Was made redundant in February. Went from £100K a year to £63.10 a week. No wages until August when I got my first money from this job (30 day work before 1st invoice, 30 more days to pay). Serious financial sacrifices in between times.

Now getting paid a reasonable amount for a job I hate. Feel totally professionally compromised by the company I am working for and the people who are supposed to support me.

Normally I would not accept this situation and would walk, get another job in the next month or so and all would be well but…

We transferred the last of our savings into the bank last month and have nothing to spare. Putting on the BBB meant I had to take unpaid days off work which cost me about £2K. Not sure if wife would tolerate me flouncing out of a job just because I hated it*.

Anyone been in similar situation? I like my comfortable life style so please don't say 'Give it up and become a sheep farmer'. Any MTFU or sensible suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Nick

*My wife would actually support what ever I did but that doesn't make it any easier, it just makes her more wonderful

life's too short. Find something you enjoy, but maybe keep this job while you look, rather than walk.

diddums

To me nothings worth a job you hate. However putting up with it for a short time while you find something else might be worth it but only a short time. Are you just fed up with it or do you really hate it?

Moneys worth Jack shit if you are miserable tho

Have to sign up soon for another six months. Either walk before without a place to go or put up with another 6 months.

Didums? Up Yours, I worked fekin hard to get here. enjoy your 63.10 if that's what you think your worth and are happy with it.

Nothing particularly useful to say, apart from sometimes you just have to put up with doing a job you don't especially like. Most days I don't get much satisfaction from my job, although some days I do, but it keeps a roof over our heads, clothes and feeds the kids, and I the only way I can be made redundant is if I do something stupid. I console myself with the knowledge that I can retire at 50, when my kids will all be grown up and I can do something completely different for the next 10 years until my wife retires as well!

Just suck it up till you find something a job you like. You put on the BBB and bring a lot of joy to a lot of people, but are contemplating making things harder for your nearest and dearest as you 'hate' your job, seems a bit confused. I was always brought up to believe it's easier to get work when you are in work, so lump the current job, and focus on the good stuff (like the BBB and wife) and keep looking for something new, and good luck in finding it 🙂

money can't make you happy but lack of it can be a right pisser

if you've already spent your savings, I suppose it comes down to the state of the job market in your line of work

Get a job you enjoy doing and adapt your lifestyle accordingly. You spend a third of your day doing work, maybe another few hours thinking about and in my case, more time working than I have spare time. If you end up being good at it you should hopefully rise to the top and get paid more.

So you've been earning 100k a year and not managed to put more than 4 months overheads away in savings. Bloody hell I'd love to have lived your lifestyle. Well I went from earning half that to bugger all then had six months out of work before finding a job which meant moving my family from a part of the country they loved to one they hate so the tears are not exactly running down my cheeks for you. I don't really care what you do just get on with it and stop moaning on here.

why do you have to commit for 6 months? Seems rather odd

uponthedowns – not moaning, just bored and a little beered at gone midnight in a hotel in Switzerland, missing my wife. The numbers are really not important I assure you that you live at: Salary * X

X can be 0.85 if you save 15% or X can be 1.15 if your over spend. The only difference is that when salary is big your fixed costs tend to be larger (house, car etc) and if big salary disappers your fixed costs soon eat your savings.

I am truely sorry for you and your family having to move, we were just 30 days from the same situation. Forget the headline figures, broke is broke

Pity pre-hacked STW is no longer with us. I seem to recall exactly the same alcohol-fuelled melancholy from foreign hotel rooms in your previous job. Based on that, I'd suggest that little has actually changed and that if you could put up with it before, then you can again. No one said you had to enjoy your job, it's a question of using it as a way of earning enough money to have a satisfactory way-of-life.

WCA you might have to MTFU and bite it for a bit untill things look up, or you can get a new position- 6 months isnt that long really? If you commit surely you can get out if it if something else comes along?
Chin up fella!

No one said you had to enjoy your job, it's a question of using it as a way of earning enough money to have a satisfactory way-of-life.

Yes work is something you do in order to afford a life.

