Building towards a complete life overhaul....might take a while but determined to do it

mumblingtaff

Well, after a couple of years away I’m coming back into the fold. 

Much has happened including being happily single, a puppy that is now an adolescent bonkers little boy, lockdown and all that it entails and ageing but, thankfully, healthy parents.
The big issue is that I now can’t stand my job. I’m a senior leader in a large secondary school and, quite frankly, have had enough. It’s not just Covid - I started to feel this way at the beginning of the year and it’s just got worse and worse. 

Things have got to change and I need a plan ....so here goes! 

foxgloves

Best of luck with your plans. Every change begins with that first small step, does it not?
F

mumblingtaff

Have given up trying to type on my phone and have switched to the laptop - much easier!

So, to go back to my job - I work 6 days a week, 5 of them 7am-5.30pm at school (with evening work too just to keep up) and usually all day on a Sunday at home. Most days I don't have time to eat, have a coffee break etc - its just relentless. I'm constantly thinking about it and, at the moment, there's no end in sight. COVID has made things 100 times worse for all teachers - we're all exhausted but its more than that for me. I've just fallen out of love with it all.
It's time for a change - and not just a change of school, a total change of lifestyle.
Big and scary and not easy! But for me to be happy its got to be done.

A bit of background - I'm 49 at Xmas time, single, live alone with a lovely 19 month old dog and am fairly solvent with a little debt but nothing unmanageable (I'll go into this later). So, I'm the one and only breadwinner and have to rely on myself for everything. Not a problem but there's no fall back plan/person if I ever needed one.

My dream is to have my own business revolving around dogs - walking, grooming, boarding etc. It would be the ideal for me - doing something I love with enough challenge to keep my brain busy and have independence. I've worked in business prior to being a teacher and so have a bit of background and know how difficult it will be but its my passion and my motivation.

So, how to get there.......???
I need to pay off my remaining smallish debt, start paying more off my smallish mortgage or saving more and start thinking about my exit plan.

So the debt.... £900 0% credit card, £2100 loan (15 months remaining, £145 a month) and £350 Next account.
A total of £3350.
I have around £10,000 in savings but try not to touch the majority of it as its my emergency money. 
My mortgage has around £52,000 left to pay but there's approx £180,000 - £200,000 equity in it as I bought it 20 years ago when it was really cheap and the area has rocketed in price.
I do budget every month for groceries, spending, petrol etc and save into various accounts each month (e.g. house and garden, holidays, general savings, xmas) BUT my spending budget is somewhat "flexible" sometimes and I'm not very disciplined.

So, this is an attempt to reign things in, keep my eye on the ultimate goal and get a grip. I need to make big life changes but it will take time and effort - so here goes.....

mumblingtaff

I'm spending my first day of my half term holidays waiting for the vet to call - poor poochy is having his big boy operation today. I dropped him off at 9am and have been on tenterhooks ever since. He's quite a nervous dog when he's not with me and I had to literally shove him through their door this morning so he's probably hating every second of it - in addition to the obvious shock to the system of waking up without his bits  
The vet quoted £170 for the operation and after care so I've put this aside and hope that it turns out to be the case. We'll see....

There's no big plans for the next day or two as I need to be with the convalescing dog but I'm in a Tier 3 area and its chucking it down so there's not much to do anyway! I have a few jobs that I can do around the house to keep me busy and when I get really really bored there's plenty of school work to do.

I'll be back in a bit with a to do list 

mumblingtaff

The woofer is home - dopey, drugged up and sleepy but doesn't seem to be in any pain. It did cost £170 after all so no more than the budgeted amount thankfully. A quiet night for us both tonight.

Just been thinking about the next month or two with regards to spending - the car is getting serviced for the first time on Thursday and I'm waiting for them to send me the quote (only booked it in today, its leased and so has to be done with certain outlets), the washing machine seems to be on its last legs (still going but needs resetting half way through the cycle every other time I use it) and I need two new smoke alarms, a shower head and hose and a new blind for the spare room.
Other than that, hopefully there are no additional big spends that haven't already been factored in or saved for already.

