The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

ruby_eskimo

Yes, we finally have heating back! Turns out OH turned the boiler off while we were away and neglected to tell me. I had actually put it on to just hot water to keep it ticking over. Oh the joys of having a combi boiler! Also it turns out that the leaver to re-fill the system is behind a false bit of wall in the kitchen! If the landlord/letting agent had bothered to tell us about that then I could have fixed it myself!

Shrimpy - so glad to hear about the house! I'm sure it will all go swimmingly and you'll be in there in no time!

Cinny - That sounds awesome for a 3 bedroom house! I'd be tempted to snap it up!

NIM - Hope you're enjoying your new job!

Dinah - Glad to hear that you might get a bit of clarity with regards to Grace's possible diagnosis soon.

roomontheend

Dinah and Nim I hope that you both finally get the answers you want for theman in Texas.

Hope NIM has had a good first day; it will be like starting school all overagain.

Ruby how disappointing about your heating system. I have just paid out £400 to get ours systemsorted but better than the price of a whole new system.

I went Christmas shopping at the weekend, I only actually bought one presentbut I have some new decorations and some supplies to make new ones.

OH got most the decs out of storage and now I can't wait to get them up. Itdidn't help that he was playing Christmas tunes as we were going through theboxes.

I forgot to say we got £1500 for ppi from our old mortgage company. It wasfor critical illness and redundancy, which we tried to claim on while OH closedhis business. They had said that wecouldn’t claim because he was classed as self-employed. He was actually the director of a limitedcompany, so argued that if that was right then why were we allowed to take itout in the first place.

Dinah93

debtfreesomeday wrote: »

Hi Dinah, long time lurker here, but just wanted to let you know about my experience with Etsy. I've always 'made' things and am creative but have very little self-confidence about myself and my ideas, and I didn't really think they were good enough to sell.

A month ago I took the plunge and listed my items on Etsy and opened a Facebook shop/site and the response has been beyond what I could ever have imagined! I have had multiple orders all over the world and have turned over nearly £2k in a month which has helped us no end. It has boosted my confidence and given me something I really enjoy doing.
So, please try and list at least a few items on Etsy, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised with the feedback and results.

Good luck

DFSD
x

Thank you so much for posting, wow, that's a fantastic turnover. Could you link your stores to me please I'd love to see them. Can I pick your brains a little too please? Have you found more customers through Etsy or Facebook? How do people find your stores? And finally how on EARTH do people actually buy things on Facebook stores? I really don't get it - I can see how to set up a business page, but not how to actually buy things directly through it.

MagicCat wrote: »

Dinah, the reason I (and probably loads of other people!) have been reading your threads over the past couple of years is that you are a real inspiration for how much someone can achieve if they put their mind to it. I know the random opinions of an online stranger won't change how you're feeling about yourself, but you're certainly not someone I would ever think of as failing, and I'm sure everyone who knows you well would say the same.

Great news about possibly identifying Grace's condition.

Thank you MC, you've really lifted my spirits. NIM is considering going to play football tonight, first time since August as his back has been so bad, if he goes I will try my very best to get items up on Etsy or Facebook tonight. Two things are stopping me right now - decent photos, and what to call my store? I already have an Etsy store called Wrought and Adorned.... but I set it up years ago when I did blacksmithing, painting, photography, and it seemed a good all encompasing name. Now I'm not so sure it fits with mostly sewing, gifts and baby presents. Any thoughts anyone? I'm not sure if I can change a shop name on Etsy. Or any new ideas for what I could call my shops?

wendz86 wrote: »

How did NIM get on at work?

He's really enjoying it, lots of enthusiasm for his new role. However he doesn't have net access for social purposes at work, and his phone doesn't get net there as it's in the communication wilderness, so he's going to be a lot less chatty.

Took Grace for her injection today, usually takes 15 mins, today it took over two hours as they decided to play with her medications while we were there, then couldn't work out the dose....in the end I left without the new prescription as my poor dad had been waiting in the car for us all that time. It was nice to see some of her old nurses again, they were so amazed at how big she is - a neonatal ward is probably the only place in the world where I take her and I get 'oh my gosh she's massive!' as a reaction.

Really enthused to get selling now.... still nervous but at least also hopeful.

Dinah93

GARGH. Need a shop name. Current one doesn't fit with what I now do.

