Up and down and up and downupdownupdownup...

My home away from home. :)

It's been another rocky week work-wise. It started out well enough, hit a rough patch in the middle and then smoothed over by Friday, which is not a bad way to end a week all things considered.

On an UP financial note, the funds from my cashed out CSBs were deposited into my bank account and I now have the funds to hammer down my debt for at least 6-8 months if I manage them properly. Hurrah! A bit less stress there at least.

I am realizing that I'm spending far too much time stressing about my finances than I need to so am trying to figure out the best way to clear them with the least fuss possible. I've sent an email to my mum's lawyer in Victoria to get some details about Power of Attorney (approx $250) so that once I decide what to do, it can be done. My choices are (short term),

1. pay off the LLP/RRSP with my LOC & funds from CSBs, leaving me with a $5k increase in LOC and not much to cover my MC & LOC repayments;
2. put $1k into my RRSP from my CSBs, leaving me with enough funds for MC, LOC repayment and meeting my obligation to the LLP repayment scheme for this year; or
3. pay off my MC with the funds from CSBs ($1662.38), put $1k into RRSP for LLP repayment scheme, and use the rest to chip away at the LOC with mostly min payments until I get myself sorted out.

The least stressful option is #2, the most ideal #3. Long term, the amount I'm looking at cashing out is over $30k and miserable exchange rate notwithstanding, once everything is paid off and exchanged and whatnot, I'll wind up with less than £10K, but it's still a deposit on an apartment, car repairs, emergency fund, savings, a trip somewhere, fun, etc., etc. It will count as income for next year, but that should clear everything and I'll be able to leave it all behind me.

Then that will be that.

Down: Work wise things are still not without curve balls. One of the fellows who opens the yard at 6:15 is on holiday for two weeks, so that means someone else has to open early until he gets back. That came down to me and my friend. I tried for two days - getting up at 4 a.m., on the road by 5, but home at 3:30 - and it was a disaster. Does. Not. Work. So my friend is doing it instead, as it really doesn't seem to bother her. Quite the opposite, actually. She was on fire Friday. I rolled in at 7:30 and had a great day, so now we know.

Up/Down: we had another chat about various things, mostly work-related and cleared some more air. She realized that no matter how hard she is on me, she will never match how hard I am on myself when I do something wrong.

Down: It ended on a very sour note when we learned that the funding for our main installation scheme has been stopped until at least April (industry-wide, not just us) which meant immediate installer layoffs. Shitty. Really, really hope to see them back sooner rather than later, but it's unlikely. The funding process is quite complicated, involving the Goverment and the energy companies, carbon scores, etc. and if the funds to pay for these schemes (there are several) dries up, so does the work. It's unclear at this point if we in the office are totally safe, but for the time being, yes.

Up: The Crush was in for a good part of the day and I managed to make some conversation with him at the end of the day while he was waiting to see the MD. He made tea, I shared biscuits and we talked a bit. 

UP: He looks superb in a t-shirt. There are worse images than a well-built man in a t-shirt that can be burned into your retinas.