Today is a new day!

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Pickle

Thank you for your suggestion. What it is is my reflexes all work together. If I pick something up with my good hand, my funny hand's finger curl, so if Im writing for a long time the way I get round that is to put a hankie or something in my funny hand so my nails dont hurt my palm as my fingers curl. Similarly, with my feet, my toes do the same and over the years they have curled as a result, sounds disgusting I know but its not that bad, I just stretch them out with my hand every so often, and wear shoes that are sensible, and just go with the flow. Since my last entry, my toe is a lot better. I had a day at home on Weds, and then yesterday with dd we went out to pick up books, not all of them as the side roads were just too slippery for me to drive on let alone walk, so we did what we could, have just processed a £327 order so not bad considering. have another 50 books or so out there to collect next week. I had to laugh, what took me 2 hours on tues to put out took us 4 and a half hours yesterday. My theory was if I left it till today, the pavements would be more ice than snow and I was right if my home is anything to go by. It took 4 attempts to drive up the slope outside my house to get my car to its parking space. I just couldn't get any grip, the ice was so bad. But , we did it in the end!

Fortunately, without doing any deliveries, I have enough funds in my account to cover the bills going out up to the 15th so that is really a huge relief. I find after Xmas, its not always the Jan that can be the money challenge, its Feb. However, I am just going to cram more customer drops into the next couple of weeks after this weather passes and dd is back at school. (Her school is closed again today.)

Im also very confident with having refined our budget, and monitoring every penny going out, that the challenge will not be such a great one as in previous years, unless of course this weather stays for another month!!!

Have just finished Duncan Bannantynes biography entitled Anyone can do it. Such a fantastic, inspirational book. I have read it at every available opportunity with the weather as it has been and feel that I will indeed conquer the world with my business targets. Would recommend it strongly to anyone wanting the knowledge and info and self belief to go out there and build a business and climb out of debt.

On that note, am going to check my emails, get dressed and do my dd some lunch! Phone calls this afternoon, make use of the time at home! Would usually be putting out books and delivering goods. Haven't any goods to del with weather and its just too icy for me today to risk getting the books out. They will have to wait till next week, but then more snow is forcast for Sunday isn't it! Oh well, ...

Different_Corner

PAF
Thanks for your post on my diary. We are both singing from the the same page as they say, and your post means a lot.

Flip It(and what a nice looking book it is !) is at the top of my 'to read' pile, although Susan Jeffers is working her magic at the moment.

I thinking positive for the weather for you over the next few days, hoping it doesn't hinder you in away.
Look after your self, you know your limits, and beyond
Have a snuggly weekend.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

The weather here is the worst it has been to date in this snowy spell. More is forcast for today and tom. DD is in heaven making a snowman with her little friends in the road. We are in a cul de sac so they are perfectly safe out there with no traffic. The road is just a bed of snow at mo. Everywhere is. So, we are at home and my plan for today is the following:
Get dressed!
Spend some time in the kitchen making meals to put in the freezer so that when this weather is over, I will have more time onmy hands to work my business. So simple to just take a home cooked meal out of the freezer than do it all from scratch after a days work dont you think! So, am doing sausage casserole, roasting a chicken to portion up, cottage pie, seafood pasta dish(using tins of salmon and tuna Ive had in my cupboards for a time!), plus making cakes to keep dd going, and in the hope they will be needed for her lunch box for school if it opens at all next week!!!
Phone calls
Ebay
Ironing.

On that note need to get on and try not to worry about the coming week and its financial implications if the weather continues.!

Different_Corner

Morning PAF
My total justification for having the occasional Chinese takeaway is to get those decent portion sized reusable tupperware - like containers that are DW safe, ideal for freezer as you stack them and you can write on them. Just so I can menu plan and prepare and freeze exactly as you are.

I love food but the pressure of always having to think whats for dinner, think of new and inventive meals for the ever hungry mini men is soo time consuming and energy sapping ! Especially as it seems to be eaten in less than 4 minutes at times.

It's a huge relief to get it organised and as you say weather like this really brings it home.

Glad DD is enjoying the weather, my two are so sick of looking at the news with all the fun the rest of the country are having on their t trays, we have had little more than a light dusting. It is just the cold we are having to endure.

