the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

I have never made marmalade as I am not a fan of it but I am hoping to make some sort of jam this year

I find making jam very relaxing and satisfying. Bottling it however is a sticky business and I wish I could get somewhen else to do that:D. I end up with jam everywhere, even using a jam funnel,

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rhiwfield wrote: »

Ho hum, doing some number crunching.

Playing around with gross and net profit percentages

Can DW afford to give up her part time job to join me in playing around buying and selling collectables?

Not really but to hell with it, you only live once

Are the figures close? are you persuming that ebay sales will increase? are you presuming the prices will stay the same? have you considered ebay changing the rules and regs, pricing structure ?
could you manage if you hardly sold anything on ebay?

the price of living is going up and up, will you be able to increase your sales to cover this as well,

and most importantly, could you cope with DW being home all day every day:rotfl: ( on saying that hubby and i are more or less together 24/7

Have you got a back up plan if things go quiet?

I like your style 'to hell with it':rotfl: you will not know unless you take the jump.....

Dont forget i started my business by selling a few bits and pieces on ebay;)

I can see it now...you will be like del trotter independants, but will have a little lock up somewhere called 'rhiwie's rummage room'

SERIOUSLY......GOOD LUCK..... some times you just got to go with it....

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

'rhiwie's rummage room'

SERIOUSLY......GOOD LUCK..... some times you just got to go with it....

I like that, and all the questions, but if I know rhiwfield, he will have asked those.

Yes, sometimes you have to just go for it. This is the 3rd anniversary of the day we moved out of our semi and into rented, having nowhere definite in mind. It was totally the wrong time to sell-up, and it would have benefited us financially to stay for another 18 months, but we didn't know that.

'Fortune favours the brave,' .... if they've done their research!

rhiwfield

CTC/Davesnave, thanks for the wise words and encouragement!

We've kept a running spreadsheet of projected annual income/expenditure for many years, cross checked with reality regularly, so we're pretty clued up on our financials. I think the savings, and income streams, we've established over recent years means that we can forego DW's salary in total and have enough to tide us over until more pensions kick in. And to be your own boss? Priceless

We'll never make a great deal out of Del Boy Inc, its more the fun of finding bargains, researching antiques, cheering when you get it right and learning when you get it wrong. What started as a bit of fun 8 months back has segued into an interesting sideline which we both can share. We've shifted the focus of acquiring stock (its got to be in semi-bulk, not individual purchases unless opportunistic), we add value through research and try to sell via the most appropriate outlet. Ebay may be expensive, but its traffic flow is great, and even the car boot shifts a lot of stock, albeit at a lower profit. And our overheads are miniscule

Thing is, at our time of life new business opportunities are rare, even rarer that they coincide with personal interests, so to miss out on this one for added security is a bit too scaredycat, even for us

annie123

Rummer wrote: »

I have never made marmalade as I am not a fan of it but I am hoping to make some sort of jam this year

Rummer, I think you'll like making jam.
The only way I've ever found of not making a mess is to use a metal soup ladle to pour it into the jars, even better I find than using a jam funnel as I end up dripping bits of jam from the bit that goes in the jars (very technically put!) over the work surface and onto the next jar, the ladle is just like pouring a thick soup.

annie123

rhiwfield.........losing my job in 08 made me realise (after 6months of unemployment) I didn't want to be an independent suited and booted working woman working 60 hours a week.
I'm now a middle aged housewife, I like being a housewife, and hubby likes it too. No more 3 luxury holidays a year, clothes from charity shops now rather than next or zara, my finger nails have garden soil on them rather than nail varnish and we couldn't be happier, well, we could, but nothing a spare few hundred thousand wouldn't sort out:D then I could have a home with a bigger garden, chickens, bees and no neighbours:D

I worked all the time the kids were growing up, (the youngest leaves home next month :j opps I mean ) and I still dont seem to have enough hours in the day to do what I want now.

I think its safe to say you've done your research so go for it.:)

lostinrates

annie123 wrote: »

Rummer, I think you'll like making jam.
The only way I've ever found of not making a mess is to use a metal soup ladle to pour it into the jars, even better I find than using a jam funnel as I end up dripping bits of jam from the bit that goes in the jars (very technically put!) over the work surface and onto the next jar, the ladle is just like pouring a thick soup.

Sigh. I use a ladle in to a funnel. Belts and braces but I am just naturally messy:o

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Thing is, at our time of life new business opportunities are rare, even rarer that they coincide with personal interests, so to miss out on this one for added security is a bit too scaredycat, even for us

Well, I'm sure that whatever happens, you won't end up making the sort of blunder I've made:o, resulting in this tax fiasco.

Visited Exeter tax office thinking I might get some advice, only to be told "Oh we don't have anything to do with the on-line side." :mad:

However, they did give me a priority 'phone to talk to the folks who do.

"Ah, yes," says the guy, "I can see you've registered the business, so I'll get your number out to you today."

Well, yes, that would be nice! :rotfl:

(At least with that we can file our personal returns and dodge individual fines.)

Looking around in Exeter I saw magnolia and fuchsias flowering and an oriental poppy just about to open. Crazy!

lostinrates

Its the weirdest year for the garden.

You know when you see adverts, or sets on films and think...'that would NEVER be in flower at the same time as the plant next to it!?

Its like that everywhere atm. Eg my snowdops popped up next to the osteropermum, the tulips are sprpunting underneat the already slightly flowering snap dragon...it held a coue of flowers all the way through. All in all it los quite bleak still. I would have hoped the roses would havye established better last year, but never mind. This year maybe . Hopefully lots of things will get going with more gusto this year.

They have a yellow bobbly buddliea in thomson and morgan cat alogue. Sorely tempted to get it .....

rozeepozee

On the fortune favours the brave (or crazeee!) we've just bought she: http://www.brownhillcaravanpark.co.uk/brentmerecelebration.html

She is a Brentmere Celebration with a popping bottle of champagne logo on the side, so is probably going to be called Cristale, or Krug, or possibly Mabel....

We've now got to work out how to site her. I'm pleased to say my haggling skills left a little in the budget for some extras (decking? Poo pit - is that a technical term?) and they included delivery and connecting her up in the reduced price. It's nice to support a local company too.