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Old 05-02-2009, 21:54   #11
entwisi
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Re: The cost of living

eleccy at 82 seems high for a normal household?

similarly gas.

I now pay 120/month for both in a large 3/4 bed semi dormer bungalow with non energy bulbs, a washer that I'm sure is on constantly and a gas fire that I'm sure is like an open pipe on fire from the gas co. !


you don't mention if you get any help with rent/council tax etc which if you are on low income you should.

I'll start another thread if we think its neccessary but I have to ask, what are your career plans? if you are sat there without looking to increase your earning potential then you need to consider it.

12 years ago I earned 20% of what I do now for 2-3x the hours. I'm lucky that I have a particular aptitude for something that happens to pay a lot of money. 11 years ago I didn't know that I did though. I made small but important steps with a view as to where I wanted to be next, 8 steps later I'm 'content' which my position and career. I know (and don't want) to be CEO or even any higher in the management chain than I am but I've got where I am by having a plan and working hard towards it.

If there is one thing that schhols don't teach in career mamagement is that change is not necessarily bad and can actualy be just what you need. It also doesn't teach you to gain whatever you can from every position you are in and to take that to teh next role. I've sold TVs from a little shop in Rishton, waited tables and run pubs round east lancashire and started in Barclays as a Trainee programmer. I'm now Technical Lead consultant for the Middleware Live support team advising on systems that deal with Billions of pounds a day. some of the skills I learned selling Tvs I use daily to sell my ideas and propsals to senior business people. In some ways its what stands me out from most other techies in that I can SELL an idea. Similarly In teh pubs you get used to dealing with a wide variety of people and gain teh ability to 'read' them and what makes them tick. Using this I can aim my sales at teh right people in teh right manner. Just because selling TVs only paid me 100 quid a week means nowt now. The skills I learned doing teh job make a massive difference in my job here and now.

I have always lived by teh mantra that only I can decide how and where I want to be and only I can make it happen through hard work, hard choices and in some cases a dose of luck.


Good luck in what you do but you need to remember that no-one s ever going to hand you a cushy job on a plate, its up to you to chase down that plate and to make sure that its got your name on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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