Dinah93

Shop name chosen, a decision made in under 2 hours, without extensive to-ing, fro-ing and straw polling. I wanted something that had some of my personality in, so I've based it on my dad's nickname for me, dodger. So in the next few days Artful Dodger Designs will be launched. Argh, I can't make decisions alone, I question them immediately, I keep worrying using 'artful dodger' will make people think I'm a scam artist going to run off with their money, but it just seemed to sum up the creative me in a nutshell.

Cinny91

Dinah93 wrote: »

I keep worrying using 'artful dodger' will make people think I'm a scam artist going to run off with their money, but it just seemed to sum up the creative me in a nutshell.

It just makes me think of Oliver Twist But if you're having doubts, maybe you need to take a little longer on the name? The name is a massive part of a business and you need to be 127.52% confident in it. What about something using Grace? As she's the drive behind wanting to make this is success? Amy Grace Designs, Small Graces? Just an idea

Glad NIM is enjoying his new job! Might be a good thing to be cut off internetically. I can't use the internet for fun things at my second job and I'm so much more productive!

Showed OH the lovely house last night, and we were talking about it again this morning over coffee/juice. Decided to have a proper talk about it tonight as if buying our own home is something we seriously want to do, we need to put that before starting a family as there's no way we can realistically afford both. Unless OH manages to secure one of his big clients in which case we could easily afford to save a full deposit in a year, but that's a bit of a pipe dream!!

Does anyone have a Samsung Galaxy Ace? I've been drawn in by the pretty floral design, and my contract is up for renewal. It's right in my contract budget (£20 a month, half of what I'm paying now) and comes with a cute matching tablet! Going to go into town today to see if I can find a shop that has it on display or something. I'm just hearing mixed reviews.

wendz86

I am a fan of a few businesses on facebook (some mums who make things) and they just show pictures etc of their products then you comment if you want to order and pay through paypal.

Glad NIM liked work. Annoying about the internet though. I have no phone signal here and am in central London!

ROTE - that is great about the PPI money.

Got some money back this morning from gas. They have decided to up our electric which i expected anyway and reduce our gas payments . Going to keep an eye on it anyway as i do now so we dont end up owing loads at teh end of the year.

Cinny91

That's good about the gas refund, Wendz Hope the electric hasn't gone up by too much?

It is super quiet without Birdie here!! (She must hate it when we say that )

Anyone have any nice plans for the weekend? I'm doing some odd jobs around the house as OH is out so it will be nice and peaceful. Hoping to finally get our doors painted from the cheap looking red they are at the moment! Be one thing off our "to do" list (which is now a very nice, soon to be colour coded excel spreadsheet) also decided we're going to save for a deposit, and hopefully buy this house from the family Been looking at mortgage deals just to get a rough idea and owning this place would only be about £40 more a month than renting it. That's insane!!

Dinah93

Craft craft craft. Hoping to launch the facebook page this weekend, already started putting some bits on etsy, and relisting some of my prints I was selling last year. The fair is next weekend so I hope to have most of what I'm taking with me ready by Saturday night.

Having a fantastic day here, for the last 2 weeks Grace has been so cranky, which we've put down to teeth preparing to cut through, calpol needed non stop just to stop her crying, today it's like I have the old Grace back, full of smiles, no calpol, and best of all she's eating again - the last 5 days I've not gotten more than 20g of solids into her per day, and I just got her to happily eat 100g in one sitting - without crying - I don't think that has happened EVER. Very happy mummy here.

Tete_en_l'Air

Morning all Nothing exciting at the weekend for me, I was going to go for a run but I seem to have had a relapse of my cold so probably going to hibernate, start my PGCE application and knit.

Crafting sounds like it's going well! What are you making? For the record I like the name - 'Artful Dodger' to me conjures up images of fairground rides (er, dodgems) and jammy dodgers - which probably says a lot about me being of a biscuity bent than a literary one.

Cinny I love the sound of a colour-coded excel budget! Tell me more! I'm going to start work on a few spreadsheets myself today, to track income from non-work things, ebay sales etc. I feel if I can see how much money is coming in from where, I'll be less likely to fritter it away? Worth a try anyway.

My Dad's just got a Samsung Galaxy *something* - I think it's an Ace. He got some kind of PAYG deal through Virgin. I don't like it but then I'm an i-convert - I don't find it very user-friendly. BUT, if you're using it all the time and used to it then it might be fine! That's not very helpful is it, sorry?!