Challenge of a lifetime!

cotswoldaccountant

First day of the holidays has passed reasonably successfully. Not particularly moneysaving as had to spend £15 for three of the children to have haircuts (we have a fab hairdresser who comes to us which saves money), I took the little ones to meet a friend at softplay and for lunch as it was such horrible weather today. My older boys were at a sports day but that had already been paid for. I did get a £52 windfall as FIL gave us the money for some theatre tickets that were supposed to be our treat - but they were insistent!

Had a meeting tonight with a potential new client which went really well - just need to come up with a fee quote for them now! They were pretty unimpressed with their current accountant and are very keen to change.

FIL has offered to come over tomorrow to play with DS3 - my older boys are at their sports day again and DD is at a friend's house - so hopefully I will get a bit of work done while they are away! Could also do with sorting out the house a bit.

One thing I forgot to mention was that the au pair really didn't work out for us. She stayed for over two months but was really reluctant to play with the children (kind of an essential part of being an au pair, in my opinion!) and we tried really hard to make it work, but in the end she decided that being an au pair just wasn't for her. It was a relief in the end, and although the house is not quite as tidy (she was quite good at putting laundry away!), I'm happier for now with not having an au pair.

CA

littlegreenpeas

Sounds like the au pair made the best decision for both of you. Fingers crossed for the new client.
Lgp

cotswoldaccountant

Bit of a disappointment today as the listings officer didn't approve of part of our conservatory plans so it is back to the drawing board. They were reasonably positive about some of the ideas though, so all is not lost - and the bit they didn't like would have been quite expensive to build, so I will look on the bright side and think that it is a MSE result! It does leave us with some tricky design issues though, so we'll have to sit down and think about it properly.

I feel a bit flat as we had really been hoping that we would get a good result from the application. Also feeling rather miserable as the house is a mess, I have lots of work to do and don't seem to be very motivated at the moment! It's always a problem in the school holidays, as I don't have any childcare so have to try and fit my work into the evenings - leaving even less time to tidy up! Still, the children have all had a nice day today I think.

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Morning all.

Nice day planned today as we have been invited to an Easter treasure hunt with one of DD's friends. DS1 is at a sleepover so I am hoping he won't be too tired and grumpy when I collect him at lunchtime.

We're heading off for a night away tonight, with my in-laws very kindly looking after the children. It will be a much-needed little break!

Have contacted the architect and talked through the conservatory plans in detail - am feeling very positive about this as I think he will be able to make the required changes so that we get plans that we like and the listings officer likes as well. Grade 2 listed buildings really are a pain. It is so frustrating as we are only trying to make our home more lovely, not detract from its historical roots! My one worry is that it will make the mortgage balance go up, as we will need to borrow some extra money to pay for our plans. But I went to a meeting the other night at the house of a friend whose children are almost grown up and one has already left for uni. They have just transformed their home with amazing renovation works, but she said herself that it was a silly time to do it as they now have a huge and spacious home but soon it will be only her and her husband there! So I would like to get on with our plans while the children are small and we will all make the most of the space we will have.

We've also been researching bathroom fittings as we are doing up an en-suite bathroom once our current lodger moves out today. She's been with us for several months and is a very easy lodger - nice company but hardly ever around - so it will be a shame to see her go. We are going to shuffle around who sleeps in which bedroom - DD and DS3 are currently sharing ever since the hopeless au pair was with us, but I would like DD to have her own room again soon.

I think we'll get another lodger as soon as our bathroom works are finished - it doesn't make sense not to, really. We are so used to having a lodger around the house and it all goes towards the mortgage!

Right, I had better go and pack clothes for everyone's night away!

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Evening all. Not a lot of time to post this week due to the Easter hols and being busy, but we have been having a nice time in this glorious weather. Now that DS3 is a little older, we've been able to do some nice walks that he wouldn't have managed last year. We walked for 3 hours on Tuesday - not bad for a three year old!

Today I had good news that the potential client that I visited last week has decided to accept my quote, which is excellent news as it is quite a big ongoing piece of work.

I have also been trying to list some items to sell on facebook and have made £14 today.

Other MSE good news is that we had a totally last minute booking for our holiday let - had to give a big reduction but completely worth it to have it sold, as I was resigning myself to this week being empty. We are looking fairly booked up now over the next few months, which is good, as it means I will get a regular trickle of balances being paid.

I've been sorting out our utility room this week - has been a good task to do while the children are playing outside. Lots of junk found to ditch and sell, and there is still quite a long way to go but the room is already a lot clearer!

This evening I am making a big effort to get started on my own accounts for the year. This is no small task - I have to do company accounts for my business, company accounts for OH's business, accounts for the holiday let, accounts for our B&B business and calculate income from our various lodgers, plus all the other bits and pieces that need to be scraped together for a tax return. I am glad I don't have any clients like me - it takes forever!

I must go and be productive!

Crumpets

Hi CA, How have the Easter holidays been for you? I'm so grateful that the weather has been good so far, it makes such a difference with the little ones. Well done to your Ds for walking for 3 hours, I don't think any of my lot would do that without a LOT of moaning:cool:

Great news on the work, fb selling and the holiday let:T sounds like you have a lot keeping you busy. Good luck with getting your accounts sorted, It sounds very complicated.

Crumpets x

cotswoldaccountant

Well we have made it to the end of the holidays intact, and a nice time had by all. DS1's birthday today and we've had a nice family day out, although slightly pricier than I had hoped with a trip to a science museum, lunch, and £9 parking! Still we got two of the children in free to the museum with a special offer, and DS3 was free for lunch as he was under 4.

My MSE plans for the next term are:
- walk to school as much as possible - it's a 30 minute walk so we often don't have the motivation / get up early enough - but in good weather it's a gorgeous walk through fields and a nature reserve, so well worth doing and a nice start to the day. I am going to start by trying to walk to school at least twice a week and see how we get on.

- organise all the school things for the next day the evening before. It won't save me any money but will hopefully save lots of stress in the morning as we run around madly trying to find everything we need!

- meal plan effectively, so that I don't leave meal decisions to the last minute, which always ends up with us having something expensive and unhealthy such as pizza.

Hopefully this will result in a slightly less spendy term than usual. There are however all of the usual clubs to pay for, and DS1 has a school holiday coming up that I need to pay a final instalment for, as well as buy him a few bits of kit that he needs.

Hope everyone has had a lovely Easter.

CA

Crumpets

Well done for surviving the holidays CA:T your plans for next term sound good and achievable, I also need to organise myself with getting school things ready the night before, i don't know why I always leave it to the last minute.

Your walk to school sounds lovely, I hope you manage to keep it up. There is a bridle path that I could walk to dd's school, I'm hoping that once all mine are at school I will be able to walk as it's not pushchair friendly so I won't be able to manage it til then.

Happy birthday to your Ds, it sounds like you had a lovely day. Enjoy the peace and quiet this week!

Crumpets x

cotswoldaccountant

Crumpets wrote: »

Enjoy the peace and quiet this week!

Crumpets x

I am really looking forward to it! In a rather guilty way, as I have loved spending time with the children this holiday, but it is a bit exhausting and I am so behind with my work. It will be so nice to settle down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee after school drop off and start ploughing through my e-mails, knowing that all of the small children are happily occupied at school and pre school!

I shouldn't speak too soon, as both DD and DS3 appear to be a little under the weather this evening. Am hoping they are just tired and nothing untoward will happen during the night!

Crumpets

HI CA, I hope dd and Ds didn't come down with anything and that you've caught up with your work now.

Crumpets x