Millionaire Challenge

gothrockchic1

Sorry to hear about your Dad LL, love and hugs to your family x

THEMONEYSPIDER_2

Im sure i read on this thread someone had lots of shoes to sell but could no longer justify the postage costs with RM, just heard today from my post office clerk RM have now increased the size of their small parcels, they now go up to a large shoe box size and 1kg.... More details here http://tamebay.com/2013/09/royal-mail-propose-extending-small-parcel-size.html The changes come into place this coming monday...hth

sweetpea26

moneyspider staff at post office told me yesterday starts Monday. Thank goodness now I can clear some larger items.

LL so very sorry to hear of your fathers prognosis. Life is tough for you at the moment. Glad to hear that you will be able to get advice and expertise from your friend.
take care.

troglodyte

Dear LL,

So sorry to hear you have had yet more bad news. Life really seems to be throwing everything at you at the moment, and it sounds as though you are shouldering all the burdens and carrying everyone along. I hope you get the help and support you need to get through this. Thinking of you and all your family in these tough times.

lessonlearned

Thanks for all your well wishes - they are very much appreciated.

Now that the initial shock has worn off I'm doing ok with it all. Dad is taking it all in his stride and being very philosophical with his usual "Well I've had a good innings".

Actually - given his wartime service history (I won't go into details, it's just too horrific), a boxing career, several car crashes, a couple of work accidents, two heart attacks, an aneurysm, half a lung being removed 10 years ago, various broken bones etc he has well and truly used up his nine lives;) By rights he should have died several times over.

He is a cantankerous old devil at times and I think it's his sheer bloody mindedness that keeps him going. What's that saying "Old Soldiers Never Die" Anyway he is displaying his customary courage and fortitude so the least I can do is try and emulate him. Just face whatever comes.......

Everyone tells me I am my father's daughter so perhaps it's just the same bloody mindedness that makes me so determined to make a go of our "Millionaire Challenge".......

Today I received a nice little cheque from the Auction House. There was nothing special about what I sold, just a few bits of bric a brac. It was just piled in a couple of boxes, taking up valuable space. I shall have to have another rummage and see what else I can flog.:rotfl:

Apart from that no news this end, just got to wait for our "little fixer upper" to get surveyed and take it from there.

I'm still on a mission to cut costs, scrimping and saving, juggling money around. No news on the nursing home refund yet - will just have to keep pestering them until they cough up.

Hope you are all doing well and making lots of money.

Kayalana99

THEMONEYSPIDER wrote: »

Im sure i read on this thread someone had lots of shoes to sell but could no longer justify the postage costs with RM, just heard today from my post office clerk RM have now increased the size of their small parcels, they now go up to a large shoe box size and 1kg.... More details here http://tamebay.com/2013/09/royal-mail-propose-extending-small-parcel-size.html The changes come into place this coming monday...hth

Thanks :-) That was me and I still have them... Now I've opened an ebay shop I've got quite a few free listings so I should get round to getting them up soon especially with that update.

I am not surprised at all tbh, new postal companys are popping up all over the place but have never been able to match Royal mails prices 99% time but since these price rises everyone has been forced to use couriers...and I just couldn't see the new prices actually making them more profit if they are losing all the business customers who actually research who is cheaper.

Sorry to hear LL what is going on, I hope you get your cheque soon at least.

Karmacat

Oh my word ... I was in the DFW part of the forum for years and years, and I still pop back for a few minutes most days, to chat with friends and whatnot ... but my main financial issue now is to provide for my retirement. I couldn't quite find a home for that on the mse board, and I think I just have, in this thread. This bit of the forum seems to have changed since I last was here (erm, about 5 years ago ) and I'm certainly in tune with this thread - cutting down expenses, keeping an eye on cuts in expenses I've already made, maximising savings, and looking at what type of small business to start. So, you've gained another one!

However, I see that lessonlearned has had some devastating news just now, so I don't want to come in and be all chirpy all over that I'm sorry your family members are so ill, LL. Not feeling terribly chirpy anyway, at the moment, I've been ill for about 6 weeks (nothing dreadful, tho it feels it - virus, postviral fatigue, and labyrinthitis). It'll all shift, in time. I'll post again, but for now, I'm just looking through the thread and settling into my armchair for a good read. Hope its okay to join you all.

lessonlearned

Hi Karmacat & welcome. Please please please do post your news and plans and don't worry about causing me offence with your chirpiness.