Happy baking

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Well. it snowed constantly here all day yesterday, more is said to come today although not as heavy. I am starting to get worried, the weather forcast is saying this will carry on for a further week, I can not afford to not work for a further week at the level I need to. The good news is I do have funds available I could access - if I can get to a bank - but they are for the tax bill. Will the Inland Revenue be happy for me to pay in 2 instalments when my cashflow gets back to normal after this weather? I doubt it, but I am considering calling them If they are I can dip into that money to keep me going, and then work on catching up over the weeks into february. Everything I can do at the mo business wise is great for the long term but not for the short term. Im also thinking I might not be able to pay my mortgage if this goes on into this week and next. You see its not just being able to get out that is the problem, its the cashflow, its receiving the deliveries from Kl who are in heavy snow, and then delivering them. If I had any goods to deliver - I have £1k worth of goods I am waiting to receive, £670 I would have normally received last Weds but am still waiting - I wouldn't beable to deliver them anyway, to convert into cash to cover my next order and pay in my commission because of the snow here. That said, I am thinking of venturing out today just to assess how bad or good it is out there. I have just seen our street and Im thinking maybe I can put books out somewhere else locally if it looks ok. Dd would just have to come with me. And we need milk....

Really, it just goes to show how the infrastructure of this country is so fragile, many people cant work anyway because of the school closures, and then there is simply no way of getting to work, and then if you are like me with a disability you've basically had it! Although, I have a dear friend in my road who has been great going to the shop for me, without her kindness we would be in an even worse position. So, very dear thanks to a dear dear friend! Take care everyone!

Keeping_Motivated

Hi PAF are you entitled to a payment holiday on your mortgage just to get through this patch?

I hope it clears soon as like you say for small businesses it can be really damaging.

Take care out there
KM x

Smart_Mart

I would have thought that HMRC might be a little sympathetic in the current circumstances, PAF. I'd ask them anyway as they can only say "No".

The folk they come down hard on are generally the ones who don't keep them informed...:rolleyes:

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Thank you KM and Smart mart!

Before reading your posts I had decided to call Halifax re my mortgage and the Inland Rev so how amazing is that given your suggestions and am on here to report my progress with both!. I decided to do it this am after taking my dd to school. Ironically, to me this weather today is worse than all the days put together last week when dd's school was closed. What became slush yesterday is now lovely ice, but not just any ice, its thick ice and the snow is still thick everywhere. Basically, a friend came to the rescue when we had parked the car, and it was clear I was having great difficulty walking to the school. It was then that I knew today would not be a day for working out and about. My mum is still happy to have dd after school like she usually does on a mon, but the thing is I would not be able to collect her safely. Its ice from here to my car, its ice at mums, its ice ice, snow snow and more ice everywhere.!!!!! So, a dear neighbour is collecting dd at 3 which I am hugely grateful to her for.

So, came home this am, and bit the bullet calling Halifax first. It transpires I am in fact in credit with my mortgage as a few years ago before my falling over took place I had paid an extra £50 off my mortgage a month for a while. Some of that is still there, so if I can pay it my payt would only have to be less than half its full amount. If I cant do that though then I have to speak to their Collections Dept. I asked would my score be effected, and the answer was effectively yes, although I did say the Disability Discrimination Act should surely be enforced in such a situation. I will have to wait and see if that situation occurs, but hopefully not. So, once again if you are disabled in this country the disability is not considered whatsoever. Of course, I want to be treated equally, but the simple fact is my starting block feels a lap behind everyone else. If I was not concerned about falling over and its implications I would be able to be out there working at some level. The simple truth is that if I break my good arm I have no functioning arms, if I break my good leg I cant walk at all. These are the facts organisations seem to find hard to grasp. But as I say if I can find the lesser payt this month I will be ok.

So, then I called the Inland Rev who it seems have lost my tax return filed by my accountant last April, and so at the moment I owe them nothing!!!. If I do opt to pay them in stages I will be charged for doing so. I asked whether that would be so in light of the DDA given the reason Im in this situation is because my disability effects my ability to work in this weather? Whats that? I was asked. My case rests.

So, feel that at least Ive made some headway. Have emailed my accountant re my tax return, and if I had to delay payt to them it would only be by a third and I am sure I could pay them the rest next month assuming this weather doesn't continue into February.

Other positive news, have negotiated a lower tariff on my mobile, reducing my monthly bill by £10. Will get on now preparing catalogues in the hope they will be out there earning me money v v soon, and catch up with phone calls later. At least our freezer is full to bursting with home made suppers pre made this weekend by moi! Take care to anyone reading!

As for my Kleeneze delivery, I am hoping it will arrive today. Delivery of the goods will have to wait at least a couple of days but then on Weds more snow is forcast. Oh well, we are all in the same boat to a degree. It has to come to an end sometime!

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Well, just had my lunch while listening to the weather forecast on the tv. I think I am just going to have to work on the basis I m not working out and about before next week, if I can it will be a bonus. Snow is possible for tom night. So, am going to not worry about it for the rest of the day, get on with what is within my control - what I can do from home - and then tomorrow assess the financial situation again to ensure I have money for the bills due on friday and next monday, namely being to BT, O2, and Barclaycard!!!

mrscmr

blimey pos andfocused... i just found ur diary, by sheer fluke!

OMG i have just been reading... inspirational!

xxx