Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

greenbee

Unless your personal finances are very complicated, online self assessment is easy. I know I put it off every year, but it always takes less than an hour, and most of the time is spent looking for the bits of paper which I need to dig out of their respective files. As you're currently on benefits, you may not need to file anyway, so give them a call and check. I know my self-assessment notice included a 'do you really need to do a tax return... Call us to check' note, so they obviously don't want to waste time on people who won't owe (if they might owe you, then it's worth doing!)

Chocforever

Self-employed people usually have to file tax returns. If you haven't earned any such income (is this supported by your dormant accounts?) then it is definitely worth calling HMRC to see if you can stop filing tax returns. If there is no tax to collect, it is just a waste of money for you and for HMRC.

Their ability to take you off the self assessment list may depend on your situation in the previous tax year, i.e. whether there was any tax to collect that year, so it is worth having that information to hand.

Regarding the Annual Return, I think you have 12 months from the date the last one was signed. If the company is unchanged (same shares, same shareholders), I would have thought you could just copy last time's. The filing fee is £40 for a paper return or £14 for online filing.

Horace

Thanks chocfever - I will check with my accountant - I only set up the Ltd company last year more to protect the business name as anything. I will need to file a self assessment because I did do some work during the last tax year although I doubt there will be any tax to pay.

Sometimes I can be incredibly stupid - I was in the process of applying for an NHS job at a local hospital and clicked a no button instead of a yes button and now I have been ruled out of applying:mad: I was asked if I had an AMSPAR qualification so I clicked no because I dont and then for some unknown reason I clicked no again when I was asked if I had any other secretarial exprience:mad: I cannot retrieve the form now and cannot ring about the error as the closing date is Monday. Still, in other news I have managed to apply for two other NHS jobs.

Aesop

Horace, we had someone taking an exam yesterday....she clicked the finish button before she had started even though she was told not to.... the result... she couldn't take the exam and now has to wait for the next one!

Luckystepho

Easily done on the application form (not too sure about the exam paper student though, I think that was a little stupid!!)... you realise as soon as you've done it that you have ticked the wrong box... but it's too late! So frustrating.

Horace

Aesop - the student was stupid especially as he/she did the opposite of what they were told. Mine was just a slip of the mouse and the finger - oh well fate must have decreed that I am destined for better things.

Mum mentioned a job to me yesterday but it is in a place that is extremely difficult to get to so I said thanks but no thanks because I have to consider how I am going to get there in the winter. I am looking for work in Coventry and Warwick as I can get there by train and therefore am not overly reliant on using my car.

Today, I have been trying to teach myself to use Page Plus software as I am now trying to design my own logo after the fiasco with the last one - it is a case of "if you want a job doing, then do it yourself". So far I have managed to type some words but not add any shading, shadowing or anything else as yet. Things are not going well...

I really must think about packing up my belongings and getting rid of all the carp (I have certainly accumulated a load of rubbish since I have been living here).

Eyebright

Hi Horace,

After a hiatus of many months from the forum I came back and stumbled across your diary.
You have worked so hard and lived in circumstances that I feel sure in saying I could not have managed under. You are an inspiration and I wish you the best of luck with sorting out the house, the divorce and of course finding work. Remploy sound fantastic so hopefully they can set you up with Sainsbug's or MnS asap.
Having recently bought a house myself I know how much of a faff the whole process can be, but blimey these vendors are something else! I thought the vendors we bought off were bad....:rotfl:

I will subscribe to your diary and hope to see some good news posted here soon

I really should go and dust off my old diary...:eek:

Horace

Hello folks

I am a bit bleary eyed today as I went to bed at about midnight last night and picked up a book which I didnt put down until the very last page at 3.15am:eek: I was awake at 10am so I pottered about in my jammies, washed my hair, got dressed and settled down to watch the motor racing. After the racing was over I decided to nip to the corner shop as I fancied getting a newspaper and a bar of chocolate so it was £1.65 spent in the corner shop - I got the local paper that is free for my parents but I have to pay for it and noticed that a company based in the Jewellery Quarter were doing valuations at a hotel nr my parents. I took some things that soon to be ex bought me in the hope that I would get a better price but alas I was offered £69 which is less than another possible purchaser had offered me. The chap did say that it wasnt worth getting the stones removed and selling them separately as nobody would buy them. I shall resort to plan B and take them along with my engagement and wedding rings to give them a boost and lump them altogether and get more money for them.

