The importance of flexibility and control in my life
From the age of 22 to 37 I worked in the corporate world. I worked my way up the ladder in a variety of finance jobs and worked for several big blue chip companies. These jobs provided me with security and a great salary, but they were all very inflexible. They were all long hours, office based and full time roles.
After having my third child I returned to work full time and it never felt right. I was working hard in a very stressful job that I wasn’t enjoying and I was paying out more than £1000 per month in childcare costs. The final straw was when my company relocated from near my home to central London and the commute became a huge issue. Life was becoming more and more of a challenge so it had to change. I was losing control and had no flexibility in the corporate life I had chosen.
The opportunity of redundancy came along with the relocation which I grabbed with both hands and used the money to launch my blog Mrs Mummypenny. I have never looked back.
Control
I always had issues with control whilst employed and was only at my happiest when I had a manager who would let me get on with my job without interfering. One of the most wonderful things about my world now is that I control everything. I decide when I work, how much I do, what work I take on. I have control of my income and expenses. Of course, I have deadlines and requirements from clients, these are never issues provided I am organised with my time and upfront agreements. There might be a time when I am working until midnight to hit a deadline, but that my prerogative, it was something I agreed after all! For me, control is so important especially in my work life and home life.
I am fanatical about the bills and have a strict budget that must be adhered to. Anything not in the budget, unexpected surprises, maybe like a bill owed to an electricity company after months of direct debit underpayments is an issue as the unexpected costs are not accounted for. I want to have comfort that what I pay each month covers the bills.
Switching to Powershop will give me that control over my bills, there will be no expected surprises as I will only pay for what I use. I love the fact that all usage and spending can be tracked via the online account and on the app. Control is literally at your fingertips.
Flexibility
The life of a busy mum with three young children requires flexibility. I want to do the school run every morning and be there for sports days, parent’s evenings and sports matches. In my corporate life, I had missed several sports days or school open days. We have many football commitments which we simply wouldn’t have been able to meet if I was doing my old corporate job.
I love the fact that my job as a blogger gives me that ultimate flexibility. I get to do all things with the boys and I get to spend invaluable time with my youngest before he starts school in Sept. How hard is it to find an employed job that would allow you to have a day like this?
A day of Flexibility for Mrs Mummypenny
On this Thursday where I filmed my day it went a bit like this.
8:30 I walked down to school for the school run.
9:30 I was back at my desk (the breakfast bar) to work on a blog post.
10:30 I headed over to see a friend to meet her new baby. Then I did a quick grocery shop and petrol fill up.
14:00 I was back home and spent the rest of the afternoon filming a YouTube vlog, editing and uploading to client. I wrote a second blog post for a fellow bloggers website, collaboration rules in the blogging world. I also fitted in a quick call with a client to agree on some work for the following week. Phew a busy 3 hours.
17:00 Picked up the boys and spent time doing homework, chatting about their day, feeding them again (they never stop eating), bedtime routine.
20:00 Back onto Mrs Mummypenny work. Evening was then spent catching up on my ever-growing social media accounts. Had a conversation about work projects with my co-author and further work. And caught up on my accounts. By 10pm I was reading to switch off.
6 hours worked in small chunks over the day!
Flexibility of Powershop
Just like my life Powershop allows you to have complete flexibility with your electricity bills. You can pay daily, weekly or monthly. You can pay for just what you use or can pay in advance of usage. Reviewing your usage on the desktop or mobile app allows you flexibility to control your usage going forward. We all want services that provide us with control and flexibility and Powershop really gives you that.
For more information on Powershop and to switch your electricity over to them check out their website or give them a call on.
This is a collaborative post.
