Teetering on the brink

dawnybabes

With a big payout you might not qualify for UC (PIP isn’t means tested and you can get it whilst working) 

EatingBeans

Well I am so glad you didn’t all just think I had lost the plot! 😁

I have already been pondering this (in between trying to get a clear answer as to how much cocodamol a 17yr old can safely take!), and it seems like I was coming up with the same ideas/questions for myself. 

I’ll be honest after the reorg last year I was really disappointed that my role hadn’t been put at risk because those that were got to opt for a lump sum and walk away. I thought once the dust settled I might breathe a sigh of relief and think thank heavens I didn’t go but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I had my job change completely but was continuously told it was within 10% of the old job description so they were perfectly within their rights to do it. They’ve added many more hoops to jump through, my manager fiasco is just out of order and now (whilst I’ve been off), it appears they have kicked us all out of our office but have not provided us with a new one. The instruction is to find a hot desk somewhere else on campus but have not given us any locations of hot desks, oh but we have to still come into the office two days a week to keep us in touch with our colleagues! Absolute joke. It is no wonder so many of the good staff have already left. 

Given how I am beginning to feel about the place, I think it is probably a good idea I grab the opportunity with both hands and leave with a lump sum, rather than wait and then have to leave anyway but potentially on a sour note. Right now, everyone still likes me and I can leave on a high with a good reason.

Daisy was spot on with how my overspend had gone down with dd1’s birthday, and that is a big concern in terms of budgeting. I guess in my eyes my budget would be zero wages from day 1, so the urgency to get a job is immediate. I am pretty confident that I would feel this way as I have previously left jobs with nothing lined up and even when I intended to take a few months off (I was left a bit of money after my dad died and needed time off to process his death), I discovered that I felt much better just by leaving, didn’t like the idea of living off a finite sum, found new job and was back working again by the end of the month. I’ve never found it particularly difficult to get a job (which is why it has been so frustrating constantly missing out on the internal roles), and I am always game for taking temporary roles doing all sorts of things as an interim step just to get a bit of cash in. Now I am qualified I could potentially even look at becoming a consultant Scrum Master and really open up my options for working flexibly across years going forward. Or I could dip my toe back into bookkeeping and take the opportunity to split my time between Project and Accounting work so I keep up to date in both, and take on different roles depending on what fits best. Oh and I did also consider just paying off a big chunk of the debt up front to save on interest but I worked it out and unless I got a 0% deal on a credit card then I would still have too high monthly payments to not be concerned about running out of money if I were to take a job for much less than I am on now, so I’d need to get a job then do a lot of sums before being sure how much I could pay off as a lump sum. That said, if I earn less than I am on now by more than a couple of thousand a year then I’d become eligible for Universal Credit again! Lots of options, too many to really have an idea how it would pan out. Sometimes you just have to leap and see where you land. 

I have taken the first step and put in an Expression of Interest to get an estimated figure for how much I would get. Need to avoid getting too excited at the prospect. There are a few stages before I get the green light. 😁

daisy_1571

Sounds very sell thought out.

I detest hot desking with a passion.   It completely shows disregard for workers being human beings.   We like to feel that our desk is 'ours' and our little home in the office.   To not have a place to keep your Stuff, to share with others who eat their food over the keyboard and desktop and spread their germs about stuff im going to touch, HATE it.  Can very much understand and applaud you wanting out, your management sound awful about so many aspects of your job

Dxx

EatingBeans

I hate hot desking too. We have been hot desking for the whole time I’ve been in the job but at least all the hot desks were together in one office so you got to share with the same bunch of people and get to know your colleagues. Now they have closed that office for a year long (desperately overdue) refurb and just told us to work somewhere else on the uni campus but not told us where we can go so everyone is just left to go beg a desk from a random department or join the students in the library! To make matters worse, the work we do really does need at least one extra screen (we all had two extra screens in our office), and now we are left trying to work on our tiny laptop screens. Oh and if too many of us try and join the remote wifi at the same time it stops working. 🤦‍♀️ It’s sad because I genuinely love my university but like all unis at the moment they have been making massive cut backs and it really is impacting staff as everything is being thrown at keeping the students happy. I understand the idea but it is very short term thinking as the reality is all the good staff are walking away so that will impact the students eventually. The scary thing is I work for a Russell Group university that is not even in a deficit so lord knows what it is like for those lower down the chain! Time to jump sectors again I think. 😕

