Why Mum Goes Barmie?
It was like a thunderbolt hitting me one day when I was sitting at my desk, looking around the office and realising I no longer wanted this. Surrounded by people earning half of my salary in just one month. Although I love the buzz of the office and people, I realised that after 10 years of a massive workload, long hours and no pay rise in over 3 years I have had enough.
In conversation with other Mums and people in my situation, it became clear that it is very hard to make something out of nothing, especially if you do not have the financial or emotional security to offer you a safety net. It is a very scary and frightening leap to take, especially if you want to change the whole direction of your life.
My financial situation, lack of confidence and mindset was stopping me from moving forward. During the past year, I have been working on these blockages. I have created a home budget that works for me, and really tightening my belt. All leading to the next important stage of my life.
So in 2020 my sister Lesley joined the team and we decided to give MGB a facelift. MGB does not only cover finance, but we have included health and fitness, mindset, cooking (a selection of unusual recipes) and family.
Therefore, ‘Trying what we promote was born’
Aim of Mum Goes Barmie
Our aim is to try everything from financial, mindset to exercising, changes that you can make that are free. Things that will help us and others be the person we want to be.
Before we recommend anything we will ‘try what we promote’ and be honest with you. We will not recommend any ideas or services that do not work and we will inform you of any pitfalls we discover.
Some of these challenges may be successful or they may be failures. And if financial at least this may stop you from making the same mistakes. If you are in the same situation as us, you can’t afford to waste money.
Mum Goes Barmie wants to offer inspiration to others in our situation. Providing different ideas, resources, and an honest account of how you can change your life. But for me, Mum Goes Barmie will be my accountability programme.
Lesley
Hello, I’m Lesley. I am 52, and without children. By 2017, I had been unhappily married for six years, employed as a manager for a print company for twelve years and lived in Norfolk. One day I decided to leave my husband, file for divorce, and move to Yorkshire with my cats. I knew no-one. I’d travelled and worked abroad extensively in my earlier life so the transition felt normal but the financial and employment risk was terrifying. And the stress of a divorce and lack of confidence within myself contributed. I left the marital home with hardly any furniture and the house I owned in Yorkshire was a renovation project.
I found temporary employment but it was unpredictable and despite being a manager previously, positions offered were receptionist jobs with a lower salary – but after all I wanted a different life. I joined a second agency and they found me a full time, permanent position as a receptionist (and later with admin) in a law firm. The relief was enormous.
A year later I was placed on a redundancy list when an office closed. The fear of money loss and unemployment returned and I still battled ‘finding myself’ post divorce. I was lucky – I was given a position in another office. Then twelve months later I was made redundant.
I do believe life takes us on a path for a reason, that what we experience happens to make us stronger, help us at that time and lead us to the path we should be on. However, for me the fears returned – but I was very tired from the daily two hour return journey to work I saw as a blessing.
I found a position locally in a new coffee house but zero hours contract and a working week of 8 to 15 hours so I planned Poppy’s Pets, a pet service. Applying for Jobseekers temporarily was embarrassing, emotional and a disaster. The fears returned. I found a cross-over job as a cook in a restaurant and I love it to this day. The coffee house laid me off but I was resigning anyway. I work zero contract hours but the restaurant business is over forty years old so stable. And as I’d financially input for Poppy’s Pets I still launched in November with my first customer in December.
Anita
Hi, I’m Anita, soon to be the big 50 and a single mum of a soon to be teenager. Nicholas was born when I was 38 years old and really it has just always been Nick and me, with the help of my family. I would not have been able to cope without my family, who have offered me so much support over the years that I cannot really put into words.
Before Nicholas was born, I was self-employed and ran my own bookkeeping business for about 10 years. Many years ago I worked full time and realised that I wanted to be my own boss, so I took the leap of faith, went part-time and gradually built up my own business. Over this time I attended evening classes and gained my AAT qualifications but I side tracked and decided to go for my construction qualifications. By this time I was pregnant with Nicholas and I graduated when Nicholas was 3 months old.
With a young baby, on my own I realised that he was my priority so I decided to stop working for myself due to the long hours and find work with consistent hours. I started with my current employer as a part-time accounts assistant, to a full time Management Account and then they finally gave me the job of my dreams of Business Analyst.
I will always be grateful for the opportunities my current employer has given me, but I do want more. They are an entrepreneurial company, with the aim of training people to create a secure and passive income. They have opened my eyes to what people can achieve, as over the 10-years, I have witnessed people who had nothing, standing on stage and proving that the system works, being financially free.
I do kick myself for not starting this journey earlier with MGB or even implementing actions that my employer trains, but I was not ready. When Nicholas was born I was earning just under £600 per month and all of my money was allocated to keeping a roof over our heads, and looking after Nicholas.
So I understand when things are hard, you want out of a situation but cannot see how you can achieve this, without paying a fortune and maybe getting yourself into debt. It is the most horrible feeling in the world and you feel that you are in a big whole that you keep trying to get out of but you keep being pushed back down.
Join us on our journey
We hope that you join us on this crazy journey, either for financial gain, mindset or just wanting to change your life. If you try any of our recommendations, we would love to hear from you and tell us how you have got on.
Speak to you all soon