AIBU to use inheritance to go part time and avoid burnout?

Sounds sensible. You might find you can cut expenses so you don’t need to eat into your inheritance to support a 4-day week.

I also would have preferred less work than to pay a cleaner, for example, and cleaning is a bit mindless, you get to move etc. I just needed a break from the laptop either way.

I would go part time if it's an option, and I could go back to full-time after. Maybe you will even get a promotion then? Working a full on day and then sitting down for 2-3 hours of lectures is not fun. It makes it so much harder when you are not fresh. Then assignments etc...

And I get when you live alone....it all falls back on you. No one to split the jobs/responsibilities/emotional labour with.

If you have a low interest mortgage...there can be better ways to use your money than pay it off early. Including investing in yourself and your education!

If you dont have any known health concerns or conditions could it be worth seeing your GP? Id think that all should be completely manageable in your situation tbh.

It’s not burnout from homeownership though is it.
It’s feeling overwhelmed at working full time and studying and the house stuff

This especially as you said you don't have family support

As a single home owner you are very vulnerable if you lost your job or were unable to work for a time. Benefits are very low for adults with no children, particularly with a mortgage rather than rent. I would keep the money safe as a ready made emergency fund that could cover you for a year if you lost your job. What great peace of mind that would be.

But if you can’t buy additional holiday I would go for it, having checked what the policy is about being able to go back to full time when you want to do so. You want to be able to give your study enough time and attention, and in the long run it will be worth it.

I took time off to do a full time course for a year - I’m sure some people would have worked part time but it was what I needed and it worked out for the best.

I'd be wary of making a permanent change to your employment contract that would reduce your earnings. Find out if you can buy extra leave, or use unpaid leave, or agree a temporary reduction in hours, until next June and use the inheritance to top up your income where needed.

I went part time at your age for a while because of burn out. I wasn’t doing a course. I worked 3 days a week for a few months, then 4, then back to full time. I am ASD but I didn’t know it then. Do what you need to do.

Do you have any opportunity to buy additional leave? Might be a good compromise and then you can use leave days to have a day off every other week.

Working 4 days plus studying is effectively working full time. Probably more if the studying takes up 2 days. So I think your plan is sensible! It is good to have work-life balance and to have some free time to spend with friends/having fun/relaxing

I don’t think it’s a great idea. Pay for a cleaner and knock a bit of your mortgage. You only have just over a year left.

Op.mahbe take a bit of to ease things but I'd invest that money at least 20 grand into a stocks ISA and then after a while.use it as my capital to skim off it to make life easier.

Wow OP I thought you were going to say you were twice that age.
£35k is not enough money for you to step back at this point in your life.

But honestly, at your age, with no kids, you should be able to knuckle down and juggle it all.
Why should she?

Why wouldn't she? Loads of us managed F/T work, study and home-ownership in our 20s! It's not excessive. Stressful, yes, but not to the extent of burn- out.

£35 k is1 year’s salary and although it might seem like a lot I’d be careful with it.
can you look at making small adjustments to lighten your load rather than going part time

I noticed the OP seems to have posted and not yet returned, so I'll wait for response to some of the questions above before i add to the general chorus.

I received some inheritance. Used it to buy a flat outright with a sitting tennent (my mum previously owned the flat and the tennent has been there for 15 years, never missed a payment and very reliable) and use the income from the rent to top up my salary. I’ve dropped to part time to 60% but still bring in a full time salary. I appreciate you couldn’t buy something outright with 35k but there may be other investment opportunities you could look into to which may generate some income to allow you to go part time. Speak to a financial advisor and see what they say.

I'm 30 and own a home on my own also and can completely relate to feeling burned out and overwhelmed by it all. If I had the opportunity to go to part time, even if it's temporarily id seize it! Managing by yourself with not much family support is hard, everything is so expensive and getting help e.g. tradespeople can be risky.

It depends how much you would lose out on financially, but could you also consider taking some unpaid leave, that would spread the time out more rather than losing pay every week?

I wouldn’t go part time now.

I have been part time since I was 29 (when I went back after mat leave) and my daughter is now 5 and at school. My part time has been 34 hours a week across four days since the start of Jan 22. I’m barely part time but equally there is no way I ever want to work five days a week. It’s so hard to go back once you go PT. I am a single parent and still have a mortgage but maybe have 70% equity in the house and decent savings. I also wouldn’t be cheap to make redundant (part of why I’ve stayed in my sector tbh, and the good pension).

As hard as it is, things could be a lot harder. Don’t blow £35k on subsidising yourself (different if you can afford to go PT and just tighten your belt).

The poster saying you do the same amount of work for less salary is right. I take a 10% salary cut for a ringfenced day off. But that ringfenced day off is worth the trade off for me.

I wouldn't. In my experience work places just give you the same amount of shit to do over 4 days instead of 5 and your workload doesn't decrease but your pay does.

I'd hire a cleaner, gardener and get a meal plan to free up your evenings and weekends. I'd also book a nice holiday for once your course finishes. Of your struggling acupuncture is good for relaxation and stress relief.

I'd pay 25k of the mortgage. I'd keep 5k in savings as an emergency and spend 5 k making my life easier during my study period.

I would. No job, or any amount of money, is worth your mental health. However, I'd have a private pension on the side, just to top it up, as I don't want to be a poor pensioner, if ever I get to retire.

35k isn’t that much overall. Could you not hire a cleaner once a week to take some pressure off?

How much would you need to use? How long would you be at 4 days for? If it means you can get your study done quicker the do it.

I just think it might be a waste of the money.

OP if using the inheritance to go part time gives you a better chance to complete your course I would do that. It’s much harder to re-train once you’re older and hard to switch career ladders so do what you need to do to make it work for you- good luck!