To quit my job before I get another?

[whatdoiso]

I have a one year old and work part time. DH is self employed and also works part time. We share child care equally and have DS in nursery 2 days a week. This gives us just enough money to live on (frugally but that's our choice) time with our son and time together at weekends.

I HATE my job. The pay is super crap given the hassle (barely over minimum wage). It's an incredibly negative place to be, extremely chaotic due to shocking management and zero leadership, and is not going to change. It's quite a political organisation. Saying more would be massively outing.

We have had a tough year with serious illness, PTSD, big relocation away from my family and friends... the list goes on. This year I really want to make myself happier and be more positive. I plan to go back to uni in the autumn and work part time doing something low paid but low stress at the same time.

WIBU to quit my hateful job now and find something else during my notice period? I'm quite good at getting jobs. Having time to search and apply when on the merry go round of work, nursery, home with rumbuctious DS is hard and I worry that, once I go back, all this positivity and resolve will evaporate out of me in the face of the barrage of shit I know awaits me.

OP, I was in an office based job that I really hated. I really wanted to leave, but felt trapped..over period of time I started to feel worse and worse, incompetent management leaving me to manage the place when I wasn't qualified etc. I tried to do do what they expected of me. Several years went by in the same routine, crying on the way home from work each night, then the panic attacks started and constant gut churning anxiety whilst I was at work, for the entire shift.

Then I got to realise that I was constantly anxious, this gut churning feeling ..it was NEVER going away. I asked HR for help, complained repeatedly about he bastard manager who was getting paid £65k a year to sit at home.Five years passed like this and I had a breakdown. I literally did not want to live anymore and felt I could not leave as have mortgage to pay. I was struggling and never told anyone the full extent of how miserable I was, although I did complain to some as felt It would be failure

Finally broke down and told OH just HOW bad I felt suicidal and he told met to hand my notice in the next day. I did. Went to the doctors and was signed off with stress for the entirety of my notice period. I never had to step back in that fucking shit hole again

I did get another job - , before my notice period expired - and for the first time ever I went part time. It wasn't 'the perfect job' but it paid my bills until I was able to move on a couple of months later and am now back in full time employment in a far less stressful position than I was originally and funny enough I'm earning more money for doing far far FAR less work

So what I am saying is life is too short to hate what you do.

Worst case scenario, you could always cover yourself by signing on with some agencies that you could go to, should you not get a job (that is what I did anyway)

Double Check that you'll get tax credits with the universal credit changes.

Down, that sounds really tough. Couldn't you have looked for another job before things got so bad for you? 5 years is a long time to be that unhappy.

I have just done this. I hated my job, it was making me unhappy, stressed, tired. It impacted on home life every day and in lots of different ways. I was never seeing my kids (in bed when I got home) and it was putting a lot of pressure on my husband. I have a long notice period so I am not especially worried but I can honestly say I did not feel a single regret. In fact, I wished I had done it sooner. Maybe it will be the best thing I ever did, maybe it will be the worst, but in the meantime I will get to see a lot more of my young children, and that's priceless, really. Life is short.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do x

can you get any part time or agency work so that your CV shows a continual work history?

If so, do it.

Otherwise, I would agree with PPs who say it's easier to find work when you're already in work.

But work up your CV asap and start applying.

Can your husband work full time and you be a SAHM? I'm also wondering whether you automatically get benefits if you choose to quit your job.