Chirpiness is good :rotfl: Well I like it.;)

You'll find we are a positive and optimistic bunch and even though my news has been rather sad this week I'm not about to wallow in self pity. I owe it to my dad to remain upbeat. He would be furious if I allowed myself to become "maudlin" as he puts it.

I've just got back from visiting my mother and dad was there, all smart in his best charity shop Harris Tweed jacket that I bought him, and a favourite cream and navy sweater which was a birthday gift from me. He loves clothes and is a real natty dresser. (He used to be a dead ringer for Steve McQueen when he was younger.:rotfl: and is still a bit of a head turner). Dressing up to the nines is one of his coping mechanisms, he wears his nice gear as a suit of armour. The day he is no longer dressed to kill is the day I will know he has given up.

What kind of small business had you in mind. Yes I'm dead nosey.

Kayalana - some interesting points there about Royal Mail. I did wonder if it's recent privatisation might bring down postage costs.

TBH high postage is one of the reasons why I have fallen out with Ebay. Good luck with the shoes.

Did anyone buy any RM shares. I intended to but forgot all about it until it was too late. Silly me. Must get better organised.

Karmacat

LL, very kind of you, thank you. And yes, the optimism in general is what attracted me to the thread, I like it! I'm generally much more optimistic these days, though sometimes I don't look it or feel it, oops.


Age wise – I'm probably nearer to you in age, than several others, 50s anyway, but I am on the way to that million. House is paid for, investment flat in France is two thirds paid for (dreadful idea to go for it, its caused so much angst and complication, much better to have bought a BTL in this country; the thing gives me no income, I'm still paying out thousands of euros a year). I have savings, shares, and a bit of a pension fund (spread into 3 companies, paranoid, moi?). In total, I'm just over a third of the way there. Which is a great beginning, but still a way to go.


I'm self employed, have been for 25 years or so, and my current business has collapsed, more or less – I'm earning less than half what I earned in 2000 (and I'm making a loss/partially living on savings) – and even more importantly, I don't want to build it back up again, I'm burned out (I'm a counsellor – you'd be amazed at how few counsellors last 25 years – I've done a really good whack, and I'm done, just winding down with the clients I currently have). So, ever since I added my name to the Debt Free Roll of Honour on the DFW board, I've been rummaging about wondering what to do to earn more money. Complicated by the fact that my physical energy is at the wet-paper-bag level, because of arthritis and viruses. No doing up houses for me using my own physical labour, sadly, though I'd love to (recently become addicted to an early morning tv programme, instead of checking out the news, “Britain's Empty Homes” ).



I've been flailing around for a bit, trying to find a way forward, and this is what I've come up with so far, all except the last being pretty long term:

• writing a book on foraging from trees in the UK
• writing a novel about the end of the world (not Doomsday Preppers – think a mix of John Wyndham and Larry Niven, I'm a long-time science fiction fan).
• Trading/spreadbetting (I have a home grown system that makes the requisite 85% correct calls, but entering the trade, and even more importantly staying in the trade long enough for the exit signal to turn up, is a complete bleeping nightmare for me).
• Greetings cards – two ideas with these, involves making a big image and shrinking it down to fit onto cards sold mostly online, so that there's a huge amount of detail on there, and the other involves making a very simple design and going for that. Tough marketplace, though, for greetings cards, or anything like that. Its just occurred to me that there might be a market based on local images too, need to think about that.

lessonlearned

Karmacat wrote: »

• writing a book on foraging from trees in the UK
• writing a novel about the end of the world (not Doomsday Preppers – think a mix of John Wyndham and Larry Niven, I'm a long-time science fiction fan).
• Trading/spreadbetting (I have a home grown system that makes the requisite 85% correct calls, but entering the trade, and even more importantly staying in the trade long enough for the exit signal to turn up, is a complete bleeping nightmare for me).
• Greetings cards – two ideas with these, involves making a big image and shrinking it down to fit onto cards sold mostly online, so that there's a huge amount of detail on there, and the other involves making a very simple design and going for that. Tough marketplace, though, for greetings cards, or anything like that. Its just occurred to me that there might be a market based on local images too, need to think about that.

Writing books sounds great. Something I wouldn't mind having a go at one day. My OH did his memoirs whilst he still could - they are hilarious.

Re the greetings cards. I used to live in the Cotswolds - very pretty. One of my friends there was a gifted amateur artist, specialising in water colours. She did a load of local images and views and had them made up into prints, greetings cards etc. They went down a storm........ She marketed them through local shops, cafes and hotels.

I can well believe that counsellors burn out very quickly. Anyway hope you feel better soon.

I prescribe lots of TLC, the odd glass of wine and some nice chocolate......;)