julicorn's journey 3 - The House on the Hill

South_coast

Those are incredible figures, definitely a cause for celebration 🥳🥳🥳!

julicorn

Thank you both!

edinburgher

The Totoro show should be great, I took DD1 to see Spirited Away last year and we loved it! 👏🏻

julicorn

edinburgher said:

The Totoro show should be great, I took DD1 to see Spirited Away last year and we loved it! 👏🏻

It honestly was absolutely incredible, if you get the chance to see the Totoro one too, do it! The puppets were so magical, and it was a really great modern theatre as well (amazing views from every seat). I may have cried a little a couple of times

julicorn

Hi all! It's been a little bit of an emotional roller-coaster since my last update, so I thought I'd check in and just put it all down to paper (or laptop, I suppose!). 

A bit over a week ago we went up to London to the Lady Gaga concert and had the most wonderful weekend. We got tattoos, had lovely food, got a boat to the O2 (surprisingly fun!), used our O2 perks to go to a pre- and afterparty, enjoyed an absolutely amazing concert, and bought the clothes we'll need for our Norway cruise the next day at Westfield. 
After that, I plunged into a bit of a post-concert depression, to the point that I considered trying to get tickets for Barcelona later this month as well. We'd already spent a bunch of money in London, but having fun is what money is there for - right?

Well, Tuesday last week I was working again, and it became abundantly clear that the financial situation is absolutely dire, and the company I've been working for for almost 12 years is pretty much on the brink of collapse. I guess that catapulted me back into the real world. At this point in time, I don't know if I'll still have a job in a couple of months time. I got quite upset, because realistically I still don't really know what else I'd want to do. 

Wednesday was better. I think I just settled into a bit of a 'que sera' mode, threw all my efforts into the work I was doing that day, and also crunched our spending spreadsheet - realising that if we properly cut back, we can actually get by on Mr julicorn's salary alone, without needing to dip into savings. We wouldn't be able to long-term, but short-term, it wouldn't be a total disaster. And I know that I'm smart and adaptable, surely there's something else out there I can do! For the moment though, I'll stick with my company and see what we can do / if we can turn things around at the last corner. 

Well, on Thursday, I then finally did my tax declaration for last tax year - and was told I owed HMRC a very large chunk of money. I knew I'd owe them some (I changed my pension contributions that year to salary sacrifice, but my tax code never got changed), but thought it'd be within the £3k that they just claw back through a tax code adjustment. Well, it was more, and they also wanted payment on account of what I might owe this year (which is actually not applicable).
Well, I got back up after falling off the sofa in shock, went straight back to YNAB, and implemented some of the budget cuts + a tax savings category to get that money together by January. I also disputed the payment on account part.

On Friday, it then dawned on me that the form never gave me the option to report my pension contributions... and in that year, I was still a higher rate tax payer, so surely that should make a difference! So back to the website I went, filed an amendment, and hey presto, I now owe them 'only' £2.5k. Strangely, they still seem to want me to pay it back in January. I'm torn between just paying it then (seeing as I don't actually know what work will look like next year), or phoning up and asking for them to collect it via a tax code change. Either way, I'll get that money saved by Jan so it's one less thing to worry about (just whether it'll be in a savings account or with HMRC after that is an outstanding question). 

The weekend was less eventful, but I baked some ghost meringues and a little spooky gingerbread house. Today, I'm meeting a friend and her baby for a coffee (Dobbies, so I can use my voucher for that!), got work the next two days, and then we're off to Corfu with my mum for a long weekend / almost a week, which will also be over my birthday. I'm looking forward to that, but my mum has had a few health scares last couple of weeks, so I just hope she'll be well enough to properly enjoy the holiday too. 

Thanks for reading this absolutely essay - it just feels good to have parked it somewhere for now  

South_coast

Phew, well I'm exhausted just reading it, I can't imagine what it's been like for you! I would agree to stick it out with work for now, but at the same time making some cutbacks on spending so that you get used to living on one salary is probably a good idea

trix-a-belle

Sorry to here that, what a rollercoaster. I agree with SC, stick it out for now while trimming where you can, but do see what's about that appeals even if its just reading job descriptions (i'm doing similar at the moment). Remember loyalty generally isn't rewarded when companies are up against it like that so be careful.

& happy b'day from a fellow mid Oct Libran

julicorn

Thank you, @South_coast & @trix-a-belle  
Completely agree I can't count on it turning around, and loyalty can bite you in the bum (ultimately, this would all be less daunting had I actually switched jobs during my career so far!), and I will keep a bit of an eye out for what's out there - but knowing we can get by for a bit makes a big difference. I'm actually really grateful for YNAB at the moment because it actually shows me our options very black and white, and makes the whole situation less daunting. 

The coffee date was lovely, we actually stayed for 3 hours in the end. And Mr julicorn and I used the Odeon vouchers we had to go and see Corpse Bride at the cinema for the 20th anniversary screening (thanks again @newgirly for mentioning that was happening!). It was so lovely, I love that film. I think the last time we'd seen it was at the 10th anniversary screening in the same cinema, funnily enough. 

Just logged into work, and we actually landed a decent sized job for once - it's nice to get some good news after months of negatives. Gonna cross all my fingers and toes that it's the start of a better phase. 

powerspowers

What a rollercoaster J! 

I know when T faced redundancy last year it was very reassuring to look at our budget and think we could manage whilst he found something. You can always take something temporary whilst trying to work out what to do next. 

Hopefully things settle down x

julicorn

powerspowers said:

What a rollercoaster J! 

I know when T faced redundancy last year it was very reassuring to look at our budget and think we could manage whilst he found something. You can always take something temporary whilst trying to work out what to do next. 

Hopefully things settle down x

Thank you! It was quite nice talking to my friend yesterday as well, she did quite a big career pivot a couple of years ago, and actually did some temp agency work for a bit to try and find out what she enjoyed, and what she didn't. She also has some friends who work in the same industry as me, and mentioned a local-ish company who are hiring often and seem to have quite good working conditions - so it's something I can look into once I feel the need to