And for any of you thinking a refurb is perhaps not necessary in times of austerity, we have worked through several years of intermittent heating, lighting, flooding, water pouring through our ground floor ceiling onto banks of desks full of computers every time it rains heavily (the building is three stories high so that water is running quite a way through the building before it gets to us!). Working in the dark and cold and having to walk around buckets collecting water to get to a desk became somehow normal! And there weren’t enough desks for everyone so some would have to work across in the canteen but with no screens and no internet. 🤦‍♀️ The people are good so I stayed, but there is only so much I can put up with and I think I have reached my limit. 

Ch1ll1Phlakes

Hi @EatingBeans. First time poster on this thread. Glad to hear you back on the forum, I've been following along in the background for a wee while now.

On the topic of leaving you current work, I think that most of the recent posters have covered the key points about overspends and discipline. To me, it sounds like a decent opportunity and probably one the university is hoping people will take to get them off their books. You mentioned clearing a large proportion of your debt and decided against this due to the other interest payments but how about clearing one or half a card, preferably any that have high interest rates currently. I know you mentioned in one of your posts a while back (I can't seem to remember when it was to find it) that one of the provider had pulled their 0% balance transfer offers for you. Would clearing a chunk of debt with high interest payment help you overall situation.

I've no clue as to what your salary is (nor do I need to know) so I don't know what 30 weeks of pay would look like. Say you're on approx £35k, 30 weeks is roughly £21k while any chunk would cut how long you would be able to survive unemployed any payment (say £5k to Barclaycard or MBNA) would decrease your overall payments and may give you that boost of knowing your debt is lower. Sorry if this feels like I've giving you information that you already know. I know the idea and hope is that a lump should hopefully clear a card but a lump clearing half the card works equivalent to have two cards each with half the balance and clearing one.

Hopefully you have the chance to fully consider your options as only you know best what will work for you but I wish you all the best. PS: I don't remember when you last put up a summary of the interest rates on your cards, if someone would point this out to me, thanks.

PPS: Just wanted to add this previous comment of yours (Teetering on the brink - Page 93 — MoneySavingExpert Forum), now I know this was written in the heat of the moment after a promotion rejection but this is how you felt at the start of September. Are things realistically going to get better or worse at your work place? Just food for though.

Ch1ll1Phlakes

Sorry, came back to add one more thing. I don't know if you hold any of these accounts but the following thread may be worth a look through. Cashback for opening bank or investment accounts, including Cahoot - Page 22 — MoneySavingExpert Forum. The reason this came into my head is I've availed of a few of these offers recently, such as the £25 Cahoot offers, which is free money for just opening an account. Cashback offers like these might help with your daily £5 targets if you've missed any over the last while, while recovering and looking after your dd. The cahoot savings account require a minimum opening balance of £1 so if you could spare £2 hopefully you would receive a free £25 x2.

There's other offers here about opening current accounts which I imagine won't be to your liking or current credit situation but may just be worth a look. Also if you've never opened an experian credit score account before it's currently a free £9 reward for opening one (this one only takes a week or two to become payable). Also don't let your credit score scare you (as if just their number and you're working to improve it) and prevent you from get a free reward.

All the best CP

daisy_1571

Great advice chilliflakes

Dx 

EatingBeans

Ch1ll1Phlakes said:

…

PPS: Just wanted to add this previous comment of yours (Teetering on the brink - Page 93 — MoneySavingExpert Forum), now I know this was written in the heat of the moment after a promotion rejection but this is how you felt at the start of September. Are things realistically going to get better or worse at your work place? Just food for though.

