Horace's Bootstraps Diary

Horace

Yesterday was a bad day when I realised that I had dipped into my overdraft and my rent had yet to go out. I rang the bank this morning and they were really helpful, I spoke to their credit people and have arranged for an extension to my overdraft for 2 months - now £600 instead of £500 and they have also reduced the credit on my credit card down from £7K to £2K - just to protect me in case someone gets hold of my card and goes on a spree:eek:

The guy at the bank told me that I had been a good customer and despite dipping a toe over my overdraft limit last month that I managed to redeem myself and therefore I wasnt charged because I was only overdrawn for a matter of minutes. He was surprised as to how well I was managing to cope when I earn very little money, I am surviving on HB (£372), CB and JSA - I have to contribute towards my £525 rent and pay all my bills from the rest.:eek: He was understanding and when I explained what I was doing to get out of my debt and off JSA he was appreciative and even suggested that I work for them up in Leeds because they are having difficulty finding staff. I might consider it because I could then work part time and do my business the rest of the time.


First Direct are wonderful and I would recommend them to anyone (in fact, I wonder if they would give me some commission if I advertised their services).

I hate being skint and hate getting myself into a pickle. I shall hunt out my Nationwide ISA today and go and cash it in and put that into my bank to pull me back in the right direction.

This little lifeline means that I can now go out and buy some bread and some milk, I can then survive for a while longer even if it means that I have to live on soup and anything else that I have in my store cupboard plus freezer.

Methinks we need to get rid of Mr Brown and his cronies because once again the Labour Party have brought this country into recession just like they did the last time they were in power. I am now waiting for the powercuts but I am prepared now as I have a wind up torch and some candles and two thick duvets.

Horace

Well, I bought 2 loaves for £2 and have divided them into four and they are now in the freezer.

Had some news today from my council they have upped my housing benefit to £101.54 a week from £93 a week:j They pay the benefit 2 weeks in arrears:rolleyes:

Mr Postman also bought me some details about hiring out The Saracen's Head and The Old Grammar School in Kings Norton - you may have heard of these buildings because they won the Restoration programme in 2004. They are reasonably priced and they provide catering too. I only knew that these buildings were available for hire when I spotted them on my local news.

The added benefit of this information is that they have provided me with some menus and price lists which will enable me to finish my assignment on catering.:D

The_Dragon

Horace wrote: »

Well, I bought 2 loaves for £2 and have divided them into four and they are now in the freezer.

Had some news today from my council they have upped my housing benefit to £101.54 a week from £93 a week:j They pay the benefit 2 weeks in arrears:rolleyes:

Mr Postman also bought me some details about hiring out The Saracen's Head and The Old Grammar School in Kings Norton - you may have heard of these buildings because they won the Restoration programme in 2004. They are reasonably priced and they provide catering too. I only knew that these buildings were available for hire when I spotted them on my local news.

The added benefit of this information is that they have provided me with some menus and price lists which will enable me to finish my assignment on catering.:D

It sounds as though everything is coming together for you Horace!! :j:j:j:j:j

Horace

Well today I went into town and trotted into Argos to buy myself a new house phone - thanks to some surveys I had acquired a £10 Argos Voucher and from another one a £10 High Street voucher (can be used in Argos) so I bought my new Binatone 6 Big Button phone which has a built in answering machine - I have free voicemail with Virgin but I dont know how to access it so I never bother with it. I only paid £9.95 for it - just added it to my credit card:eek: Perhaps I should have gone to the building society first?

After Argos, I trotted off to the building society and closed my ISA - I cannot afford to pay into it - I had £341 in there, I have kept £41 back for myself and will be putting the remaining £300 in the bank to reduce my temporary overdraft. I know that I should really sling the £41 into the pot too but I need to keep some money for food and I need to visit a few charity shops to see if I can pick up a useful table or some sort of cupboard that I can use in my 'office'.

