Countdown from £28k...

alt80

Sometimes I just can’t !!!!!! help myself mate.

Not gonna lie was a bit angry pressing the JL link for the 7th time on the iPad and it just going to app lol.

Anyway what you need to know is there’s plenty out there. Sort of thing you don’t need to keep replacing all the time if you look after it. 

Would avoid bright red tbh but up to you.

maggiem

And because my life is boring too at the moment - look at Dun elm - there are a couple of orange / red throws on there, suspect cheaper than JL. Delivery seems to work ok too. 

ryanm8655

warby68 said:

You're nesting @ryanm8655. Normally the preserve of pregnant women but that's why you're happy getting the cupboards full
Bedding - with dark furniture I'd be tempted to stick to  all white main bedding and then the reddish accents on a throw or blanket across the end. White can be a bit unforgiving though.
Hilarious - you and @alt80 picking duvet covers together.

Lmfao!

That sounds like a good idea...thinking maybe a pale grey duvet with the pastel red blanket and a couple of cushions, though in my head that is kind of clashing ha so perhaps not...but definitely think the reddish throw...

enthusiasticsaver said:

If the room is dark Ryan then I would go for a bright accent colour like red or orange so agree with @alt80. If you don't want it to be totally red/orange then a pastel duvet with accent throw as Warby suggests is a good call. Don't do as my brother did and bought navy blue everything making the house look dark and cold. I took him in hand last time I was able to go up there and we bought pale grey with teal as an accent colour for things like cushions, place mats, crockery etc. It looks so much more inviting there niw

Good shout on the pastel duvet, will have a browse for inspiration.

Ha! Yeah, the flat is quite dark so needs something bright for sure. The windows are east facing so no direct sunlight, plus surrounded by other warehouse buildings and the streets are narrow, so even less light ha.

ryanm8655

alt80 said:

Sometimes I just can’t !!!!!! help myself mate.

Not gonna lie was a bit angry pressing the JL link for the 7th time on the iPad and it just going to app lol.

Anyway what you need to know is there’s plenty out there. Sort of thing you don’t need to keep replacing all the time if you look after it. 

Would avoid bright red tbh but up to you.

Haha! My bad for getting you on the John Lewis again...but maybe that's a solution...become a personal shopper and get the buzz spending other people's money

Going to go with the sunset orange throw idea as it'll match the rest of the flat.

maggiem said:

And because my life is boring too at the moment - look at Dun elm - there are a couple of orange / red throws on there, suspect cheaper than JL. Delivery seems to work ok too. 

Will have a browse onthere too :-)

In other news I think I'm going to go with 1 takeaway a week in lockdown...just ordered a ramen from bone daddies, haven't had a ramen in such a longtime...

Also think I'm going nuts as everytime I look at the cupboards (glass fronted) and see the food I smile

Onebrokelady

ryanm8655 said:

alt80 said:

@ryanm8655 not sure how it doesn’t impact those more senior? Seems an extremely bad way of running an organisation imo. Not sure if my thinking skewed on this but just makes no sense at all tbh.

The decision maker is so far removed from the work that he won't even know. The work will still get done, it'll just be of lesser quality/mean others working longer. But the problem isn't the decision maker, it's the whole way budgetting works in public sector...

Sarahwithlove said:

ryanm8655 said:

Onebrokelady said:

Next, M&S and John Lewis have good bedlinen along with Debenhams if there is one and it's still trading, budget bed linen I would go for would be from Next as it's good quality,washes well and isn't too pricey 😊

Thanks! My previous load of bed linen was from M&S and though it was pricey, it was so comfy (bought in my debt heyday - think I spent £80 on a double duvet cover and pillow cases, which I'd wince at now... Still super comfy though, just a shame the current bed isn't a double, which is also making everything expensive! Will take a look at next.

Sarahwithlove said:

ryanm8655 said:

alt80 said:

Doesn’t sound like it’s being ran well at all mate. No resources for new staff- potential to retrain one of these staff in the ‘wrong places’ - presumably they have a smaller workload and could afford to poach one into your dept and absorb the workload? 

Ha think I need to get back into the running. Feel !!!!!! all the time so can’t face it right now.

