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

[redshirts]

I'm 27, single and own my house (with a mortgage). I work full time and am doing a part time course to retrain. I'm finding keeping on top of all that comes home ownership, a reasonably full on job and studying to be overwhelming at times. I have recently inherited £35k, some of which I will put towards my course fees. WIBU to consider using some of the money to go part time to 4 days per week until my course is finished next June? Or how do I avoid burnout? I don't have a lot of family support unfortunately.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

Yes - that.
Whack a good amount on the mortgage.
Keep an emergency fund in bank.
Roll your sleeves up and get on with full time and extra course. You have no responsibility/health issue and all the other stuff that can come with time.
Buckle down and work. Your future you will be grateful that you did.

How many hours is your FT job and how many hours is your PT studying?

There are FT jobs that are 37 hours a week and there are FT jobs that are 60 hours a week… my view would depend on which sort you have…

I agree
don’t waste it on “going part time”

I agree with this.

Also, be disciplined about how you spend the money. Ie work out exactly how much you're going to be short by, times it by number of months and put that in an instant access account that you can draw from each month. Put the rest in a 12 month saver.

Entirely reasonable in principle though - studying while working is a tough gig and presumably you're spending money on this qualification so you want to do well - more chance of that if you're not snatching at time here and there to get it done. There's no advantage in martyring yourself - even martyrs only get the glory once they're dead.

As someone who struggled hugely with burnout in my 20s due to working 60 hour weeks, and ended up with terrible long term mental health issues which were only properly solved by going part time, I find a lot of the responses on this thread quite insulting.

It doesn't matter what or how much you're doing, it's how you're feeling that matters. If you are struggling and feeling overwhelmed, then do something about it.

I'm not saying part time is necessarily the answer, however the whole 'well I work full time with kids and study and do all the housework no problem and I'm not stressed' can fuck off and gloat their way back to the SAHP bashing threads where they usually dwell and receive their medals along the way.

This. Well said @ChocolateBasket. It's how you feel OP, not the superior beings who are gloating about how much they do.

Oh bog off, you don’t even know what OP is studying.

OP it sounds like a good idea, and I bet whoever you inherited it from would have wanted you to use the money to improve your life, which you would be doing.

What is the course? To be honest £35k isn’t a lot of money in ‘big’ terms. If it was me with no responsibilities I’d save the money for holidays, future plans, paying off mortgage and not just use it for day to day living. But saying that your health is important so if you genuinely feel burnt out use it, you don’t need anyone’s permission.

Why should youth protect someone from burnout? She clearly has a busy high demand job, and studying (and commuting?) on top is taking its toll. Op please ignore these weird judgy (jealous?) comments.

Eh? This is a forum asking for opinions. What makes yours superior to mine?

Rude.

The comments are weird. Sometimes when people are miserable they get satisfaction from thinking other people are miserable too, and angry if they're not.

Op if I were you depending on how course goes and how your flow of work goes, I’d consider trying to get a good month or two off if that wouldn’t ruin your career and get all your assignments done then?
if it doesn’t work like that then a day a week off to study sounds like a great plan. Well done you. I don’t think all these judgy posters would have been able to to hold down a serious full time job at the same time as completing their undergraduate or post grad degrees.
I would also use the money to buy time, eg simmer ready meals so you don’t have to cook, cleaner and laundry service, Ubers rather than waiting for buses, anything else you can invest in your wellbeing and an amazing holiday at the end of the course to celebrate!