Spent the afternoon on the sofa watching the Paralyimpic Opening Ceremony. Part of the afternoon was spent fiddling with my shed - the yard area is flooded because the landlord cannot unblock the drain, I had stuff on the floor and am relieved that my OH put some shelves into my shed - so most stuff that was on the ground has been moved onto the shelves - only two items remain on the floor, my pasting table and a wooden wheelbarrow that my dad made. The carpet isnt wet yet either - woo hoo. I put a piece of carpet in there to stop things getting overly damp and to keep things dry. I must have the only carpeted shed in Brum:rotfl:

Horace

Today I banked £486 thus reducing my overdraft:j

I gave my parking ticket to someone else in the carpark thus saving him some money and making me feel as though I had done a good turn to make up for dobbing my neighbour into the landlord.

I have cleaned the racks out of my oven - thank you Oldstylers for telling me about Stardrops, its the cleanest my oven has ever been:eek:

This afternoon I have been reading a proposal about my new website - hosting will be £200 per annum and the design including graphics, photographic work etc will be £250 per day:eek: But....I am coming to an arrangement with the chap who will do it for me - he is an ex colleague and I will be advertising his business too - a little back scratching doesn't do any harm now and again:D

Was told by my advisor at the jobcentre that I have until 22 October to set up my business and start test trading:j Watch this space, the thought of a sooper dooper interactive website has made me feel really excited - if I were a dog I would be running round in circles chasing my tail:rotfl:

The_Dragon

Horace wrote: »

Today I banked £486 thus reducing my overdraft:j

Well done you!

I gave my parking ticket to someone else in the carpark thus saving him some money and making me feel as though I had done a good turn to make up for dobbing my neighbour into the landlord.

Um why did you have to snitch on your neighbour?!

I have cleaned the racks out of my oven - thank you Oldstylers for telling me about Stardrops, its the cleanest my oven has ever been:eek:

Hmm I should get some of that as well! at the moment I use Fairy Power (when it is on offer :rotfl:)

This afternoon I have been reading a proposal about my new website - hosting will be £200 per annum and the design including graphics, photographic work etc will be £250 per day:eek: But....I am coming to an arrangement with the chap who will do it for me - he is an ex colleague and I will be advertising his business too - a little back scratching doesn't do any harm now and again:D

Was told by my advisor at the jobcentre that I have until 22 October to set up my business and start test trading:j Watch this space, the thought of a sooper dooper interactive website has made me feel really excited - if I were a dog I would be running round in circles chasing my tail:rotfl:

I would love to see you running in circles - but other than that the back scratching system sounds good

Horace

Dragon - I snitched on my neighbour because he was making mine and everybody else's life hell. Since he moved in its been party city in his flat, he has already broken the front door by wedging the mat under it so that a constant stream of undesirables can come into the block. His parties start at midnight and by 1am his guests have started to shout and scream then he sticks on a few records and gradually cranks up the volume:mad: He has been dobbed in on various occasions by other tenants and he has been on a final warning plus he has stunk the block out with wacky baccy. The police have been called out 4 times to him (twice by me, once by my immediate neighbour and once by the girl who lived above him and below me - in the end she moved out). He had been put on a final warning by my landlord, he's a jolly good landlord who likes to look after his long-term tenants, my landlord has decided that enough is enough, it he had wanted the block turned into a nightclub then he would have built one:D

I have received a quote from my chum, its a good thing we are bartering and this afternoon I am meeting with him again - this time I am determined to eat his chocolate biscuits:D

Now I am trying to price my work - I have looked at what my competitors are charging and have just about settled on an agreed percentage of the total budget for organising the whole thing - I think I will set my minimum fee to be £2K. Other services will be charged at £25 per hour or a minimum fee of £250. My competitors costs fluctuate wildly from - a fee for the whole thing from £1300 to £4000, my idea is to pick a mid point and then I can work upwards from there. Its the pricing that's driving me nuts at the mo:rolleyes: Really I want to charge £50 an hour but don't think that it would be viable at the mo - I can always put my prices up next year or even in 2010.

