Stocked
Posted: Sat 9 August, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Cynicism, Domestic, Introspective, Thoughts | 1 Comment »Since the bankruptcy – and to a slightly lesser degree beforehand – I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to stockpile things a little bit. Nothing hoarder-esque or anything, but just as a backup, a “just in case”.
I’ve noticed that I now tend to have that backup as being roughly a month’s worth of whatever.
For example,
- I could get by for a month on the food I have in cupboards, freezer etc. without needing to shop.
- I could manage on savings (already) for a month or so if jobs were to go tits-up. That’s bills and the domestic stuff – petrol would be slightly more of an issue, but only slightly.
It’s not an obsession, or even obsessive behaviour – it’s an awareness of what can happen, and protecting against it.
Just an odd thing I’ve noticed myself doing more.
Location Fixation – Additional
Posted: Mon 19 May, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances | Leave a comment »Following on from the post about Location, and deciding to stay here for another 18 months, something else occurred to me – and it’s something good.
If I’ve lived here for more than three years, it’ll immensely simplify any credit applications I make – and that’ll be useful when it comes to rebuilding the credit history and so on.
As it is, things are going well on that front, and all is good. The score is infinitely better than it could be – mainly due to maintaining all the payments on all bills and so on, with no issues therein.
But being able to show a bit of locational stability for a while will be no bad thing either.
Anyway, it’s just another point that adds to the reasoning.
Location Fixation
Posted: Fri 16 May, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2013/14, Bankruptcy, Change, Commuting, Depression, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Housing, Own Business, Project 42, Thoughts, Time, Work-related | Leave a comment »Over the last couple of months, I’ve been thinking a lot about location – where I live, where I work, where I want to live, all that. I’ve been in the current house for two years now, and I know I’m getting a bit twitchy.
The current tenancy doesn’t expire ’til November though – due to an initial six-month one, followed by 12-month ones. As a result, I’ve had plenty of time to think about it, look at the pros and cons, and – I think – I’ve now pretty much made a decision.
As has been noted on many occasions, I’m not all that good with permanence – I like change, embrace it even. It suits me. So two years in the same place is enough to make me twitchy, to start to feel that itch in the back of my skull.
It’s not too bad at the moment though. I’ve certainly had it far, far worse than this. If I were still in the same job as well, the options would be different – I’d be needing to move on in both cases. As it is, I’ve been back on the contracting since July, and it’s kept things decently varied – which means the house side of things can relax a wee bit.
There are places I’d like to move to, some new locations and some old. (Or at least close enough to qualify as revisits) They’re more about reflecting how much life has changed in the last few years, most particularly the ability to drive, which opens up whole new vistas.
For example, I’d like to go back to the North-West, live around the Peak district somewhere. I wouldn’t live in Manchester itself again, but there’s loads of places around it that I really like. It’s still a front-runner when the move does happen. The same applies for the South Coast, and Dorset in particular. It’s an area I love, but didn’t really get to appreciate as much as I could’ve done, because I didn’t drive. So yes, that’s also a front-runner.
There’s other places too. A revisit to Bath and/or Bristol wouldn’t be out of the question – particularly when not combined with an insane commute, ideally – and there’s new locations too. I’d consider most places, but Nottingham and Derby have always been good to me, and there’s a whole heap of other places. (Plus a long-standing idea to sod off to somewhere like Cork)
However, right now there’s also a bigger plan in place. Rebuilding after the bankruptcy, seeing what comes next, as well as looking at work and finances and what the hell I want to do/be when I grow up. There’s ideas on that score, but I need to have the time and inclination to do something about them. Time I’ve got. Inclination? Less so, right now. But that’s a post for another day.
I could move, sure. But practicality-wise, where I am right now is pretty much perfect for me right now. It’s not a long-term location, but for now it’s good. I’ve got all the transport links I need – my commuting radius for work covers an insane amount of miles. It makes my contractor life a lot easier. Location isn’t in many (if any) of those calculations I have to do. For me, right now, that’s an important factor, and outweighs pretty much everything else.
Financially, it’s easy. If I move North then the odds are that my rent would drop. But for where I am, for what I’ve got right now, I couldn’t do much better. I’d like some extra space, an extra room or two – but it’s not something that’s necessary right now either.
All told, while I would kind-of like to move, I don’t need to move. And staying put has its advantages too – location, money, blah blah.
That means that – in the lack of a good reason for moving other than “But I want to” – I’ve decided I’m going to plan to stay where I am for the next eighteen months. The six months from now for the current tenancy, and then extend it by another twelve.
Of course, the landlord might decide to sell up or something, or work may throw up something that makes me have to move. Neither option is likely, but they could happen. But short of those kind of eventualities, I’m going to face up to things, and not move.
By that time – November 2015 – I’ll have been in this place for three and a half years. Then I think it’ll be time to move on – or at least move up. If my work is still keeping me based in a way that the current location is still OK then I’ll just look at moving to a bigger place locally. If things change or work isn’t a limitation (I can work from pretty much anywhere, after all) then it might be a big location change too. We’ll see.
Getting Through
Posted: Mon 21 April, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2013/14, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Project 42, Work-related | 2 Comments »While the last eight weeks have been pretty tight (as written about earlier this week) with the weird and slow pay structures of the agency behind my current contract – well, current for this week, but thank God, it’ll then be over – it also has been (yet another) illustration of how far things have come. As if I needed it.
Two years ago, this whole thing would’ve been a nightmare, and would’ve left me deeply in the shit.
Now, it’s been OK. It’s been tight, I’ve had to move some things around, and make some arrangements – but it’s been OK. Some of that has been because of being able to invoice some other clients and have smaller amounts of money coming in from other sources. Of course, at the moment I have no other safety cushion – no overdraft, minimal savings to speak of (although both of those will be changing) – but it makes things a bit shakier than I’d like. Not as shaky as they have been in the past by any means, but I’ll be happier this year to put some fiscal cushions in place as well.
