Anyone else feeling forced to look for a new job due to cost of living?

[Ebonyhorse]

I went back to work earlier this year after maternity leave. I have great benefits and flexibility but there’s no chance to progress. My husband earns well but now with the cost of nursery I feel like I have no choice but to apply for jobs with a higher salary.

Yes. I do. Or I would be if we stayed here, but as we are moving house, it’s been brought forward as my current job is too far to (economically) commute, but will have to look for something with a higher wage than currently. Failing that, it’ll have to be one full time and a part time job combined.

I’ve been back five months and I just can’t believe how expensive the food shop has become. We never have any money left at the end of the month, our gas/electricity DD went up horribly and council taxes, it’s so depressing. We haven’t been on holiday, things need doing to the house… I just feel like I can’t afford to stay working on my current salary.

Yes, I have took a job closer to home to avoid petrol costs, it has a free lunch as part of it and a higher hourly rate.
I loved my old job, was good at it and I am not so keen on my new work but we have to eat.

It sucks. I have applied for a couple of jobs over the weekend, hopefully I’ll hear back this week. My salary hasn’t increased in a couple of years and I need the next step. It’s just such a shame that can’t happen internally.

I currently do 4 days a wk- already stopped contributing to my pension- I will have to go back 5 and likely next year have to look for a better paying job with less flexibility- but don’t worry I didn’t want to be around for my children anyway!

@OnlyFoolsnMothers yes, having a young child now makes it more difficult because I don’t just have myself to think about. I’ve been surprised at the number of jobs where despite the pandemic they aren’t that flexible or say you need to be in majority of the week. I don’t want to go in more than twice because on those days I don’t see my little girl by the time I get home she’s going to bed.

Yes - I’ve taken on extra responsibilities in my current role that I really don’t want but took as I desperately need the money. I already changed jobs twice in the last 12 months to get myself on to a higher wage so need to stay put for a bit - I’m on more now than I could have hoped for 12 months ago, but it’s still not enough to live. Working FT and very little time to spend with my children.

I've started to apply, I'm currently pt, but if I go ft I need a large payrise to cover the extra day of childcare for 2 children, and to obv have more money!

Weekend/evening work is a no go as DH works shifts and they roll so can't fit in around his shifts.....

I'm sick of dreading payday, knowing that once the bills have been deducted I'm left with virtually nothing.

@NothingIsCertain would it be an option to compress hours to avoid the childcare cost increasing?

Unfortunately, not due to DHs worrying pattern, he does 12 hour shifts a mixture of over night and daytime.

I think I just need to get rid of the DH 🙈

Thank you though 🙂

@ebonyhorse it won't let me quote your OP...but in relation to nursery costs have you looked into the Tax Free Childcare? If you aren't claiming UC it could be an option, the government will pay20p for every 80p (20% of costs) of your childcare bills up to the age of 12.

@NothingIsCertain yeh we do claim that but it’s still £1000 a month for three days. Luckily grandparents do some to save money.

We are the same, just hang in there until they are 3, you will still have some fees, but the subsidised 30 hours do help!

I may have to give up being self employed in a career I’ve had for almost 25 years to get a full time job. Awful choice to have to make.

Yes.

Yep, you get paid and then it’s all gone, two weeks in I’m always counting the number of days until the next payday.

Started another application. Ugh. It has been several years since I had to go through this process and I forgot how time consuming they can be.

How’s everyone doing?

Hi yes! My son has announced he wants to quit college and start an apprenticeship. Which is ok as he is struggling with college. But I will lose £400 in benefits. He will have to pay a bit of upkeep, but apprenticeship wage is pretty poor.
I asked my boss if I can go full time, but they said no due to the jump between 26 hrs and 40hrs with the cost implications.
So I am going to have to either quit my job of 15 years, which I built the position from nothing, or find a second job.
I really just don’t know what to do :(

@OnlyFoolsnMothers snap! I’m looking to move back to full time, and had to stop pension contributions short time. And my employer is offering a lot more than our current salaries for any new starts. So... I suspect it will be a matter of time before I start looking

Yes. And I'm also feeling the stress because I'm pretty sure DH is lying about having never had one single call back for any job he's applied for, because he likes basically having all day every day to do fuck all. He knows I'm really worried about money, he also knows I'm lucky with this job as it's extremely flexible - and our kids are 13 and 10 so not tiny!

But that's another story I should start a new thread about.

I'm due back from maternity leave in 3 months but already considering options for looking elsewhere
I don't think I will get a pay rise on return, and the part time wage won't cut it. A friend of mine works part time, wfh the whole time and earns the same each month as I did working full time and she's zero qualifications

I also want something where I can climb career ladder but there's not a whole lot like that here

I’ve taken in a “promotion” and for a shot load of extra work, responsibility and stress, I take home a whopping £42 a month extra 😡. I started a second job in February but I’ve just had to quit as I can’t afford the fuel costs to get there. As it’s a low paid job and I have to pay tax and national insurance, I was earning about £10 for giving up my whole evening after doing a full day of very stressful work. The sad thing is that I actually enjoyed my second job.

It’s tough. On the plus side I do think there are plenty of jobs out there. I’m trying to get my applications in quickly.

Not exactly, but I need to reduce my hours if I'm not going to earn more, because I will have two lots of nursery fees to pay for. On my low wage it's only cost-effective to work for two days a week because that will mean only just over one set of nursery fees and my eldest's 30 free hours cover two days. I've had two job interviews so far which I'm awaiting a response for and I have another one next week. It does seem like there a lot of jobs going atm which is good. My salary FT is only £20k and I'm looking mostly public sector so it wouldn't be any more money but there's more jobs with just 2 days for the same salary so that's the main thing for me atm.