Dreaming of that cottage by the sea

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi diary,

Just 2 days until the end of the month and £200 still to raise.

It’s been so tight this month- mainly caused by my determination to pay off my credit card in full at the beginning of the month. I’m now right down to the wire, topping up my bill account on a daily basis as bills come in. I’ve got through it but not an experience I want to repeat.

I keep experimenting with different strategies with budgeting and still yet to find one that works for me. This month the method has been to pay off possibly more that I could afford at the beginning of the month and then work like crazy to earn the money to pay monthly bills. I’ve almost done it but with no float for next month,which means I’ve slipped at least 2-3 weeks behind my normal position.

Downside – very stressful and could have cost me interest/charges on my overdraft if not timed right.

Plus side – Has made me very aware of money in my account and purse, resulting on very few non-essentials spends.

So where am I now?

£200 owed to bills account for May – strictly speaking is not required until mid way through June but I really don’t want to start borrowing from months ahead. Ideally I want to be a month in front, not behind.

No float for June. So daily stress will continue.

£1000 active credit card bill due on 4th June – I’ve had to accept that I’m not going to be able to pay this off in one go. So annoying. Feel like I’ve suffered this month for nothing. Minimum payment will be made and then major effort to clear next month. Interest will start to accumulate.

I’d like to place a large stock order on the active credit card but trying very hard to delay this until after the next statement date. I could just about make it but will have to place order if my 2 best sellers stock levels get too low. They are winter items and sales had slowed but with the cold spring, are still selling every day. It's a balancing act as obviously, I don't want buy in large quantities, sales stop and then have to sit on stock until winter. My wish list totals £400 but if I need to, I’ll restrict this to £100

A chunk of the balance on Temptress card is coming off 0% in the next few days…so will start paying interest on that too.

Ideally I need to double my income to break out of this credit card cycle.

I applied for a temporary part time job (with potential for overtime over the next few months). Will know if I’m shortlisted in next few days as interviews are scheduled for next week. It’s low-ish pay but would actually be really interesting, so I’ve got my fingers crossed. Could bring in £300 - £500 a month.

To make up the rest, I need to find a few stock lines with higher price tickets and higher profit margins. I know, I know…aren’t we always.

I have increased my sales figures over the past few months but am currently selling small ticket items (£2 each) so even though I’m selling volumes, the resulting figures aren’t very high. Of course I need to be much more careful with selecting this sort of thing. With higher figures, the risks are higher. All you need is a few to go missing/damaged in transit or a lower price competitor appearing on the scene and you can lose a larger amount of money. I’ve still got a few boxes of stock bought at the wrong price in the loft.

Anyway….I must get back to it. Wish me luck on the job…

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Back again – sorry for absence.

A bit of an update:

Applied for job, short-listed, had a really good interview but wasn’t successful. Drat – looked a really interesting job. Not huge rate of pay but the days would be fun and that scores more points with me at the moment.

Had to place an order on the credit card in the end, due to a stock counting error. At least I thought it was a counting error. I seriously believe that this particular item is out to get me. It’s happened twice now with the same stock item. I sell the last one, then can’t find it, so quickly place an emergency stock order…then seconds after pressing ‘send’, it appears and waves at me when I’m looking for the next item to pack. I searched 4 times through the box it lives in and I’m certain it wasn’t in there. I go looking for something else and it’s 2 items down from the top. I’ve now put one in my spares box…

Financials:

It’s going to be very tight this month and I’m back to working a few days ahead of the red line. So need to keep my head down and list as much as I can whilst avoiding anything but essential spends.

This week has been a light week and I’ve managed to raise what I need. However, my bills just get bigger and nastier as the month goes on…and I just don’t want to think about week 3/4.

Target for the next week is: £230 which is doable, but for week 3-4, I need £900 (gulp!). It doesn’t help that the bay and the river have gone deathly quiet.

