[Solved] Hello

Hi there and welcome 🙂

...You know it helps to talk, and we are here to listen...why dont you tell us a bit more about yourself. 🙂

OK, well, I have a wife & three small kids and we live just south of Manchester.

At least they do- I have to work at Heathrow Airport 4 days out of every 6 and live in a converted van because it's all I can afford.

The money I get paid barely covers the mortgage and bills; every month I put a couple of hundred on the credit cards just to get by.

When I do get home it's nothing but stress.

I feel for you...Its hard when you have to work away from home and having to live in a van, I can imagine that brings its own stresses.... and with financial worries on top, life must seem very unforgiving.

Is there no possibility of finding work nearer to home? I know jobs are hard to find but you might be better off in the long run, even taking a less well paid job, as you wouldnt have the added expense of travel and living away. Have you looked into Working Families Tax Credits and any other benefits that you might be entitled to?

When times are hard it sometimes helps to remember that there are always people much worse off.... we may struggle in this country and find it tough to make ends meet but when you see the poverty around the world, it gives a kind of perspective... Thats not to diminish your problems, I do appreciate how you must be feeling.

Next time youre home, try talking to your wife about how you've been feeling, try and do things together as a family, trips to the park dont cost a lot and the kids will enjoy it, and to see them having fun will make you feel brighter. 🙂

Hi again,

Is it really 4 years since I last posted? A lot has happened since then... usually two steps forward and one back; occasionally two back!

Hi and welcome

Can't see any past posts, did you use a different username back then?

From the sound of it, you should have moved forwards in the lat 4 years.

That's seems to be the rhythm of life for most of us... two steps forward and one step back!

I do hope your employment situation has improved though and your not still living in the back of your van.

All the best

Hi again!

We moved south and we are nearer to where I work. A bit nearer; I have a 200 mile daily commute now for the privilege of sleeping in my own bed.

My wife says it's much better that I'm home every day, but she doesn't seem any happier, never seems any happier. And for this we've given up what social life we had.

Still, schools (especially secondary) are definitely better and the kids are doing well.

Hi again

That's a pretty arduous commute every day! Are your family back in Manchester? It must be hard for you, especially if you're missing friends and family back home... Is there no prospect of work back there?
If it were me I think I'd be keeping tabs on any openings and think of moving back.

Thanks for the update and I hope things will get better for you all.

All the best

We all moved down to Gloucestershire; my commute is now 200 miles a day to Heathrow and back but at least I'm home every day.

I don't have to stay away from the family any more but I'm actually doing a lot more miles now!

Manchester Airport is dead to me now. Too many bad memories of the place, which is a shame because we loved the peak district and the village where we lived. We'll probably never have the network of friends and contacts we had there.

We'd love to move back up there but I'm committed to my job at Heathrow now and for the foreseeable future, so it would mean me staying away in the week again.

Plus my kids are doing well at school down here. My 13-yr-old got 100% in a maths test yesterday!

How about a move nearer to your work then? I suppose you'd still have the same issue with changing schools etc. But if it were me I would be considering it!

All the best