Thank you so much for all your great advice @Ch1ll1Phlakes     especially the redirect to my own words - great memory btw! You are spot on that it was written in the heat of the moment but it is a regular enough occurrence that I relate to that moment far too much. It is definitely going to get worse as more people leave so I think I just need to take the opportunity to get out while I still get a good package to land on. 

Great nudge about the rewards for opening accounts too. I had planned to look at the deals this month but never quite got around to it yet. Something to look into I think. 😁

Interest rates are now just all ridiculously high. I haven’t calculated how much exactly is at what rate recently but I do know Fluid is my highest at 29%. 😳 I might be tempted to clear at least that one at the very start but keeping cash in the bank to be sure I can always cover the mortgage feels more comfortable just until I get a new job again. I’m not making a definite plan until it becomes more of a reality. 

ellenvan

If it was me ( it isn't so do your own thing)
I would definitely clear Fluid and Aqua card with any lump sum straight away.
Two less cards to worry about and at 29% interest quite a big saving even over a few months.
Also in the short term while looking for another job, treat listing on eBay, Vinted etc to a real blitz.
Good luck with your decision.

daisy_1571

Also you might be able to get conts based jsa of £92 a week if you've paid ni over the past couple of years plus it keeps your ni record up to date. (If you get the go ahead be sure to phone in your last couple of days at work to get forms and appointment lined up).



I'm sure I've forgotten something, apologies, but back at the start of your diary you were committed to £700 a month between the various cards and your brother.   Last couple of months this has dropped significantly but im sorry I've forgotten the reason for this.

For yourself, id recommend revisiting your soa.  Put in the relevant up to details.   Sadly I'd also say to update your various amounts, interest rates and dates.  This might be a bit depressing but i think you need it to inform the next few months and it will help inform your budget for any lump sum if you get it.



I've been pondering, feel free to ignore 😆 

IF YOU GET THE LUMP SUM
You could just take the lump sum, divide by 30 and live as normal for the period before you start work again (remember to keep some by for the up to 6 weeks to get your first salary in your bank.)  But....... turn that a bit upside down.....

I'd say you could: siphon off your actual bottom line amount you live off x 30. Put that in an account and set up a standing order for a 30th to arrive in your day to day account each week.  (This is the money you usually use for your SHOPPING each week.)  So you've now covered normal weekly costs for the full 30 weeks.

As regards the rest- you now have a lump sum amounting to 30 weeks of your usual mortgage, council tax, water, phone/Internet contracts (I'm calling all these 'BILLS') plus some discretionary money.   Again, this non-discretionary BILLS money is earmarked and you can't touch it.  Put it in your bill paying account and those bills will all chunter away for 30 weeks so you know the mortgage and all bills are taken care of and you don't need to worry about them. 

Whatever is now left is your DISCRETIONARY money.  This is the money you usually use to pay down debts and put towards your flexible costs like presents clothes etc.  This is the only truly discretionary money you can play with (as the other 2 parts of the money (SHOPPING and BILLS) are non negotiable, they have to be paid.  Rather than dole it out to yourself over 30 weeks you could pay some debts upfront.  There might not be enough to do this and still be able to service your monthly minimums until you get salary again.  But with the interest saving it might be worth while.  Armed with your actual figures for SHOPPING and BILLS you will get an idea how much and what you can do with it.

Somewhere in there it will also be a good idea to allocate some money to SAVINGS otherwise as soon as the next annual bill or unexpected thing pops up you'll be trying to find spare money for that too.  Again your actual figures will tell you if there's any money for this.  Your survey money,  eb@y, bank switching etc money could go towards this too.

I hope this is helpful for making a plan, I'm sure I'll have forgotten something,  if anyone spots anything or can explain it better please do so !  

Dxxxx