I'm only buying Xmas presents for mum, dad and sister this year and have already put money aside for that - as it stands we won't be together over Xmas as they're in Wales and I'm up north but there's two months to go yet so, fingers crossed, it will change by then. Mum is very despondent about it but, as a teacher, I need to keep them safe and we've had loads of positive tests at school from both staff and students so unless things get dramatically better quickly it might be a Zoom Xmas.

On the positive side, I'll have my backdated payrise in November's salary - no idea how much it will add up to but it will be more than I currently get so anything is better than nothing. I can use that to possibly buy a new washing machine if it gives up the ghost.
As it stands, I have £85 left in the grocery budget for 2 more shops before pay day - should be doable - and £150 budgeted spending money for general day to day bits. There's £100 contingency put to one side and a haircut and colour money squirelled away for later in the month. The car is 3/4 full of petrol so I won't need to put any more in before pay day. 
I've started keeping a spending diary on my phone to try to work out where the frittering occurs - we'll see how that looks at the end of the week off......

Sorry for all of the woffling on - just trying to get things straight in my mind before cracking on 

enthusiasticsaver

Nice to hear from you and sounds like exciting plans on the horizon. I totally get how hard it must be as a teacher at the moment. Are you planning to actually sell up and move somewhere where you can board dogs etc or is it quite far in to the future you are considering this change? Is it worth hanging on until you are 55 and can access your pension which presumably is quite good as a public sector scheme? What about taking a backward step and maybe going part time to give you a chance to build up a side business with dogs without actually giving up the security of a steady wage? 

Honeysucklelou2

Good to see you back MT.  Teaching is an amazing job but can take every ounce that you can give and then some and that’s without Covid making things harder! Exciting ideas for the future.

Hope your pooch is feeling better soon.

juicyjackieb

Just dropping by to show my support! 

Moneywhizz

Welcome back to the forums. Sounds like you have some great plans for the future. Look forward to following along. 

Buffythedebtslayer

Amazing plan! God has it really been two years!! 
And yes, I get your point re teaching, I never took to the idea of being senior and I think that sort of saved me? I still just teach and all the BS goes on somewhere else. But I don't know how long I can do it for. 
Look forward to your updates XXXXX 

mumblingtaff

Hello everybody! And huge thanks for taking the time to keep me company with my ramblings 
To answer a couple of questions - I'm in a state of flux with regards to hanging on until 55 - its a long 6 years away and I don't know if I could stick it for that long. I am really unhappy and feel that its starting to affect my life in general as I won't not do a good job but am really not enjoying it anymore and its taken over my whole life recently - I literally work, go home, do more work and sleep. Apart from walking the dog that's about it at the moment. It would involve moving back to Wales - my parents aren't getting any younger and the Covid situation is really taking a toll on my mum - she's prone to a bit of depression anyway and is now finding it harder and harder. My older sister who has cerebral palsy still lives with them and I think my  mum is finding it more difficult to cope as the years go by. Dad just gets on with it but he's always been that way - he also has longstanding prostate cancer that's been well controlled so far but is generally fit and healthy otherwise, playing golf, doing long dog walks and swimming when the pools are open.
A positive is that the house prices are lower in Wales than they are here and I have equity in my house so that wouldn't be too much of an issue apart from the complete change of lifestyle obviously! I wouldn't want anything grand - just a two bed house with a garden for the dog, hopefully near the coast.

On a different note, poor poochy slept all night and is leaving his wound alone but is still very woozy and quiet - he just wants to sleep and be left quiet. He did eat two small meals last night and drink water but isn't interested this morning yet. I'll ring the vet to book his follow up appointment when they open this morning and check that this is normal. I think he's still affected by the anaesthetic - he just seems spaced out but not in any pain.

Been up since 5.30 - I get up at 5am when I'm working and can't get out of the habit - so its a long day ahead....
Can't really go anywhere with the dog as he is so it will be a day of pottering around the house, will have to have a think about some quiet tasks that won't bother the dog to keep me occupied.

Did anyone see The Sister on ITV last night - thought it was very good - looking forward to the next one tonight - 13 hours to fill before then though