Well, it doesn't matter what you did in your BA studies because PhDs are FUNDAMENTALLY different. Even the most dedicated students would probably agree in saying that it is a very tough, bumpy ride. Don't let that put you off, though, you sound like you really want to it so I'm sure you will make it to the end.

"I'd rather do something with a guaranteed end point - a PhD [...]"

Please don't forget that nothing in life is guaranteed, in particular not the completion of a doctorate. It's not like a BSc where you can enrol and more or less be certain to get the degree.

the model I know has the same content as yours but compressed into three years. In fact, the registration period is three years including writing up, any need for a fourth year needs to be justified in front of the head of school and may or may not be granted. Never heard of anybody being granted a fourth year here in this place.

To answer your question, unless you are planning to go into academia or to become a school teacher, I don't believe doing a PhD will increase your position in job interviews.

Sorry, but this doesn't work like that: you cannot enrol on a PhD programme if all you are concerned about are job prospects post completion. People don't do PhDs because of job prospects and if they do, they often fail to even submit a thesis. That's because a PhD is a very complex, difficult thing to do in terms of motivation over a very long period of time, so if there is no burning desire inside of you to do a Ph.D, for the wrong or the right reason, it is unlikely that this is right for you.

Some do this to prove something to themselves, to their parents or to their former school teachers, others do it because they love research, believe in the spirit of science or just want to be intellectually challenged. Regardless of the question whether any of these reasons is appropriate or not, it certainly helps them to get through. On the other hand, quite often those who quit are the ones who only want to improve job prospects or don't know what else to do.

And another night is starting. Who else is going through this painful process tonight?

I mean, you want to use the facilities. So if nobody else is using the facilities, just occupying the space, there is nothing wrong in taking them out and putting them aside. If you have problems touching someone else's knickers, just use medical gloves

The laundry thing happens in my place all the time. I usually just take the clothes out of the washer or dryer and put them on the washing machine or on a box on the floor. It's a normal procedure, tbh

If you enter author names manually, make sure you start in a new line for the second (and third) author - otherwise Endnote will confuse first names and abbreviations.

Caffeine intake increase failed - bedtime

Wrote 111 words so far today. Now trying to increase the coffee intake by 200%.

Anyone in for another AllNITR?

it's quite late to start and I feel too tired and motivation's below zero but no choice...

This may be slightly off topic, hence in the off topic section, but I just found this website www.squiggly.com

When I was a little boy in 1991, I had a watch, I loved it but lost it six months later and was devastated. Now I just found out that the above company is selling all these original watch collections - I found the watch I lost back then and am currently the happiest person on the planet! By the way, I am not a sales staff of the company but just had to share this!

"[more money, less stress and work load in my opinion]"

Well, think again. I just don't think that's the case. The workload is not related to common stereotypes ("6 months holidays and so on")

"but am i PhD 'material'? i mean i am a good student, but how do i know if i have what it takes? "

You can only find out if you try. I think the best advise I can give you is to ignore any advise from this forum. If you really want to do it, just do it. Then you will also survive the tough ride itself. If you have doubts and need to be convinced to do it, go and do smth else.

I think what my colleague Smilodon is trying to say is that a PhD takes a long time. For this reason, bad times are longer as well, making it more difficult to see the light. In fact, it could easily be the case that you don't see any light for three years or longer. That's somewhat hard to handle because it's not just yourself struggling but the world around you moves on and they simply don't understand what it's like, hence increasing the pressure and making it even worse. It's hard to explain but it's very, very, tough to do a PhD. As other's have said, it's a marathon but I prefer to call it a torture process.