Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

nomorecredit

Hi Dancing, 
I am still lurking just don't get much time to "stick my head in to say hello" x 
Firstly belated happy 40th birthday wishes welcome to the 40's squad xx Hope you are feeling better and get to have a nice weekend, trying to look after everyone else whilst feeling ill is hard enough without having to work and the lack of sleep just does not help at all.   You continue to do amazing I hope you are proud of yourself be nice to see the light at the end of the debt tunnel.   Keep going and try rest when you can I know its easier said than done with having little ones and hope you feel better soon.   
Big hug and take care
NMC xx 

savingholmes

Sorry Feb has been so tough for you. It is really hard sometimes isn't it to balance career and home and debt reduction. You will get there. The weather will cheer up. The sun will return. If you spot it before me do let me know

DancingInTheRain

Thanks to everyone for popping in and your words of support x
Miraculously @savingholmes the sun did make an appearance yesterday and today, blimming cold though! As DH was having a lie in yesterday (gig Saturday night), I took advantage & wrapped the boys up and got out for a walk as well as dropping in to see my brother & SIL. It did us all the world of good, the boys even played out in the garden for a little while AND I pegged some washing out for the first time this year  small things but definitely made me feel better and like spring is creeping in. 
Took advantage of the sunshine today by parking further away from the office and enjoying the walk there and back (also saved £4 on daily parking so double win). Small steps but trying to make March a happier/healthier month than February.
Work is dire at the moment, it's definitely affecting my mood I need to have a serious chat with my line manager as I'm so unhappy with the way the role is going, unfortunately it's his actions that are largely causing this and the management team above him are extremely weak - I don't think they have a backbone between them   so will see how the next few weeks play out but I refuse to stay somewhere where I'm consistently being set up to fail, it's not a healthy situation to be in and I think the stress of it all is contributing to my never ending colds and generally feeling run down. 
For now I 'll keep trying to focus on the positives of the job - largely the flexi time, decent wage and pension, good teammates, being able to pay the debt down faster.
In DF news, a small item sold on Ebay today so another £5 to the pot. Also made a small mortgage overpayment to round that account down. Have a few other items listed on eBay and continuing to scan receipts so have a few pots building across a few apps. Not bothered much with surveys recently, haven't had the headspace, may try to improve this in the coming weeks.
Hope March is treating everyone else kindly so far x

savingholmes

Hi Dancing - I've seen sun 2 days on the run too - even managed a short walk with the dog while we got her to play fetch.
Sorry work is such a pain. Are there any jobs in the same organisation you can apply for on another team?

FootyFanDan

Yay to the sunshine, I was so happy to see sun this morning (not so much so when I felt it was still pretty cold haha) Bring on the warmer weather. Sorry to here that things work wise are crap, it is never a good place to be at when you are not happy going into work, hope things get better soon. If not it may be worth looking for new options, work is really not worth making urself unhappy for. 
x

beanielou

Hope work gets better soon.
Nothing worse.

DancingInTheRain

Thanks all. Ironically I had a good day at work today, sadly this is an exception at the moment. I just need to take some time to think of an alternative and constructive way of raising my concerns and if nothing changes then start looking elsewhere I think. Working on another team isn't really an option. The main issue is the company has delivered a specific contract for decades and there's a lot of staff who have been there donkeys years and are on good wages/benefits and have created themselves a lovely cushy boring job.
Some of them are literally getting paid to look online all day to do online shopping or book their holidays!
The contract I work on is a relatively new to the company (they've only held the contract for just over 2 years), working with a completely different client base to what they are used to and there's a real lack of understanding on how it needs to be delivered. It actually takes a lot of planning, organising and good time management and they're extremely over cautious in the execution of the contract when there really isn't any need to be - It's an area I've got more than 10 years experience in, as do my team mates. The result is that we're absolutely snowed under, receive little or no support from managers (as they're too busy being petty with each other ) and no help from the admin team so, in effect, 3 of us are organising, administrating and delivering the contract when there should be at least another 3 members of staff in the mix. Added to this, my line manager can't say no so keeps over committing us to things. We've raised our concerns individually and as a team but nothing changes, it's getting to the point where we're thinking of taking some co-ordinated sick leave in order to really have an impact which isn't really a healthy mindset to be in!
And breathe...   
£1.47 TT made from my current account today, thought I'd better add a little bit of debt busting news

savingholmes

Sounds quite extreme. Sad if HR can't help you. Have you tried writing down what you are looking for in your ideal job - what hours - where - doing what - with what kinds of people - what kind of benefits - favourite activities etc - and then let your subconscious help you look for it. I did that once when I was in a bad place - and saw a job at midnight the same day - and applied and started it 3 weeks later.... It can happen.

DancingInTheRain

Thank you @savingholmes I love that idea, I'll definitely try it. Just might wait until the weekend then I can have some clear headspace to do this as a positive action rather than a negative reaction to work if that makes sense?

savingholmes

The idea is that similar to when you pick out a new car of a particular type - suddenly you start seeing that car everywhere even though you hadn't noticed it before.

So say you were a rare creature that liked speaking in public - you would say is it the being on stage I like or being seen as an expert, having my opinion valued and validated, receiving positive feedback. Weirdly although I'm shy in groups if I don't have a role - I'm a really good public speaker and seem to come alive when I do it. Other people find it scary but for me it's a place of strength. 

However - say like me you hate repeating tasks - consider what is at the root of that - I hate being bored, I always need to be learning something new. I need a job which has lots of change - but that I can control - and that is interesting. I like researching new information and compiling it into a report... Oh look I'm back at that enjoying being an expert thing... I am also brilliant at delegating - to the point my name has become a noun where I work as a description of it!

Don't just list skills either. Consider your personal strengths and what kind of environment you will shine in. How do different environments align with your values. Eg I was once so desperate I applied for a job at a betting company - but they rightly identified that gambling was against my values so they didn't think I'd thrive there. I do like to work in places where I feel I am contributing to something essential / that I believe in and do better there. 

I hope that's given you some more food for thought