So hard working weekend ahead. Aim is to list at least 50 items (100 would be better). Whenever I get bored (which to be honest happens every other listing), I will do 5-10 minutes of de-cluttering. So by the end of the weekend, I will either have a spotless house or a full shop (hopefully a bit of both).

Hope you all enjoy your own weekends and manage to get out in this lovely sunshine. Once I’ve managed my 50 items, I might allow myself an hour or two on the lounger tomorrow with a good book.

Take Care…

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Well, did ok last weekend. Not sure how many items I listed but the majority of the new items sold within a couple of days, so very pleased and it’s motivated me to do the same this weekend. I managed to raise £260 of my £280 target but the last direct debit of the week has shifted to Monday so I’m sure I’ll get there by then.

Had a few bits of bad news regarding friends this week so I had to drop everything and go to help out. Everybody is ok and I’m grateful that my lifestyle set-up means that I could be there to make things easier for them.

After all the drama, I feel in need of a chill-out weekend. However, coming up is the week of the monster bills…so I’ve really got to ‘go for it’.

The next week’s target is £900, which no matter how optimistic I am, is just not going to happen. I have a very generous 0% overdraft facility, which will easily cover this but really don’t want to start relying on it.

So, current plan is

A) work my socks off and

use the overdraft but aim to be back in the black by the end of the month.

To do this, I need to double my usual income over the next 2 weeks.

I’m going to try and come on here every day to report progress.

So 1st sub-goal – to raise £100 by the end of Tuesday (18th).
Back to the listing…

Take Care
…Cottie

nannygladys

Hi there didn't want to read and run, you seem to be working hard and keeping everything under control, I don't think I could work for myself, I must admit I like to know what Im getting paid at the end of the month, I would find it too stressful trying to make enough to cover my expenses.

Hope your weekend is productive, Im at work tomorrow and Monday but then off for 3 days

Nannyg

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi NannyG –lovely of you to pop in.

Yes, it is stressful not being able to rely on the arrival of a pay cheque at the end of the month. Makes budgeting very difficult. The bulk of my bills are at the end of the month – from the days when I did have a ‘proper’ job.

The payback though is the freedom this gives me to enjoy my life and take advantage of any opportunities that arise. In the summer this is fantastic. In my old old life when I had a corporate job, I used to sit in an office and watch the summer go by. I had a full on job, with loads of out of hours overtime (evenings/weekends) and was on call most of the time so couldn’t even pop away for the odd night.

Also, most of the companies I worked for had a rule that if you didn’t have children, they preferred you not to book leave during the summer, to free it up for those who had to cover the school holidays. This didn’t bother me for taking large holidays as we had the money to go abroad and obviously this was cheaper if you didn’t have to go during peak times. However, it would have been nice to take the odd day here or there, just to break the week up….especially if you’ve worked the full 7 days…or several weeks in a row if there was a special project on.

Last year I had two part time jobs but that was worse as I had to gain agreement from both to synchronise a day off. The 1st I had to book leave almost a year in advance and the 2nd resented the 1st and had a moan about having to fit in with them.

Now, if the universe throws us a gorgeous day, I can just throw a few things in the car and head on out into it…Alternatively, if I get a call from a friend or family member telling me about some emergency, I can drop everything and go help out.

Financially, my usual aim is to work a month ahead. That is, to raise money through one month to build up a virtual pay cheque at the end of the month, which will see me through the bills of the next month. This then gives me a month to build it up again and it also meant that I could take the odd day off and had a whole month to make up the work.
Last month I over stretched myself by paying off my active credit card in full which took all my float so currently I’m working just a day or two ahead. This would work ok if my bills were spread out throughout the month but the last week of the month includes the rent and a couple of nasty bills so I’m going to dip into the red for a couple of weeks.

I really resent the rent payment going out. Our rent here is huge and reminds me every month of the fact that this house isn’t ours and we are paying off somebody else’s mortgage, when the money could be buying our own house. Hubby is waiting ‘for prices to come down a bit more’ but has been saying that for the last 15 years. He also makes snide comments when I watch house renovation programmes on TV, about the fools tying up their money in property.

Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that it will never be the right time for him and if I want to buy (and I definitely do), then it’s going to be on my own. He can then pay me rent if that is what he prefers… and we are both happy.

The trouble is the house prices round here are eye-watering. Even the mobile homes have £150k - £200k price tags which is absolute madness.

So, I suspect that even though I do love my lifestyle, this summer will be my last months of freedom. I’m going to have to get back on the hamster wheel of ‘proper’ work if I have any hope of a) stabilising my income, b) paying off the credit cards c) being accepted for a mortgage and d) being able to pay the eyewatering monthly payments.

So, I’ve got to make this summer count. Work hard, play hard when the sun’s out and keep an eye open for an interesting job that pays well for the autumn. I can’t face going back to IT work, plus I’ve out of it for several years now so my skills will be a bit out of date. I’m going to ask everybody I meet about their jobs and see what takes my fancy. I just can’t face the thought of being stuck inside and being bored for 7-8 hours a day so desperately need something that will get the old grey matter working. I fancy social care but I suspect I’d burn out pretty quickly by trying to solve everybody’s problems.

Back to today

- I’ve made the £20 missing from last week’s target – now down to £80 to raise by end of Tuesday to stay in the black for a couple more days.

Have a lovely father’s day

Take Care…Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Ok, quick Monday update..

I’ve got £35 left to raise by the end of Tuesday. Should be doable but you never can tell with the Bay and the River at the moment. They definitely seem to be either tap on or tap off and it’s the luck of the draw which one you get.

I’ve also been asked on a day out tomorrow. Not a problem workwise as I can pack tonight and post on the way out. However, is a problem on the spends front. I have the weekend’s table top sale’s takings in my purse which are reserved for the bill due tomorrow. If I go out, I will be tempted to spend them.

I can predict my thinking…oh go on, you are going to be in the red at the end of the week anyway…so a day or two early isn’t gonna make any difference.

One positive thing to come out of this, is that it is helping to make up my mind about going back to work. I mean, what’s the point of having a free and easy lifestyle if you can’t actually afford to go out if the opportunity arises.

Will report back tomorrow with income and spends.

Take Care

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi everybody,
Due to a slow day on the bay and the river…I’ve decided to do some major re-jigging.

Not going out today. I calculated that it would cost between £40 and £50, which I really can’t afford. The person I was going with is in a worse financial position than I am and shouldn’t really be going either. I was planning to ‘treat them’ but that hardly sets a good money-saving example.

Managed to persuade hubby to top up his half of the bills account early. This means that there is enough in there to pay monster rent DD and gives me a bit more time to raise my half without going into the red whilst doing it.

Although heat is off, I still want to get the agreed amount over to the bills account by the end of the month. Primarily because it’s only fair I should pay my way and secondly because its only going to push the problem from month to month and accounting is going to get very messy.

So…new mini target…Raise £50 by the 20th which will cover all my personal DDs for the rest of the month . After that, every 3-4 days, move £100 over to bills account..repeat until paid amount owed or run out of month.

Anyway, best go pack my sales and get a few hours of listing done. I’m meeting a friend later but this one is very much on the money saving band-wagon and it’s going cost all of 50p for a couple of hours entertainment and refreshments.

Take care…Cottie.

cottage_by_the_sea

Quick update as it's late.

I've managed to raise enough money to cover all my personal direct debits for the remainder of the month, plus £100 to pay into the joint bills account. Its been very dead online sales wise though..

Ten days to go till end of month and I want to raise at least £500, but double that would be fantastic. If the weather stays dry for the weekend, I'm thinking of doing a bootsale to boost figures.

Nighty night everyone.
Cottie

cazmanian_minx

My sales were dead for a couple of days, but picked up overnight last night - hope it's the same for you

parsniphead

I have been enjoying your diary cottage, I hope you don't mind if I subscribe.

I was self employed many moons ago and really want to go back to it especially since the little one came along. You have really given me a lot to think about.