Until then, obviously I’ll be happy just to actually get paid, and have money in my account again, but it’s another thing I’ve managed to get through. And really, that’s no bad thing.
Moments That Mattered in 2013
Posted: Tue 4 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Work-related | Leave a comment »[This is being done in response to Lori’s Prize Draw]
In a number of ways, 2013 was a funny old year. There were a couple of important moments – allbeit nothing life-altering – that had knock-on effects that’ll continue to reverberate into 2014 and beyond.
The important moment (for me) was back on 9th August, which was the day I was discharged from my bankruptcy that I’d declared a year previously. While the discharging of it wasn’t life-changing per se, the actual process of bankruptcy certainly was. There’s still another four-and-a-bit years of it sitting on my credit record, but compared to how life was heading pre-declaring, it’s a very different vista these days. Getting the full bankruptcy discharge was the first really significant milestone along that path back (I refuse to use that reality-TV-tastic “journey”, because my friends will punch me in the throat if I do) and had a feeling of “OK, I’ve done that, got through it, what’s next?” that I’d been missing for a long time.
The second moment (somewhat linked) was being made redundant from the job I’d had throughout the redundancy period (and a bit before) in mid-July. The timing was beautiful – the money I got as a redundancy payment came into my account on 11th August, just two days after the point where I’d have lost it.
I’d kept a permanent job throughout that period, as I wanted to have something stable while everything else was in flux. (To put it politely) It fulfilled those requirements just fine, but the redundancy announcement – regardless of how shabbily the entire process was handled – was a joy, a release of the shackles I’d been feeling.
With the two combined, it meant that once I’d been made redundant, I took a week off, which was much-needed. I took some time, but sent out some CVs at the same time, so I was ready for August. I was going back to contracting (my preferred workstyle) and sent out a few CVs. I landed an interview for the Tuesday of the second week, which went well enough that they asked if I was free to stay after the interview, and work that afternoon. (I could, and did)
July and August 2013 reinforced in me the knowledge, the surety, that I could get through, that whatever life threw at me I’d come through it and be fine. I was unemployed for exactly six and a half days, and by the end of my first week at that first contract I was a discharged bankrupt.
It was weird how smoothly everything ran, and how it all clicked together to work to the best advantage. Sure, it was a bit of a stressful month from mid-July to mid-August, but it all worked out, and it left me in a far, far better place than I’d been.
Looking back, that’s the moment (well, month) that mattered the most in 2013…
Taxing
Posted: Tue 28 January, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Bankruptcy, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, HMRC, Work-related | Leave a comment »Last week I got a letter from the taxman (also known as HMRC) regarding taxyear 2012/13. Supposedly I’ve not paid enough tax in that year.
Now that’s pretty impressive. It’s just about the only year in living memory where I was
- Employed – throughout that year – by one company
- On PAYE throughout that year
- Didn’t change any tax-relevant details
- Didn’t have to fill in a tax-return of my own
- Was purely reliant on my employer and HMRC to get my tax correct.
And still it’s fucked up.
Of course, I’m going to have to pay it. I don’t mind paying when it’s part of my earnings (well I do, but that’s a different thing) or if I’d made a mistake in estimating what tax I should be paying. I can live with that – it’s a pain in the tits, but I can understand what I have to pay, and why.
What I really do fucking mind is that I have to pay that tax when it’s been underpaid through no damn fault of my own. My employer of the time won’t be penalised, and won’t have to pay for their cock-up. HMRC won’t pay on it for their cock-up.
For that tax-year, it is ONLY possible that the error can have come from my employer, or HMRC themselves. (Who would only have dealt with my employer – not me directly) But it’s me that’s going to have to pay an extra £50 per month to rectify it next tax year.
Cunts
[Addendum : Because of the bankruptcy, from August of that tax year I shouldn’t have paid tax anyway, it should all go to the Official Receiver until August 2013. So that’s going to be a whole different lump of fun/hassle. I’m waiting for them to sort out this first stage before I then totally confuse things]
One Year On
Posted: Sun 19 January, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Driving, Finances, M1, Work-related | Leave a comment »It’s now roughly a year since my Mondeo killed itself on the outside lane of the M1. It’s pretty scary how time flies sometimes. At the time I was lucky, because despite certain essential bits of the engine having effectively exploded I was able to coast/chug across to the hard shoulder. I suspect that whatever it looked like from outside the car caused some brown trousers on the part of other drivers, but there were no collisions or dangers.
That was really my last “oh shit!” moment when it came to finances. I honestly didn’t know how I could work it out to sort out a replacement vehicle, what the hell I was going to do with Mondeo, or even what I was going to do while waiting for a replacement vehicle. I spent a couple of very cold hours on the hard shoulder of the M1, waiting for the recovery vehicle and trying to work out what I could do next. I was pretty sure that repairing Mondeo was unfeasible – which was confirmed once the recovery people turned up and did their diagnostic tests – so I knew that was likely out.
Fortunately, I got somewhat lucky. Once I got home I was able to get in touch with the people handling my bankruptcy, explain the situation, suggest a plan of action, and within an hour they’d agreed to it, which freed up a certain amount of money. I also organised an advance on my pay with my employer, allowing me to rent a car for two weeks until I got paid. It was a real juggling act, but I got through it.
And in the end I got the Slab, which has so far served me well. I got a good deal on it, although there were some things I didn’t consider at the time- particularly what amount of vehicle tax I’d pay on the thing.
I did OK in the end, and things have continued to improve ever since then. I hope I’ll never be in that situation again, but as with so many things, if it does happen, I know I can handle it again.