Funny how people work - I know a few who work through to 45/50 and just given up bought some farm or something FML fair play if that’s what you want from life though not for me lol. Have seen that on whisky exchange but tequila 100 not my drink mate FML only memories of it are getting absolutely slaughtered on the stuff years ago. No doubt it’s better than what I’ve had but don’t think I’ll be trying it lol.

The trouble is that it’s all very political and other teams won’t give up their staff as they know they’ll end up in the same boat. There has just been a restructure with more people moving into a flexible pool but not helpful when the policy facing team doesn’t have the resource. But also I don’t think anyone in their right mind would move into this job Mates in other teams have to put the odd shift in but it’s rare, mostly work the hours they’re supposed to.

I know what you mean, I’ve got another 30 plus years before I can think about retirement and unless I was loaded with no mortgage I’m not really sure what I’d do. I’d travel, most likely but that would be money dependent.

Haha. Yeah I’m not a tequila fan either. Only spirits I like are whiskey and gin but trying to avoid them in lockdown.

Sarahwithlove said:

There are certainly a lot of pros and cons to working for the government I have found. And it does certainly feel like with all the cuts over last 10 years that there's more negatives. I'm seriously considering my options and looking at retraining in future myself as not sure can keep going without things improving. 

Yeah, have to agree. Especially when the hours/stress aren’t reflective of the salary, plus retirement age keeps going up, I didn’t even know they could do that. I’m even considering going into financial services. That way I can get paid while retraining even if my income will decline massively. Tough now though as would struggle to afford this place. But could do real estate finance for one of the big 4, or even corporate tax, which would be a bit of legal and numbers combined. For now though I’ll stick with it and see if I can get this masters. Though can’t see them wanting to lose 20% of my time.

Ours has been quite good with apprenticeships etc as long as they can see a benefit to it for them. 
We've been under review for about 2 years now and doesn't feel like theirs an end in sight and until the review is over they won't even consider looking at our pay bands. Yet we have more knowledge then people in other departments who are being paid more than us it's very frustrating. We seem to be moving to electronic for everything at the moment so just waiting to see what impact that has on staffing levels and if redundancies get offered. 

Yeah, I'm kinda hoping the masters will be the carrot to keep me in the team but another person just told me they're leaving so half our team has now gone...Masters would start in September, at which point I'd be on 4 day weeks. But at least I have a secure job I guess... That does sound frustrating re: pay and is essentially why we are haemorrhaging people, couldn't promote junior people internally, so they've had to leave for more money. It's a real !!!!!! show but won't impact the people who make the decisions ultimately.

Might be willing to let you do it to keep you then. I think it redundancies are offered a lot of people will take it especially now they have put a salary cap again. So no payrise this year for us. Took them until November to pay us last years. 

I had the same thing in my last role, would get a years worth of pay rise in one hit...I wonder if I'll still get it now I've left...plus the bonus too as that took so long to agree (usually about £200 as an annual bonus ha). I was hanging around for redundancy in my old role for quite some time. Glad I didn't stay as now they're saying everyone needs to leave without redundancy anyway...

efes_shareholder said:

i've always found dunelm bedding serves the purpose well

Will check out dunhelm, did have a look for the mattress topper on there but delivery was about a month ha...

I forgot about Dunhelm,I've got a duvet set from there and it's really good quality and has also washed well 

maddiemay

A silly little story re boombox from my dim and distant past circa 1980 OH and I living in a Birmingham suburb and working close to city centre, car broke down one morning and his maintenance guy came out in the van to tow us back to the main dealers. Queued in traffic on a busy road and we spotted this guy with dreads and a Rasta hat crossing the road to our right, walking with attitude great big boombox on shoulder, he sauntered across and walked between us and the tow car without noticing that there was a rope, he managed to stay upright - just, gave us a dirty look and tried to pretend it hadn't happened. So hard not to laugh just in case he took Umbridge. 

alt80

I’ve been spending other people’s money for years mate.

Wife makes ramen - takes ages but absolutely delicious there are recipes online if you want to give it a go.

@maddiemay re boombox FML sounds like a different world ha.

ryanm8655

Thanks for the replies all.

More burning through money Somehow managed to crack the toilet seat (I'm not that heavy ). Basically fell onto it when I slipped on the bathroom floor...£120 to replace annoyingly, perhaps I do need an emergecny fund after all ha...On the plus side it's a quick release seat so should be easy enough to change when it arrives. Did contemplate getting a cheaper one but didn't want something that didn't quite fit/didn't have the soft close/ended up working loose etc.

