MFW Baby steps

ScotinLondon

Very nice new salary too....!


I go old fashioned and use spread sheets for my budgeting.


We have also gone in for our first grocery challenge - its going to be an interesting month for March.


Congrats on the new job too

Petal88

Thanks guys, I'm definitely excited about it! No offer yet, although they did update me this week to say I should get it on Mon/Tue next week, so fingers crossed. I've started to dread the idea of resigning at my current job, they're going to try really hard to make me stay and I don't want to burn any bridges by saying the team/work environment makes me miserable... so I'll have to give a spiel about progression and development, which of course they'll try and counter. I just hate confrontation!


MSE-wise, I've had a packed lunch 3 out of 5 days this week, even had 2 NSDs and my dinners have been based on what was already at home. So all in all a good week. Oh and I'm loving that it's pay day today and have already OP'd the £125 I was planning on OP'ing for March.


Things to be happy about right now:
- OH is coming home tonight so that will be lovely
- I am doing business continuity testing for the company this afternoon so will finish earlier, woop!
- I found my signed off experience from my previous employer, which I need to obtain my accounting certificate. On the last day before the deadline at that:D
- We're off to IKEA tomorrow to hopefully buy a new bed and bedside tables
- We're making £190 on our flat over Easter weekend through Airbnb

hiddenshadow

Hope the work stuff goes smoothly. I'm leaning towards similar thinking re: better work environment, though not committed to start looking quite yet.

Very nice on the other updates. DH said we can look into airbnb when we're in our forever house, which will be nice as it'll be bonus cash (assuming we stay MF) but doesn't help us get MF to get the forever house! On the other hand, it also means we don't have to worry about anyone seeing all our not-finished DIY and dog hair all over the place. Swings and roundabouts.

Petal88

Ha I agree hiddenshadow - I know how critical I get of cleanliness when I stay in B&Bs/hotels so I spend a lot of time cleaning ahead of any Airbnb guests yet I STILL worry that it's not good enough...

Went to IKEA yesterday and ended up spending £525 :eek:, but to be honest if we'd gone to any other shop and bought the same amount of stuff we would have easily spent triple the amount so I'm still happy . We got a new bed, FINALLY some bedside tables, bedside lamps, curtains, underbed storage, coat rack, plants etc. All things we've been needing to get since we moved in last May so I'm happy it's done at least.

Updated my signature and it feels pretty good :j

Hollyboll

Hi Petal - just caught up on your diary.

Well done on the exams, qualification and new job ... all fab news. :j:j:j

re salary negotiations (if any movement left) that's what recruiter is for; you've done all the hard work of 5 interviews (!!!) and they will get a chunk of your new salary for a couple of phone calls, so make them work for that!

And I know it's easy to say but don't dread resigning. It's sooooo normal and part of work life; if they needed to get rid of you tomorrow they'd not hesitate (nothing personal, that's just the way employers are even when they aren't big FTSE's ); and if your boss was offered the same % increase they'd probably move too. I can imagine it's hard particularly after your recent bonus etc but it really isn't a confrontation, it's just business. My suggestion is always take your letter of resignation in with you, thank them for the opportunity and say you hope to keep in touch (even if you don't ), but don't get into loads of detail ... the more you 'justify' the more they may try and counter what you say and at the end of the day you don't need to justify anything. So have your line about what an exciting opportunity you just can't turn down (or whatever) and keep repeating it ... hand over your letter and with luck they get the message and don't start trying to persuade you. At the end of the day, if they want you to stay that much, they just have to pay you £20k ... simples Good luck!

Petal88

Holly you have no idea how good it is to read your post! I'll take all your advice on board and will definitely do my best not to give too much detail/justify why I'm leaving. Although knowing my bosses I reckon there will be 3 separate meetings where they try to make me stay one at a time!

Thing is, I know they'd match my new salary but at the end of the day I just don't enjoy working there anymore and can't see myself staying no matter what they offer! Now I'm just hoping the new place will be better

Petal88

The mortgage interest for Feb has hit my account now but I can't make sense of it really. If I divide it by 28 (I read on the forum that the banks don't calculate interest on leap year days?) it's gone up by over a pound which can't be right. Right? If I divide by 29 I've knocked off 17p per day though so I'm secretly hoping that's the answer

I guess I won't see until the 1st of April which one it is

hiddenshadow

Our interest is calculated from the 10th-9th, so the interest that went on the account today is actually for January 10-February 9 (31 days). Next month we'll pay the interest for February 10-March 9. It definitely explained the seemingly random numbers on our annual interest statement.

Hollyboll

Ah well; it's nice to be loved/wanted ... but if it suited them (perhaps not personally but the company) they'd get rid of you in a flash. If it suited them they'd be off and it suits you now so you are off. Don't take this the wrong way but however great you are, it'll mostly be about losing a resource and the faff/expense of recruiting your replacement rather than actually loving you. If it's not about money now, there's even less point in getting into any discussion / detail - and also you have nothng really to lose. They can't MAKE you stay or explain why you have had enough, and (as one who's conducted many exit interviews over the years and reckon I'm quite good at getting such info out of leavers ), I don't think anything good comes from those discussions. You never know what the future holds; don't burn any bridges, stay smiling, positve and thank them for the opportunity but stick to this is one you can't turn down ... less is more etc. If you stick to the line and keep smiling and calm and say you hope you'll stay in touch (even if you don't / won't), there's really very little they can do.

If all else fails, just go quiet, calmly, and start thinking about how you will spend all that extra cash on your wedding / OPs ... they'll get bored and give up if you don't engage. Personally not a big fan of picturing them in their underwear but it works for some people. Or given your other post this morning you could just start doing a mental sum about what your new interest will be in the new place ....

ScotinLondon

I agree with Hollyboll - it is nice to be loved/wanted and also agree that employers can get rid of you if they want/need you. My previous company went through redundancies and for everyone it came as a shock.

Basically I agree with everything Hollyboll says - be nice and move on.

Well done on getting your work experience signed off, I've still got to start working on mine, so may PM if & when I need help if that is Ok. I do know that ACCA have revised their format and criteria, so that will be a new thing to get used to.

I do have someone to sign off my work, but as I don't work in practice, I will have fun completing the criteria I think - more phone calls to ACCA help desk I think...hhhmmmm....

SIL