Immoral_angel's Debt Diary

immoral_angeluk

lol.. I can give you 2000 words on how to push something the size of a watermelon twice without splitting your self in half if you like

in*the*red_6

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

2000 word essay?? Ouch! What on? And anyway.. stop using me as an excuse for you not doing your work.. :rotfl:

well ofsted recieved my forms this morning (I sent it recorded ) and I have to call up tomorrow to see whether my dr has gotten round to filling out my health declaration yet... :rolleyes:
As for when I find out? could be 2 weeks or 12 weeks! lol! Hopefully I won't have to wait too long though.

Be prepared for the crb checks to take a while - i had my ofsted inspection at easter and didn't get registered until the last day of June.

immoral_angeluk

Oh I know. At my old nursery it took them 6 months and refilling the form out 3 times before I got mine..... :rolleyes:

themaccas

I know what you mean IA!!!!!!!!!!:eek: Ok now I'm upto 389 words. I have done a total of 180 words today in 8 hours. My target was 1000. Oh well tomorrow's another day:o

poodlehorse

If you need to buy snacks etc for the kidlets you mind then you might find you can make buying some things in bulk work for you and as a self-employed type person you could join Makro if there is one near you. Even if that isn't what you use it for at least being self -employed gets you the card and they CAN (but not always) work out a lot cheaper. THe trick is not to get too carried away which I am inclined to do occasionally.

Swishter

Hi IA,

You seem to be on the ball and I think you would make a fab childminder.

I am not a childminder but I am self employed and provided your organised (which I think you are) the Self Assessment Tax Return is dead easy. I got myself so worked up the first time and was shocked when it was done and dusted in no time! I think I set the whole day to side to 'deal with it' and 10 minutes later my feet were up while I enjoyed a nice cup of tea.

I've set myself up a spreadsheet to automatically do the calculations I did by hand last year. Basically you input that weeks income, then the expenses and then it calculates a chunk to go into your Tax/NI pot. Squirrel that money away earning you a good chunk of interest and then you can just pay it up when the time comes. At present I take a flat amount so its not precise but unless you go into the highest tax band it will always leave you enough to cover your liabilities (better safe than sorry) last year I had £250 extra at the end after paying the tax etc. I also include a space for a description of what the expense is and put all receipts/bills into an envelope by month. So if the Tax Man queries anything I have the answer/proof there.

NI is a flat rate when your SE, I think you only have to pay it when your income is somewhere around about £87 per week, can't remember the exact figure... But I think paying it anyway means you keep your state pension/incapacity entitlements. They can take it monthly by DD so its one less thing to worry about! Its also less than £10 per month!

To do your SA online you just put in takings, put in expenses (it should be this straightforward in your case too) flick through all the pages that are not relevant, press complete and then the computer tells you what you owe and a bill is issued. As soon as I get a figure I just go straight to the payments section on the Inland Revenue Website and pay immediately. You could hold on until the final day to maximise your interest but the risk of the site going down or forgetting and being stuck with a £100 fine is too much for me! Providing you have all the relevant figures/amounts to hand you just put them in and the program does the work.

I'm creating a spreadsheet that actually does the exact calculations 0% from this much, 10% from this much etc (but again its on a week by week basis, if your income fluctuates it will always leave you up rather than down) It should be complete soon and I would be happy to e-mail it to you. As the tax rules change each year all you would need to do is just adjust the amounts/percentages in the formulas, rather than writing it again.

Also, I must admit, I did find the Inland Revenue really really helpful, I was registered in a few minutes on the phone and they send you out a big book with loads of guidance on managing accounts etc. I had a glitch at the beginning with my account not being set up properly due to an old Incap claim not being closed by the DWP, but I wrote to the office and had real people on the phone within days organising everything plus sending a cheque for £15 to cover my costs, that was without asking and not bad for an hours work!

Although I've not had any problems I would recommend that if you have a more complex issue you should pay a visit to your local office and get them to put their guidance in writing, if they are wrong then you are not liable for addtional liabilities.

You can register as SE as soon as you have got the go-ahead, you may not have actually started yet but you are up and looking so get it done, one less thing to think about when you have the kids in house.

Fingers crossed it all goes well, sorry this is so long just wanted to help wherever I could.

Swishter
xx

sammy115

essays, lists, deep sigh! I am tired already!:o

LOL, I have the utmost respect for my childminder. she has 'brought' three of mine up already and put off retiring to mind my fourth. She charges me what she charged me fifteen years ago!

In the absence of a proper granny on hand, she is the next best thing.

IA - I can see you becoming a childminder in the same vein!

I hope you get registered, my fingers and toes are crossed

sammy115

cough! obviously not like a granny!!!:eek:

TracySouth

Hi I-A

As you can see I am very much a lurker but enjoy reading your thread. Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but I think you can apply for a childminding start up grant to help with any purchases you may need to make or alterations to your house. I was a childminder about 4 years ago and although I never applied for this grant I know a friend who registered the same time as me was able to benefit from this.

Keep up the good work!

biglass

I'd check the rules again for number of kids you are allowed ,IA- I am pretty sure that it would mean you would only be allowed to mind one other child during the day.After school pickups would allow you to mind three more. I could be wrong,though..