Caz counts it down

cazmanian_minx

A busy day. Mr Minx and I shifted three tons of chopped firewood into the wood store this morning, then went into town to do the shopping. £65 exactly and that included a tenner on some manuka honey to smear on Merlin's mystery lump (he's had it for a couple of years, it's very small and doesn't bother him, but it's looking suspiciously like a baby sarcoid and I think the time has come to do something about it).

Then it was back home, cleaned the house and then went next door with a rake to get all the old hay and stones out of their manege. I was going to bring the boys up and take them in for five minutes each, but the rain came in - I gave it half an hour to see if it would pass, decided it wasn't going to, fed them and, of course, it stopped five minutes later!

brizzledfw

Good to see it all heading in the right direction again Caz..have to say it's up and down cash flow wise for you isn't it? Can imagine it's stressful. And losing friends is always hard, I have had that happen recently and it's hit more than I thought it would if I am honest..

What's the weather like up your way? We are getting lots of sun down here, but chilly with it.

Have a good weekend

cazmanian_minx

That's one of the worst things about self-employment, to be honest, the lumpy cashflow. Not helped by a big buying mistake earlier this year, I have about £2k of stock that just hasn't shifted as fast as I thought it would. I recalculated my potential VAT refund yesterday and it's now up to £3900, so assuming I don't sell mahoosive amounts in the next 10 days, I'm going to get about £3700 back from HMRC, possibly plus interest.

The weather is finally starting to feel a little spring-like - I took this earlier today when I was mucking out:



But we had a snow flurry this morning and I think we're due a few days of snow the week after next, so we're not quite out of it yet!

brizzledfw

Glorious view. I am dead envious!

Pleased you should get the VAT refund...and that the transcribing is working out...onwards and upwards Caz

cazmanian_minx

I have done precisely *nothing* all day. Sometimes you just need a day off

brizzledfw

It is the sabbath Caz...give yourself a break

dawnybabes

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

I have done precisely *nothing* all day. Sometimes you just need a day off

Sometimes we need a day like this ,...

cazmanian_minx

Sales still aren't great, but I've had a couple of £70-£80 orders from overseas regulars, which has helped a bit. I feel a little bit like I'm suspended in limbo until this dratted VAT refund comes through. I had an email from HMRC today, reminding me that I needed to file one - fat chance of me forgetting when they owe me that much money!!

YNAB continues to make me think hard about what my priorities are. Do I fill my buffer before I start paying extra off the debt? Should I put aside the transcription money to pay the tax bill in July so that I don't have to take more out of the business account? Should I budget in an emergency fund or should I treat the buffer as an emergency fund of sorts once it's built? I don't know.

One thing I've agreed with Mr Minx is that if/when the electricity direct debit is reduced (which it should be after Scottish Hydro do their March reading - they put it up 12 months ago to take into account us being £360 in the red with them after a very cold winter up here, we're going to be well in credit at the next bill), he'll still pay me the same amount each month and I'll save the surplus into an emergency fund for things like the dishwasher or washing machine exploding. That'll be a little bit of a safety net starting to build at least.

cazmanian_minx

Well, I was heartily fed up this morning. Only six orders to go and, as 11am ticked closer, it looked increasingly unlikely that I was going to get a transcription file today.

But the day did turn around - a file came in for me at 11.06 and this afternoon an American customer spent £340 in my eBay shop. OK, they haven't paid yet (I've sent an invoice), but it seems to have kick-started sales again and I have a respectable amount waiting to go in the morning. Fingers crossed this is the start of the turn around.

cazmanian_minx

£530 banked and that means the enormous Royal Mail bill is covered on the 2nd April Everything I take between now and the end of the month can be allocated either to paying me or to the supplier invoice I thought I was going to have to put onto a credit card. As long as I can pay myself a couple of hundred, I can wait for the rest until the VAT refund, so it looks like I might just be able to avoid using the card, which would be fantastic (I paid the supplier invoice due last Friday from the bank account as well).

On top of that, I got a 61 minute focus group file today, which is paid at a slightly higher rate. I'm creeping closer to 2%, although I think this month's transcription money is going to have to be used to pay for my travel down to see Mum at the beginning of June. Still umming and ahhing about whether to go for a £10 seat on the Megabus or pay £50 for a sleeping berth on the Megabus Gold. 20 years ago it would have been no contest, but I'm not sure 14 hours overnight in a coach seat is going to leave me able to move afterwards - it's about the same as the non-stop flight to Mauritius and I was nearly crippled after that, which is why we broke the journey in Dubai last time we went. That said, it's £80 that could be used for something else....