WCA sorry I had a go at you but, given my experience, I get touchy about this sort of thing. OK you've had a bad experience but you're back in work and have the option to take your time to find something you really want to do. Try planning what its going to be. Having a goal and taking control like that will release a lot of stress. Its not much comfort but there are people worse off than you, like my mate who's an experienced electronics engineer and has been out of work since January

We're working out a way of moving back up north when the kids have finished school having that light at the end of the tunnel really helps.

Stay with the job while looking for a better ones and sometimes boring or stupid job means there will be opportunity to do well.

Things can be shite at times and money can only buy happiness momentarily as you have clearly experienced. High income means high expenses simple.

Keep your life simple and you will be happy.

Work does not need to be interesting but it helps and the way to go about it is not too get too personal about your work after all it's just work.

suck it up for another 6 months, assure you ay the mortgage, and do what you need to so that in 5 months time you can give your notice and move on.

I've walked away with nothing to go to and been in limbo for several months – no more fun than a crap job you dislike, but your not at least getting paid to be in said situation!

I've done great, fun jobs but had to live hand to mouth – after a while not being able to do squat outside of work isn't worth the fun of the the job you like.

I'm now in middle ground – earn enough, although nothing even getting close to great, but it's more or less flexi time, not too stressful for more than a short period when at our absolute busiest (15hr+ days etc)and get on with everyone I work with; I don't dread coming, but then I don't get excited about it either.

For me the balance is right – earn enough to have toys and do things in my time of and can switch off at 5pm Friday and not have to worry about things. I also have enough of my own time to enjoy it rather than just recover from work!

I thought you worked for yourself these days?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-have-left-the-stw-jobless-club

Do you not like your boss?

I've walked away with nothing to go to and been in limbo for several months – no more fun than a crap job you dislike

I'd strongly disagree with that. I've done it twice. I had no fixed costs, stuff went into storage at a friends. First time I went Egypt for 5 months and lived off a couple of grand savings. Came back with nothing and rejoined the rat race. Second time more or less the same thing in South Africa (although less time). Had a great time.

I accept the op is not in that position and the economy has changed a little, now.

MTFU and do it for the money….but buy yourself an X6 to help out though pain.
🙂

Change the overheads, with agreement from your domestic management, and switch to a fun job. Work out what you need to survive at the lower overhead and try to do a job that pays that much in the minimum attendance time. (I think I have just found my one of these).

I'm stuck in a job I dont particularly like any more, surrounded by far too many inexperienced people, feeling unsafe a lot of the time, and to top it all, having to be 'managed' by a bell end with far less experience than myself. I earn around 32 grand a year (which I'd thought was a decent salary until I saw some of the figures on here). The way I get through it is by separating or compartmentalising my work / home life – as long as I am able to contribute towards the mortgage and everything else, then my job is just a job. No, its not ideal, but sadly, we dont live in a perfect world, but I'm still able to spend time with my family, and that (for me at least) is what really matters. I suppose what I'm trying to say, in a gentle way, is MTFU and try to focus on whats really important to you.

Six months isn't too bad and it sounds like your last period out of work got pretty stressful, so I'd stay in the job, save as much as possible in that time and look for something better.

Dont leave without something to go to IMO. Try going for the odd job you like the look of even if you think you don't have a hope in hell, if things click you may get it or hear of other opportunities…

Failing that:-
Try to scive as much as you can so you feel you're not losing out or being taken the Pee out of.
Take a loan out and buy a BMW X6.

Happiness is always the way to go. If you're not happy ditch it and find something else.

Long shot, you could talk to your boss tell him what's wrong (i.e. why he's a bellend and Peeing you off) and how to make thing better and put a 'the company will benefit' slant on the way say it.

[EDIT] This is not recommended except as a last ditch effort to save the job or sanity. See Below!

