Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

We have successfully navigated another pay cycle 🫣. There is currently funds left in the account with no other bills or bits to come out so tomorrow I will pay that extra to the CC as an overpayment.

I interviewed at the other company and this went well and I was offered the role, they have given me some time to think over things and see what I want to do. I have had a meeting my current manager and I must say they were very receptive and seemed really keen on finding out my concerns and trying to find a role that I might be more comfortable with, so a decision to be made. 

Finance wise there hasn't been any real surprises this month, but from this pay I need to allocate some funds to getting some new work clothes mine are getting a bit...tight...obviously not making use of my gym membership! Looking forward to the reset and allocate the next month out.

rachmac3

Great news about the job(s)!!
Hopefully you have enough time to think them through and figure out which one will give you all you need. 
I changed jobs last October and it was the best thing I've ever done. Much better work life balance and my physical health and mental health has improved greatly.

FootyFanDan

Thank you @rachmac3, it is good to have options and to be honest I had pretty much made up mind ( without committing) that I was going to leave. I am just not happy with my role (technical aspect but my manager long term sees me dropping that element), my main issue is that I need to find a way to not bring work home - I have been a proper nightmare to live with last few months I suspect! So its about getting myself mentally right but as my missus says irrespective of what job I am in unless I start saying no then I will find myself In same position

I guess the question I need to answer is  - do I just see it has a job and get as much pay for the work I can but deal with the frustration and just enjoy life outside work or do I take a quite significant pay cut and go somewhere that might be better but with extra out of hours work. I used to be very career oriented so its weird tbh


On another note it's payday! I remember been so excited about the payday move around previously but now I am in the routine it gets sorted pretty quickly. Hope everyone has a good day

BlueJ94

Afternoon Dan! I've just caught up, you seem to be crazy busy at the moment! I've been reading on and off in the background. I know how you feel regarding the job as the exact same happened to me when transferring to a different branch, promised the world bit got jack for it. Hopefully you give it a good think through on what you'd like to do, you seem a lot like me. You enjoy the being busy side of things but also like a little challenge! 

Debt wise you're smashing it! I always notice you use YNAB but I've never given it a go, do you have to manually update figures etc? 

FootyFanDan

Hey @BlueJ94 - yeah it is pretty full on right now but it could be worse I suppose, so have to think of the positives. I don't mind the challenge and also the busyness, but there is nowt worse than having a pile of work stacking up that you can't do anything with whilst work you can do is sat there waiting as it isn't as urgent. I have had serious chat with my manager about what we do moving forward and the new job is a double figures pay cut which I don't think I can quite justify tbh, irrespective of what my job currently is like haha - so I am probably stuck where I am for now.

YNAB I have found great when I was tracking every penny and having to stick to a budget, and I was using it to drive my choices. Now I am not really using it as it is designed. You allocate funds to each area of your budget and then the idea is that you log every spend and check before you spend. I always allocate funds and I do log the spending but I am not really checking before I spend. You can link it to your bank so it updates automatically but it can sometimes take a few days

FootyFanDan

How do 4 days weeks still so full on 😂. This week has been pretty mental, but survived it and also felt like some good progress. I am now going to switch off from work until Monday. I have got a lot of days out of office and some long travel next few weeks. 

I am going to sort through all the budget this evening and then I can hopefully relax. Tomorrow I am at football and then Sunday we are planning a family day but not sure what we are going to do just yet. I just don't want to sit in house all day, as I will then end up at my laptop working. 

I do at some point need to sit down with a clear head and start making some plans for my upcoming works and try start getting through it. 

Finance wise the credit card is on track to be cleared for October at the current rate and nothing else is really going on it. I use monzo credit card for fuel and food if needed as it is interest free, but I have so far not needed to rely on it. The holiday balance is coming down nicely and even though it is still ages away it is starting to feel a little bit more real. 

FootyFanDan

Happy September, feels like summer is well and truly over.
I have reset all budget and set up ready for September, most of the direct debits have left the account. I need to update YNAB to reflect payments that have come out and then make sure I keep up to date. I do have spreadsheet that I seem to keep updated a lot more.

