OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

moneyistooshorttomention

Must say ..I had a quick look at Bee and Queue's application website and don't know which was boggling my mind most, ie out of the thought of those jobs being described as a "career" or the thought of having a telephone interview.

Cor...things have changed since my days at work obviously:cool:

Am rather wondering whether to ask if there's any part-time hours going at a "my type" of shop locally that I go in frequently and chat to owner. He's obviously realised, by now, that I'm pretty knowledgeable about the sort of stuff he sells and I have the correct "viewpoints" for that sort of place (ie in line with the ethos of it)...hmmm....shall I or no? The money would come in handy obviously (courtesy of me still waiting for the rest of my pension to start up) and I've realised I just go into Rebellion Mode at the thought of trying to work out whether I'm actually managing to live on this part-pension I'm therefore on at the moment - as I live so cheaply anyway compared to most. Main reason though is of a more "social" nature...another way to meet likeminded people.

Thoughts?

Need2bthrifty

ellie99 wrote: »

Need2bthrifty, do the gas companies not fit a new box if needed? Seems a bit much to expect the householder to do it. (or maybe you just want a turn with the man-in-the cupboard? :rotfl:)

Ellie, its the householders responsibility; when I bought the house I noticed the previous owners had done some patchwork repairs to it, so when a new meter was installed a few years ago I asked and was told no.

I've been far too independent of late and need to learn to ask for help, so thought I would ask for the man-in-the-cupboard

It was nice and quiet last night, but thats the wind getting up again which I think is due to peak around 1 o'clock, I feel so sorry for those further north and on the islands, heard of one household where the windows were blown in and the roof in danger of coming off. I have friends in Orkney and Shetland, waiting patiently for news of them on Face-ache.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Am rather wondering whether to ask if there's any part-time hours going at a "my type" of shop locally that I go in frequently and chat to owner. He's obviously realised, by now, that I'm pretty knowledgeable about the sort of stuff he sells and I have the correct "viewpoints" for that sort of place (ie in line with the ethos of it)...hmmm....shall I or no? The money would come in handy obviously (courtesy of me still waiting for the rest of my pension to start up) and I've realised I just go into Rebellion Mode at the thought of trying to work out whether I'm actually managing to live on this part-pension I'm therefore on at the moment - as I live so cheaply anyway compared to most. Main reason though is of a more "social" nature...another way to meet likeminded people.

Thoughts?

I am in the same position as you (surviving on part-pension) and although I have been searching and was interviewed for a part-time job that inspired me and which I was professionally qualified for, but didnt get it. These jobs are few and far between and so I'm now thinking seriously about applying for anything and everything, it is probably the social aspects of the work-place that is driving me.

Some people I'm sure think that I am being far too picky but I could end up worse off, especially in a job that is paid minimum wage, it would put me in the bracket where my pension would be taxed and the work I'm paid wouldnt cover what I lose. So I either have to work more hours than I would prefer to or go for a higher paid job which brings more stress, responsibility, accountability and all the things I gave up work for in the first place.

moneyistooshorttomention

My part-pension I'm currently on is too low to be taxed, so I've rather been assuming I could safely earn a certain amount up to the current tax threshold and that, beyond that, I'd lose roughly one-third of any extra I earnt.
??

Guess I'd better check...the thought of being worse off than I am even is a bit:eek:. I'm rather taking the view that, with my very economical lifestyle, that I can spend what I (personally) feel I need to without investigating whether I actually have the money to do so.

I know....I know....:cool:...and I'm just hoping my savings aren't "dripping away" in the process, as I've a bit more work on the house to do yet that has to be done pretty darn quickly (in order for this house to at least "work properly" whilst I'm waiting to finish it whenever that happens....). Counting down the months now till the rest of my pension starts coming in at last....

