Teetering on the brink

Sun_Addict

I’m glad you’re back on it and feeling well enough to start thinking of going back to work. You have a lovely relationship with your DDs and it’s a wonderful idea to make the most of your time together rather than not doing anything because you’re paying off debt. Could you come to a compromise whereby you’re still paying something off debt but leaving some fun money to make memories. When I was paying off debt we still went on holidays and I’m so glad we did as you never know what’s around the corner. It took a little longer to get debt free but it didn’t seem like such a slog. 

ellenvan

Ooh I have just noticed you are back posting.
Lovely that you still have girls that want to go camping with you.
Well done on not just giving up on debt busting.
Prep is the key when you are well enough.
So when you are not, you can just go to the freezer.
Well done also for resisting takeaway please.
Think of the life lessons for the daughters too.

EatingBeans

Well, Friday didn’t end with great news as I had an appointment with a new GP and he suggested going back to work even for a gradual return was a bad idea and signed me off for another four weeks. 😕 He seemed really interested in getting to the bottom of it though so I think I will go back to him in future. Not going to lie, I am more than a little concerned about the work situation now, but I won’t know what they think about it all until Monday. At least they are doing more tests now rather than just writing me off. 

I’ve been really good spending wise over the weekend, resisting all temptations to spend! It’s been a bit of a sleepy couple of days but the dogs have been happy to just rotate through different sleeping positions so I don’t feel too bad about it. They are so amenable bless them. 

My task for today is to come up with a plan for the week so I don’t just end up staying in bed all day through boredom. I may not be able to work yet but just drifting for four more weeks doesn’t seem like it would be good for my mental health. Routine is needed, even if that is just to get dressed and spend time listing on ebay! 

Sun_Addict

I hope work will be considerate bearing in mind the doctor doesn’t think you’re ready to go back yet. 

SuzeQStan

Hey EB I think you’re right - getting up dressed making sure you get the nutrition fluids you need to aid your recovery and establish routine will go a long way to helping you gain a bit more confidence in what you can do.  

Couple decades ago I was ill and couldn’t work for several months. It took the medics ages to work out what was up with me (early menopause) but the symptoms (constant dizziness no matter whether I was stood up/lay down.) saw my gp tell me she thought I could have lesions on my brain at issue. (!!)

Anyway - after several months of being off work I’d completely lost my confidence in my ability to work but workplace (nhs) helped me with a raised work station for my PC and notebook stand (was a long time ago haha) so I didn’t have to move my head as much.  And After a couple of weeks I felt a lot better and quite proud I made it back into work.

Little and often seems to be the key - we rooting for you - 

Cherryfudge

If the GP is saying to stay off, then treat that as a prescription to do a little something, often, to build your health back up. It looks as though we may be headed for warmer weather so perhaps you will be able to get out of doors a bit without causing pain? But rest is probably important, too, and healthy food, and hydration and... well you know all this! 

I hope the conversation with work has gone well?

EatingBeans

Well, the conversation with work was short and sweet - “Bad news, the GP has signed me off for another 4 weeks”, “ok, please send me a copy of the doctor’s note.” End of conversation. 😕 I’m trying not to stress over work as I know my line manager is really supportive and will fight for me, it is the three levels of managers above him that I am concerned about as me being off directly gives them more work and I am pretty sure they are cursing me something rotten about now. 😬

In the meantime, I got up this morning, reconciled my accounts and since the weather is lovely, I decided today I would focus on building a couple of arches for the garden. They aren’t difficult to build as they are only little rods of metal that you have to screw together but even sitting down to do it I still found it hard work. That said, they are now up so I call that a success! I already have three of the arches making a tunnel shape so one of the newly build ones went on the end to extend the tunnel and the other framed the entrance to my ‘tropical’ garden area. Despite being really cheap and cheerful, they really help add a bit of structure to the garden so I am glad I finally put them up. Much better than still sitting in boxes which is where they have been for over a year! 🤦‍♀️ I am tired now and have had to stop but next job will be to move the plants that I bought to grow up them and it will look lovely. 😁 And best of all, I didn’t have to buy anything! 

EatingBeans

Having skimmed over Martin’s messaging about potentially saving money on Council Tax several times over the past few months, I finally decided to read a bit further. I wasn’t expecting to find anything where I could save money as I already have the 25% discount but then I thought I would check my band. Tell me why I live in a 1900 mid-terrace and every other house in the terrace is a band A whereas my house is a band B?! They are all identical houses and yet I am the only one paying more! Even the end terrace next door, which if anything should be valued more because it doesn’t have a right of way through the garden and has a massive conservatory on it, is still classed as a band A! I did the next steps Martin suggested to calculate the house value in 1991 and if I use the price I paid when I bought the house then it says it is just into band B (I know I overpaid, but the competition for houses at the time was extremely fierce and it was literally the week of Liz’s budget). I also checked based on the sale price from the previous time my house was sold then the calculator puts it into band A. Since I have lived in the house for longer than six months I can only request an informal review but I am in two minds if I should request it anyway? I know Martin says they could potentially put the other houses up rather than mine down but I am still tempted to ask because it just doesn’t feel very fair for the rest of the terrace to pay less when it is obvious none of them are short of cash, unlike me (does that make me a bad neighbour? 🤔😬). Bizarrely, the next terrace along they are all banded at a band B, then the next one they are band A! They are virtually identical houses, albeit the band B houses are fractionally closer to town and the band A terrace after is closer to town still but has smaller front gardens. 

Anyone been through the process of requesting a review? Do you know if people would know it was down to me if the rest of the terrace got rebanded to a B? I’d like to save money but don’t want a bunch of angry neighbours on my doorstep! 🤣

satchmo1

I challenged the banding of our previous house and got it down from E to D in line with neighbouring houses - however, I'm sorry I can't remember the process as that was about 15 years ago. I got quite a substantial reimbursement.

Sun_Addict

Surely you should be band A in a terraced house, especially if all the others in the row are. Sounds like it’s your house that should go down a band rather than the others go up. It’s definitely worth looking into. 

On the work front, you can’t help being signed off work due to incapacity so your manager’s managers should support him.