I have rejected the job offer and will now just get my head down and just try crack on with my current role, I am hoping that manager keeps their end of the bargain in the near future so we will see. In the meantime I am committing to not doing to much extra outside and I have removed all my email stuff off my personal phone in an attempt to keep away from it distracting me when I am not there.

The training course material has come through for the course and once I get a bit of time at the weekend I will have a proper look through it and slowly make my way through that. 

I do need to try get some personal goals in place and start getting some consistency and try get myself in a better place. Main goals really are to start eating better but also getting some proper rest. I am finding myself been online and attached to screens far too much. I think I am going to start getting to a routine of coming off devices an hour or so before bed then read for a bit before sleep. I also need to stop rushing around on a morning, so need to get a morning routine and been up and about a bit earlier too so I can fit in the gym.

This weeks goals

- Take clothes to the charity shop
- Review last months spends - a quick view seems to suggest a lot of misc purchases, an overspend on groceries but then an underspend on fuel.
- Review training course

I need to slightly adjust budget, we have been chucking a lot of extra payments to holiday, so much so that the direct debit has dropped right down. I will adjust the target in YNAB and then the extra can start been put away for spends / attractions and other holiday related stuff.

Hope everyone has a good week.


Edit: Also need to review what I am going to do with tv package, our deal is up in October and they now want to increase it by 50% which I am not prepared to justify. So they will either match our current offer or I will be cancelling. I think realistically I don't watch it enough to warrant that amount. My phone contract is also due to expire and I can't wait for that to happen, it doesn't come from joint fund but still impacts personal spends a lot. My phone is a little scratched but nothing that prevents use - so a case hides it. I will be looking to go sim only ones contract is up.

BlueJ94

Oh I feel you with the work stuff on personal phone, just last week I go so fed up with stuff popping up on my phone when I was trying to have my lunch break I just deleted everything work wise off my phone and said to myself "it can wait, its 40 minutes me time" 

Regarding being attached to the screen too much I'm exactly the same, I may even give your suggestion of reading ago. I always go to bed between 9pm and 9.30pm depending on how tired I am but the last two nights I've struggled, so I read that if you lay still for two minutes that your brain already thinks you're asleep! Twice its put me straight to sleep! 

FootyFanDan

Review last months spends - a quick view seems to suggest a lot of misc purchases, an overspend on groceries but then an underspend on fuel. - This has been reviewed, nothing too drastic but deffo some room for improvement. I do think allocating funds for days out / eating out has really helped though. It is just the silly bits we forget with shopping / or little treats from shop that we need to cut out

Take clothes to the charity shop - Big bag has been sorted and ready to drop off, that will be a weekend task though, as will a few tip runs. Our living room is so much less decluttered, so we are making progress but a small kitchen doesn't help

Hope everyone is doing good. Not too bad of a day today, very much an admin day. I literally kept email closed and put my out of office on so I could get two huge tasks that have been on hold for a while done. Mission accomplished. Tomorrow it will be morning coffee and a refresh of my projects and email catch up. It has felt productive to not be just responding  to every email possible. So I think moving forward I will check a few times a day and rest of time not bother. If its that urgent or time sensitive they have my number !

@BlueJ94 I tend to find myself relaxing on sofa and getting sleepy while watching tv but then when I get in bed my mind just wakes up 😂. I have never been an early sleeper to be honest, but early morning have become increasingly tough, despite me being better prepared for the day ahead if I wake up early. 

I have a work phone so really no excuse to have it on my personal phone, and to be honest my work are very much of the idea work hours are for doing work. The work life balance isn't too bad, I think my own workload is just making me do a few extra hours than normal.

I have updated all my YNAB and I have now set it so that my standard bills are entered automatically, it has taken me ages to get round to doing it but that might take some of the efforts away

FootyFanDan

Well that early night panned out great...wide awake by 02:30 - gym by 03:30 and a lot of work tasks done.
Overload of coffee, but also managed breakfast and a proper plan in place. I felt very well prepared for the day - but gosh by 2pm i was exhausted! Tonight is very much a night with a duvet on sofa and watch some tv and hopefully just relax. Hope everyone has a lovely evening