Journey to £0 by 2020, with a few bumps along the way

chelseablue

I started in January 2017 so will get a pay out, it should be around £3,000 including holiday pay owed etc. 
My husband is trying out a new job this week, first day today. If he went for it permanently the starting salary would be half what he gets now  
He would basically be starting again as an apprentice, but when he's got a few years experience you can earn £200 a day
Only thing is its manual work which he's never done before, and probably wont like 
Plus he had to get up at 5:40am ready to be picked up at 6am, he wont like that bit either! 
Haven't heard from him yet so am praying he is pleasantly surprised and doesn't think its that bad! Fingers crossed 

enthusiasticsaver

I hope your DH got on ok today. Good luck with the job hunting. 

chelseablue

enthusiasticsaver said:

I hope your DH got on ok today. Good luck with the job hunting. 

Thank you! 
My husbands job said in a letter people would hear by 14th August if there job was redundant and he hasn't heard anything so think he's ok (for now!)
The thing is he's liking this new job he's been doing and is thinking of resigning from his usual job and going for it. 
So many things to consider:
He currently is on £30,000 a year, this would drop to around £18,000 to start with but when he's a qualified fitter he'll be able to earn more than his current job (his brother does the same job and is on £45k) 
He's been getting picked up in a van each day so he'd have no commuting costs, so in the future we wouldn't need 2 cars (he may even be given a van and fuel card) 
He'd have to do an NVQ so would have a qualification (at present he left school at 16 and just has a few GCSE's) 
Plus side for me is no office job = no more shirts to iron!  
He's liking the variety of going to different places
Its classed as self employed so if you have time off sick or holiday you don't get paid for those days (but we would have a fund saved up of course)
He's 31 so if he doesn't go for it now he never will

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on it x 

enthusiasticsaver

Could you manage on £18k considering you presumably finish work soon?  That would be the crux of the issue to me in the short term
How long until he is qualified?  There are a lot of pluses certainly given that in the long run he would earn more and is happier doing it but self employed comes with its own problems.  As you say one of the  cars could go too.  I don't think it would be a problem if you were still working though but given you have no income either can you manage your mortgage, bills and living costs  just on his income, your redundancy and savings? 

chelseablue

enthusiasticsaver said:

Could you manage on £18k considering you presumably finish work soon?  That would be the crux of the issue to me in the short term
How long until he is qualified?  There are a lot of pluses certainly given that in the long run he would earn more and is happier doing it but self employed comes with its own problems.  As you say one of the  cars could go too.  I don't think it would be a problem if you were still working though but given you have no income either can you manage your mortgage, bills and living costs  just on his income, your redundancy and savings? 

I've been given an extension on my job until end of January (they've realised they cant just close down an office in a week so need me to sort it out) will be applying for jobs still of course
Not sure how long the NVQ takes, probably a couple of years I'd say would need to find out 
The new boss has said if he keeps working hard like he is now he'll give him a bit of a raise in 6 months, an extra £10 a day. Doesn't sound much but that's £50 a week, £200 a month.
Then more when he's done a year
His current job he started 5 years ago on £27k so its taken 5 years to get an extra 3k. He's had his salary increased twice and one of them he had to ask for 

enthusiasticsaver

OK then you have some leeway then if you don't leave until January.  There are massive positives in being happy at work.  I have left a job myself and moved careers due  to not having any job satisfaction so if you can make the figures  work then I would support him moving across to take the new job providing he will stick at it. If it is short term pain for an ultimate gain - job satisfaction and a prospect of higher salary that would weigh the odds in favour of the new job too especially if they are paying for him to be qualified. 

chelseablue

Most of the jobs I'm seeing for me are less money than what I'm on but less salary is better than no salary (that's what my Dad keeps telling me anyway)
If I could get £30k then together with husbands money we'd still be on nearly £50k a year, more than enough to cover outgoings. 

Kakiste

Good news about the extension until January- takes the pressure off a bit. 

I absolutely second Enthusiasticsaver about job satisfaction. I moved schools this time last year. I worked at my previous school for a decade and absolutely hated the last few years- highly toxic management and incredibly violent kids. I've just finished the first year in my new school and absolutely loved it. I've missed being there this holiday which is the first time that's ever happened! 

enthusiasticsaver

chelseablue said:

Most of the jobs I'm seeing for me are less money than what I'm on but less salary is better than no salary (that's what my Dad keeps telling me anyway)
If I could get £30k then together with husbands money we'd still be on nearly £50k a year, more than enough to cover outgoings. 

Your Dad is right and even if a job comes up paying less than you were earning it is still worth going for.  Better than nothing. Hopefully once you have proved yourself there may be opportunities for pay rises although I think the economic situation at the moment may see employers rein in salaries for a while until things improve.  At least you  would both still be earning and you had a fair amount of surplus money if I recall prior to the notice of  redundancy so hopefully you would still be able to meet outgoings and in a few years time when your DH is qualified (if he goes for the current job) and hopefully you are rising up the career ladder in a new position you will have even more  income.  The plus side is the only debt you have is that loan, your mortgage and you have substantial savings.  I guess there may be some debt in  your DHs name though as I think you remerged your finances again didn't you?  

enthusiasticsaver

How are things going Chelsea?  Hopefully you will find another job when your current one finishes in January.