I'm Back - and better! Final Push to Go...

angelpye wrote: »

Tell me about the shed! I too am looking to create from home - fabric based. Is someone building it for you or are you doing it?

Hi angelpye!

So, the shed is a hybrid of necessity and profit!

When we bought our house, we inherited 3 sheds in various states of disrepair. We also have a half-garage (the previous owners split the garage into two, giving half back to the kitchen and keeping half as a garage).

Long story short, we don't have any real outside storage space.

The size of the plot where this shed is going to live is pretty big, so I decided to put a large garage-sized shed on there. Having been quoted £3500+ by shed makers, I thought there'd be a cheaper way.

I have an interest in woodwork anyway, so I explored the idea of building my own shed. I have the tools and (some of) the skills, so I contacted a friendly local carpenter and have asked him to help me. By buying the materials myself, rather than have a tradesman do it I have saved myself around £600!

I can build the shed for less than £2000 and it will be big enough to act as both our storage for garden tools, kids bikes etc and still have space for a workshop at the end of it.

Here's where the workshop comes in....

Part of my psyche (and my being self-employed) means that I have to really justify an expense. My way of justifying this is double-headed...

1. We need it. We currently have lots of our garden tools in a leaky, falling-apart shed and it's not safe.
2. The shed will block a gap in our border with next door, making our property more secure.
3. It's an investment that will make our property more valuable.
4. By having a workshop, I can make things such as coasters, chopping boards, furniture and turn it into a profit-making enterprise!

I take a slightly different approach to my debt repayment to many others. I notice most people try to cut, cut, cut expenses to get out of debt. I do that to a point, but it's a VERY limited approach - there is only so much cutting you can do.

Instead, I try to grow my income. That's why I am willing to invest the money to increase my income. I calculate I can fairly easily make around £3000 per year from the shed, so it's my goal to have it pay for itself within a year :eek:!

If you can find room for a fabric room, DO IT! It's a creative expression that you'll enjoy, plus you can earn more money! By earning more money, debt repayment is a lot easier!

Which brings me on to my next point...

I sold some shares yesterday, bringing in £630. That's gone straight on the credit card. I've also been paid £120 from a client yesterday, which will also go on the credit card. That see's my credit card debt down to £5450 (from over £7000).

My girlfriend is transferring another £350 to me over the course of the next couple of months, which added to my commitment to pay at least £200 per month off the credit card should see the debt well below £5000 by March, possibly closer to £4500.

Let's see!

angelpye wrote: »

I do have a tiny storage room in my house that I could convert only I don't think it would be big enough.

I have most of the equipment I would need for the business and a 'studio' would mean I could possibly go fully self employed by June 2018

This bit here is key - how do you know it's not big enough? Perhaps you should try at first and if it's not suitable, you can explore other avenues. Is there a local co-operative working space you can use? Could you rent a small space office somewhere?

Register as self-employed and these will be business expenses, meaning you can write them off against tax.

It's just an idea.

angelpye wrote: »

I am trying to balance debt repayment with quality of life. I don't want an extravagant lifestyle just a minimalist life that allows me to do what I love.

This is important too. I am a minimalist in my head (in reality my partner and our kids collectively have more 'stuff' than most small nations!)

What this allows me to do is to only buy important or valuable items. Using the 'I only spend if I can justify it' chip in my brain, I typically buy items of high quality but make them pay for themselves - I'm writing this on an Apple MacBook Pro that cost me £1700. Yes, I could have bought a much cheaper laptop, but this is its 5th year of use and it's going great. It also made me earn money online and has paid for itself many, many times over.

If all you do it cut away from your lifestyle, you'll end up in some cases getting rid of pastimes and indulgences you enjoy.

Instead, cut away waste and explore using your hobbies and interests to a profitable advantage!

So the £630 I committed to the credit card from the sale of my shares has finally cleared - that's a big help!

I am trying to limit my weekly spending to around £50 (not including bills and fuel), which means I can commit a little extra each week to the payments.

As it stands now the credit card balance is £5,349.71.

When my better half pays me the next instalment of our holiday, that balance will be closer to £5,000. If I can keep up my current rate of repayment, I should see me below £5,000 when she pays.

The iPad has been cancelled, saving me £25 per month. Additionally, I think I may have picked up £240 per month of extra work, which will be fantastic if it happens - that will all go on CC repayment too.

This 'make it front and centre' approach to debt repayment has really helped me in the past and is working for me again at the moment, given I'll have paid over £1000 off the balance within the first two months, just by throwing bits of cash at it and not using that money on other things.

I've just paid another £70 off my credit card today, which has seen my balance down to £5,179.71.

I'm owed about £500 from a couple of clients, so when that is paid I'll push my balance below £5,000 - my first big milestone.

My girlfriend will be paying me £200 this month, so if I can pay £400 off this month it'll feel like a successful month on the credit card front.

This week, I'm going to explore selling things via the Facebook Market Place to see if I could raise some extra money - has anyone done this before?