You know this thing whereby you tell yourself "I'm already in a financial emergency situation (ie gap between Retirement Age and Revised State Pension Age) so there cant be any other financial emergencies during that time.:cool:. Cue for latest unexpected expense being an unexpected £40 odd to mend a piece of jewellery (being counted as necessity because I wear it regularly).:cool:

Horace

This morning I went to SW and have lost a lb and a half. I am a devil though because I never provide a food diary.

It is very windy here today - I feel for those in the far north and on the remote Scottish islands too. I saw something yesterday from BBC Springwatch as their studio on a Scottish estate looked as though a bomb had hit it the whole cabin looked to have exploded. The roof was off, the building was ripped in half but funnily enough the glass door remained intact.

Sorry for the mini rant yesterday - I am sick of people pointing the finger and blaming me for my unemployment.

Slowly packing away my decorations - my vintage baubles are now packed into egg boxes instead of being wrapped in tissue paper. The tree will be down by 6pm tonight.

moneyistooshorttomention

Horace,

No need to apologise at all for owt said re employment/unemployment. LessonLearned has made the point before now that the nature of jobs available is changing from what we expected and its a lot harder than it used to be back when...

Quite frankly, I only just about managed to "hang on in there" to the office type of jobs I do until the Blessed Relief of having reached Retirement Age (ie 60) happened and I no longer had to cling on in there by my fingernails to "my type of work" (which was/is rapidly going into obsolescence frankly:(). Basically, I rather cynically took the view come the end of my worklife that "First they came for the factory workers, then the shop workers, then the office workers.....".

I saw it all coming MANY years ago and, in my naivety, thought that if I chose a big/"steady" type employer that they would "deal with it" and ensure those of us in their employ that were finding our skills were becoming outdated would be retrained by them (in their time at their expense) and finally realised I had been very naïve/hopeful indeed to think that, as they quite obviously regarded it as our "individual little problem" and left the "ball right in our court" and "devil take the hindmost".

So, many of us were simply too old/tied to mortgages/delete as applicable to be able to "bear the burden" of the fact that Society needed us to retrain (and, quite frankly, I often wondered "What to?") and therefore we did "hang on in there by our fingernails" whether we knew that was what we were doing or no. Personally, I was very well aware that that was what I was doing, though my suspicions were that most other people in that position weren't so aware.

Upshot at the end of it all boils down to me still holding the view that "If Society changes the nature of jobs available = okay so be it - BUT do accept that people a large part of the way through their worklife cant bear the 'burden of change' all on our little own-io because we have mortgages/lives/relationships....so a little bit of help by Society as a whole in helping us to deal with that would not come amiss". Failing that....then don't be surprised if we do "hang on in by our fingernails" to what we already have (more or less knowingly that that is what we are doing).

Overall conclusion being = Do NOT blame us for being unemployed if we are really trying our best (as you are) to solve that particular problem, but not receiving much (if owt!) in the way of genuine help to deal with it.

So - do NOT blame yourself. You're obviously trying. So just what else do they think you can do then? Dear DWP = answers on a postcard please.

Not that you can obviously gather that I got more than a little cynical years before Retirement Age Safe Haven of "scanning the horizon" looking to see what help might be available to help me personally "bear the burden" of a quite obvious need for retraining...and wondering why I couldn't seem to spot any. I just came to the cynical conclusion, in the end, that "Its blimmin' obvious I do office type jobs...with 9-5 weekday type hours/etc/etc....so why on earth does it feel like I'm supposed to just accept swopping over to all that seems to be available without retraining and that would mean Minimum Wage/antisocial hours/etc/etc". No wonder I decided to "hang on in there by fingernails" to office jobs then....

I often used to think "Dear DWP/Government as a whole = wake up and smell the coffee".

mum2one

Its weird thinking of the structure of jobs and what the future holds, I'm early 40s, when I left school the "secure" jobs were banking industry - I always remember one of the yts (youth training scheme) as it was then would have 1 position at each main bank, with these when the scheme ended you were 99% guarented a job for life, the other "job for life" was the post office.

Now 25 yrs later - no real security, when I did one business course with OU, one of the areas it said that the average person only looks at staying in a job for 3 yrs.