Also realised I need more roasting tins/sieve etc. Not going to break the bank but is annoying as I have all that stuff at my Grandma's but can't go and pick them up because of lockdown...though the petrol would probably cost more than it would to replace them to be fair. Also need some kitchen scales.

Some friends I've formed a support bubble with want to popover on Saturday and do a roast, hence the realisation I don't have the stuff to cook a roast with ha. Have a ceramic dish and a crappy baking tray that was left behind, where the non-stick is peeling off...

Fortunately it's pay day on Friday but as my credit card bill is finalised on the 13th and paid on the 27th, it's basically going to be maxed again after buying more bedlinen/kitchen bits/toilet seat etc.

Starting to stress about the money a bit, not because I'm broke, just because I'm not really thinking about what I'm spending in terms of budget. I can just foresee that I'll regret wasting so much on takeaways etc. when life does open back up and I have minimal savings... Takeaway is costing £25+ a pop after all the delivery fees etc. so need to cut that out. I'm spending a lot on booze as well (the beer I like is £8 for 4x330ml cans now and buying in bulk is no cheaper - it used to be £10 for 8 ) and I drank way too much at the weekend. Did a few virtual catch ups and managed to get through 4 bottles of wine plus beers on top from Thursday - Sunday. Staying up until 5am watching the UFC didn't help...I'm struggling with the idea of just doing mundane stuff on the weekends and not really living...somehow just need to accept it and sort it out.

Mood is so up and down, though to be fair everyone I speak to is the same. Just a bit fed up of it. My sleeping pattern has become really messed up. Not helped by the staying up late chatting to people/watching sports on weekends and probably the alcohol consumption too...still haven't established that much needed routine. Sunday I went to bed at 11pm but ended up laying there awake until about 3am...kept waking up all night, felt a bit anxious. Last night I went to bed at 9.30 and eventually resorted to some sleep story thing, which did work in the end...but again didn't get to sleep until probably 12.30. I did at least force myself up at 8.30, made myself an omelette. had a coffee etc. before the 9.30 meeting. So hoping that tonight I will get to sleep at a normal hour and reset myself.

I think there is a lot going on in the subconscious...my work is very unstructured at the moment as I've just inherited line management of several people, who's work areas I don't know and also a project that has zero structure and is a bit of a directionless mess. I basically feel a bit lost and like I'm new to the job again, it also throws off all my plans for my own development as just got to weather the storm to some extent. Need to get a grip and a bit more control.

Am wondering if I am getting ill or something...it's only just lunchtime and I was feeling really lightheaded in a meeting. I had breakfast so don't really understand why. Also feel a bit sick/dizzy. Going to bulk cook something healthy tonight, have also been taking a multivitamin to allow for the lack of sunlight...am wondering if I might have COVID or something...as have been exhausted no matter how much I sleep of late...and my sense of taste/smell does seem off. Have that feeling of cold coming with the mild burning in the nose/throat and have had that for the last week or so. Drink lots of water so not dehydrated...not usually a hypochondriac but know a few people that have had it without the respiratory element, just feeling exhausted and having a really bad headache...but have been struggling to think clearly for a week or so on the work front.

enthusiasticsaver

Maybe you should get a Covid test especially if you are seeing people in a support bubble.  

Given the kitchen and bedding stuff is essential I would cut out the stuff which is not essential like takeaways and alcohol.  Sounds like you are getting through quite a lot and I think alcohol can affect mood/sleep patterns so if you are already anxious that won't help.  To be honest I am zoomed out with the virtual catch ups now so have stopped most of them and go to a book, a film or music/piano to relax. No one is doing anything interesting anyway so there ends up being a lot of doom and gloom.   

More difficult to do that though if you are naturally gregarious and live alone. 

warby68

You've been like a kid in a sweet shop with the late nights, takeaways and drinking after what was probably a relatively structured life in the family.
You know what to do really - drink less, ditch the crap food, have more regular bed and getting up times. 
I think you've described enough to get a Covid test though, just to be sure.
These are weird times and you've just uprooted yourself so its bound to be a bit 
Look after yourself @ryanm8655