Money and Me - A Love/Hate Story

mothernerd

Hi Skinty. Yes I have exercises - been desperate for them and now I'm struggling with them - 4 exercises (7 if you count leg ones seperately, left and right), really simple, get in position and hold for a count of 10, 10 repetitions, do 10 times a day. That's 700 altogether - have managed about 50% on my best day. They are working - just not sure I am.

School - you might regret asking. Loved the lessons, hated the bits in between. I was bullied so badly, the school changed its systems to avoid the same thing ever happening again. Some lovely teachers - a very kind English teacher (an actual lady) who was my form teacher in the sixth form, a maths teacher tall and thin who walked everywhere at top speed (her cousin was Roger Bannister) and some dreadful ones - Crankenstein,a mad tory bat who made fun of the (few) Catholic girls in the class when not terrororising the world in general.

Didn't learn a lot. A fellow sufferer once described our school as "posh" - I said it wasn't, their aim was to "make ladies out of the daughters of shop-keepers" - if they had really been posh they wouldn't have gone on all the time about the way we walked and the way we talked (Lancashire accents). All the working class girls were put in 2 of the 5 classes (I had wanted to do Latin but they thought that class would "bring me out of my shell" -epic fail) and if any furniture needed moving (every chair in the school moved across to the British legion for Prize Giving) our class did it.

Suitable careers were teaching, nursing, the armed forces, the police and the civil service. The only careers advice was to talk to one of your parents friends who already did that job - so that would be bus driver/ conductor or insurance agent then.

Should have gone to university but dad made my life hell whilst I was doing A levels - the campaign for me to get a job and leave home started when I was 13 (3 years before school leaving age).

Had various attempts to get back to study since then. Would still do it but need to ensure funding is in place, get a whole lot healthier (being stuck inside sends me to sleep), and finally get to grips with technology (sent a message from one computer to another when DS3 was a baby 24 years ago but learnt so many different systems in between - just not confident when things don't happen and terrified of pressing the button that makes everything disappear).

Going to restart exercise in a bit. Have sent off an important letter this morning (fingers crossed) and thrown together a lamb stew - need to do more cooking to re-stock freezer but still not good standing for long periods. Going to do more embroidery later - doing a lion with funky 70's patterns for his mane. Really need to kick start my creativity. Interspersing that with reading a good spy thriller and watching the first series of 'The Hour' - only caught up with it on the second series, so going back to the beginning.

mothernerd

girlatplay I would try asking the college you would like to study at, what they would count - most have some forms of assessing workplace acquired knowledge. I did CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) for 2 years and the (one day a week) business course I had previously done gave me a pass on 2 of the 4 first year modules - pretty sure you would get a pass for Law. Only having a couple of modules for the first year cuts costs considerably.

Unfortunately I switched from being on income support (lost my job when I divorced my husband as we were running our own business and his gambling meant I needed complete financial separation from him) which meant no course fees to having 2+ part-time jobs (no funding support and module fees were £600 per module + textbooks, professional registration fees and exam fees). The curriculum also changed and by the time I was earning enough to consider continuing, I would have had to start again from the very beginning.

The college was also continually trying to starve the course of money and resources (students were travelling over 30 miles to get to the course) and no longer offer it. They did the same thing with the foundation degree I was doing - staff reduced from 2 + 2 part-time to one with other curriculum responsibilities until that too collapsed.

Sorry skinty - you can have your diary back, now.

giblet1979

Skinty - I loved school (just the lessons too motherned, also bullied due to weight mostly; so sorry you had to go through that, sending hugs). Loved A-Levels, and loved Uni so much that I went three times, lol (Bsc, MRes, Doctorate). I'm looking into doing more specific professional qualifications in relation to my job which may involve an MA. Funding (about £7500 plus travel and accomodation), and previous experience of working full time while doing a 2 year MRes is putting me off atm...

girlatplay, I would agree with mothernerd about asking around, looking at what prospects might open up by doing more study (and whether anywhere will fund you which makes it more attractive e.g. my MRes was 1/2 paid for by my then employer so 'only' cost me 1500 over two years). I think working full time and studying is definitely doable, just very tiring and I guess it would have to be worth it in the end, or it might be hard to maintain focus.

Hope all are doing well x

Magsnoodle

I must admit I adored school and university and found my PgC difficult as it was taught in weekly sessions and then off to do the assignments but I am LOVING my MBA. This is the best thing I have ever done but definitely the hardest. I know long term it will make a difference and help me to move up the ladder - well I hope it will. I'm enjoying the different people it is bringing me in contact with and they are all brilliant. It is definitely when you work in the public sector.

I am beginning to feel that I am well under way to achieving my saving target now and I am using the sealed pot challenge like my life depends on it. Have thought about further changes I can make but this might need to wait until a bit longer. I have already made so many changes to how I spend that I can't believe it the difference it makes.

Baked cakes to bring to work today - a bit late for my birthday but they turned out really well even if I do say so myself. I had Jack's book for my birthday and have cooked quite a few things from there. The recipes are easy and tasty and definitely cheap to do. A huge recommendation from me if anyone is thinking about it. :T

Anyway I shall sign off for now.

TTFN xxx

skintygerlinky

Evening Divas xxxxx


Productive day! As I said this morning, not sure how long the new found love of the list will last but we'll keep going with it for now!


