Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

Sarahwithlove said:

I think a lot of jobs now do on the job training tbh. And if management are happy with your progress. It can be frustrating when you just want to learn it all. Maybe you need to ask them to give you a structured training plan. I'm never a big fan of returning to a job as you left for a reason. 

That would suggest there is any training haha .....to be honest I think the job side of things will come with time. I just think there is a lot of stuff I have seen within the company in such a short space of time that makes me think it isn't right fit,  I have spoken to manager and expressed my concerns so we shall see. I think I have just gone into the company at such a time of change.

You are right re going back, but I left on good terms for this exact reason and of course there would be things I would have to take into account to consider going back. 

Edit: I left as I felt the new job would be a good opportunity to learn something new  and was a big pay rise. I felt I would regret it if I didn't take the risk. I actually nearly talked myself out of leaving my last job and even on the last day still wasn't sure. I knew that if it failed I would always have the old job to fall back on.

FootyFanDan

Well summer as definitely gone hasn't it

This weekend was always going to be a bit more relaxed than the last few weekends.
We have had a trip to the cinema today to watch new Beetlejuice film and we all loved it. We spent some money from our entertainment category for the snacks and we also treated ourselves to pizza hut last night. 

Tomorrow will be a day spent in the house and trying to catch up on some life stuff, also will order food shopping but need to make a meal plan first which will get done first thing. We will also be moving the bedroom around to accommodate new wardrobes. I have calculated we should be able to get these towards the beginning of next month so that will be the next big purchase

Hope every one has a great weekend

FootyFanDan

Lonelygambler said:

Hey, it's refreshing to read how your new job is really helping you. You are doing very well with the payments and having a life. 

Good work. LG

The new job salary has certainly helped in that regards. I would never have got the card down so much without the room for the overpayments. I think it is about trying to find the right balance.

FootyFanDan

Happy New Week.
Been a pretty relaxed Monday, I had annual leave booked from work due to a hospital appointment for daughter. It was only a morning one so probably could have checked in on emails but decided against this. Instead me and missus decided to put some of our personal spends to a little brunch date. It was nice to just have some time together.

Food shop has been completed and came in slightly over budget but we did add a few extra treats that we wouldn't normally. I have also eventually purchased new shoes, this came out of our joint clothing budget as I will only really wear them for work. I have gone through YNAB and ensured all up to date, hoping for an early night. I have reviewed my personal spending as I am starting to get to point where I feel I am spending far too much on takeout coffee and food on the go for lunch - C*sta/ GR3GG5 I AM LOOKING AT YOU🤣 I do need to get a grip on it though as when I come to buy things I actually want I then can't. Over next few months I need to buy some new joggers so I will need to start putting towards these. I invested in a decent winter set last year like coat/gloves/scarf/hat so should hopefully not have to reinvest in that this year. 

This Week To Do

- Clean Car (Sunday), I have been putting this off for ages and it really needs doing
- Take some clutter to tip (Sunday)
- Clean desk space (Home)
- Look into Life Insurance & Contents insurance (again something I should have done a while ago)

I have also cut down on the pots in monzo, these are tracked in YNAB anyway, but was getting a bit of a nightmare doing all the transferring into / out of the pots and easier to manage in one pot. The only pot we have seperate is the xmas one which is primarily used by missus who has no interest in YNAB lol

Hope everyone has a good/positive week ahead.

FootyFanDan

Happy Friday, what a week. This week as absolutely flown by, ready for a nice weekend.

Work has been crazy busy, but surprisingly rewarding . We are slowly starting to get there and gain some confidence. I have decided for the foreseeable to stay here and see if I can make some progress. There has been no major spends budget wise but we have had some unplanned spends.

£32.50 - This was for tickets to a show my little one is performing in near xmas.
£20 - This is for after school dodgeball, the school have brought in someone external and this is one of clubs that is chargeable, taken from school pot.

This weekend will be another one at home. I have football Saturday early so I will drive so no alcohol involved. I will buy a breakfast sandwich and a drink but should be low spend. Sunday is tip run and grass cutting if the weather allows. We also need to finish sorting out the bedrooms.

Next week I am away with work Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday so I need to pack stuff over the weekend and make sure I have all that sorted ready for travelling up to Scotland. 

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

FootyFanDan

Evening all, hope everyone is having a good week so far. I missed Monday diary update as I was totally exhausted yesterday. I worked til 2pm and then travelled to Scotland for a few night overstay with work. The budget this week has gone out of shape due to this, Petrol a bit more than budgeted but can claim back, but food spends down as my meals are covered by work. I travel back down tomorrow so another long day, petrol spends and parking will be claimed back through expenses.

No overpayments this month so far on the credit card, but also nothing major has come up budget wise so that is ticking along nicely at the minute. 

