"Simply not solvent!

Seaxwyn

Time for an update and it’s not a happy one.

Two and a half weeks into January and our balance of outgoings vs incomings stands at -1062.43. And this is before I pay my tax bill of £1,171. There are some bits of income still due in, but also some bills due out. One thing’s certain, the end of January will find us worse off than the beginning.

I'm feeling quite depressed about this, even though it's not unexpected. I knew it would be a tough month as neither of us did much freelance work in December. We’re doing more this month so February’s income will be higher. Also some of the costs this month were due to three of us having birthdays (we spent £72.70 taking DD3 and friends ice-skating on hers - the remaining birthdays are all in the summer so parties can be cheapo outdoor ones).

Even so, I’m not sure if I’m in cloud cuckoo land trying to avoid DMP, keep the house etc. Maybe I should just give up now. But I do want to keep going till June (when two of my current freelance contracts end) and review the situation then.

Among my woes is the fact OH is not fully supporting my efforts and remains in deep denial about our problems. I’ve just written a long rant about all his shortcomings but deleted it as it’s really not helpful. I’ve turned into a horrible nag and that’s not the way to get him on board.

Another woe is that I’m totally obsessed with money now. Whenever it’s not actively engaged on something else, my brain turns on numbers, adding up our debts, potential income, likely other outgoings etc. I can’t even really sustain a conversation about anything else these days.

I don’t know why I’m posting this now, mainly I just want to park the thoughts so I can stop mulling over my spreadsheet for tonight and get a couple of hours of freelance work done.

Should anyone read this, sorry for the boringness and negativity.

Gemmzie

You mention a tax bill , is this income tax as you are self employed? The remaining amount for this year and some in advance for next year?

If it is, then you can ask to pay the in advance amount later if need be, they are pretty good about it as my father had to do it last year. Makes it a little less worry.

HTH

Seaxwyn

Thanks Gemmzie - I will ring them tomorrow! Thanks a lot.

Verbatim

I've just read your thread through Seaxwyn and hope you can keep it all going.

You've got a big job ahead of you and I really hope you can make it work. Do you know what your tax bill is yet?

Sounds like there are loads of us who spend too much time on here. Maybe we should start a club, the "get off MSE and get back to work group". Every time we see the green on-line light of one of us a swift pm is sent.....mmmm but that wouldn't work as someone else would have to be on to send the pm. We'd all collude anyway. Ah well looks like it'll have to be self discipline after all.

Seaxwyn

Thanks Verbatim

I've just nipped on here for an early morning fix and plan to do four hours work before coming back. Will I do it? If you see me on here before please send a stern message! But you're right, self-discipline is what we need to cultivate.

I've never seen a green online light though - where's that?

Tax bill is 1170, I'm about to ring and see if I can get it reduced, have to add up the figures first to be sure that I earned less this year than last first.

One good thing... OH has decided not to do a daft sales trip he was goign to do (helping out a friend) but to stay home and work. Hoorah!

Right, logging off now....

hypno06

One of the things with being self employed is that no two months are the same.

So, January is not a good month for you but other months will be fab!

The main thing here is to learn from this, write it down so that you don't either forget about it and make the same mistake next year, or blow up the hardship out of all proportion and worry about it unnecessarily.

For each month that goes by this year, write down how busy you were, what cash came in and what you spent. Then you can allow for the lean periods next year because you will be expecting them and can be better prepared. While that may not help you actually make your payments this month, it will help you get in control and stay there for the future.

Hope that helps. Stay strong! Everyone has bleak moments, but we are here to help you get through them!

Paige

Hi
Welcome to the board . This board is changing our lives around, you can get loads of great advise and support here.
Both my OH and I are homeworkers, OH is a management consultant and I am a freelance bookkeeper (how ironic is that ? - I am great at other people finances but was terrible with my own)
You obviously have the potential to earn quite a bit of money here and with some better organisation you could start to eat into your debts.
I am going to be quite frank with you, you need to get organised with the practical things to enable yourself to have time to complete your work and maybe take on more as it does seem possible.
Firstly I think that as you seem to have the earning power that your OH should take on the majority of the household chores/childcare whilst doing a part time job. If you need childcare do you have family that could have the kids for you a couple of days a week so both you are your OH can work efficiently.
Secondly if you work at home you HAVE to be motivated , get up and dreesed and be in your office asap - working. You still need to put in a full day just as you would if you were employed.
Thirdly - As mentioned above-lists. Spend 10 mins everyday sorting out your workload and stick to it.
It is easy to be distracted at home, but you have to be 100% motivated.
Also take note and investigate all of the suggestions put to you. By using the Old style board I have reduced my shopping cost by £300 per month.
Good luck, you can do this, lets face it if I can anyone can !
Paige X

Seaxwyn

Thanks guys for your very welcome and heartening posts. Paige you are quite right, organisation is the issue here. I need to shed a lifetime's slacker habits and just get on with it.

After my whingy post this morning I did a few DFW things. I

- submitted a request to Inland Revenue to reduce my payment on account THANK YOU GEMMZIE FOR THE SUGGESTION!!

- realised that I may be entitled to Working Family Tax Credit again (not getting it currently but income fell last summer) - just need OH to get his figures sorted and reapply.

- walked into town to buy cheap fruit and veg in the market, only to find the market was not there! Maybe blown away by the wind! So I had to go to Sainsbury's again. Lord how I hate that shop. They've had £164.42 from us already this month! And this wasn't on luxuries, we are true OS cooks and I always shop with a list. Sainsbury's is the only shop in this wretched town. I realise I will have to bite the bullet and shop online, and, through synchronicity, I

- joined Quidco as I had to buy a computer for my father. (Now I have a ilemma as to whether to pass the £14 cashback to him, if it comes)

Apart from that I struggled with my demons and got some work done. I had a mini revelation when I rang a fellow freelance who's working on one of the same projects as me and found he charges £350/day compared to my £150. I need to get more professional and value myself more.

Sorry for the introspective rambling, I am going to stick around for half an hour in case some kind soul replies to this.

Best wishes to all fellow DFWs

ZTD

Seaxwyn wrote:

I've never seen a green online light though - where's that?

Every message is wrapped in a frame, with your name in the top-left corner. In the bottom-left corner is a light which is green if you're on (caveats apply) and a little red triangle. (not channel 4 !!!!!!, but allows you to complain about a message)

Seaxwyn

Oh yes you're right. I'd never noticed those green lights. Thanks!