September's Debt Repayment & Working In Sales

Today is Pay Day, and I should be doing the conga around the room.

I am not.

Today I earned commission for the first time in a while £600 net to be exact, plus I got an added bonus of £100 for my expenses.

I should be whooping, laughing and paying off the additional debt I accumulated over the last couple of weeks and blogged about yesterday.

I am not.

When you work in sales, your financial life becomes feast or famine. You work from month to month never able to plan based on a salary as you never know what you will take home.

This month I have a nice amount to play with however, some of the work I have done is looking decidedly wobbly and I am concerned that my employer may claw some money back if things go badly.

So today I made a very small repayment of £50 across credit card 1 and credit card 2. My total debt has now been reduced to £837.70.

I am hopeful that by the time I return from holiday I will know more and can throw much more at the credit cards if everything looks stable.

I would be crackers to blow the lot on paying off my credit cards to then find myself in a position where I had to hand it back and end up owing my boss £600.  *shudder shudder* 

Life's tough in sales, and it I could my past self one piece of advice it would be to find a trade and avoid sales.

Yes, you make a lot of money quickly. The highs are fantastic. I remember one month taking home "£price of a new car" but the downs are so bad.

Stress, as the pressure is piled on by an employer, no money and living hand to mouth as basic salary is low to encourage 'hunger' for commission / bonus and a feeling of being trapped as you find you are used to large bonus payments and need them to pay mortgage, cars etc - items it is not easy to downsize quickly.

Yes, I would change a lot if I could and trying to swap careers in the middle of a recession is tricky to say the least.

However, Saturday I fly off with The Chap to Spain for 10 days. At least I know I paid a little off and have met my financial obligations without defaulting on anything EVER. And, when I get back it might be to good news that everything is stable and the commission can be flung at the credit cards with gay abandon!!!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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