Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Well, first weekend day has been nice and relaxed 😊 Cafe breakfast, charity shop potter (I bought a purple Monsoon coat for £8.50 which I'm delighted with), lunch at home, then musical pottering this afternoon for both of us (yet again making us thankful for having no neighbours 😂). Had a video call with my sister, pancakes for tea, and Mr Cheery is now drumming again 😂

Just checked banks etc, all looking acceptable. The £200 I 'saved first' at the start of the month remains untouched. The £200 LPG payment has arrived (bizarrely as 2x£95 and a £10) and I've added it to the LPG pot. There's £1400 in there at the minute, £850 bill due soon, and the tank is 50% full, which at this time of year should last at least another couple of months I hope, so I might either shift some of that to something else, or maybe just keep it towards the next top up. 

I'll do a final tally once the month has ended, but it looks like we've managed to spend considerably less on food, joint treats, and my personal spends compared to last month, which I'm delighted about. Doesn't take much to make it shift to feel like you're heading in a slightly different direction! 

Got ££££ in my eyes earlier when I worked out how much extra I'd be earning if I went full time now 🙄 Dismissed the idea when I faced the prospect of my first two day weekend in a while 🙄😂 Dont even know if work would let me at this stage anyway. 

Anyway. Off to see Mr Cheery Snr tomorrow so it'll likely be a late one, so best get a fairly early night tonight. 

beanielou

£££'s looking good.
Would you considergoing full time for a while? 

Cheery_Daff

I genuinely don't know Beanie. My overall instinct is no - when I first dropped to 4 days, many years ago, I vowed I'd never work full time again. Then I got this job, which was full time, and when I finally dropped to 4 days about 18 months, I (again) vowed never to work full time again...

I do love having longer weekends... And when I dropped they asked if I wanted to do it temporarily for a year, and I said no, I wanted to make the change permanent right away. Which was the right decision at the time - but the world does feel an awful lot more expensive than it was then 😱

I suspect work wouldn't let me go back up at this stage, unless I could come up with a specific reason/activity/benefit for them - they never replaced the day I dropped (or the two someone else dropped at the same time) but I'd be more expensive than the casual people they currently get in to bits of what I ditched....

Anyway, for now, no - but I might unofficially scout out how they'd feel about a temporary change at some point in the future.

KajiKita

Keep an eye out for specific bids or projects that need your level of experience and / or expertise that they need in a hurry. That could work for both you and your employer. 

I suspect it is a LOT easier to do more of a main job than earn extra cash from a sideline. I have been trying to think of s second income stream (so I can build savings / pay down the mortgage faster) but am having absolutely no luck ….

How much more money would make you feel secure / give you the flex you need? Would a part time cleaning job, close to home, say a few hours on Friday, make it work for example? So less commuting, a little more ££ but still get most of your Fridays to yourself?

KK

Cheery_Daff

You're definitely right about it being easier to do more of a main job. There's no way I'll be taking on a sideline job at this stage. My compromise is the matched betting - not guaranteed income of course, but also I don't have to commit to anything, can start and stop as I please. 

I think it's unlikely to be something short notice where I am, given the nature of the job. More likely that something will be on the horizon months in advance and I'll be able to argue it'll be better for me to do an extra day than to take on casual people. But then I'd be far more expensive than the casual people, so perhaps not! 

If I ever moved jobs, most new ones would be likely to be full time - that's probably a more likely option than moving back up at the current one I think! 😂

Anyway, in the meantime - back off to Mr Cheery Snr's house to scrub the floors - maybe I already have a sideline in cleaning after all (albeit unpaid)?? 🙄😂

Suffolk_lass

We bought a load of catering equipment on FB Market because we wanted the gastro norm pans for solar wax extractors. Unexpectedly there was more than we thought we were getting and it included brand new in box catering stoneware. So we are selling that on the Bay. It auto renews but now down to the last few plates and we have made money over and above the pans we thought we were buying, and we gave several away to our friend for the food bank she supports, including a catering steamer that would cost £185 new. The point being, if we wanted to, we could resell on the Bay a lot more stuff. We just have so many hobbies, we don't want to. If we take on another mortgage, I may revisit this

EssexHebridean

As Cheery knows I'm in the "don't work Fridays" camp too - I seem to recall we once referred to it as "Slackers club" or something along those lines!  In some ways my situation is very different - MrEH is by far the higher earner in our household - and in others, quite similar - even if I wanted to go back to full time it would be massively unlikely that I could do so right now in my current job. Right now I'm right there alongside in the viewpoint of not wanting to change things too - my quality of life as a result of the extra spare time is massively better and I'm unquestionably happy and my mental health is better as a result. 

Bluegreen143

I’d love to think I could never work Fridays again!

Not sure if I’ll get my wish… my husband seems to be under the impression that when my youngest goes to school in Aug 2024 (she currently has Fridays off nursery and stays home with me that day) I will increase my hours. I was looking forward to a day to get everything done! I do also have a 3pm finish every day and would love to keep that indefinitely too 😆😅 which he is more on board with, at least while the children are in primary school. But actually a 3pm finish is such a boon to mental health as you reclaim some freedom during daylight hours most of the year that way! 

I think if you can afford not to increase - better to stay part time. The point of being frugal is to afford the lifestyle you want after all!

Elisheba

If you can afford to work 4 days, Cheery, then I would stay at 4 days.  Extra money isn't everything.  I was working 4 days but doing full time hours for about a year during the pandemic (9 day fortnight with flexi and a bit of annual leave to make each week 4 days).  In the end squeezing full-time hours in became too much of a hassle, but my goodness it was good to have those extra Mondays off every week.

Cheery_Daff

Ah yes, Friday Slackers 😂 although this week I am, for various reasons, a Tuesday Slacker - quite discombobulating working one day then having a day off 😂

Definitely with you in regards to quality of life being better working four days. Makes such a difference to me, and I'd not give it up in a hurry, certainly not permanently. 

Tired today. I took my HRT patch off yesterday morning (should have been Sunday night) and for some baffling reason didn't put the new one on straight away, and then forgot until late last night 🙄 Dont know whether it's connected, but I got in at 6.30 last night and didn't have the energy to do anything except lie on the sofa, and I've done the same this morning 🙄

We have at least left the house now, and I'm hoping I'll properly liven up soon...