Millionaire Challenge

Kayalana99

That sounds amazing LL, I do hope you manage to find somewhere like that. :-)

I've been down since the new year, I think it has something to do with the fact I was working all hours over Christmas and then I suddenly found myself over loaded with everything I had been putting off, to be quite frank I have been depressed to point I was doubting my life and relationship but it wasn't until I admitted I was depressed I've managed to pull myself out of it (If it makes sense, I was thinking I was down because of my partner and spending all day with the kids but I realised I was depressed in general and that I was looking for problems because of this rather then their actually being any and the hole was just getting deeper and deeper.)

Anyhoo, I am fine now I completely broke down one day last week and basically haven't looked backed since. Business has been going well, I've finally pulling myself in one direction and I've decided to focus more on single sales to general people rather then business sales (I've been dabbling inbetween but realised I couldn't keep running as half and half) I will still keep my few business listings up but it means I won't be buying the same product ranges that I would be if I was developing that way...not going to turn down bulk sales ofc for what I sell but it won't be my main business. :-)

Finally managed to start getting on top of things, the house is actually in a decent state for once and I am managing to balance cleaning and my business around the kids.

I've been reading this book called "The Black Hole" it's about focusing your life and goals...now guys...I'm not even half way through the book cause I'm struggling to find time to read it but I tell you now it will be the best £10 you've spent this year...worth every penny. Never read anything so motivating, I actually sit with a note pad an pen next to me while I'm reading it to take notes and things. (Trust me I am not that sort of person!!)

Now for the best news...my OH has been offered a new job with a 2k pay rise!!! :-) It's a lot further away but whilst the job is the same job title he has now, it's a smaller business and a lot more hands on and he will get so much experience...he'll be working side by side with the boss (only two people) and he will be doing all parts of the work rather then sitting at a desk so I hope he will love it. (he's very hands on)

The plan will be to move closer hopefully this year but we'll see...I will have to work out the £££ and see how it will work out, I don't think we would be able to borrow any more as whilst he is on a lot more money my business can't be used as income until I've got 3 years books when it comes to mortgages but I will have a word with my MA about it. TBF I am not 100% happy with this house as the kitchen isn't great and the garden is small and not laid out well but with our budget I don't know if we'd get much better.

Anyway...rambles as normal....note to all...get the book..promise you will be singing my praises once you've read it.

lessonlearned

Is the book called Black Hole Focus by Isiah Hankel.

Kaya - sorry to hear that you have been feeling rather down but it's good that you are feeling brighter now. I think you are right to try and find a way that works best for you. There's no right or wrong way, but there is a way that will be right for you.

Great news about your OH,s new job.

Kayalana99

That's the one sorry, he has been sending me emails for a while (yes another stupid email marketing guru) but I always look forward to them as they are always an interesting read and I have to admit I did get mine of eBay so he's not had a (direct) penny from me lol :-)

Currently looking over my finances and working out where we can cut a few pennies !!! If OH lets me cancel sky (which is doubtful but he did agree to and then whenever I mention ringing them it's always tomorrow and I cant do it because it's in his name ...we don't even use it all the channels we watch can be watched on freeview bar music...which we watch once every 2 months or so lol!)

Come 1st of May, that will be our last payments for the photographer and the honeymoon and if we make a few phone calls for other bits to cancel we'd actually be £130 better of a month (including £25 off for sky as we still need the internet ) .... I'm on a mission!!!

Broken_Biscuits

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Currently looking over my finances and working out where we can cut a few pennies !!! If OH lets me cancel sky (which is doubtful but he did agree to and then whenever I mention ringing them it's always tomorrow and I cant do it because it's in his name ...
!!

rule number one in "hostile" negotiations. Offer an alternative that suits both parties.

in this case, although hardly hostile!!, how about one of boxes you can get that are about £4 a month. There's one that comes with a few channels including sky one and sky Atlantic. Sky Atlantic has a number of very good dramas that don't make it on to other channels. you could have a look through a tv guide to make sure its suitable and then pick a show or two you both would like to watch together. Make it about the time you will gain together rather than the stuff you are taking away. hundreds saved and you have made him feel like your motivation is quality time and not money. (which could be true??!!)

lessonlearned

Agree here with how to negotiate successfully. You need a "trade off" up your sleeve, the aim is for a win-win.

Years ago my OH decided he needed to quit smoking (again:rotfl:). He had tried several times, spending a small fortune on alternative therapies such as acupuncture, hypnosis etc but without success.

I had a brain wave.

He loved to go to football matches but as we were skint he could rarely afforded to go. I did a quick calculation on how much he was spending on fags and worked out he was spending roughly 3 times as much as a Season ticket.

I explained to him that in addition to all the health benefits of giving up smaking the icing on the cake would be that he could afford a season ticket to support his favoured football team.

That was all it took, it did the tick.....not only could he afford a ticket for himself, he was able to treat our two boys as well. So he got to play the generous dad card, and have a nice time with his boys. Wins all round.

Kayalana99

The problem I have it would be like buying fags but putting them in the bin..I'm not exaggerating when I say he doesn't use it. If he watchs tele the only thing he watches is Dave which is on freeview. He doesn't watch soaps or Simpsons or anything like that.

