Help Required!!!!

Rage_in_Eden

Last night OH and I sat down and did our finances as his business isn't going very well. He's got a part-time job at a well-known supermarket but Nov and Dec paypackets have been bouyed by the christmas run-up overtime. After all caculations it appears that I will be feeding us on £20 a week in the New Year when his pay packet falls back to the normal. I have been trying to get a better paid medical secretary job from where I am but have not been successful. I could really do with some pointers from you guys. I thought I was quite good a budgetting but seeing £20 (well, actually £19.76) in black and white has made me panic and doubt myself - even though I did Christmas on £200 quid all in ........... I have done nothing but watch the pennies last year and the thought of doing it on even less pennies is getting me down. Tips anyone???

wigginsmum

Howabout posting your Statement of Affairs with all income/outgoings, and we'll see what suggestions we can make?

Jules

skintchick

And pop over to debt free wannabe too - we're experts at this kind of thing!

Rage_in_Eden

okay but it'll probably be tomorrow as everything is at home. I have found out that I could switch my gas/electric user and save about £120 per year so guess what's being done asap!!! We have broadband at the mo but hubby really needs it for his job but we do get free phone calls with that. The mobile is never more than £20 per month and £13.59 of that is contract with the VAT as well so the calls are about £4 (heavy use!) and I make sure that we use that at weekends and after 7pm 'cos of free calls. Insurance is the cheapest we can find - ditto the mortgage. I will have a think about everything (even debt is on a 0% credit card with movement when the 0% runs out). I think the time has come for hubby to bite the bullet vis-a-vis his business which is now over a year old and for which he has had approximately 6 customers (!)...... underfloor heating is not the big seller he thought it would be - which is a shame because I was right behind him setting up but we've been living on the savings for some time now and this cannot go on....

squeaky

I think the best place for this one would be debt free wannabe as suggested above, so I'll move you across shortly

Edinburghlass_2

Been there, done that and wear the t-shirt as regards running a business Rage, now is a good time to take stock of things and decide do you want to go into 2006 with this hanging over your head.

I sat in my shop in the November of 1999 and thought do I want to be sitting here in a new millennium watching my money heading down the drain...

Can your OH perhaps stay on with the supermarket after the seasonal rush and maybe even stack shelves at night while still trying to find customers for the underfloor heating as a day time job?

Edinburghlass_2

Second though is can he branch out from the underfloor heating and perhaps add all odd jobs to his cv?

I would love to have someone right now come and do various jobs about the house such as tile laying and laminate laying so if he can take up flooring to do the underfloor heating perhaps he can move on to doing this?

moongarden

you could set your hubby a target of increasing the business by a reasonable amount in the next couple of months or calling it quits

get the hubby an appointment down at your local chamber of commerce, regional development association or such like - these places give FREE business advice and know your local area. there might be opportunities he is missing

also has he contacted all the local and larger building firms in your area and sent them a brochure/flyer? building firms use specialists to do jobs such as underfloor heating and if he goes and visits the owners/managers of these firms with a big smile and a friendly manner you never know

best wishes for 2006

Rage_in_Eden

sad to say that he's gone down all these routes - he was meant to be getting "back up" from the manufacturer and I had to shame them into paying for advertising in November (1 year after the start of the business) by threatening to pay for it myself!!! but alas I think it is too little too late.......... still i shall nudge him in their direction again.....