My thoughts FWIW:

1. Keep your job – it keeps the money coming in at least
2. Write down a list of 10 things that make you happy. Do them regularly to keep your spirits up.
3. Remember the positive points to your situation: I'm trying to change career too but I stick a job I dislike cos it means I can go riding whenever I want and when something needs replacing or a trip somewhere distant gets organised, I can do it without having to worry about the cash
4. Consider a career coach if you need help finding a job you really want to do
5. Get this from Amazon HowToFindAJobYouLove

I am in a not dissimilar position Nick, and your post about fixed overheads rings very true. Personally, I am pretty sure that it is my responsibility not to suddenly slash my earnings on a whim because it might make me "happier" to do a different job. I reckon it's fine to work towards that, but it seems to me to be asking a lot of one's wife to just announce that you're making a big change and their support for this decision is required. 🙂

Dobbo – I've already dropped a bollock by trying that one, and now have someting of a reputation for being 'aggressively assertive'. It doesnt help that he is an old friend of one of the medical directors (I didnt think that one through, obviously). For the moment, I'm putting up with things because I have financial commitments, but luckily, I have an interview for another job coming up. Sometimes, as I tried saying earlier, you just have to suck it up until something better comes along.

barnsleymitch post edited!

What? Sorry, I'm not that familiar with forum etiquette, what does 'post edited' mean?

mehhhh………..

I out-earn my parents, and I'm only 23! Am I happy? Sometimes.

On the other hand my dad sits there watching the callender tick over hopeing they don't close his pension scheme before his retirement date, although he's in a job you'd do for the love not the money.

Finding it hard to have sympathy too, I have 2 kids and am currently in a pool at risk of redundancy, fortunatly I saved around 45% of my NET income this year with this eventuality in mind, with my savings and my redundancy we could live for a good couple of years before I needed to get another job

my philosophy is balance.

Life isnt happier with money but it is more comfortable. Life without can be pants but happy. Find the balance between the two.

What? Sorry, I'm not that familiar with forum etiquette, what does 'post edited' mean?

I changed the post you commented on, I added a get out clause!

Sounds sensible to me to keep the money rolling in and look hard for something that you would like, 6 months is not so long. I think the important thing in these sort of situations is to make sure that you are doing things on your terms, and not to feel that this is something that is being "done" to you. So if you frame it as: ok I am going to work at this dumbass job for the next 6 months, save as much money as I can during that time, work like a b@stard trying to find something better, then you have control of the situation. Put down the date you intend to leave on the calendar, count down the days, go through the day knowing that you will be leaving this at some time. Sitting about mooching is not going to make you feel better

Money or Happiness? implies that you will be happy if you left this job. However, if that means you will be sitting around at home, or online searching for jobs, I've found it can lead to a drone-like existence that is far from happy. I would take the new 6 month contract and try to look for new jobs in the meantime.
Good luck.

Have you tried talking to your wife about it?

isn't there an old Chinese proverb that says "find a job you enjoy and you never have to go to work"

i've left more jobs than i've had long term jobs. admittedly i was/am young and they weren't career jobs. but one big thing for me is that i'm able to have fun. lack of fun being the reason i left my last, relatively well paid job.

i'm now a semi self-employed English teacher and struggling now more than i was in the UK as a self-employed carpenter toward the end of 2008 with the death of the building trade. too much competition and the old adage, 'no experience', being barriers to my earning.

if i had proper responsibilities other than making sure i had fun then i'd have stuck with the carpentry here in Germany. "Zuerst kommt der Arbeit, danach die Vernugung" or "First comes work, then 'fun'". doesn't work for me.

happiness is a much more important thing for than money, but money certainly helps in the pursuit of happiness.

WCA, i don't think your position is as bad as some on here. you have a big flashy car you aquired through blackmail (as you led us to believe) as well as a little sports motor. either one of those you could sell. you live in a 'posh' part of the country where house prices are still good. sell the house, downsize or move away from the area.

you're still earning. you've still got roughly the same outgoings as one year ago. maybe find a balance somewhere there.

good luck.

Why not move to a smaller house, get an older car and try being happy from within, money does not make you happy it only keeps the wolves from the door and helps to keep you up with mr & mrs jones, If your mrs is the true angel you make out, talking to her should be easy, why would she want you to be unhappy,make changes in your life but slow it down don't just walk out, do a 5 year plan, down scale the house and save your way out,I've been there and lost everything to the now ex-wife and guess what what, it's not the Italian bespoke leather sofa that I waited 8 months to be made that I miss, it's my kids that she took away that gets to me, so don't make any moves with too much haste. GOOD LUCK