Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

What a **** morning DD2 slept dreadfully last night. We took both DDs swimming this morning, DD2 projectile vomited all over herself and her car seat when we were about 1/2 way there. Changed her by the roadside, drove home, drove back to the pool with DD2 only to discover that both car parks were absolutely rammed, so we gave up and drove home again after a quick stop at Dun3lm to pick up a new dish drainer

So crap sleep, a crap morning, one sick child, one bored child and here I am sitting at the computer after submitting a warmed up application for a second job that was much the same as a similar but slightly different job I applied for last weekend. I haven't had time to shower and I'm zonked. Still, at least I got another job application in.

I am giving some thought to trying to improve my work/life balance by trying to drop from 35 hours + overtime to 30 hours across 4 days.

South_coast

No wonder you're needing to do overtime Ed, if they're expecting you to get everything done in 35 hours. We do 45 hours (42.5 paid) and I still can't fit it all in 🤦‍♀️! Are the jobs you're applying for in a similar field, or something completely different?

Sorry about your pants morning - I think a wee dram is probably the only sensible response to that???

edinburgher

@South_coast 45 hours is rough! I know I'm a public sector softie but I don't know anyone regularly working those hours. Jobs are in similar field (information rights and data protection) sans complaints work. Top of the pay grade is c. 10% higher than now, I'd be negotiating a match of my current wage based on experience if at all possible. 

Dram sounds great but Mrs E finished the very last drop last night - nae whisky left! 😜 Think I have a pint can of Guinness lurking...

South_coast

Guinness it is then 👍!

Yep, no chance of compressing those hours 🤣 (we won't mention the commute on top)!

savingholmes

I think if you can get the reduced hours - then with the pension benefits of public sector - and reduced costs of nursery fees you could be on a winner... 

edinburgher

savingholmes said:

I think if you can get the reduced hours - then with the pension benefits of public sector - and reduced costs of nursery fees you could be on a winner... 

I'm already a member of a public sector CARE scheme savingholmes and unfortunately reduced hours wouldn't mean less nursery, they'd just mean less of a zombie dad in the evenings. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, need to get offered an interview for either job before dreaming up the perfect work/life balance! It's entirely possible that I'd be able to hack normal full-time hours in a less stressful job where you're not left mulling over the angry customers left in your wake on a nightly basis

Party Music!!! The day has come and aggressive virement, overtime, surveys, cashback and general Tilly Tidies have allowed me to pay off the £8,000 or so we had on credit cards after converting our attic last summer My stretch target was to have this paid off by my 40th, which I managed to beat by over 3 weeks. There is a balance of £14.92 remaining but let me have this one - the direct debit will clear this tomorrow and I thought it easier to let this go than to risk paying too much by mistake...

No grand plans for what to do next, although I think I'll maybe keep things gamified by renaming the credit card line of the budget something like "Future Me" and adding the dribs and drabs referred to above to this, using the funds each time they get to £4 or thereabouts (this amount chosen as it's the lowest amount paid into a LISA or SIPP that gets a whole pound of gummint bonus money added). This isn't to say it will all go into LISA or SIPP, there could be some savings and OPs in there too. I would imagine there will be less money "spare", as the plan is to remove our First Direct RS from our cash total so that this becomes an independent Emergency Fund not tied to the general balance of our household budget. So there we go, I suppose footling around and saving an EF of £300/mth for the next 9 months are my next goals

powerspowers

Well done on CC freedom Ed!! Good luck with the job hunt. I changed jobs (also put bloc sector) a while back to one that doesn’t involve the general public and I’ve not looked back 

SuperSecretSquirrel

Congrats on slaying the CC Ed, you made short work of that! 👍

Cheery_Daff

Fantastic ed, well done!!

savingholmes

Well done that is fantastic news