Renovations and Repayments.

edinburgher

Alex, I thought it might interest you to know that I am getting ready to sell my first item at auction?

I suppose in the current age of online only operations to reduce fees, auctions are probably only one step removed from eB@y?

That said, I'll put up with the loss of the gavel for the simplicity and relative anonymity of sending a parcel by courier and getting a bank transfer in return a few weeks later.

AlexLK

newgirly wrote: »

Eric has not been driven in the last two weeks , partly due to the heat (vinyl seats, no cold fan) but mainly because I got in and a spider was on the headlining above me I am awaiting delivery of a chemical spider killing car bomb as this is the second serious spider fright :rotfl: seriously though , I am very scared of spiders and minis are quite small! Other than that he is fine thanks

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: There are no spiders in this country which can harm you, newgirly.

edinburgher wrote: »

Alex, I thought it might interest you to know that I am getting ready to sell my first item at auction?

I suppose in the current age of online only operations to reduce fees, auctions are probably only one step removed from eB@y?

That said, I'll put up with the loss of the gavel for the simplicity and relative anonymity of sending a parcel by courier and getting a bank transfer in return a few weeks later.

Excellent news! Do be cautious of fees and read the "small print", if you like send me a link to the auction house's website and I'll have a look if there's any hidden fees.

There are still plenty of "real" auction houses out there without much of an online presence. I know a few that don't list on the-saleroom or have online catalogues! Mind, this is Derbyshire we're talking about. :rotfl: If you've never been to an auction before, there's usually a lot of "characters", the majority seem to fall into one of the extremes of social strata. There's also the anoraks who are attending the auction to buy one thing and the few that dress as parodies of what they believe someone who attends an auction should look like. Newbies can be spotted by them not daring to blink lest they spend a few £1000s doing so. :rotfl:

AlexLK

Thursday 9th July, 2015.

Dear Diary,

It's been a while and I need to find some motivation for saving and doing some work to the house again as nothing has been done for a few weeks and it's all starting to get into a bit of a mess. Quite a lot of money has also been spent on my Landy as I'm overhauling the suspension and front axle as it was getting a bit tired. Also just bought brakes for the Jag as they were very tired, so it's proving to be a fairly expensive week.

Can't really believe I've had my last day at the school I work / volunteer at until September this week, I think I'm going to really miss it. On the plus side there will be a lot more paid work there as the school are providing bursaries to allow some pupils to learn an instrument. It was very nice for a pupil to thank me for making him believe in himself, he really struggles with school but likes music and will be taking it as a GCSE option.

On the business front, I've finally got a really good order after a dreadful couple of months and I'm starting to become a little more involved in my parents' business as they've been in Spain for the past few weeks. After sorting some potential problems, much to their amazement, they have decided to let me take a small salary from the business, which should go a little way to making up for the abysmal few months my business has had.

In other news, I've managed to catch some kind of flu ... in July, which must be a first. My son is still obsessed with the new puppies, so no rest from going to my cousin's to see them every single day and next week I'm telling him that we will be having one. Can't see him talking about anything else then, to be honest. He's also become much more interested in going to school after a positive day spent there, so perhaps there's hope yet.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

maman

I've been away on holiday this last couple of weeks and it's great to come back to such a positive post Alex.


Great news about LittleK feeling positive about his new school and your volunteering proving rewarding. Hopefully your parents are also starting to see your point about how if you work in their business you have less time for your own which deserves a salary however small. Then there's the puppy to look forward too, excellent timing with the school holidays starting.


All round good news!:T(with the exception of the flu:(). Perhaps you'll start believing it. I live in hope.

newgirly

Great news on the salary front Alex :T is your ds nagging for a puppy?, I know my lot would be driving me crazy you must be so excited about telling him soon! My youngest still writes "kitten" on every birthday or Xmas list he writes, just in case I give in to another cat :rotfl:

AlexLK

maman wrote: »

I've been away on holiday this last couple of weeks and it's great to come back to such a positive post Alex.

