Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Random share of the day… my dd2 is SO sweet! 

I just went to dry my hair after getting out of the shower and realised that my hairdrier was missing. dd2’s hairdrier has recently died, so obviously it’s in her room. Rather than bring it downstairs only for her to pinch it again later I thought I would sit at her desk and use it in situ. 

Having never actually sat exactly where she sits at her desk before and faced with no mirror in front of me, I casually looked around as I was drying my hair. I was absolutely amazed. Turns out I have a secret squirrel! All around the room were tiny trinkets from all the people in her life. From the obvious photos of her brother and sister and framed paw prints from the cats, to the much less obvious, a single coaster from our house years ago, a tiny rubber duck that I recall was part of a long winded story from her best friend, old birthday cards strategically placed so they were not obvious when you walk in but clearly seen from her desk, an orchid that is a reminder of her favourite teacher from primary school… the list goes on. But the one that really got me was a label tucked at the bottom of the monitor. On it, in MY handwriting (I have no recollection of writing it and I have no idea how old it is!), it says “you are loved! Always and Forever, Mum x Have a great day!”
It blew me away. I mean, obviously I am super happy that it meant enough to her for her to keep it safe and give it pride of place in her collection, but what really struck me is how many times I have probably written such little things and thought they didn’t particularly care. I’m the sort of person who thinks Birthday cards are a waste of money 😬. 

This has taught me that those little things do really matter to her, and I will make an extra effort in that regard in future. 🥰

Sun_Addict

Aw that’s so sweet. 

dawnybabes

Aww that’s lovely x

Cherryfudge

That's really lovely. 

EatingBeans

Busy day at work today. Never good when you end the day with more on your to do list than you started with and the number one on your list when you started the day is still on the list! 🤦‍♀️
By lunchtime my head was killing me, and by the end of the day I desperately needed a walk regardless of how cold it was. 

So, after much wrapping up of my face, I dug the dog leads out (making for some VERY excited dogs!) and out the pups and I went to the park. I’ve only ever taken them out one at a time before now as it is easier to train individually, but I figured they we both probably feeling as desperate for a walk as I felt, and I knew my face needed me out for as little time as possible, so I braved it. Now, they both do technically know how to heel, but walking together for the first time, especially when they haven’t been out for a while, required them both to learn how to walk together and not drag me down the street at the same time. It was fun! With a lot of stopping and starting, a few amused comments from random strangers 🤣, and a lot of treats for anything even half resembling what good looks like, we finally made it to the park. Once we got past the leisure centre (and the millions of people that entails), I was delighted to find an empty bit of park to let them off. Zoomies doesn’t really do it justice! I have to admit I was slightly nervous about letting them off, as whilst again, they both do normally recall pretty smartly, I wasn’t entirely convinced that wasn’t going to go out of the window with the pair of them running off together. Much to my relief, when I turned around to find a tiny 3-4yr old being pushed along on a bike not very far behind us, I was able to get big dog to stop dead in his tracks and come bounding back, little sister in tow. Phew. Whilst neither has ever even come close to knocking a child over (in fact  big dog seems to always end up being approached by random children who want to stroke and hug him and he just stands still to oblige them!), I always worry that if they ever run at a child they might terrify them even if they don’t knock them over. I am sure some people would say just don’t ever let them off lead then but to me that would be cruel. Big dogs need the freedom to run imo. 

Anyway, an hour and a half later, we finally made it home again. We have at least all seem to have come to an agreement that heel means both dogs walk on my left, and big dog is on the outside. I call that a success for the first time out together. 😁 

EatingBeans

Woke up this morning to a very sore face (unsurprising after yesterday’s excursion), and also my latest Barclaycard statement. Gulp. 🫣

The good news is, the overall balance is going down with the extra payments I have been making, the bad news is, the ends of the 0% deals start to kick in from 1st April and the interest payable is about to rocket. It was a grim reminder of my financial situation. 

Time for coffee and breakfast me thinks!

Spendywendywoo

@EatingBeans, I hope you are ok and your face pain reduces swiftly. 

Great news re the overpayments, you've made significant progress so far this year - please don't lose sight of that. 

I've just caught up on your last few posts this morning and wonder if it is time for a job evaluation at work... if you are doing the work anyway then you should certainly get the payment for it, which will then help towards paying down the debt? Just thinking out loud with my previous work hat on x

joedenise

@EatingBeans - have you been offered any new 0% deals with cards you already have?  Is it worth using the Elegibility Calculator to see if you are likely to be offered a 0% deal with another provider.  I know you'd probably need to pay 3-5% to move to another provider but surely cheaper than keeping the current card.

Cherryfudge

Not the best start to the day, and I hope your face forgives you for going out (which by the sound of it benefitted both you and the dogs).

Another piece of good news is that there are still a couple of weeks to chip away at Barclaycard and further reduce the balance. It all helps! Will that one then be your highest rate of interest, and if so, are you going to shuffle your priorities?

Wendy has a good point (above). Even when you're happy with a workplace, they aren't treating you properly if they allow you to work above your paygrade without remuneration (been there, done that). A possible approach might be what my husband calls a 'praise sandwich'. 'I enjoy working here and appreciate the opportunities I've been given to extend my skills. However, I was thinking about what I do and really it's no different from X and Y who are on scale Z above me. I feel I've effectively been doing their role for the last few months. I'm hoping the company can see their way to evaluating my work with a view to transferring me to Z, which is after all, what I've been doing. And as I say, I really enjoy my work here." You'd have to polish that, obviously, but they are asking a lot of you and seem to be hoping you've not noticed.

EatingBeans

Thanks everyone. 

Sad to report that my face is absolutely not forgiving me yet and I am also feeling extremely tired from the medication today. I got a little giggle and a reassuring ‘there, there, it will be ok’ pat from dd2 this morning at my attempt to speak in sentences. I know what I want to say, but my mouth says something else. It made for an interesting first meeting of the day but hey, more coffee has been made!

It is going to be another super busy day today but at least I have a lunch catch up with work bestie over Teams to look forward to. 😁

Regrading just does not happen at my workplace unfortunately. If you want promotion, you have to apply for it, and for that to happen there has to be a job to apply for. As it happens a role has opened up as a Business Analyst. It is the grade above the one I am currently on and I could do the job, so I should go for it, but I am in two minds because, 1, I have been a Business Analyst before and downright hated it, and 2, because I know that team has a history of people not lasting long, some people in it I actively don’t like and I know that vacancy is only there because someone resigned with immediate effect. Not exactly inspiring me to want to go for it. But, I do need the money. 🤔

Debt wise, I am 100% sure I won’t be getting any 0% offers to save me from the April hit in interest. My central aim is to bring the Barclaycard down as much as I can in the hope that triggers them to offer me another deal. I believe that is the most likely way out of this mess. Current balance is ~£7700 and over the next few months most of that will go from 0% to ~25% bringing it roughly in line with the interest rate on my NatWest. It won’t change my plan, it will just make it more difficult to achieve. Not impossible, just more of a challenge. 

I’m not giving up yet!