Wishing on an ickle star

Just got in after being treated to a barbecue at friends!! :beer:

DD is on the mend thanks to antibiotics and creams (and two more returns to see the Dr!)

Spent quite a lot of time working on our new budget and spreadsheets once the Grand Plan finally kicks into action! (I feel like a broken record when friends and family ask about it) At the moment our lives are in the hands of a solicitor in London who says one thing and does the opposite! Looked into the ombudsman but it seems that as I haven't instructed said solicitor I have no rights to do anything! :mad:

Hoping the weather is good again tomorrow so I can get out into the garden again. Would have done some this morning but the paperwork mountain was nearing an avalanche! I tackled it and feel much better for getting it all filed/sorted for recycling etc

Not managed to update for a while because . . . .

THE GRAND PLAN HAS BEGUN!!! (finally)

So DH and I are now the proud owners of our own business premises!! :j :eek:

It's been a challenging few months but now we are in I feel much calmer (although there is sooooooooooooo much to do now :rotfl:)

So the plan is that DH will manage the business on a day to day basis but hopefully it will be much fewer hours than he was doing in his previous job so he will also be able to push his graphic design work more. I'll be keeping my job (jobs if you include mum and housewife!) and also doing the paperwork and accounts.

Although it's going to be a hard slog and there is LOADS to do to start with we hope that eventually we will have the work life balance that we want. To be honest it can't be any worse than we've had in the past - DH has averaged 60 hour weeks for several years and his December hours were unmentionable as he would only come home to get clean clothes and a break twice a week!

Probably won't be adding any extra OPs in the near future but fingers crossed by the end of the year we'll be back on the band wagon. For now I'll be happy if we can keep up with the automatic ones I've set up.

I will keep popping in to update when I can. It keeps me focused and every little helps when you're on such a tight budget!

Must go as I've got lots of new spreadsheet to build and play with :j

ickle

gallygirl wrote: »

"Puts two and two together and decides Mr Icklehelen is actually Father Christmas and they've just bought a new workshop for the elves" .

Congrats, how exciting for you all :T.

:rotfl: LOL GG!! Reading that back it does sound like that!! Sadly I am not Mrs Claus

Spent yesterday giving the shop a good clean - still lots to do to get it to the standard we want it but it was a good start!

So in other news -
We have both requested a payout from TCB - between us that's just over £70. Hoping to be able to OP this but am putting that on hold for now just in case . . .

Now that our dream of having our own business is a reality I'm going to start dreaming of Mortgage Freedom . . . in the hope that it will come true sooner than planned :rotfl:

ickle

Phew! What a few weeks we've had here!!!

Very busy with the shop and have spent most of my evenings getting my head around the financial side of things and setting up suppliers etc

We've had a good start (in part thanks to Father's Day but also to some simple changes we have made!) and hoping to build on it! DH was interviewed for a local magazine yesterday - free publicity :T

We had the final letter from the solicitor yesterday with all the last little bits and pieces tied up and a nice cheque returning money we had paid that was not required!

Sorted our house insurance today - ended up with the same insurer as last year but went through TCB where it was £5 cheaper than the renewal and if it tracks that'll be another £45 less!! :cool:
Noticed I had two transactions go to payable this week - one for the (now cancelled) car insurance on my old car and the other for our new bank account that is showing as £0 - I've emailed to find out why I've still not had a response to my lodged claim - will have to wait and see!

We have been invited to a family 'do' this weekend at a rather swish hotel in the North East. Looking forward to it as we haven't all been together for a while. Hoping it won't be too costly - although we only need to get there and buy drinks - the meal and B&B has been paid for us! It will be nice to spend time with DH too - any time we've had together has been shop orientated this last few weeks!

Lots to do in the morning so time for bed!

ickle