Challenge of a lifetime!

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Wow, you've done fantastically getting those figures turned around:beer: well done!

I grew up with agas so i'm already a big fan but i had forgotten about the aga toast:D, thanks for the figures, for us it would warm the coldest part of the house and the rooms above too. My wobble is more not feeling that this is the forever house but we could be here long enough to convince ourselves!

cotswoldaccountant

Evening all.

Took some second hand clothes to a nearly new sale this morning. I sold about half, which was okay but had hoped to do better, as they were all in beautiful condition and very reasonably priced. It was annoying as the sale wasn't brilliantly laid out, and the rails of clothes were packed with far too many things. Most of my things had to go on a table rather than a rail - I laid them all out nicely but I imagine it looked a bit like a jumble sale very quickly once the buyers had arrived! I'll probably have made about £25 after commission, and have given everything left over to a friend so that has cleared a little space!

Also took about 6 bags of stuff to the charity shop, and a carload of old things from the garden to the tip, so it has been a good day for clearing clutter! OH has put a few things on freecycle so hopefully someone will want them.

Have made a start on the Christmas shopping this evening. We don't buy toys for the children throughout the year, so I like to get them something they will really like at Christmas (just a few things each though - with four small children and generous relatives, the house can be quickly taken over by toys if we're not careful!) Bought a micro scooter for DD and DS3, which were pricey but I managed to get 10% off at Jo Jo Maman Bebe, as well as 5% cashback through Quidco so I don't think I could have got them any cheaper. A £10 Amazon gift certificate also arrived from my credit card, so I put that towards a domino rally for DS2. No idea what to get DS1 - I think boys are trickier to buy for as they get older. And he's only 7!

Am about to give up now as I am rather shopped out, even though I've only been sitting on the sofa!

CA

PrincessLou

CA,

Can i ask for some advice? It's not on the subject of mortgages but i hope you don't mind me asking anyway.

As you are self employed and have four children, i was wondering when each of your children were born what did you do about maternity leave? or did you just continue working?

I am self employed and have just recently found out we are expecting our first baby. I'm in a bit of a spin about whether i should begin saving so i can take a few months off work once the baby arrives, or whether i will have to continue working.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

cotswoldaccountant

Congratulations PrincessLou! I have sent you a PM about maternity pay options.

CA

cotswoldaccountant

I just noticed I have a star! Hopefully there will be more to come. A nice quiet day today - OH has gone to his parents for the day with all of the children, so I am working in front of a lovely fire. Actually I am getting quite sleepy - the post lunch lull always hits me around this time of day, and a toasty fire does not help!

I am ploughing through my inbox answering lots of old e-mails, and clearing the pile of paperwork on my desk, as well as making a nice neat and tidy to do list. There is as much satisfaction from reducing the clutter in my inbox as there is taking old stuff to the tip! Hopefully by the end of today I will be feeling much more organised.

PrincessLou

Thank you for taking the time to message me, CA. How do you fit working around 4 small children? Makes me tired just thinking about it hehe.

cotswoldaccountant

I feel as though I am barely keeping my head above water most of the time! My little ones go to nursery / childminder one day a week so I have school hours then to get things done, and I work a lot in the evenings. I have got rid of a few time-consuming / problematic clients this year though, and am turning down work which I know will take more time than I have. It is hard to say no when you are self employed, but it's only a mortgage - no point in working myself to death to pay it off!

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Evening all.

Excellent news first, which is that the mortgage broker e-mailed to confirm that the revised offer had come through for our new mortgage. It is in the post apparently - I can't wait to receive it and have our mortgage future settled!

My cheque came through for the clothes I sold at the second hand sale, and annoyingly it was for about £10 less than I expected - some things have gone missing it seems, which I am quite cross about as they were lovely clothes and toys. My children have managed to lose their dinner money for last week too, which is very annoying as it was in one of their bags at the start of the day, gone by the end of it but apparently not handed in according to the dinner ladies!

Anyway, moan over. On the positive side, we had a lovely weekend with lots of friends and family visiting. We spent slightly more than expected as the entertainment on Saturday was supposed to be visiting a lovely park nearby, but it poured down so we ended up going to softplay, which was a bit pricey given that we had six children to pay for! They had good fun though. I had a food delivery on Saturday evening, which was nearly 2 hours late arriving, so the supermarket refunded my £6 delivery charge and also sent me £15 of e-vouchers - result!!

I've noticed on a couple of diaries that some people use the flylady system to keep their house tidy - would anyone recommend it? I feel as though I am drowning in clutter most of the time, and although I get a lot done, I don't think I always do it in the most organised way. I need a better system!

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Forgot to add - I have also saved money today because our cleaner didn't turn up. It is a bit of a worry as she is usually very reliable and we can't get hold of her at all - but the house is actually quite clean and tidy so can easily wait till next week to be cleaned, and I can OP the money I have saved!

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Well the mystery of the non-appearing cleaner has been solved - she has sacked us in favour of another job! Nice of her to give us a bit of notice... Oh well, it will save me £30 a week until I can find a new cleaner - good cleaners are few and far between around here. I have started a rota for OH and I so that we can get through the cleaning ourselves. It usually takes the cleaner three hours, so surely we'll be able to do it between us over the course of a week?!

Dreadful weather here today and lots of floods. More in store for tomorrow we are told