Thank god we paid the mortgage off

ladybird1106

 My previous diary was pulling my frugal pants on. I decided to start a new diary because, well because our new start that we had planned isn’t going to happen. 
 So dad’s house sale finally went through and we’d decided that we would use my inheritance to offset OH dropping a day at work. Money would be tight but doable. We’ve led a frugal lifestyle before and are happy to continue in this vein. OH arranged to see his boss mid week to discuss this with them. All very exciting, it’s something we’ve dreamed about, finally getting to spend more time together. However, the day before the meeting OH gets a phone call from the big big boss to say you will be getting a email tomorrow about your job being at risk……….!!!!!!. Totally blindsided us. So now OH is having to go through the long process of trying to prove why his job is needed (consultation, but let’s be honest they’ve already decided) and then interview for the 1 post that’s available up against his boss. His redundancy pay is not to be sniffed at but it’s not a huge amount as he’s only been there 4 years ( well by the time it’s all done and dusted). We feel as if the rug has been pulled out from beneath our feet. 

I’m really struggling with it all especially as I’m recovering from flu. 

All I can say is thank god we’d paid the mortgage off. 

So this diary is about what happens next. 

Love 🐞

Brie

Redundancy can bring great new opportunities so don't be too frightened by it (yes I know it's worrying, been there a few times myself).  Hope you can make it work to your advantage.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary. 

Sorry to hear about DH’s redundancy risk. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Oh ladybird how rubbish to have the stress of that hanging over your fam. ☹️ 

Fingers crossed you recover fully from the flu, and then hope everything works out favourably with the at risk process.

Greying X

Cherryfudge

Subscribed, but sorry to hear you are having this to get through. As @Brie says, redundancy (if it comes to it) can bring new opportunities, though it's hard not knowing what those might be. Weren't you considering training for nursing, or did I imagine that?

Anyway, it's good you have sold the house and won't have that hanging over you and also that your youngest has plans to be more independent. Once you know where you stand with your husband's job, try to think of this as new opportunities on the horizon. Yes, we don't know what those will look like but good things can be just around the corner.

I_Love_comps

Sorry to hear about husband's job.  Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

KajiKita

Ugh ..l I came over here to celebrate with you but you are facing tough times again, so sorry …

I’ve been redundant three times and been expensively ejected once! 😉

Some suggestions for your OH:
- list everything he’s doing atm and how he does it, how the task has evolved over time. It’s so much easier to this when in a role, surrounded by it, than after leaving. Use this to update his CV. 
- Tap colleagues up for being referees and get their personal contact details.
- Update all connections, qualifications and relevant roles on LI, send out new connection requests to colleagues. If he hasn’t got an LI profile, create one - many recruiters make that their second stop after receiving your CV or application.
- once (if) he is definitely being made redundant, get his updated CV online especially to CVL1brary for visibility to recruiters. ‘Renew’ that CV on CVL every week so it ends up at the top of the search results for recruiters searching for his skills and experience. Only needs to be very slightly different. I flipped between two CVs that were identical apart from having June or July in the file title 😉
- start tapping up his network now, making them aware that he is facing possible redundancy and asking them if they would they have anything suitable coming up. 
- once made redundant, sign up to the job centre - they are utterly useless but you get your NI stamp paid and some job seekers allowance. It’s a feeble £amount but might as well have it. 

- if it’s been a while since he has been to interviews, have a look at the m0nster job website - they have 100 typical interview questions. Having some sense of what to say to each of those helps build some confidence. 

This ^^ doesn’t guarantee a new job, but does give some sense of control and doing the best you can in a bad situation. I’m sending him every good wish. 

KK

powerspowers

What a stress, hope he lands on his feet x

ladybird1106

Thanks everyone. KK passed your advice onto OH and he sends his thanks. He’s applied for a job that’s fairly local but it’s only part time but see it as getting interview experience. OH is being very laid back about it all. I find this deeply frustrating. He did bring up a valid point. He reckons my worries about money etc come from the fact that when my dad left and my mum had to buy a house, we almost became homeless as she was struggling to get a job ( she’d just qualified as a mental health nurse). I not realised this but he’s right. My caution stems from a deep seated worry of potentially being made homeless.I’ve enquired about a job but due to ongoing caring duties I’m hoping they will be accommodating ( social services), but if you don’t ask….
 So, at weekend we’ve looked at our incoming and outgoings and we can chop certain things, tighten the belt on others and look at alternatives. OH is not happy the wine/ beer shelf won’t be replenished, he does have spirits to go at but he’s not overly keen. He’s been told it’s that or nothing. I’ve set a goal of shaving £100 off our monthly outgoings to start with. Our ethical values around shopping etc have been put on hold. Small shop yesterday came to £35.65 and it included the meat for Christmas which was half price. 

I did manage a trip to the plot yesterday to slowly plant future meals but only managed a couple of hours as ran out of steam. I did manage to harvest stuff for tea and a couple of things for my bestie. 
Love🐞

ladybird1106

Sown future meals ( broad beans, corn salad and garlic chives). Found it very hard to motivate myself this morning. Feel a very negative Nelly at the moment. Stress is making my tinnitus worse. Even the kids screaming in the local school playground isn’t drowning it out today. 

Right deep breath, best head home as the physio is coming to see the youngest 
love 🐞

KajiKita

You're not being a Negative Nelly, you are reacting to a fundamental, foundational piece of your security structure coming under threat. It sounds like your reaction is also partly a traumas response following on from what happened to you and your mum as well. I suspect Mr Ladybird not taking it that seriously (yet) won't be helping either. I hope his relaxed attitude is borne out by the ease of him finding another job ...

Hope youngest's physio session goes well.

KK