FootyFanDan

Midweek check-in.
Hope everyone is having a good week so far, this week I am pretty much office based. Last week was a really good learning week for me job wise. I was out on sites with the team so it gave me some really good experience, although I did spend a lot of time stood around in the heat waiting for safety documents haha. I also went out on a site visit on the Thursday night, so again some positive experience and a bit of overtime too so no complaints. 

Finance

There isn't much really happening finance wise to be honest, the cards are coming down steadily and I am now feeling like I have my expenditure pretty nailed down. The food and petrol does fluctuate a bit but not anything too drastic so I am finding budgeting a little bit more straightforward for the time being. We are getting to a point where we need to look at the entertainment / eating out side of things since we seem to be socialising with family and friends more than we used to. 

Work

This is starting to improve as I am getting more involved and starting to get completion on some of the outstanding projects that I was given. I feel I am starting to really pick up things now. The more of my own projects that I am working on from the start and the better I can forward plan with my clients the better I am feeling. Due to the nature of business I work in there is always going to be an element of reactiveness, so its about how I handle that.

I have had my second review and they are stating they are very happy with my current performance and stated that I am more than holding my own and excelling so this coupled with the positive feedback on getting three major projects over the line as given me some confidence that I did make the right call and I just need to relax! 🤣 and maybe not put pressure on myself.

I did toy with the idea of going back to my old role, but ultimately decided against this and whether my new role works out or not I feel I made the right choice to reject going back although was feeling bad as I did intiate the possibility of going back, it seemed the easy way out. The thought of going back to a role that made me as ill as it did for 7K a year less than I am on now and also back into a management role which I don't feel is my strength was likely not good idea and something i would likely regret. I hated letting my old manager down, but the right thing to do was stay at my current role especially as they are supporting me through settling in and I am now feeling a lot better and learning new skills. 

Pension

This has finally started and came off my wage last month, I have had all the paperwork through and now that I know how that impacts my salary I can start to have a real figure of what I am working with. It works at 8% (4.5 me, 3.5 employer), which I am sure is probably pretty standard. I am not sure whether I need to be worrying about transferring my old work pension into this new account or not, or whether I just leave it. This is something I need to do some research on

Other

I am still struggling with the relaxing and trying to switch off my brain, which is making sleep a struggle at times. I have now started to put like a 30 minute sleep you tube video on and this is helping a bit. I am also managing to make sure I take proper lunch breaks and drinking plenty of water which is making me feel good. I haven't really done much running lately due to feeling tired and not fully rested. I really want to commit to going back to the gym, it is quite local to me so could go on a morning before work. I am not sure how busy it would be on an evening but something to check out

Payday isn't far off - budget does seem to be still good though. Food came in below budget and petrol the same. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week

Sunshine_girl2

Have always read along with your diary and I think you are doing great. Glad to hear you are finally settling down in your job I think it takes at least a year to get to grasps with a new job. 

On the entertainment front , do you set aside an amount in your budget for outings etc. Do you and your partner/wife have allocated personal spends . 

I think you live in housing association property, have you any plans to buy your property at the right time ? 

Sounds otherwise like the budgeting is going well , well done. 

FootyFanDan

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Have always read along with your diary and I think you are doing great. Glad to hear you are finally settling down in your job I think it takes at least a year to get to grasps with a new job. 

On the entertainment front , do you set aside an amount in your budget for outings etc. Do you and your partner/wife have allocated personal spends . 

I think you live in housing association property, have you any plans to buy your property at the right time ? 

Sounds otherwise like the budgeting is going well , well done. 

Hey @Sunshine_girl2
Thank you - that is very kind of you to say .

I think part of my issue is that I have totally gone outside of my comfort zone, I have limited knowledge in some of the stuff but due to my background they are keen for me to stay. IWhilst work are very complimentary, there is definitely a knowledge gap which I just didn't for see. I  must say, staying right now feels more of a financial based decision than a career one.  Ideally I see myself going back into the field that I have a massive experience in which I suppose is why the old job appealed. 

We rarely do set money aside for dining out/entertainment to be honest, aside from our one family outing that we used to do a month which would usually be a meal out. I think recently we have started socialising a lot more than we used to so I need to start putting something aside really. Normally we have a part of budget that just sits in joint account which isn't really allocated to anything and it just gets taken from there.

We have a council property and have been quite lucky to get it, so at the moment our focus is getting it decorated, the previous person who lived here hadn't done much and the council did a little bit before we moved in. 

I would say we are in a good position financially and hopefully as time goes on that will only improve. 

FootyFanDan

Good Morning Diary land!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Just checking in to keep accountable to myself. 
Pay day budget and plans need to be sorted so I will sit down later today to do this as I haven't had chance yet. We did have some remaining from our September pay so that always helps, hoping to be able to pay a good amount to the CC