Caz counts it down

cazmanian_minx

I double checked her invoice today and she's not up to 7 days yet, which is the amount of time I give people to browse - she's about the only one who takes the whole lot though! I shall give her another nudge tomorrow.

I think I'm going to switch to the YNAB figure for the business overdraft. It's a more realistic view of the situation, it'll take out the big month-end swings and it'll mean I don't get so down-hearted when I suddenly go backwards £2k in a single week.

Mr Minx has got the bit between his teeth over our baby hedge and today he planted the 12 blackthorn and maple that have been in pots all winter. He reckoned we only needed another 8 to make it to the next strainer post in the garden, so we raided the loose change pot, jumped in the car and went to Torrisdale Tunnel, which is a croft about 15 miles away that sells plants used to our weather at very cheap prices. The whole thing runs on an honesty box system and we came away with 11 new hedging plants for £20. Unfortunately it started to rain, so they didn't get planted, but I think we now have enough variety (it's a very mixed hedge!) to start taking our own cuttings and not have to buy any more. 15 metres done, another 120-ish to go!

mfmaybe

Hooray for pus! Great news about the hedge too, I keep throwing beech haws around ours as I'm trying to replace the ugly snowberry with hawthorn, beech and wild rose.

Not so great on the expensive horse purchases (why are the gastric ones always so pricey?) and the annoying customer. Time for a shortening of your allowed time, perhaps? But it sounds like you have a good handle on things which is half the battle.

cazmanian_minx

Ooooooooooooooooooh, I just had a brainwave! Even though some of the items on that outstanding invoice were ordered on the 31st March, the rest were all in April and because the invoice has been reissued to take into account the later orders, the invoice is dated April, NOT March.

So I can do my VAT return tomorrow and claim the refund

Knit_Witch

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Ooooooooooooooooooh, I just had a brainwave! Even though some of the items on that outstanding invoice were ordered on the 31st March, the rest were all in April and because the invoice has been reissued to take into account the later orders, the invoice is dated April, NOT March.

So I can do my VAT return tomorrow and claim the refund

Woo hoo! Excellent news :j:j:j:j

cazmanian_minx

£3655 VAT refund in progress Unfortunately HMRC's website says it could take 30 days to process, but a friend who often gets refunds from them (her business mainly exports outside Europe) says she's never known one take longer than a week, so fingers crossed it'll be here soon.

Other than that, not much news. Sales are abysmal because of the school holidays, so I think it'll be quiet now until after Easter.

dawnybabes

Fingers crossed its quick x

cazmanian_minx

I was a bit despondent this morning because I only banked £70 and didn't get assigned any transcription work.

BUT things have perked up a bit

The overseas lady has paid up :T
I tidied up the office a bit - still got a long way to go, but it looks better :T
My lovely tack-shop owning friend messaged me on Facebook to say if I wanted her last two tubs of old-formula Acid Ease (one 10kg, one 5kg), I could have them at a huge discount, so once the VAT refund comes through (she's waiting for one too, so was sympathetic!) I'm getting 15kg for £78 and that should last me over three months with what I have here, long enough to wean Finn off the other supplement without having this one changing at the same time :T
I got offered some last minute transcription work in the afternoon (though I didn't actually take it because I was deep in bead shop stuff by then) :T
Sales have picked up a bit this afternoon and I have £240 in PayPal :T
The B'card-that-was-Egg statement generated and I've paid off another £100 :T

So it's been a much better day than the morning might have indicated Let's hope this upward trend continues

cazmanian_minx

Oh, and we're going to have a vegetable patch again We do, or did, have one fenced off in the bottom field, but there's only so long you can struggle up and down a near vertical hill in our weather with a barrow-load of tools before you let it return to being a field! The new spot for it is just outside the garden gate in a corner of the field next to the septic tank that we always tape off so that the horses don't go through the concrete cover. Mr Minx has got some scaffolding boards arriving next week to do three big raised beds - given they're going in over the soakaway and are going to be filled with well-rotted manure, we should get some pretty good tomatoes I reckon

brizzledfw

:T :T to VAT refunds, veggie patches and better sales than expected...well done

cazmanian_minx

£380 banked this morning and the transcription invoice got paid this afternoon

On the downside, no transcription work today, but I've been assigned a file for tomorrow, which means I can't go and meet Pippi in Thurso, unless I type like an absolute demon - but it's legal work, which I've not done before, so I suspect it's going to take me most of the day

Not much else to say, other than I successfully squashed my Nutella craving while I was dropping the post off, so that was £2.60-odd saved!