Still at the job

Well, I've been at the new job for over 2 months now.

I like it. But its not a permanent gig.

The role I am doing at the moment involves practising in a different area of law to that in which I usually practice. Don't get me wrong, I've done it before but not for a while. But nothing much changes. At the end of the day its still involves general litigation practice so I am not out of my depth, well not too much anyway but the firm I work for realise that I am a bit rusty but its not a problem as I can refer to someone if I need to.

Actually, what I am doing now is really a nice change. It is slower pace and there appear to be more opportunities in this area of law. I am actually thinking of giving up on my usual practice, I really enjoy it and its dynamic and ever changing but quite stressful and there are few opportunities.

What I am doing at the moment is recession proof. At the moment I need some stability and I need a role which is sustainable.

I don't need a lot of money to live on. I am not greedy. At the moment I save all of my pay. I can afford to take a 40% (gross) pay drop and still save for the escape. I would prefer to do that than have to continually do locum work. The last two years have been hell for me mentally given the insecurity of work but fantastic for the wallet. But I am slowly learning that money is not everything, no not at all. I would prefer to earn 50% less but have the peace of mind of stability of employment and to be able to take regular vacations.

Those are my thoughts at the moment.

Disconnected

I have been suffering mentally and emotionally again recently.

I have decided to finally go and see a professional therapist.

I know what the problems are, but I don't know how to fix them. The thing is that I don't think my issues can be fixed by therapy, I think that the most that can happen is that I will learn coping skills.

How do you fill the void. You cant. That everlasting sense of loneliness, isolation and sometimes bitterness.

What to do with the mortgage

Since the financial crisis and the drop in interest rates our mortgage payment has dropped by £270.00 per month.

We are now paying £680.00 per month. We have a repayment mortgage.

This is a substantial saving. We are on a 2 year "tracker" deal.

But in December 2009 our deal expires. Its likely that our repayments would shoot back up again.

So at the moment I am thinking of dumping some cash off the mortgage when our deal expires. This would drastically reduce our monthly repayments. I am getting quite excited because I think wouldn't it be great to have a mortgage payment which is less than £500.00 per month.

But when I think about the rising costs of food the wind is taken out of my sails a bit. The thing is, our house payment is not really our biggest outgoing. We seem to be spending a lot more on food than we used to.

I think that sometimes the idea of paying off ones mortgage is overrated. Of course if you have a great whacking monthly payment then yes I can see the attraction of getting rid of it.

But I would still like to pay off a chunk off our mortgage. We are not able to get any interest off our savings so we might as well pay it off the mortgage.