When I changed jobs back in 2000, left supermarket to go back to being a mgr, when I was talking to the HR dept there mgt turnover was 25%.

xx

moneyistooshorttomention

Helps to prove the point doesn't it?

I must say I often wonder how people are supposed to take on "mortgages for life" if they don't have "jobs for life". It would have been possible back in the days when all mortgage interest got paid to unemployed people from Day 4 of unemployment for however long unemployment lasted and for whatever amount was needed to cover that interest. That meant that as long as the mortgage was a repayment type one that there was no problem at all and you only worried about it in between starting to look for a house and moving-in day. After moving-in day you didn't worry, because the mortgage would be covered whatever happened....

Having had spells of unemployment, I stopped worrying literally the day after I had moved into my first house and thought "roof over head secure now...whatever happens", but as the Govt. cut and cut and cut again the help mortgage-holders get then I really do wonder just how even perfectly financially-conscious people are supposed to have certainty about hanging onto the roof over their head until the day the mortgage is paid off one way or another.

My mind absolutely boggles at people doing consumer spending/going on to have extra child/ren etc rather than spending any spare money they have paying off mortgage hand over fist. CalicoCat has it dead right that that is what she is doing - with the way she is repaying as fast as she can. Definitely approve of her Financial Strategy.

Horace

One thing that I am grateful for is not having a mortgage to repay - thanks to my wonderful parents who invested their savings into this house, my dad's argument was that the money will be mine anyway and it was better that I had a roof over my head with no rent or mortgage to pay.

My tree is now down and packed away - the room looks a bit sad without it. Still I have a bunch of flowers to cheer me up and the bargainous hyacinth pots (one white and one blue).

Spoke to mum earlier - she is still not well, this chest infection has been hanging on for 4 weeks now. I am coming down with the sniffles so I have been told to stay away. Dad is poorly and very frail - mum is praying that he doesn't get her lurgy because it would finish him off. My staying away when I am ill or I am sickening for something has worked because it has kept my dad alive since 2003 when we were told he could die at any time.

It feels cold today, it is still windy and the forecast for the week does not look good at all.

Might veg out on the sofa later.

Byatt

Well I'm only guessing of course, but with the mortgage rate being at the lowest it's ever been, and in the years of my being newly married it was pretty high, along with the fact I was supporting my parents, sister and often brother, plus a husband who lived in the moment and success was measured by the car you had, I didn't have the opportunity to fling money at the mortgage. Never occurred to me to be honest until much later when the plan was for ex to retire at 60.

As it is we are both still working and I will beyond retirement.

The moral of this story, women protect your future, plan for *your* pension and security and don't believe that anyone but you has your best interests at heart.

I also have to say the desire to have children is not governed by whether you will have a mortgage or not. And when a break up of the partnership occurs, all the sacrifices in the world can be all for nothing. Because when you are in a partnership that breaks down, the less cooperative of it will benefit from your prudence.

And us renters pay ad infinitum.

Edit, our LB has paid off her mortgage as can be seen in her profile thingy. A year ago, well longer now. I am sure she has been an inspiration to others.

moneyistooshorttomention

Cannae see that bit re LB's mortgage paid off. But well done that woman:T.

Must admit my mind is boggling Byatt at the thought of how many people you were supporting from your salary:eek:. I'm sexist enough to admit that the thought of a woman supporting a husband wouldn't occur to me, though obviously you have to if they are the one that is unemployed...but all those others....whew! Though...goodness knows...you got a bad 'un as a husband from what you've said about him before now and you are well shot of him.

I admit I find it difficult to get my head round the way a friend of mine told me that years ago she was helping to support her mother financially and it puzzles me how that could be....but its not my place to ask.

I remember those high interest rates too and they were a killer. They came in not long after I started buying my first house too and ...whew...to finding that my mortgage payments had gone up to around 150% of what I had bargained on before inflation had had a chance to cut my mortgage payments for me at all:eek:. That was so not funny.....:(