Great news about LittleK feeling positive about his new school and your volunteering proving rewarding. Hopefully your parents are also starting to see your point about how if you work in their business you have less time for your own which deserves a salary however small. Then there's the puppy to look forward too, excellent timing with the school holidays starting.

All round good news!:T(with the exception of the flu:(). Perhaps you'll start believing it. I live in hope.

Things aren't too bad, apart from the business which to be honest I'm not sure I want to carry on with long term. Today hasn't been great as I'm really not very well at all, done nothing except list a few items on ebay and read.

Currently, I'm still thinking about moving into teaching but am going to give it another year volunteering before applying for the course. It also gives me two years to improve my state of mind before doing the course. My plan would be to start the PGCE in September 2017 and then look for a 2-3 days per week job after as that would suit me better than working full time. Can't say I much like the idea of the £9,000 cost to do the course and the fact I couldn't run the business at the same time, not sure I'd even be able to do any buying / selling or music teaching, either. That said, there's a long time for me to change my mind.

I'm not sure my son will be keen to go to school with a new puppy in the house come September :rotfl: ...

It seems the relationship between my parents and I is at it's best when I'm here and they're in Spain. However, I believe they are coming back next week, so it remains to be seen whether or not they will still think I'm doing a good job. Unlikely, to be honest and I can't say I'm convinced that they will continue to be so generous.

newgirly wrote: »

Great news on the salary front Alex :T is your ds nagging for a puppy?, I know my lot would be driving me crazy you must be so excited about telling him soon! My youngest still writes "kitten" on every birthday or Xmas list he writes, just in case I give in to another cat :rotfl:

Not sure about nagging, I'd say begging was the more appropriate word. :rotfl: Seriously though I'm really quite looking forward to getting the puppy too, though bringing it (no idea if it's going to be a boy or girl, yet) home is just over a month away.

My cousin is also into horses and my son is obsessed with them, too. :eek: :eek: :eek: ... Will leave it to my wife to tell him that he won't be getting his own when the time comes. Next week if I'm well enough, I'm going to take him to Rutland Water to see the Ospreys, it's quite a drive and it's all GallyGirl's fault for posting the videos.

gallygirl

AlexLK wrote: »

Next week if I'm well enough, I'm going to take him to Rutland Water to see the Ospreys, it's quite a drive and it's all GallyGirl's fault for posting the videos.

Oops . Sorry .

Debsnewbudget

Re the ospreys
Keep an eye on the website as it looks like they are going to fledge soon
Well done on all the rest

AlexLK

gallygirl wrote: »

Oops . Sorry .

:rotfl: No need to be sorry, you've made my son happy.

Debsnewbudget wrote: »

Re the ospreys
Keep an eye on the website as it looks like they are going to fledge soon
Well done on all the rest

Thanks! I'm quite torn about what to do now as I was thinking about taking him on Tuesday but there's this http://www.ospreys.org.uk/lyndon-reserve/family-fun-days/ day on the 4th August which I thought might be more fun for my son?

AlexLK

Today I've been thinking about being financially responsible for myself and about my wife and I paying our mortgage ourselves. Recently we set up a regular monthly overpayment of £200 and whilst it's not a lot, it felt really good to know we are at least paying more than the minimum. According to MSEs mortgage overpayment calculator this regular overpayment would save us £30,000 in interest over the term of the mortgage. It's rather nice to be paying our own way, having no finance (other than the mortgage) and it dawned on me that to maintain our current lifestyle, we do not need anything from my parents, if required we could quite easily live on Mrs. K.'s salary. For the first time in my adult life, I realise we are not in a particularly bad financial position.

I would really like for my wife and I to pay for this house ourselves, without help from my parents because, perhaps for the first time, it has dawned on me that we can and that we don't really have any reason to plead poverty.