Millionaire Challenge

evilqueen88

Just lately I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall. My partner had quit smoking so no more shelling out £8 a day for nothing, but lo and behold that hasn't lasted long. It may sound selfish but why am I even bothering to try and budget when more money is going on cigarettes per day than food?
I got offered a great job today, managing a bar in a lovely truckstop but I had to turn it down as I have no transport. By this time I had been hoping to either have a car or a motorbike but I have neither.
Rant over! Sorry guys
I have heard back from Appen, so hopefully that'll be some more income.
Just having one of those days I suppose. Sorry to be such a downer.

lessonlearned

Evilqueen - no need to apologise - we all have down days and if coming on here and letting off steam helps ……..

Re your partner and his smoking. MY OH used to smoke when we first met and it drove me nuts….. He tried several times to give up and failed.

Eventually his workplace went smokeless and they were all given some patches to try and wean them off the fags. He announced that he would quit smoking on our 10th wedding anniversary, however, after all his failed attempts I was extremely sceptical about his chances of success.

Then I had a bit of a brainwave. We were struggling financially at the time and I knew my husband would have loved to go and watch his football team regularly but we just couldn't afford it.

I said to him. "If you could give up smoking, then you could afford a season ticket for the football". He managed to quit:rotfl:

The money he saved paid not just for his ticket but for our two sons too. He never smoked again.

Is there anything your partner would like to do or treat himself to that you could dangle as a carrot to help incentivise him. Just a thought.

Sorry to hear that you couldn't take up the job offer, sounds like it could have been fun too. Try not to be too down-hearted - just keep ploughing on and it will all come right in the end.

I've worked like a dog for the last couple of weeks. I ache in places that I didn't know existed:rotfl:

I've got a bit of a breathing space until Friday before the next onslaught although today I have to meet with my mum and dad's care time to sort out their move. At least I won't get covered in plaster dust today.

I think in future I will try not to renovate two properties at once whilst simultaneously overseeing both my OH's and my parents' care needs. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

One thing is for sure - I am going to have a couple of months off this summer…...;)

Kayalana - hope you feel better soon.

Both DS2 and I had upset tummies yesterday. Because we were so busy we made do with a pasty for a quick lunch on Sunday. It must have been dodgy - well I did buy it from a petrol station:eek:

You'd think I would have more sense by now……….

Karmacat

Morning all - EQ, sorry to hear things feel bad, I can understand thats frustrating - immediate motivation might be the answer, like LL says. At least Appen came through.

LL, I'm with you on the aching! I'm working on the garden beds, weeding, then putting leaf mould down, and finishing off with bark mulch - I feel exhausted, truly - I might actually have a bath instead of a shower today, so I can soak properly.

I've realised that the cat website has taken a backseat while I've been doing the garden (and yet the garden's not even half done yet!!!) though I have managed to at least collect all the paperwork and planning into the right files and even 5 subfiles. Can't cope with doing any gardening today, so after my paid work has finished, I'll focus on the moggies.

Kayalana99

It's not selfish, my OH smoked when we first got together as well but the idea was he quit when we moved in together as we literally couldn't afford it.... it was very dark times to say the least I nearly ended up pregnant with a rental contract I couldn't pay for.... I'm pretty accepting of what people want to do really but it was food or smoke at that time...I've always said I don't want the kids to grow up thinking it's ok either I swear he plans to start smoking again when they're older... :rotfl:

Feeling much better thank you but now DS1 is ill ...well all he wants to do is cuddle me and sit still which is fine by me...but not eating atm

I thought about you yesterday LL, a house near me went up for auction and I've been keeping an eye on it - a lady in her 70's has brought it and her and her two sons were their working on it yesterday and she was getting her hands dirty just as much as the two lads were with a spring in her step...I hope I age well. (Sorry I know your not 70 by far but I guess it was just the fact she was their with her two sons )

Karmacat

Kaya, sorry to hear about the illness ... glad you're better, but poor little DS

lessonlearned

I'll be 63 in July - but I feel 70 plus in the mornings………

I'm alright once I get going, it's just the getting going that sometimes takes some doing. :rotfl:

lessonlearned

Good Morning All

How are we all??

