Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

Karmacat

You're doing well on the selling, good for you. I'm not touching that till next month, when the prime focus switches away from the garden :rotfl: so I shall make a point of using your presence as inspiration

I'm glad some of your regular work popped up. No idea about etsy etc, but surely people sell things that are similar to the things other people sell, all the time?

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themadvix

Hi KC! Most of the things I'm selling are for 99p at the moment, but I know they're things that will sell, given time, so I just stick 'em on there and leave them be (she says, but I also have a lot of them listed on a specialist FB selling group and am constantly checking that and bumping the post!). They're tiny things so don't take up a lot of room in the meantime. I've always loved decluttering, but when I was younger had the idea that one should 'collect' specific groups of things - in the past few years I've really understood how nice it is to be unencumbered from 'stuff'. Since DH and I bought this house we've got rid of loads and loads of stuff that we moved with us. In many cases I guess we'd just outgrown it/it wasn't relevant to our new life together (for both of us we were moving out of the parental home, so lots of childhood stuff that wasn't that important anymore).

If you've read that far :rotfl: thanks for the advice on Etsy too I need to have a look at that - maybe Sunday.

This morning I have one bit of work to get on with, expecting another two to arrive today, so at last I feel less like a housewife (no offence intended at all to those of you who are, but when you're neither one thing nor the other it's frustrating!) and more like I'm self-employed It should help the finances for March/April.

Everything else is ticking along....

Things I am grateful for today/yesterday:
* Great evening class after extended break - only three of us so it was intense!
* DH back from work trip and no further trips planned for the time being
* Fresh bread for sandwiches made
* Rhubarb is shooting up in the garden
* It had stopped drizzling when I eventually took parcel over to PO!

Have a good day all!

themadvix

It's so windy here today! Things are blowing around all over the shop outside.:eek:

Am in the process of sorting home insurance.... With L+G at the moment and they're coming up £30 cheaper on comparison site. So I ring them, they say my renewal is for a legacy policy, so might as well take the new price online. Fine by me, saves hassle. Look them up on £co - can get £44 cashback (policy is only ~£140, so this is a big saving!). Link from £co doesn't work though and have just discovered that the L+G site appears to be down.... I guess I'll have to wait! We budget £400 for home ins, so there's lots of dosh there to be transferred to an OP once its sorted

Will be nearly at £20 on Prolific once all the studies I've done have been approved. I think that's got to be a record for a survey site - they're definitely my new favourites! Less than 100 bucks to go on SB to next £5 Am voucher.

Work is still trickling in, so that's good. Today has not been a NSD though: naughty cats are playing up about where they should pee, so have ordered a feeliway diffuser and spray in the hope that they are as miraculous as they make out - it would be lovely if all our cat problems went away in one fell swoop! Cats have never been like this before, so not sure if its the decorating or something else causing the misbehaviour. Did, of course, shop around for the best price and check out cashback/voucher options, but nothing doing there.

DH and I continue to plot with business ideas for Etsy and I am continually discovering more things to sell - there'll be nothing left soon :rotfl: It is scary how much stuff is hiding away even when I've decluttered! (Or how an area that was decluttered relatively recently can yield so many more things just six months later). I am taking Watty's approach of 'am I willing to pay for this to be moved'. I have a few things for freegle too.

OP fund has £48 in it at the moment, with £40 due from 1P (I suspect that will be part of next month's OP) and the money due from the home ins budget. DH reckons there's about £60 in his TT app account. We'll be able to make an OP this month, but it probably won't be much more than the minimum as I don't want to leave us short at the end of March when my lack of work this month catches us up. That £10k target is looking a long way off at the moment! (Have just remembered DH has cashed in a share save scheme from work - £780, but I don't think I'll get all of that to OP, he wants some for his S&S ISA.)

Things I'm grateful for:
* Not having to go out in the windy weather
* Sister doing trip to the blue and yellow furniture place so have asked her to get the bits (for business idea) that I need, saving me time and money!
* Rhubarb is growing before my eyes!
* found a mint choccie in handbag from lunch with Dad last week - that made a nice dessert after lunch! :rotfl:

Karmacat

You're doing well!

Not sure what your employment is, but I saw an article about these guys in The Guardian today: https://teespring.com/en-GB/shop/allicarecat?aid=marketplace&tsmac=marketplace&tsmic=category#pid=87&cid=2326&sid=front Of course, its on the "cat" page of the index if you have ideas, but don't want the faff of selling t shirts yourself, it could be a nice little side venture. I'm certainly going to think about it, in conjunction with both my work blogs.

themadvix

Oh no KC, I think you've just found me a whole (cat-related) new wardrobe!!!

Great idea though, will have to explore it. My actual work is not creative at all and I'm not sure how creative our ideas will be in terms of drawings, but it's certainly something to consider. Thanks for posting

It will definitely work well for your cat designs

themadvix

The thing I listed yesterday on Ebay has just sold - another £3.50 to the pot :T I love it when things go quickly - it gives a real sense of action being taken! Packed up and will post in the morning.

themadvix

Forgot to say that I finally sorted house insurance. No cashback in the end as quote direct came back much higher (I hate the lack of transparency surrounding comparison sites and insurance quotes), so went via MSupermarket and it ended up being closer to £160 (again, because of lack of transparency. Stil, £240 for the OP pot. And it's done. For another year. Did I mention I hate sorting the house insurance?!

Watty1

I hate sorting house insurance too - and find it fairly pointless as am so limited with who we can go with as I run my business from home. This has invalidated all the bargin insurance companies and left me with who we are currently insured with - which I think is a bit of a historic thing- and one other I found. Used the other to lower the first but what a faff.

Kittenkirst

That's a big difference between your budget and actual cost for your home insurance what a great saving/OP!

How many cats do you have? We're hoping to get two shortly once we have a cat flap installed, and I'm so excited, I've missed having a furry friend for the last decade!

themadvix

Watty, I'm fortunate that I my business is clerical only, so the home insurance isn't really affected. It must be tricky when there's only two companies you can deal with.

KK, we use the 'bills plan' spreadsheet my mum had for her house (3 bed, so similar) - we asked her for it when we moved in 5 years ago as a way to get an idea of what we should budget. We've not amended it since really as it more than covers everything (I can't imagine her home insurance has ever been that much either, although possibly it was more at our family home (before my parents divorced)). This means that every now and then there's a nice surplus to send over to the mortgage - both bits that come out of a specific budget and a general sweeping once DH has calculated how much should be in there! I'd far rather have extra wiggle room than not enough

Cats - we have two, brothers, and they are my companions during the day. I'm a much happier person now I have company at home! I love them dearly, despite their naughtiness! I wondered if cats might be on the horizon for you, both because of the name and your fondness for GF's parent's cat! That'll be exciting! Any ideas what you'll get?

Busy day today:
* Work to return to a client and expecting another bit, which I'll start but probably won't finish.
* Brownie parents' evening, so food shopping to be got and other preps to do
* Ebay parcel to post
* Discovered we're out of chicken for the cats so visit to butchers
* Would like to pay in DH's Sharesave cheque, but will have to see if I have time.
* Out with Brownies tomorrow, so need to make lunch tonight
* See Sister?
* Make cake?

Will see how I get on with all of that... have a good day all!:)