Money vs Stress - your experiences

suki1964

Hell I had my break down in my 30's, best thing ever happened

Now I live a life. Income comes and goes, but I have learned to live a full and content life on what we bring in.

Never again will I become a slave to the wage

theoretica

I think it is a trap to look at pay cut/rise compared to where you are now. Look at the absolute - how comfortably can you live on the wage?

motorguy

p00hsticks wrote: »

Although I wholeheartedly agree, it's not always that acheivable. Lack of money introduces stresses of it's own- it's all a matter of balance.

If taking a drop in salary in order to have a more stress-free job simply results in a few less holidays abroad, cutting down on take aways or losing Sky Sports, that's one thing.

But if it means strugging to pay the rent or getting into mortgage arrears, that's quite another and is simply replacing one form of stress with another perhaps even worse.

Of course - we all have parameters to work within. For example, you could have a very relaxed, unstressful life just sitting at home watching TV, however it goes without saying that that doesnt pay the bills.

DD265

You've all made me feel better, thank you

I've been using the extra to make large debt repayments so I've taken steps to keep the debt interest free for a longer period of time and I will just slow down on the repayments. Slightly frustrating, but not as stressful as waiting for the phone to ring 24/7.

kaflinkle

I'm mortgaged to the hilt, I drink about 20 coffees a day and pop pills to keep going, deal with the cretinous imbeciles at work which is very stressful as they're all demanding.

Heart attacks run in my family and due to time constraints (long hours at work/travel and helping my wife with her business), I'm probably due one soon.

I have absolutely zero downtime. I'm now out of shape due to the aforementioned time constraints (I get on average 5 hours sleep a night), not being able to get to the gym (I used to be very fit and toned.

So basically I am saying is if I had my time again, I would follow a different career path and take less stress over the money.

Sorry to bring down your Tuesday, just be thankful you're not me.

cupid07

Until you have no money and your mental health dwindles. Its a catch 22.

takman

I can understand how being on call is annoying and I wouldn't do it unless the wage was good enough to compensate for the disruptions!.
But I think a lot of people let targets and colleagues bother them to much. I don't let myself get stressed at work I just get on with the job!. If I have a target to hit then I work the best I can to hit that target. If the target is unrealistic I will tell them but still do my best. But not hitting an unreaslitic target isn't going to effect me personally so I don't get stressed about it!.
Sometimes I have to work late or go away for a few days with no notice but then I get extra money so it more than makes up for any inconvenience!.

gzoom

After doing stupid hours for the last 10 years I finally worked my self into a position where I could have dropped the rota work for a 9-5 pattern...But it'll means a 50% drop in pre-tax pay.

Have considered taking the paycut for a easier life, but just cannot bring my self to do it. Things might change in the next 12-18 months though, got our first baby due soon, got plenty of savings, and the mortgage is nearly clear......But I also want a new car for Xmas, and the year after we'll likely to want to move to a bigger house....So actually despite the stress/potential harm of 24/7 shifts I cannot see my self stopping anytime soon.

The way I look at it I'm lucky to have a job, so why not work hard at it.

t0rt0ise

I gave up a 37.5 hour a week job for a 15 hour week in something completely different. The current job is better paid if worked out hourly and it means I'm about £400 a month worse off. But I now have 5 days a week off instead of 5 days a week at work. Basically it means that I'm living the same as before but saving far less, if anything. But for me, it's well worth it. You have to look at your own circumstances and see if it would work for you.

DD265

I can afford to drop the 24/7 if I slow down the debt repayment and cut back a little on other spending. Part time certainly wouldn't be feasible. I only have one credit card left with an (interest free) balance of just under £3k so I'm on the home run at least.

Assuming that the rota doesn't get outsourced, I have the option to go back on it in the future. Once I've got my general stress levels under control (going through CBT which should help across the board) I should be in a better position to do 24/7 again.