Doing well and making lots of money I hope:D

Well it's been a week of two halves - some good - some bad. I've been insanely busy so I have promised myself the weekend off.

The bad news - Just received the bill for the scaffolding for the Money Pit (Prop 1) - £2800 :eek: ouch!!! The men start work on Monday. They've been instructed to do everything that needs doing or is likely to need doing within the foreseeable future. We don't want to pay for scaffolding again ……

The good news.

Mum & Dad's move is going ahead on April 1st. So it's all hands on deck but hopefully all the kinks have been ironed out now. It will be such a weight off the family's shoulders to know that Dad is safe and secure in sheltered housing at last and that they can be back together again.

The second piece of excellent news is that it looks like Prop 2 is going to be an even better investment than we had hoped for.

When we first bought it we had a feeling that the area was "on the cusp", i.e. just about to become a bit of a hot spot. Looks like we were right. The area seems to have a real buzz just now, lots of development going on and a general "smartening up" all round.

A property has just come on the market which is identical to ours with an asking price of £15K more than I had anticipated even our most optimistic asking price would be when we come to sell.

Obviously that's only the asking price but it bodes well…..

The renos on prop 2 are going well. Plasterers in on Monday and just in the process of planning the kitchen. Just need to keep a tight rein on the budget to maximise profits (and compensate for that blasted scaffolding bill:rotfl:).

I ache from head to toe so I'm going to take it easy for a couple of days. Time for some R&R. Then on Monday it will be all systems go.

Have a great weekend.

Karmacat

LL, good news there! I'm pleased for you

As for me, I'm finally getting to grips with the lease terms for my dratted French apartment - the renting-it-out lease matures in December this year, and the decision about whether that holiday company is going to take it on again is being made round about now, but I have to do more research before I can put my vote in. We'll see.

My trading is ... on the way. I've made 3 trades this week, which is progress ("pressing the button" has been a problem for me) - my reaction to the inevitable losing trades is also a problem, I shut off after I've finished the trade, but that means I don't get to see the next trade - this week, that meant not seeing a trade that would've given me 3 times the profit of the losing trades the big learning is that its a job - you don't hide in the staff room for 3 hours because someone was everyday-grumpy to you - you have a moan and get back to it. Thats what I have to do, even though I'm at home. Stay open to the profit opportunities!

Haven't been able to do much on the cat website, though I've got that draft news item waiting to go on (must put it on today, otherwise it'll be out of date) because of all the French language stuff I've needed to do. Which has led to some decluttering, happily

Maintaining my investment in this current house, I've also been carrying on working on the soil, mulching and improving. And the patio is useable again :j that helps too.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Kayalana99

Not really much to update here - found a new product I want to do with practically no money down needed (just the original stock and a couple of bits) but I need to do some more research on it to see if I can actually make the product myself and then customise it rather then buying them in to customise.

Keep us updated on your Mum & Dad LL & good luck with your apartment / projects KC

lessonlearned

Good morning folks

Well another glorious day here so will be out and about in a bit, tip run, meeting with Social Services again re my parents' move. Dad is getting cold feet. He's just so confused and totally overwhelmed by it all.

I'm getting a bit frustrated to be honest, both with my parent's move and the flipper. We are at the stage on both where there is loads I need to do but I am waiting for everyone else to do their bit first.

Unfortunately I'm not the most patient of people………I just want to crack on.

So in the meantime I have started a major declutter - two bin liners just from one of my wardrobes:o.

Although there is some nice stuff which I could Ebay I have decided to speed things up and just give it away. Might buy me some good karma

Then in the next couple of weeks I will sort out a load of stuff to take to the lady who is going to try and sell stuff for me - just need to get some boxes for that.

I have been busy planning the kitchen for the Flipper - site meeting tomorrow to discuss it with my builder. In the meantime the new kitchen window should be going in today.

I have one of those thought for the day desk diaries.

Today's little gem……

"You'll more likely do your best when you're dressed your best".

How true.

Right time to start the day. Have a good one.