No longer in use

MeandO

Another day of dealing with the ex again yesterday, DS and I managed to have a nice day together in between upsetting messages from the ex though.

I am working today, but as is the norm now, there is practically no work to do and my anxiety is through the roof. It's a case of just waiting for work to come in, but very little materialises.
I've realised this is probably a massive part of my anxiety and insecurity at the moment. It makes me feel completely hopeless to be honest.

I have been looking for jobs, but what I do is quite specific and specialised and very hard to mould into a different job. There is also diminishing demand for what I do. I would jump at the chance of a career change, but I can't afford to retrain as I need to keep earning this amount of money and, looking at online courses today, I just don't have the funds for the course fees, some of them are astronomical.
The jobs I have seen online demand skills, qualifications or experience I just don't have.
I had my own craft based business I ran from home for a few years which did really well, but due to people copying designs and items on a large scale, I had to give that up too as it wasn't feasible any longer.
I feel completely backed into a corner with no way of escaping.

I feel totally useless and hopeless at the moment.

ToeDipper

MeandO wrote: »

I have been looking for jobs, but what I do is quite specific and specialised and very hard to mould into a different job.
...
The jobs I have seen online demand skills, qualifications or experience I just don't have.

I don't often post, but on the topic of applications, don't feel you can't apply because you don't meet all the criteria. Women tend not to apply for a job unless they meet 100% of the stated job requirements; men will tend to apply if they meet just 60%. When I first heard this I did a very (small and non-scientific!) poll and the results really did bear this out. Even if you feel like you don't stand a chance, you've got nothing to lose from applying and you never know, you may be up against a pool of candidates who are all taking more of a punt than you are!

You clearly have so much to offer, don't limit yourself before you've given it a go.

MeandO

Thank you ToeDipper, it’s really interesting you say that. A few months back a job came up in the same location that OH works, but within a very different department. The job really appealed to me, but it was nothing that I had done before, although you could argue I had transferable skills. I also didn’t have the qualification they wanted but they did say they would offer funding to study towards that. OH urged me to apply and tried to convince me that I could do it, but I chickened out at the last minute as I didn’t have the confidence in myself and didn’t want to let people down. Turns out the person they employed has questionable professionalism, one area I know I could have excelled at. I do kick myself about that one.

MeandO

My world was a better place once I’d picked DS up from school. :smileyhea
We have had a lovely afternoon and evening despite the awful wild weather outside. Saying that, the wind has been howling through the patio doors with a breeze so bad the blinds are actually moving inside the house, cue another email to get that, and several other issues dealt with by the developers. :mad: They have arranged to come out at the end of the week, to hopefully fix the things that need attention. It’s never ending with this house and that’s what worries me once the 2 year warranty is up.

An item I listed on eBay way before Christmas has sold, making around £15. It was something I wore at my wedding many years ago, so I’m glad to get rid of it now. I wish the engagement ring would hurry and sell though, i have lowered the price and it’s now selling for around 1/4 of its worth, but I’d just be glad to get rid of it and make some money.

Th eBay profit went to the credit card bill, along with some savings so that’s now cleared once more. I have switched some savings around and added £125 to the premium bonds account, so there’s £175 in there now. The direct debits are set up to send £25 to that account, £25 to my Lloyd’s reward saver and £50 to the help to save as usual, so I’m saving at least £100 a month from now on. I also put £100 into the car maintenance pot which also covers house and car insurance and tax and £100 goes into the gifts account for Christmas and birthdays. £17 a month goes into a different account to cover the maintenance fee I have to pay on this estate. So, I’m really saving £417 a month, but £200 of that is ‘locked away’, the rest is to cover expenses and bills throughout the year.

I’ve made both our packed lunches for tomorrow and some overnight oats are in the fridge for a healthy breakfast for me tomorrow. DS is poached egg mad at the moment, so that’s his breakfast of choice presently.
I’ve taken some batch-cooked mince and veg out of the freezer with some pasta sauce and tortellini. separately frozen, for DS’s tea tomorrow. I’ll be having some fish from the freezer and some veg.

I’ve had a hot shower, dyed my hair (which was much needed :eek:) and am going to take myself up to bed for a good night’s sleep, hopefully. Last night’s efforts were dire too and I was shattered this morning again.

Chrystal

Hope you get a decent nights sleep tonight. (((hugs))) X

Honeysucklelou2

Just a thought re the jobs front...are you on LinkedIn? Someone I know of locally, had a CV on LinkedIn and was invited for interview because someone saw his CV. They started their new job recently. Might be worth a try?

MeandO

Thanks for the idea HSL2. No, am not on LinkedIn, I was many moons ago but got so much spam directed from it, but it may have changed since.

MeandO

Another little eBay sale, probably just under £5 profit after postage and fees, but it didn’t cost me anything in the first place. It all adds up.

MeandO

It’s been an absolutely awful week with every day seeming to bring horrible situations to deal with. There has been a redundancy at work and the rest of us warned the future is bleak ; my Mum was facing high risk emergency surgery; DS has shown some worrying symptoms of illness; the major issue concerning the ex is still ongoing with solicitors and came to a bit of a head, the stress of which has made me feel ill all week; I was threatened by some maniac in the neighbourhood for which I had to involve the police and the cherry on the top was my car tyre repeatedly going down. I’m absolutely drained by it all tbh so will leave it at that for now.

I’m just going to concentrate on the positives for a moment...

I’ve paid a £58.81 OP off the mortgage today, paid the credit card off (£85 ish), and sent an extra £25 to the NS&I savings and an extra £50 to the car & house maintenance pot to cover a possible new tyre. The house insurance is also due next month.

DS and I went to the cinema for free today thanks to tickets from my bank account I receive yearly. Parking did cost me £5.50 but that was my own fault as I parked close as it was freezing and we were running late.

I had an online sainsbos order delivered this week using the £16 off new customer voucher and a couple of other codes for free items. Unfortunately I had to return £13 of stuff as the dates were too short and then complained about the fresh produce. I had to throw away carrots, a whole lettuce and part of a butternut squash as it was either full of maggots, green fly or mould. :mad: They refunded me £10 as a gesture of goodwill so I had quite a big shop for around £20 in the end. I won’t be ordering from them again though.

It’s going to be a quiet weekend, hopefully. Tomorrow’s plans are playing with DS, making some of his new Lego sets from Christmas, perhaps a spot of baking together and then an evening with OH. The weather is supposed to be horrendous so we’ll definitely be staying in.

Scores on the door for Now:

Mortgage @ March 2019: £107K, now £101,500
Mortgage OP's 2019: £2114.10/£1800
Savings: EF £1225 H2S £1050 PB’s £225

Happy weekend all x

[Deleted User]

Aw sorry to hear you've had more bad stuff to deal with - you really have it coming in droves don't you! Sending you lots of positive thoughts and hugs!

I got a Sainsbury's delivery with the offer this month too and I won't be ordering either. They turned up 2 hours early, replaced lots of vegan items with dairy items (why???) And then gave a voucher for the price difference instead of the refund you get with other shops. And I also got very questionable fruit and veg, not impressed. They need to up their game if they want to compete with the other supermarkets in terms of deliveries.