Controversial, Also, Tosser Bosses

Here is the promised job #2 update. I think I've said, there is a new Assistant Boss #2, who called and asked when I wished to start my new job in Nowheremäki, which is a one hour round trip and now only a two hour contract. I --- what? 😂 I mean, it was 11 months into my leave before they casually dropped into conversation that I'm not having my old local 7hpw job back. So I had every intention of taking my holiday pay and leaving, but I decided to let him keep talking now about this shitty binfire of a new role, just out of curiosity. And then I decided to tour the site out of curiosity. 

It's semi-rural and quiet, is once a week, can be done at night anytime over the weekend, and should soon rise to 4h or even higher. 💡 So I have decided to actually do the job, since I won't pay any tax or lose any of my benefit (the "perks" of a pathetic income) and I will sneak Little X in with me. I've done it once and I am still on tenterhooks, half expecting the phone to ring at any time with the new Boss telling me I'm sacked. It's just going to take a few weeks before I can semi relax and get on with... Sneaking in to do my job while kiddo sleeps. 😂 I'm reminding myself that she's safely confined to her portacot, and that it's hard for them to fill such a role. 

I'm hoping to take my job #1 accrued holiday pay at 4hpw and that holiday pay will then last a year. 😂 At which point, Little X gets free childcare. 👏 

Investment work is going well. I made £50 yesterday in a couple of hours. I can see it won't be predictable (half of that income was a one-off and I refuse to do the jobs which have any amount of risk). But for now I am sort of enjoying it and every penny is helping.

The local council unexpectedly sent me £50 extra from the Household Support Fund which they had not managed to spend before the deadline. A new round begins shortly so here's hoping it is a decent amount.

I didn't manage to stay off the card I repaid from my advance - I think that's obvious from my last post, and it's not a fail since there wasn't enough liquid money to avoid it. I'm trying hard to use it as little as I can. It's at about £150 of £600. I'm looking forward to having my small salaries trickle in, with the possibility of paying even £10 off it each week. 🙃

Onwards and upwards! I'm afraid to post this entry, however, in case I jinx things and my sneaky job doesn't work out, so I might delay posting it for a bit 😂 

STOP PRESS (while I twitch) I asked the Universal Credit team to help with fuel costs for the job, it's called the Flexible Support Fund and is un-advertised, I found it only by accident on a forum, but you can ask for help from it for a bunch of reasons. Long convoluted appointment done, they didn't know what they were doing and approved it - I've just received £70 towards my travel. Woot!

Musings #37581

Not for the first time, I've been reflecting on how my posts have become infrequent. Part of it is that I'm kinda occupied with a small child, but there would definitely be time for blogging if I made time. It's also an efficiency thing; I'm so used to not spending that my posts would be a series of identical top tips on just leaving your money alone. But there's a third reason and it's a bit disturbing. It's that I am so close to the bone that none of my money-saving habits are a choice or achievement anymore. I've completely exhausted all those tips; I find myself bored in all those money-saving newspaper articles because there just isn't anything left that I can change, to spend less.

I am coming to a crossroads. Little X is ten months old and I've now been off work for a year. That's been 9 months of deficit in my budget, followed by three months of enormous deficit in my budget (survived by a money transfer and freezing some repayments). For the past month or so, every supermarket visit has meant having to check which credit card I had just paid the bill for and so could now fit a £10 spend. It couldn't have continued. It's been like circling the drain. 

It's felt eerie because no matter how tight my budget I have never before been in a position where a necessity can't be bought. But last night the kitchen light blew and I was so, so grateful that there was a spare in the drawer. And as I've used my Healthy Start card to buy fruit and milk for Little X, I've thought, this money is limited to only these items because otherwise some families just couldn't buy them when they needed them. And then I realised that now includes me.

The escape route (going back to work) has felt like a losing choice. Childcare is a nightmare and not free, and working more than 8 hours a week lands me a 55% tax rate (the pound-for-pound deduction from my Universal Credit) plus I'd pay ACTUAL tax, National Insurance and travel expenses. The idea of all that kerfuffle for maybe £2 an hour... It feels like the system is engineered to keep me at home. 

But if you know me at all, you know I'm a problem-solver. It's why I have focussed on the sliver between, that 8 hours of grace. The original plan was taking job #1's saved up holiday pay at 8h per week, which would help me tread water for another six months. But job #2 has been in touch and I am hopeful of a golden goose, working 4h per week with Little X in tow. 🤞 🤞 🤞 This would extend the reprieve to a whole year. I will update as soon as I know. Send good luck vibes. 🤞 🤞 🤞