were with us but now I am worried about the money. Would never dissapoint them.

Both my best friends recently moved to locations miles away from here and whilst still in constant touch, I miss them so much and worry that we will not be able to afford petrol to get to visit them.

My life has been turned upside down overnight. Perhaps some of you wondeful, sensible people could give me a little inspiration for the future.

Pam

lynzpower

Pam - first things first, I suggest you sit down with Oh and work out what meals you can both have with the minimum of effort.

Eg, can you have bangers & mash, with veggie sausages for you?

Chilli, with meat for him, soya mince for you?

Go through your cupbaords & freezer with a fine tooth comb and list every single thing you have and form meals out of them- hopefully if youve been spending that sort of money :eek: there should be stacks in the freezer & cupbaords to stretch it all out.

Make sure you list all your cleaning stuff as well, I have barely bought any cleaning stuff since this time last year- using up my massive stockpile of all-sorts . Most clening stuff is just general detergent and can be used for multiple uses. Ive mopped my floor with upholstery shampoo ( why I had this Ive no idea as we have leather sofas ) and cleaned down the windows with "multipurpose" whatsit. The companies will claim you needa different prioduct for each job- I can vouch its not so

I have never in my life been out of work or not paid my way and I am 50 now. Right now I feel I have turned into a freeloader and OH deserves better than me.

Secondly- statements like this not helpful Youve never been out of work for probaboly 30 years? Hardly what Id call a freeloader.
With all this experience I expect youll be snapped up - so think positive

Think about this, our grans survived in the war years with a hell of a lot less than what we've got now- so qa brief downturn in income shouoldnt be tooooo hard to bear out with some positive thinking, creativity and perseverence!

All the best

Lynz
xx

Dumyat

"I have never in my life been out of work or not paid my way and I am 50 now. Right now I feel I have turned into a freeloader and OH deserves better than me."

dont run yourself down like that. if work was so bad you are well out of it. life is too short to be unhappy. There are lots of hints here on how to live on less, but without doing without.

what skills do you have? what would you really really like to do? study? start your own business? ask around where you stay. lots of little jobs never make it to the papers. look at as an opportunity not a becoming a "freeloader"

charlies_mum

Pam,

Don't regret your decision, what's done is done, and anyway, life is too short to spend doing a job you don't like.

I am 50 in a couple of weeks, and I still feel 19 inside my head. You could try some buying and selling on Ebay, it's great fun and getting your stock doesn't have to cost a lot if you try car boots, charity shops etc.

When I resigned I was earning a really good salary, but can honestly say we haven't missed it - I have just become really good at shopping for bargains. Check out your local Aldi / Netto /lidl and you might be pleasantly surprised. Also, you will have time to plan meals instead of rushing off to the takeaway after work.

You will probably find the only problem will be motivating yourself back into work when you have been at home for a while

Stick around on the board and you will get plenty of support. Good luck x

dannahaz

Pam, on the meal front... you could really help yourself if you did a bit of bulk cooking. So next time you cook, say, a vegetarian shepherds pie for you make it a big one, and freeze half. When you cook a beef casserole for DH, make a big one and freeze half. Then you'll have lots of "ready meals" in the freezer.

You can either both have a "ready meal", or you could cook something for one of you (with extra to freeze of course), and use a ready meal for the other.

charlies_mum

Muppet81 wrote: »

I admit that we have always eaten very well and spend around £450 - £500 a month on food, wine, eating out and household bits and bobs.

You can still eat out, but for free - read up on Mystery Shopping, this would allow you to still go out for meals, you would get a large proportion of the cost back, and you would be 'working'

We also eat very well, but by shopping at Aldi /Netto etc. I have cut our shopping spend by half (and that includes wine). Also, check out Asda / Tesco for offers - maybe your new job is as a full-time housewife

Hapless_2

try wine making, both as a hobby and as a way to cut costs. Kits are brilliant these days, there is some equipment to buy but it is great. I have so far made Tea and raisin which is struggling a bit and banana which is going like crazy. (books by C.J.Berry are the best) Just think when the wine is finally ready, the satisfaction of knowing that you made it yourself.

Muppet81

A full time housewife - I am beginning to like the sound of that Charlie's Mum;)

Lots of useful tips and advice from you all, a lot of which I already practice so heavens knows where the money goes to.

I do bulk cook. I have been living from freezer and cupboards for the last 2 months so they are well down now. I think I started that one a bit too early. Keep 6 ex battery hens to provide eggs and sell a few.

I would be really interested in any jobs which any of you run from home, my mind is definitely moving in that direction. Minimum outlay is important though.

xx

frosty

When we have been through tough times,we go into what I call "STARVATION MODE",all spending stops.Then we sit down and work out all things we have to pay,list them and put that money into a seperate account.Then look at ways to cut back,our food budget is £50 for 5 adults,so you can save alot there.We write down every penny we spend in a note book,then at the end of the week we can see where our money is going and see where we can cut back.Maybe you could buy a 3ltr box of wine instead of bottles.Try to look on the positive side,you have alot of experience,your reliable,these are all things employers look for.Maybe you could train for another job.Good luck.

Dumyat

could you expand your egg venture?

Shortie

Hapless wrote: »

try wine making, both as a hobby and as a way to cut costs. Kits are brilliant these days, there is some equipment to buy but it is great. I have so far made Tea and raisin which is struggling a bit and banana which is going like crazy. (books by C.J.Berry are the best) Just think when the wine is finally ready, the satisfaction of knowing that you made it yourself.

I'd second this. It's really not hard either. The CJ Berry books are definately good. From around the 70's if I remember the dates in my books but you can normally get them on ebay. He explains not just what to do, but WHY so you can learn the reasons for this and that. And it's really simple. Ooo... and if you have blackberries near you, you can have some free fruit too, and the fun of picking it