Can I just say one thing...a couple of replies above have (even in a jokey way!) apologised for hijacking my diary.
So let's just say - please don't ever worry about that! I honestly feel so lucky to have heard from you lovely ladies who post in here and love the supportive atmosphere we have all created for each other in this diary. So please always feel free to post your own thoughts and experiences here. Everyone can agree that it's so good for the soul to write things out and often in real life we simply cannot find the time to do so. Or even the right supportive listening ear.
Well, we can in here. So if you have something on your mind, please feel free to post when you want and if anyone who reads is able to offer support. Us Divas stick together and look out for each other!


Oooooooooh big haired Diva moment! Will reply about other replies in a min but first we need a bit of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li6vpAMmfw0


Love you lovely Divas xxxxxxxxxxxxx

skintygerlinky

Thanks for your posts re: life after school!


Sorry that some of us had a rubbish time at school. However, it hasn't put us off from a love of learning which is just ace!!


girlatplay - do you have the equivalent of an Access to Higher Education course in Scotland? These are offered at college and aimed at adults who want to go to uni, have some qualifications already and who want a quicker route into HE. If you fancy broadening your horizons I reckon you could do a lot worse than just looking at your local college's website and checking out whats on offer there.
Next step - call them and ask if you could pop in and have a one to one chat with a member of staff OR see when their next open day/evening is and go armed with questions with what YOU want to do.
You mentioned studying until you are in your 40s and rightly wonder if this is going to be too long a process. Well I say these years are going to pass regardless. So just have a think - would you rather have these qualifications when you are 43 or will you be glad you decided not to study?
Either way is fine, so long as you are fine with it! But just take a small step and have a look at whats going on at college and uni and have a chat with staff there. Baby steps, no pressure for now. Then let us know how it goes!!


mothernerd - oh lord, what a time you had at school!! So glad there were at least some nice teachers there. Glad you are exercising your creative muscles at the mo. Also, as you are becoming more confident with your computer could you consider doing an online course? Loads are free to join.


Gib - great to hear you have enjoyed your studies! Are you considering doing your MA then? Would you be able to get any kind of research grant? Keep us posted!


Magsnoodle - also great to hear about your love of your course too! And well done on your MSE attitude at the mo - you are an inspiration! Am looking at buying Jack's book too. Lover her, she is deffo a (S)hero xxxxxxxxxx

in_need_of_direction

I had perfect older sister start working as a teacher the day I started at the local grammar (we still have these in ni). You can guess how my schooldays were

skintygerlinky

Morning Divas xxx


Right game on. Mega hitting the books day:


- Up, Brekkie - avocado on toast, tea. Marvel at sheer mind numbing DULLNESS of morning TV, put Classic FM on instead DONE
- Shower, dressed, quick tidy round DONE
- Uni work ONGOING
- Dins: leftover soup from last night DONE
- Put away last of clean, dry washing DONE
- new task - get 'summer' clothes out of rucksack on top of wardrobe. Brace self whilst electric rollers, scenty drawer lining paper and teddy bear fall on head whilst dragging rucksack down. Faint grimace at bunch of rags in rucksack that resemble 'summer' clothes but think 'oh well - will have to do' and put them all in laundry bin to deal with on Sunday DONE
- Uni Work ONGOING
- Prep & cook tea: make mash to go on top of defrosted portion of fish pie, make honey roasted carrots. Also use up last of the potatoes, an onion & 2 halves of pepper to prep pepper & potato bake. Stick in fridge til tomorrow.NOT DONE!! ATE TEA BUT NOT PREPPED REST
- Thank the universe it's payday tomorrow - ONGOING ALL DAY
- Eat lovely tea, sort dishes DONE
- Uni work til Critical Discussion finished ONGOING!!!!!! TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY!!
- text, email, phone etc. DONE
- Flop in front of telly feeling proud and relieved.ERM.....


Please send your positive Diva vibes this way, In a Classic FM vibe!!


Have a good one, gals xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

skintygerlinky

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I had perfect older sister start working as a teacher the day I started at the local grammar (we still have these in ni). You can guess how my schooldays were

NO WAY!!!! Oh eh IND!!! I know loads of people have to follow 'perfect' older siblings into school and suffer comparisons but your experience takes that even further!


Are you close to her now? Or not? Do you talk about your school days?

girlatplay

Thank you all who replied to me. I have been looking around for some time at the different courses that are available and suitable for me. The one that seems to tick all the boxes both educationally and personally is the Accounting MA at one of the local uni's. The next step really is to contact them.

I don't know if we have an Access to Higher Education here. We do (in my line of studying) have a type of access course to get to where I want to be but that means doing everything in stages. I have thought about that but it would probably take even longer to get to the finish line. Because I have the SLA qualification, I might not need to go back that far. I am taking what mothernerd and giblet have said into consideration in this instance.

I just feel a bit stupid being my age and not knowing the first thing about uni. With reference to the age point, I have been thinking about what you said skinty and, yes, the years will pass regardless. I don't actually do anything else (I have next to no hobbies) so it will while away the time with something useful. Also, one of my colleagues is 55 (I think, maybe 56, I can never remember exactly) but she is very young on her outlook and you wouldn't pick her for her age. She did a law degree (4 years) and finished it about 2 years ago. I think she did it part time. In fact, I am going to ask her about it once I have finished on here.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Enough about me, back to you skinty. It must be nearly time for you to tick off 3 more things on your list!?!