Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

Cheery_Daff

That's an excellent idea to have two weeks off.  Glad the parish council meeting was a nice contrast too, and that you have the union involved. Also pleased to see you making a list of things you won't miss. Look after yourself xx

PennysIntoPounds

That's all really positive, well done. If even your union rep did a screeching u-turn, I think that shows getting out is for the best! 

beanielou

PennysIntoPounds said:

That's all really positive, well done. If even your union rep did a screeching u-turn, I think that shows getting out is for the best! 

Absolutely this. 

KajiKita

Hi All, 

The week didn’t really improve. Glad it’s done and I saw a preview of the meeting invite with the union rep come up on my phone for next week, so at least that will start moving. 

I have been making a list of what I want to get done when I actually get some time away from work  …. It’s quite striking to me how many of them are what I would classify as self care … 

There are three fairly immediate tasks that need action from me: 
- submit meter readings to old and new energy suppliers this week
- look at house insurance options - renewal with current insurer is £520! 😳 And we haven’t made any claims for four years …! 😠
- 33 have said they want to increase my SIM only tariff to £15 pcm from £8. I think not, thank you ….

I also need to work out the minimum I need to earn (no, I’ve still not done it - my head is too full of ‘static’ atm …. I need to ‘look at’ this task and chunk it down into digestible, manageable steps). 

Slept very badly last night. Got home late, Mr KK was out so I ate late, stayed up far too late as my friend in Japan wanted to talk to me, I was still trying to digest dinner and Chloe wouldn’t leave my lap! 😉 Then sweltered under my winter duvet - I swopped over to my summer one again, in the middle of the night in the dark and went straight off to sleep, finally ….

I’ve had a lovely day today 😊 Got up late (Little Cats were delighted to see me! 😂), spent the morning on the sofa knitting my way through lots of lucifer along with wrangling two loads of washing on to the line and putting the toscos delivery away. Then I went out for lunch with my friend who used to work where I am now - her perspective was both interesting and useful. It was lovely to see her 😊 I then spent two hours in the garden clearing and weeding under the contorted Hazel. Mr KK came home early 😊 with a chip shop supper for us both ❤️

KK

SandyShores

I switched to Lebar@ last year, it runs on the same network as our old supplier (vod@) and had no issues transferring.  We took the MSE exclusive plan at the time and pay £6.90 for 12mb data and unlimited mins/texts.  I don't think that one is available but they are still the best sim only according to MSE.

Another one here who needs to look at changing house insurers.  I haven't bothered the last few years because they seem to have been fairly low but this year went up quite a bit.   

Re. the minimum you need to earn, I did the calculations like this when I left a new and well paid toxic job about 10 years ago.  MrShores was having kittens, but I knew we'd be able to survive - I dropped salary and ended up in a part-time fixed term job!  It was tight but it was definitely worth it.  Within six months I'd found a full-time permanent job and was edging up towards my old salary, it probably took me 4 years to get back to my old salary and I ended up in a much less stressful job. For ages I regretted ever joining toxic employer but now I thank them as it turned out well in the end.  Recently my main tormentor/boss was in the paper, convicted of a horrible crime against a staff member - just cemented that I made the right decision for a reason all those years ago.  

I know it doesn't feel like it at this moment in time, but it will be okay in the end, you've got great skills.  Glad you had a lovely day, you have a lovely home and supportive partner and kitties, glad you are enjoying them. 

South_coast

Could Mr KK take over the "minimum new salary" calcs? It should just be a case of totting up the monthly committed outgoings and chucking a few numbers into a take-home pay calculator online, see what comes out, and adjust accordingly. When I did it before, I also estimated the cost of driving to my two nearest cities and looked up the cost of city centre parking as well, so I knew the absolute worst-case commuting cost scenario so I could include that as well

KajiKita

Thanks for the reassurance on the salary and surviving having to leave a toxic workplace @SandyShores 😊. My main criteria are to earn enough within a reasonable commuting distance … 🤞 But a lot of it is down to luck and timing. I do have a lot to be grateful for and I am. Just so very tired atm - I will be glad when this week is over, as the planned meeting between union, me and employer should give me some sense of timescale ….
Sadly Lebar@ won’t work for me - we have to use 33 round here for signal ….

Thanks for the suggestion @South_coast of getting Mr KK to look at the minimum I need to earn. However …. he would not know where to start and I would rather do it myself … 😉 I will include petrol costs for commuting at current rate as my current commute is about as long as I would want it to be. Parking shouldn’t be an issue (🤞) as I always work on manufacturing sites with their own car parking. However, if I go into a different sector, I will consider factoring that in 😊

Didn’t get a lot done today, but did get the immediately needed chores done, finished weeding phase 1 under the contorted Hazel, emptied two of last year’s pots of bulbs and planted them under the contorted Hazel and mowed the edges. A job I have been meaning to do for aaaaages was to tidy up and water all my houseplants, so that got done today as well. Took snips and buds of two plants that my houseplant mad friend wants pieces of  😊 I have done 19 rows of knitting today - I have another 21 rows to go before I can cast off for the shoulders of the back panel - hopefully next weekend that will be finished and I can start the front. 

KK

SandyShores

KajiKita said:

….
Sadly Lebar@ won’t work for me - we have to use 33 round here for signal ….

Ah okay.  If you use the MSE sim selector you can choose 33 and there are four other providers who use their network.  

It is exhausting, try to take care of yourself and not wear yourself out - although I'm sure relaxing isn't easy at the moment.  Good luck this week.

savingholmes

I totally get the not being in the right head space for things mode.

Hope you had a great weekend and that when you have your first meeting that it goes well.

KajiKita

Hello all,

Apologies for the radio silence and the lack of replies on other people’s threads. Really struggling to express myself properly atm and don’t want to upset anyone by speaking inappropriately. 

Had the negotiation meeting today. Union rep came early and we talked through what I was asking for. He said that it went against everything he normally stood for but he thought I was making the right decision to leave and that he perceived my boss to be ‘very hard, he won’t move at all’. 

We went into the meeting and after preliminaries about it being a protected conversation etc. my boss started by telling all of us, at great length how I wasn’t performing and why I needed to go. A lot of this was exaggerated, inaccurate or without context. I didn’t react to this - I would have if I had been trying to stay. It was pretty humiliating. Union rep said after, well done for not engaging with it. 

They made their offer - statutory 3 months notice plus benefits and then 3 x redundancy which was only worth c. 1.5 months take home to me. They left the room to allow us to discuss. I told the union rep that I wanted to counter with 3 months x gross salary. We did and my boss’s eyes nearly popped out of his head - I knew it would. We compromised on 3 months x usual take home which was pretty much what I was aiming for. 😉

After tax etc, I think I will get equivalent of c. 5.5 months take home. Not amazing but enough, I hope. 

We discussed timescales. I said I wanted it done and dusted asap. My boss looked surprised and happy at this 🙄 I suggested one week’s handover after deal signed by both parties. This may work it may not. But I get the impression that I won’t be around for long ….  I can start looking for a new role, making it public on my LI profile etc after we sign the deal. 

Not sure how I feel. Relieved. Free. Sad. Disappointed. Adrift. All the things really ….

I then went into two further meetings where I helped find solutions to fundamental structural issues in the business ….

KK