Time to get my house in order!

Thick_n_Thin

Thank you Movingforwards!  I will definitely be looking into some of those suggestions. Well I feel like I am moving backwards now. Back to work next week but employer has asked me to take a temporary pay reduction of 20%. So my investment plans and increasing my pension payments is likely going to have to wait. I will need to recalculate my budget as this is going to be a significant amount for me as I will now have associated costs with returning to work and OH is still on furlough. 

In good news my grocery budget is now finally actually working for me. £100 for the 1st 3 weeks of the month and & £50 for the last month when I have built up some meals on the freezer from any surpluses. I did my 3rd week shop last night and got it to £11 under so that got transferred to the Halifax card this morning. I then cancelled Apple Music subscription and transferred the £15 I had budgeted over to the Halifax card as well. So a £25 unexpected overpayment today. 

Thick_n_Thin

Afternoon. Just enjoying an afternoon in the garden with my book. Feeling slightly nervous and apprehensive about going back to work tomorrow. Feeling a bit wobbly tbh. I know things need to start moving again but a lot is still uncertain and I’m worried that mentally I’m not feeling my best and how I’m going to manage in work when the pressures reappear. Trying to just take 1 day at a time now and hopefully being in a routine will help.
thinking a lot about our new budget for the foreseeable future whilst I’m on a pay reduction and worrying that my employer may try and make this permanent. It’s looking like we are going to be around £800 worse of a month with my OH being on furlough as well, I’ve gone through my budget and the only non essential direct debit I have is for Netflix which I won’t be cutting. A bit worried is an understatement, there will be very little room for manoeuvre in this so I’m going to have to really challenge myself and be creative. Grocery shopping will have to be reduced further so I’m going to have to be realistic and go back to Aldi. I have absolutely nothing against shopping there it’s just I find the isles a bit dense and it gets a bit crowded at times. I’ll try again this week. 

Jessy103

I hope all goes smoothly at work tomorrow for you TnT x

MovingForwards

Can you trim anything such as a few bits of food or contact utilities and ask for reduced monthly payments due to circumstances?

I'm reluctant to say about loan / mortgage / CC payment holidays, but maybe one of them may help.

You will not be the only one anxious about returning to your role, I'm not sure businesses have realised how adapting to being at home, working from home, not seeing people etc is something to overcome and get back into normal working life, let alone everything which comes with it.

Take it slowly, we are all with you in spirit and will be around if you need to post up and get it off your chest tomorrow x

Thick_n_Thin

Jessy103 said:

I hope all goes smoothly at work tomorrow for you TnT x

Thanks Jessy x

Thick_n_Thin

Thanks Movingforwards! I completely agree and I don’t think my company have managed my return to work correctly, there has been no welfare enquires to check I am able to return however I am expected to do this for my team( quite rightly) but they seem to think that because of my position I will be ok. I have raised this so will be awaiting an outcome on this also. I understand I have to go back but for me they are completely neglecting a basic duty of care as they are so concentrated on getting the business up and running.

i am reluctant to ask for any payment holidays I want to keep going with my essential bills for as long as I can but it will definitely be food/entertainment and any other non essential spends that will be cut. I’m quite prepared to continue couloring my own hair and I’ll do my own nails ect, these where all things that I would allow myself a personal spending budget for so things like personal spends will be cut right back and there definitely won’t be any room for beauty treatments 🙈

MovingForwards

--With hair colouring I use half a packet, that way I get two lots out of it for the price of one.
--Nail varnish I tend to go for a subtle one, that way it's not obvious it needs redoing. Often I use glitter or flecked which can be easily touched up. Striking colours are used for when going out with the girls / family.
--Liquid foundation, do a mix of moisturiser and foundation, makes it go further.
--Lipstick do the top lip and let the bottom one touch to transfer the colour. You can kind of roll your lips to transfer the colour between the two.
Have a look on Y-Tube for home beauty treatments as there's plenty of DIY / kitchen cupboard items which can be used 🤗

You can bulk out soups, curries, chilli etc with lentils.
I'm sure you will find ways of trimming back some spending, even slowly.

I've yet to speak with anyone who has been happy with the way their employer has handled returning to work. My own department never did until I openly said I'm anxious about being round people as I'm not used to it now and if someone was off sick for a month or two you wouldn't just throw them straight back in; mine are now on about completely changing the way people work.

longway2go

I hope your return to work goes well and the pay reduction is short lived. Lots of people will be feeling anxious about returning and how things will look going forward so good to share those feelings. 

Thick_n_Thin

Thanks all for your comments, reassuring to know I’m not the only one who is anxious about being back at work. I feel like a lot of people who I speak to say they can’t wait to go back but I’m the opposite so I was beginning to think it was just me.
Well it wasn’t a great 1st day, lots of urgent tasks to do but with totally unrealistic timescales and deadlines being set that made me rush and I’m now not confident I’ve done some elements properly. Found myself fighting back the tears on more than one occasion. I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

Money news
nothing going on until next week now. Loads of my direct debits came out today which has left the current account looking rather empty, mortgage payment has gone out as well so should move down into the next thousand bracket, I am obsessed with checking the amount. A NSD and everyday till next Fri should be as well. Next week I will get my 1st wage at 80% and I keep thinking to myself if we can survive on it then when or if my salary gets reinstated I’m going to overpay and invest the extra money. So I’m using this as a test. Really hope it is not going to be permanent.
Need to send meter readings in a bit as well.

Grogged

Just caught up, you're doing really well.
Sorry your first day was so hard, fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Did they cut your hours by 20% as well? Our company did.
ATB