DURING this past month I have woken up nearly every morning feeling very sorry for myself. Its mainly due to the state of my finances, although you would of thought I was on top of my money worries after a year of penny pinching but thanks to the dreaded credit crunch, economic downturn or recession- whatever you want to call it, I am no better off for all my scrimping and saving over the past 12 months.
As you are all probably painfully aware everyone is feeling the pinch right now- what with Christmas just round the corner, the raising cost of living and it not being reflected in our wage packets.
But you have to feel sorry for all those people, and there are thousands of them, who works for a company that has just announced its either in administration, has already closed or going through a restructuring programme resulting in redundancies. It's happening everywhere, it's like a cancer crippling not only the local economy and national economy too with almost everyone knowing someone who has been effected by it. So feel sorry for me too because I am one of those people directly effected.
As you may or may not be aware Trinity Mirror, my own employer, publicly announced on Thursday that a total of 59 journalists' jobs and a further 19 non-editorial roles are set to go in North Wales, Liverpool and the North-West as a result of a "major restructure".
No job is safe anymore, not even my own.
Everything seemed to come to a head for me on Monday when I accidentally went over my £700 overdraft limit by £4, I rushed out to the Halifax on my lunch brake and withdrew the last £20 out of my savings account and paid it straight into my depleted current account. But alas, I was still informed today, by a smug letter that floated onto my doormat, that I will be charged 35 extortionate English pounds for my error. And I've still got two weeks until pay day and at least three Christmas parties to attend. Luckily I already have all my Christmas presents as I tend to purchase things in the January sale and store items away in the back of my wardrobe- along with the shoes I've allegedly had for years!

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