10 years to clear £334K - our FIRE journey

redofromstart

I am sure today was difficult, tea and sympathy from me. 

CCW007

Thank you, today was better than I expected.

Alchemilla

Popping in to say Hi. Not caught up yet though xxx

CCW007

Loads listed on Vinted yesterday; £5 Vinted sale made, ready to post today so will be a week or so before funds available.  Almost at pay out for PA. 

Make or break week with work, seriously looking for another job and may consider taking a hit salary wise as I cannot carry on with this level of stress and work / life (im)balance. 

CCW007

Cashed out PA twice in two days and sent OP to mortgage. Wondering if any extra money should go into an F It fund until I know what's happening workwise then can be OPd later? 

KajiKita

Sorry to hear that your work is being meh ….

As you might know I went through something similar at the end of last year. Do you know what budget is your minimum to get by on? I went through all my outgoings etc. and worked that out, which massively eased my mind as I knew there was no way I would get a job for a similar salary round here, didn’t want to work away and tbh, wanted something less demanding! 

Is your CV current. Sometimes reminding ourselves of what we’ve achieved and what we bring is extra ‘protection’ against the slings and arrows of work nonsense! Also, it is always easier to do this when still in the role than when we have left when our memories start to fade quite quickly. 

And yes, for now, I would send any extra monies to a F’it fund as that will be a psychological safety blanket. 

KK

CCW007

Thanks KK, I had a feeling you would understand given what you've been through. Some really good points especially re updating CV being easier whilst doing the job. Budget is something which needs considering, we could cut a lot of costs considerably if needed.

Spoke to boss today who is very concerned about me and has lots of ideas to sort things out, all of which take time and resources I don't have, sigh. Tomorrow is back to back meetings but hoping for an easier end to the week and the chance to do some actual putting plans into action, instead of just attending meetings.

KajiKita

Hmmmm … boss could do with pulling a finger out and doing something to actually help, rather than leaving it all to you …

Re meetings, and with the benefit of hindsight, seriously look at what you can duck / delegate / send notes to / catch up with the meeting host with after, to give yourself time to get some headspace and some stuff done. Has boss at least identified key priorities? Or can you? 

KK

CCW007

To be fair, my boss is in a difficult position as, out of a management team of 3, she is covering for our colleague who passed away unexpectedly at new year, other colleague is off presumably sick, so only leaves me, going through a demanding time.

I have a long list of "priorities" and workstreams - I really need to meet with her to identify which ones are the priorities, which ones can wait and which ones we can get help with.

I am trying to be more ruthless with meetings - I have promoted internally into my management team to someone I trust so I can start delegating but still need to backfill their role so can't hand things over wholesale just yet.  Hope to be interviewing for second management post soon but will likely be a long notice period to take into account.

So things have the potential to improve but it all feels like hurry up and wait!

CCW007

In financial news, got the final cashback onto HSBC CC from the promotional offer - another £42 paid off the balance. Cash ISA is accumulating interest nicely.  Box of books sent off to WBB.  Things are ticking along financially.