Job satisfaction hands down for me, life's too short to be miserable at work every-day, a lot of things in life are far more precious than money and happiness/contentment are on that list, priceless

You can't live off a good working environment, so money is important, whether we like that fact or not. But a good working environment is important too.

Anyway, congratulations. Hope everything continues as well for you.

TBH I think I have confused my point by bringing my employment into the arguement.

My point is/was would you prefer extra treats or a better working environment.

TBH I see lots of smiling faces and some have been there for years.

I currently earn JUST enough to pay our way and have a few little perks each month, there's not much fat on the budget but we could probably cut a bit more if we needed to.

The job I do would probably be classed by some as stressful (I manage a very busy software helpdesk) but to me its a piece of cake, a doddle, after running my own business for 24 years employing people and having to satisfy everyone every time the phone rang, pay all the bills, pay all the tax and then finally pay myself.

I wouldn't go back there now, I have no stress in my current job, enjoy speaking to (most) of the 30/40 different clients every day, my job now is simply to make everyone else happy and I don't have to think about who is picking up the tab or worry about whether there will be enough left for me at the end of the month.

In my previous life I simply earned whatever I wanted to earn and some years I earned an awful lot of money, some years I paid more in tax than my current salary is now, but towards the end I hated my job - now its ok to hate your job if your an employee but when your the boss and you own 100% of the company you really shouldn't be hating your job

I enacted Plan B, used the escape route and have never been happier, if there was a button to press to go back to the day when I controlled my own salary then I wouldn't press it.

In my opinion I would take the stress free option every time if family finances allow, even if it means cutting back on a few treats. The effects on your health are not worth the extra money if you can't handle the stress of the job.

Congrats. Several of my neighbours work at a local Asda and love it. Seems to be a genuinely good place to work.

As for better pay or a nice working environment - can't really answer that. I'm in a pretty unexciting but well paying job with a fecking horrible boss, but I'm also based from home and manage my own hours and working patterns. I'm rarely out of bed before 9am and rarely home after 4pm, and I'm good at my job. I might be 'working' until 7-8pm a few nights a week but at least I'm doing it at home.

I could go out and earn considerably more, but then I'd probably have to go back to a commuting lifestyle and the rest of the costs and stress that entails, and I'd be back in the rat race. My quality of life right now is fantastic - even taking the evil boss into account - and it would take a lot to turn my back on that freedom. At some point I'll probably have to, but right now things are good.

My wife also worked from home until she was made redundant (wrongly, and we wiped the floor with her employer), and due to several medical conditions she's unlikely to work for many years, if ever. My presence at home and flexibility with work hours also helps her greatly and that's a valuable benefit of my working conditions.

In essence, I guess I'm saying quality of life and happiness are the most important things. If you can find a happy working environment, great, but in my case the benefits of working from home far outweigh a crappy boss. But also remember if needs must, you work wherever you can to make ends meet - I imagine most of us have had jobs we've hated just to pay the bills and at times that's the harsh reality of life.