I decided that as I was in the area I would pop to a local garden centre and farm shop (where I used to go with mum in the summer to pick our own strawberries), the farm shop has greatly improved as they now sell their own meat etc. I fell in love with some lovely plants and made a mental note of them for the future. I did spent £2.23 in the farm shop though buying some conference pears and half a dozen eggs - I selected a mixed box containing 3 small white eggs and 3 large brown eggs which the farmer's son sells as he keeps chickens - I thought that as the hens were happy hens that I would buy them although it is a lot more than I would usually pay for eggs.

I caught sight of Zara Phillips when I was out too as she was riding at the local point to point (I peeked through the hedge), one day I really must go and see the point to point properly rather than steal sneaky peeks through the hedge.

Saw a job in the local paper but not sure if I shall apply - I have submitted applications to the agency before and never got anywhere. This is a job working for 1-2 days per week at a local wedding venue - the agency is asking for a recent photo - why I am not applying to be a topless model or anything so cannot see the need for a photo! If I do apply, I would probably send one without me wearing my specs which was taken last year. It would be an opportunity to use my wedding planning diploma (if only I could remember where I put it) but I confess that I am not overly fussed by weddings.

Eyebright - welcome back to MSE. Sometimes I amaze myself as to how well I am coping living on very little and yet managing to eat fairly well. I must thank my parents who have been sooo helpful as I am sure I would not be here now as they have given me money, paid off a large credit card bill and generally helped me out with food parcels and now this house. I still have two credit cards and an overdraft that I need to clear but these will be done when I get some money from the divorce. There are days when I wonder how I got myself into this mess and I am making darn sure that I get out of it myself as far as possible. It is a case of being tough and not giving in - it hasnt been easy at all but there is no point in quitting. I am quite tenacious and sheer bloody minded I guess.

Horace

Feeling a bit meh today - it is gloomy again so it is probably the weather.

I have managed to clear 3 large sacks of rubbish to the bins and done one lot of washing up including my favourite coffee jar which now looks like a storage jar after all labels and stickiness have been removed.

I am waiting for the postman as I need my HB cheque to go into the bank - I havent received it yet and I am hoping that it is late because of the bank holiday othewise if the council have decided against giving me anything then basically I am stuffed:mad: Oh to be out of this flat wich I hate more and more each day. It has no garden and I cannot get enthused about the balcony at all, it is also freezing cold with no central heating hence my need to be wrapped up in two fleeces every day.

Tomorrow I shall be out for most of the day as I have two appointments at R*mploy one in the morning and the other in the afternoon - needless to say I shall be having words and suggesting that their staff attend a customer care course after I was spoken to quite rudely last week by someone who moaned about being away for the bank holiday and then returning to a pile of work and therefore she didnt have time to send emails or explain anything properly - as a result I am no longer in line for anything at Sainsbug's unless I apply myself. Maybe instead of shouting and generally being rude I would have been more amenable but I tend not to listen when folks start shouting and are irritable. I have to be dressed to the nines as well because I have to nip into the court and then tomorrow night is club night so I am due to have a photo taken to go into the local press.

Was lazy last night and just cooked up 3 sausages and bunged them between two slices of bread. Must do something with the rest of the sausages and now I have eggs so I could cook them up tonight with some oven chips and have sausage egg n chips for tea:D I can highly recommend the sausages from Ald* - I have their cumberland sausages which are not overly fatty but are meaty, I have also eaten their Irish sausages by the same maker and these are a bit spicy as they have a touch of nutmeg in them. They are great for bunging in a casserole as they don't break down like other brands.

Horace

Tinkered around on the internet this morning and applied for a job over lunchtime too - fingers crossed I get somewhere as this job sounds fab plus I could get there on the train as the office is 10 mins walk from one of the stations on the cross-city line.

Started thinking about the house again today and my thoughts have stretched as far as my cushions. I currently have a mix of dark brown and dark brown with cream cushiions and I am now wondering how easy it would be to make some cushion covers (the current covers are zip off)? I am thinking that it would be less expensive to buy some lime green material to make up some cushion covers than it would be to buy new cushions. Maybe I should take advantage of the quaker meeting place and attend on Friday mornings to whizz up some covers on their sewing machines? Not sure if this would be free but I think it is and it would occupy my Friday mornings whilst I am looking for work.