The thing is his Dad has it drilled into him since he was a kid that the reason you go to work is to enjoy the little things of life (like sky his Dad could not live without his TV) ..it's a good way to think to a point but what it means is OH on day to day spending rather then looking at the bigger picture (holidays etc)

I wouldn't mind paying for it if we were using it...I'm thinking of just playing a few months card on him and say we'll be able to get a deal when we go back..which is true. I'll bring him round soon enough the person loosing out the most is me but I find it's on in the background and I'm not watching it either!

lessonlearned

One thing I did with our full Virgin package, sport and movies etc is I used to say to them how about we scale it back over the summer and then go back to the full monty in the winter.

We did that For a couple of years and then when Freeview came out we just switched over. By then the boys had discovered how to download stuff anyway.

How about Netflix, would he be happy with that. We have that and I find that plenty. DS2 also has something I call "The Magic Box" which enables him to stream films, American TV series, etc. not sure about sport because neither DS2 or I watch it. We haven't used it for a while. I'll ask him about it. I know he used to watch all sorts of stuff on it, including music.

Kayalana99

Maybe that would work out quite well I might suggest that but I bet he will say it's not quite summer yet and refuse to make the call I would love Netflix, infact I had the free trial over xmas and it was wonderful as I was up till gone midnight working watching movies while I was working but again..OH doesn't watch TV series (bar watching only fools and horses he has on box set over and over and over again when he's in bed lol) or movies..he would use sky for sports but we don't have that any more ironically I got out of that one by the football season ticket he now has ...he wants Dave and he wants music channels and he wants to have sky just because to him it would be wrong not to (I don't mean this in a bad way against him it's just been drilled into him that you must have sky!! lol)

Update 2...close together but I'll get it out while I'm here. I spoke to my Mortgage advisor this morning and from what he has said we would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we moved now...but our 3 yr mortgage ends March 2016 so if we wait till then we can pull some more money together, not have to pay any extra to get out of the mortgage (current lender wouldn't lend us more so would have to change) and my current lender won't touch my business books unless I have 3 yrs but he reckons some will look based on a year so the plan basically is to stop re investing and save up till next Mar 16...so best of both worlds we will have a lump sum in the business to help with the move and it will look better on paper...although may slow the business growth down but hopefully the house we get out of it will improve our quality of life including a nice garden for the kids to play in :-)

It does mean a 35m-40m drive their and same again back every day but I suppose if we know it's only going to be for a year and again the banks will look better on fact he's been their a year and not just started... unf the pay rise will be worthless until move as it will just cover the petrol of all the travelling but the job will be better for him and he should be happier with work.

Broken_Biscuits

mixed news today.
my lodger is moving on. They have been no real trouble and im concerned that getting someone new will not be the same hassle free contract. Happy to have full run of the house back but the extra money probably allowed me to save an extra 10% of my salary.

passive income looking slightly less impressive going forwards now.. On the plus side rates are slowly creeping up in my ratesetter account. 6.2% was my highest loan, but ive just transferred another £315 over of spare cash looking to get 6.5% at the moment.

looks like peer to peer will be given an isa wrapper in the budget too. Which will make me seriously think about pouring most of my cash into it. this could boost income slightly, but nowhere near the loss of rent each month!

minxy-x

Hi all

I babble on, why say in three sentences what you can say in 3 paragraphs...

Well done on everyone on your successes so far :T

Have been an on/off lurker on this thread, and on MSE lurking for years. First found it in early 20's when looking to get a mortgage, was obsessed for a period (90% of my history on internet was MSE):D
For over a year I have not been on really as concentrating on other things and when on the internet was spending time on another forum, but decided recently that was really a waste of my time so I should come back here a bit more, so hopping by posting it will make me come back!
I work best with deadlines and goals- although I am very happy to reassess situations and change priorities etc. A good example of this is well before even getting our mortgage I had decided we would pay off by the time I was 30, situations changed and instead we continued to overpay our mortgage (double payments), but saved all other money and ended up putting it into the above business, rather than finish the mortgage, on track to finish mortgage in over 4 years.
Anyway I am late 20's (very late), married and no kids at present. I work PT in one job and PT in family business, husband works in family business.
We have had business for aprox 18 months, and its going well. Though physically its hard and outside, the plan for this business is to use it as a means to make some money to invest in other businesses where we do not need to be so hands on (husband has only had 3 days off in the 18 months)
We are now looking into purchasing our first BTL (whoop whoop), exciting times.
We are looking at BTL's as part our retirement income plan, would like to have a few and they can pay for themselves over the next 25years (mortgage and repairs) and then as personal income and upkeep once mortgages paid off. I have in my mind to get 5 in the next 5 years :eek:
I am also quite interested in flipping houses, so this will be something we look into more for the future, how ever to keep myself motivated I did go to look around the self build centre and got loads of free magazines about self builds- MSE all the way!
We are also looking into our next business, not sure what this will be yet looking into many ideas. So just saving on for this, whilst exploring the options, maybe looking to open 2nd business at some time next year, depending on ideas/funds.
We think we will then get 2nd business up and running and making £, sell first after a few years and open 3rd, and the plan being 2nd and 3rd can be run without hours of input from us.
This year we are also looking into doing an extension at home, this is so when babies come we have enough space, we will then continue living here and save up to buy a plot of land and build our own home, hopefully with no or a very small mortgage.
God when I put all those plans down I think where do you think you are getting all this money from to do this :eek:
Bring on the millions :rotfl: