What are you still winging in life?

[HannahTheBanana]

You know those things that seem to come naturally to other adults, but you’re still winging it? For me, it’s meal planning. I try, I fail, I panic-buy random stuff and end up with nothing for an actual meal.

A friend of mine says hers is understanding her energy bill — she just pays it and hopes for the best 😅

What’s yours? Anything from parenting, house stuff, work, money, social life… I feel like we’re all pretending a bit.

Pretending like I relate to your post like a normal person

All of it

Everything!

Housework. I generally avoid it as much as possible, but have a huge clean-up if someone is due to visit me!

Erm life in general really, just winging it all right now

But like you I can't meal plan, hopeless at it and usually end up with eggs on toast (if I've remembered to buy them 😅)

absolutely money management. every month on pay day i get school-girl excited at having so much money in my bank account, go nuts on Vinted, and then cry for 3 weeks that i have no money and genuinely don’t understand. then i have to ‘wing it’ to the end of the month, before the whole thing repeats itself…. one day i will learn…..

Parenting in general but more specifically parenting the dc through their secondary schooling. I find it intense and sometimes overwhelming and feel like I should be more on top of what they should be doing and by when. I wing it and do my best but it wouldn't take much at all for the wheels to come off.

Work- my level of seniority makes people think I'll have the answer for all sorts of conundrums and situations. I don't. I just have feelings about what I think might be the best thing to do and don't mind risking being wrong. I often feel my more junior members of the team would be horrified to know this!

Yep, putting off bills because I don’t understand them sounds like me. That’s why I have a folder full of helpful apps to help me keep on top of things and save a bit of money at the same time – Loop for my energy bills, Olio for food discounts, Airtime rewards to earn credit on my phone bill. It makes me feel like I have my life somewhat together!

Cleaning. There are all sorts of things I have no idea about how/when to clean them and so just ignore it. I'm genuinely surprised to hear that people clean light switches, or skirting boards for example, and wonder how they find time.

If I manage to shove a hoover round and clean the loo I feel I'm doing ok. I don't have any kind of schedule or real clue about how to run a house (despite having done so for 50 years now). No one ever showed me how, and I've winged it since leaving home in my teens.

Cleaning and keeping house. No idea. I totally blag it by ignoring it and then panic cleaning. I grew up in a cluttered house, hated it, was determined I wasn't going to be like that. I'm now exactly like that and hate it.

I've managed to learn money management. Cooking comes easily so that side is under control.

I once flat shared with someone who knew how to keep a nice clean and tidy home. I thought I'd learn by osmosis, totally didn't.

Literally no idea how the heating/hot water in my house works and no interest in learning. I just turn the whole thing completely on or completely off as and when I need it.

Yeah same as above I have no idea how anything in the house works, the boiler is a complete mystery to me, I just nod when my DH talks to me about it, but I have no idea what he is talking about....same with the plumbing...and the car....

Everything

DS winged his master's by the skin of his teeth

Financial modelling, which is sort of part of my job. I leave it to the junior people in the team but I'm supposed to know how really.

And parenting, totally winging that one.

Pretending that I can use technology effortlessly. It’s an ongoing source of stress…

The plugs wires and connections around the house, the various tv remote controls and how they relate to each other. I know how to work everything but if something goes wrong I have no idea what is what.

My payslip. I get paid by the hour so it differs every month. I should pay attention but I get so confused about how the calculate it and tax etc that I give up and just have faith in the payroll people. If ive done a few extra hours on a particular month i note i get a bit more, that's the extent of monitoring it. I clock in and out so they have more info than I have.

Work mainly. Particulary managing people. A comment I've had a few times at work is 'you always have a sensible solution' and I'm never sure what to make of that.

Financial competence. Pensions, different mortgage products etc, I either don’t quite get it or can’t quite motivate myself enough to care. I’m a pretty numerate person so it’s not the maths part, money talk just turns me off. I’m not a big spender and we’re comfortable enough financially so it’s never really been an issue (yet!).

Building DCFs

Everything 😂

Driving somewhere new. I’m a decent driver but have no sense of direction so if it’s not correct on Google maps I’m stuffed. I just plug in the destination and hope for the best.

Anything financial. I’m actually quite smart but with financial things I’m really clinging on by my fingernails. It’s not that I don’t understand, I’m just too busy and tired to keep on top of them. Unfortunately this has already had some catastrophic consequences.