NST: May the odds be ever in your favour!

Fmess

Evening all,

Spendy day today as needed dog food and took treats into work as we had a very emotional day yesterday after something very upsetting happened. Thank goodness it's the weekend, think everyone needs a few days at home.

Tomorrow will also be spendy as I'll do the food shopping and I have a massage booked:j

I need to update my totals and take stock of where I am moneywise. I also want to do some more kondoing.

Hope you've all had a good day

Samiszel

Managed NSD 8 today. Tomorrow will definitely end my streak as going into central London for a festival during the day and drinkies in the evening. Festival is a free thing on the South Bank and drinkies has been paid for with a voucher months ago, so only really travelling and maybe a small bit of lunch to come out of my budget.

Hoping to sell a couple of things over the weekend too.

Congrats on the wedding, Messy Mare!! :T

Off to bed already- shared a bottle of bubbles at home with my parents this eve and it's totally gone to my head! *hic*

DrCarrie

Oops, I thought I reported in yesterday, but just read.

So, Yesterday was SFD 5/20, pretty cool.

Movement: did my 3 days at yoga and walked back from the station yestrday.

I have been sleeping really well, 9 hours a night but I wake up so early...I have been going to sleep at 8pm!

Today will be day 2 of decorating my bathroom (had the paint for a year), and hennaing my hair...

...I may start decluttering too.

I really need to find my passport.

Hope you have a great day turtles.

The_Only_Girl

Hello good morning everyone!

Hope you all had a good week and are winning the debt-busting battle. sorry I have been M.I.A. for 3 or 4 days. The week of 11pm finish has taken its toll on me. By the time I get home I was so shattered i didn't have the energy to post. I have been reading though. I will catch up and comment on your progresses and challenges soon.

I would like to declare 3 NSD's and 5 LTW's this week. We are within budget. We are trying something different this month for the groceries and fuel budgets. Instead of putting everything into the envelope system, I left a third of those budgets in the bank for emergency purchases. So far it is working and is a lot more convenient. So far we have only spent £40 for fuel for the 2 cars this week and groceries came to a total of £150 , which included toiletries, laundry materials, window cleaners, and an Indian meal last weekend. We still have £350 left and the freezer is full.

I received my DBS certificate yesterday and according to the HR, as soon as I have shown them the certificate they would give me my contract and will have a starting date, possibly the 1st of June. :j Mixed reaction here, as it will mean a drop in income for me (£1000 to £2000 a month from locuming to NHS permanent post) but will mean security ie paid holidays, sick pays and pension. I won't be moving workplace as it is in the same place I have been working as a locum for the past 2 years. June will be a tight month for us and will require us to exercise more discipline. I get paid weekly for my current post but with my new job, I will be paid monthly, a month delay. I need to have so much extra at the end of May to sustain us for June, which is not ideal because any spares we have at the end of the month, we normally put towards either savings or paying off credit card. Looks like this month I wont be able to do that and thereafter it will be a smaller pay to live with. . Haaayyyyyy.

With regards to moving, I have been meaning to continue working on my garden project, but the spurious weather didn't help me this week. I revived my pedometer from hibernation and used it for work on Thursday. I was so shocked at the figures at the end of a 7.5 hrs shift. I clocked in 11,407 steps! :eek: Yesterday was not as bad as I only made 8400 steps. On night shift again tonight and it will be interesting how many steps I will make tonight,

Didn't have much ME time apart from one or two hours sleeping in recovering from my late shifts, but as soon as I was out of bed I was such a busy body catching up on household chores and preparing for work. (It reminds me of a friend who is so frustrated with her stay-at-home mum status whereas I would give my right arm just so I can trade with her and become a stay at home mum and not a frantic stressed out working mum that I am.). We don't get what we want, do we?

Today won't be NSD as I will be going out with my colleagues tonight for a leaving do for one of our bosses then straight on to night shift. Hopefully tomorrow will be NSD as I will be in bed in the morning, doing some gardening in the afternoon and then ironing afterwards,

Got to dash, things to do, people to meet. Good day y'all!

Bobarella

The Only Girl - do you have a choice in this then? Sorry to be thick but having read your post why would you take a £1,000 pay cut? Is there another choice?
It is hard all of it, life. I had a 10 year career working in large companies in a specialist function & was earning very well at 30. I became so stressed out, lost all my confidence after 1 bully boss, & a very stressful life situation I won't go into. Then had my son. I totally lost my mojo for it all and was made redundant anyway. At the same time my dad died. So I took a year focused hard and decided to open my own business. Never one for half measures I sold our family home to raise the necessary capital when the banks of course wouldn't play ball.
The situation I am in 3 years later is in some ways I love being self employed the freedom from being told what to do etc but you know what, it's very hard having to scratch around looking for my salary each month. Which is a 3rd of what it used to be.
All of that said, I know so many people that haven't done anything in the time I've done all that. They are bored, moan about their kids, wish they were at school so they could work etc.
I just think life is blooming hard, unless you marry money, but that wouldn't appeal to me anyway. I look at the moaners and think, you have 2 hands, 2 legs and a brain the same as me, what makes us any different? I conclude it comes down to Positive Mental Attitude. And feeling the fear and doing it anyway. All the cheesy stuff.
Am I successful yet? No. Am I working on it with every bit of energy I have? Yes.
Long response. Not quite sure where that all came from.
Bob