I have a few ideas on how I can offer different things to my competitors.

Horace

Well I had a further chat with my mate today - this time I had a yummy cadbury's choccie biccie:j We both agreed that his firm isnt the cheapest but he is more than a web designer. Well, after much discussion about money I told him that I had budgetted about £1000 to £2000 for a website that I could add to because it won't be a stagnant thing but constantly evolving. It might sound a bit much (and my piece of plastic may take a bit more of a battering):rolleyes: but it can be built in stages at a cost that is reasonable to me. He has also found me a reasonably cheap host too.

Now I feel a bit quakey but I have to take the plunge, this business has to succeed as there is no way on this earth will I ever work for an employer ever again, I don't trust them for one thing certainly not after the last effort - she was just a slime (to call her a creature would be offensive to all creatures). She didnt know how to run a business - she had been a director of 5 failed companies and to that end she taught me a lot, basically how to stay honest and how not to run a business. If I could wave two fingers at her I would:rotfl:

Now I need to crack on with my price list, I need to write a small biography too as well as do some more assignments (I have several to submit and have notes on all of them). I am determined to get those letters after my name: Dip WP (Inst WP) or something similar:D

My OH rang me this afternoon making me miss Neighbours:mad: he was at a railway station (I hate it when people call them train stations) in Shepperton waiting for a train back to London as this is where his boss dropped him off after a long drive back from Scotland. He told me that I was right about the distance from Penrith to Edinburgh being nearer 200 miles than 100 as suggested by his boss and he wondered why I knew the distance - my bum bears testimony to that as I once rode pillion for 450 miles into the scottish highlands for a weekend motorbike rally:eek:

Haven't got anything out of the freezer for tea either so have no idea what I can eat, just remembered I have eggs in the fridge to it looks like boiled egg for tea:D

The_Dragon

Well done on getting the web pages stuff sorted (as you say pricey but hopefully well worth it!), good luck on getting the rest of your assignments done and dusted Horace!

Horace

Well yesterday I tried to be moneysaving but fate conspired against me. I went to the NEC for a trade show yesterday and decided to take the train rather than pay £8 to park, a return train trip cost me £4.50 return (with a change of train at New Street). Being a tight wad I remembered to take my own sandwiches and a bottle of blackcurrant squash (I used my Sig water bottle). All was well until I was on the train back to New Street and I decided to have something to drink - I used my teeth to open the bottle being lazy and so I had my drink and for some silly reason decided to use my teeth to shut said bottle and blow me if the train didnt jolt so I banged my front teeth:eek: A short while later, I felt something hard on my tongue and lying there was a piece of tooth:mad:

My front tooth had broken and now I look like a right bruiser:eek: plus I have a bloomin dentist bill tomorrow about £40 that I don't want.

The trade show was good and I came home laden with bags, brochures, and free stuff. I ate my way round the show too by having bits of chocolate here and there as well as ice cream and smoothies. Everyone was moaning about the price of food and drink at the show so I said that I always took my own.

I met some wonderful people and have a few invites - one hotel has invited me to stay at their expense to experience their hospitality and to see rooms that would be suitable for weddings and wedding receptions.

I also saw my ex employers so I asked them about the charges for weddings and conferences and which rooms they could recommend etc. They gave me a free pen and their information so I turned round and said thanks but I would never use them or recommend them to anyone. The girl was most put out that I had wasted half an hour of her time but I know it sounds petty but I just couldnt resist and feel as pleased as punch:rotfl:

One stand who gave me some free beauty products from their spa hotel asked me to play with their wii, I decided that I would have a go and jumped on this board and ended up doing ski jumps - look out Eddie the Eagle is all I can say:rotfl: Now I want a wii board etc for christmas.:D

tomorrow I have the dentist to look forward to as well as my More Than discussion group for which they will pay me £55:D