The_Only_Girl

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply. I know where you are coming from. It is not very dissimilar to what I experienced. I was in a job where I was made to feel very little almost on a daily basis, my colleagues were very cliquey and I felt an outcast for nine years, until something just made me snap and made me want to quit. I resigned vowing never to work anywhere near the same field ever again, at the same not knowing what the alternative was. So while trying to figure out what other things I could do and at the same time, be able to pay the bills and slay the debt (this happened right in the middle of our DMP), I took a chance with locuming. It was a difficult decision as with being a locum, you are not guaranteed of continuous job, no sick pay, no holiday pay although pay is slightly higher.

My first locum job took me 150 miles away from home, living away in hospital accommodation during the week and coming home every weekend . It was not an easy arrangement but my kids and my hubby saw a different side to me, a much happier and less stressed version of me (I got lucky with my new colleagues, I realised I wasn't as bad at my job as I have been made to feel, my bosses and colleagues were complimentary and I fell in love with my job again.) Ironically, my old workplace asked me to go back (as a locum) and as crazy as it may sound I did go back (why, coz I am a M.U.G.) That was my second placement. if anything they did see a different, more confident side of me, one colleague commented on how I look 2 inches taller (it's amazing how a bit of self confidence and self belief can make you look taller). Now I am on my third placement, I have been in this place for more than one year and they have welcomed me with open arms and I felt I have come home. They offered me a permanent position and as mentioned in my previous post, I am about to commence that post with lower pay but better security and better colleagues. They also said I could pursue a post-graduate course if I wanted to.

I thought having found this place, where I can be the best that I can be at work, and in turn, I can be the best that I can be at home, I could sacrifice the bigger take home pay. I can always change my mind again if the finances don't add up and will compromise my debt-free journey. I thought I owe it to myself and my family to give it a try.

Sorry to bore you with those woes of my life, but I thought I'd share it because I am sure I am not the only one who has and is experienced something like this,

You made your decisions, Bob, according to how you feel it would suit you and your family and although the it is taking a bit of time to pick up the pace, the most important thing is you are happy with your decision. That is all that matters.

academiablues

Hi Turtles! Feeling much better today - just needed to mope about a bit yesterday, but in a better frame of mind to fight on today had two spendy days, as a friend came over yesterday so needed to buy snacks, and went for a coffee today with my best friend who has had a bereavement - considering the money spent well-spent, as it means I'm maintaining connections with friends and being more of the kind of friend I want to be. Tomorrow is food shopping, so that will be spendy too.
Fmess, I hope you're okay. The Only Girl, your job sounds stressful - I've thought about locum-ing before but the idea of not having a permanent job scares me too much (obviously if I had no choice I'd do it, but I'm not someone who copes well with any kind of uncertainty). Bob, from all your posts I think that you're definitely doing something that you love for the most part, and that's worth its weight in gold these days. It takes a lot of courage to set up a business, so well done for sticking with it.
Have a good Saturday evening everyone, I'm going to stay in with a cuppa and a book

Bobarella

The only girl - that makes a lot of sense. I can totally see why you'd go for the security. It's interesting to read of your experience with work place bullying too. My boss used to terrify me. She knew just what she was doing as well. But as you found, it makes you tougher and wiser ultimately. I really hope your new move works out for you and your family, you clearly deserve it.

Academia - sorry you had a blue day. It gets to us all sometimes. And thank you too for the insight. It is nice to hear it comes over that way.

The_Only_Girl

Let's leave the melodramas of my life and turn to something more positive.

While getting ready for an appointment, I thought of using a shoulder bag I haven't used in ages. Emptying pockets of tissues and unwanted receipts, guess what else I found? A £5 note and 2 shiny new pound coin! They all went straight to my sealed pot savings!!! Shhh I didn tell my OH.

apple_muncher

Great find, tog! We won't tell anyone!

Found some ys gf crmpets today - a rarity indeed. They are exclusively for dd - slathered with butter and honey.


When I posted the 'Don't give up the day job' challenge, I looked back on the notes I had made nearly 3 yrs ago. I was v unhappy at work and could see no remedy. I'm part time, so I simply kept my head down as much as I could. The situation there changed dramatically about 17 months ago, and I once more enjoy going to work. I am very blessed!

It was also interedting to read my comments on hobbies and skills and to see how I have developed them.


Today I am grateful for a chatty walk with dd, for discovering some whitebells and pinkbells, for good coffee, for sunshine, for butterflies.