OK lets do this.....24 payments to go

spendinglikemad

Gosh 3 months since I updated!!! A few changes!! I got made redundant in July so have a reasonable nest egg and opened another Santander123 account - single this time and after swapping around direct debits it makes sense to keep the money here and make some interest. So thats 2 S123 accounts nice and full with plenty in the current account. Just need to get a new job so we don't need to use the money!! Savings are almost more than mortgage outstanding.
Mortgage interest rate at rock bottom so worth more in the savings pot than o/P at the moment.
A few jobs in the pipeline - 3 interviews - 2 permanent and 1 contract job, the contract role has a great daily rate but I will have all the self employed start-up to do.
Will see which job gets offered first though was hoping to have a small extra holiday at end of August if I get offered a permanent job but if the contract role comes up then they will want me to start ASAP - still beggars can't be choosers and it will mean more money in the bank if we don't spend any travelling - I can't complain we had a lovely break in Wales a few weeks ago

So....enjoying the summer off with kids and getting allotment sorted and put some items on eBay and meal planning is going well and trying to keep to a tight budget for now.

Wish me luck for Monday!!

hiddenshadow

Fingers crossed on the jobs!

IIRC it was only ~£150 or so to set up a limited company, so not too costly there. I did it through an accountant, though, so not sure if any of that was subsidised to get a new customer.

spendinglikemad

Thanks Hiddenshadow - will get onto that on Monday when I hear back from the agency regarding the job....

Day started with the daily allotment visit to pick raspberries, plums and great beans - amazing how fast they grow - and still not dug all the spuds yet.

Going to make some sticky onion marmalade next week and the raspberries that don't get eaten are going into a tray bake. Got enough ingredients for chocolate cake and cookies. Heaven help my waistline !

Meal planning today for the week ahead and looking for coupons online of food we actually eat which isn't easy, got a free 500ml coke zero (coupon) and a breakfast drink (clicksnap so payback later) did have voucher for A2 milk but couldn't find at any of the 4 supermarkets I went to today!!!

Anyway coupon hunting seems more hassle than its worth!! Been using up fridge/cupboard contents but the meals tend to get carb heavy, whilst cheap it doesn't help the waistline so glad to go any get some protein and veg!!

DS loves his chocolate flavoured wheat biscuit breakfast cereal which is pricy and as he is 15 can eat 4/5 at a time and I usually stock up when I find them on offer but we had run out and he had to resort to another breakfast this morning!!!! Gosh:eek:

Anyway I forgot I had nectar points so my stocking up was free and I only spent 50p in that shop:j. I love Aldi and have done the main food shop with a treat of a bit of steak for tonight and some choc buttons which DD and I devoured at an afternoon watching "sense and sensibility" (the boys were out!)

Ebay items have a few days to go and some have bids on so monday will be interesting, I have plans to spend any proceeds on stuff for allotment.

Next week jobs
1 - Job hunting news, no champers bought yet!
2 - Allotment duties (weeding/picking)
3 - Sort deep freeze
4 - Decide if its worth changing bank accounts to get more interest (ours and kids and decide what to do with premium bonds held
5 - Stick to meal plan
6 - Baking/relish making
7 - Bit of make do and mend on some clothes items that need sewing, although not sure dh wants his underpants holes sewed!!
8 - Ebay items package and send/re-list

Hopefully some O/P can be sorted once item number 1 is clearer!! At least with interest rate drop the mortgage is £30 ish less a month!!

SLM

spendinglikemad

So...Monday morning and need to get going.....trying to enjoy a few relaxing mornings during the summer holidays as I will miss it when I start working again!! Nonetheless I should really get up and moving now.

Reading a post last night has prompted me to add a task to get up into the loft as I am sure I have some old coins up there somewhere!!

I found some danish krone last night that I "lost" (put safe!) so that will be approx £45-50 to this weeks pot (to be used for emergencies!!!)

1 - Job hunting news, no champers bought yet!
2 - Allotment duties (weeding/picking)
3 - Sort deep freeze
4 - Decide if its worth changing bank accounts to get more interest (ours and kids and decide what to do with premium bonds held)
5 - Stick to meal plan
[STRIKE]6 - Baking/relish making[/STRIKE] - just some beetroot chutney to make
7 - Bit of make do and mend on some clothes items that need sewing, although not sure dh wants his underpants holes sewed!!
8 - Ebay items package and send/re-list
9 - Start planning next years allotment! I would really benefit from a small greenhouse and shed so will get looking on free sites/ebay
10 - Coin search (loft raid)

SLM

Moneyfordreams

Good luck with your job hunting

not working looks like a full time job

spendinglikemad

Thanks Moneyfordreams - have to keep busy and get all those jobs done that I never get chance to do when working!!
SLM

spendinglikemad

£co = £38.25 transferred today will hit the account next week and some eB@y items sold (need to cal the profit yet) around £35 - rest will re-list, still have to change my currency so thats a few extra ££ this week. Coin search in loft didn't go well but loft search found quite a few items we had forgotten about - lots of electrical equipment (all working !) now in my office for preparing for eb@y!! MIL had given us a load of 1980s comics years ago which got shoved in loft as we were busy with babies and I came across those yesterday, they are very good condition and just need to be catalogued. Got my rubber gloves on (??!) and went through starting to sort - its quite distracting as some of the covers are so interesting. So will continue with the organisation of these for selling - I think they will be a slow sell individually on fleabay but best option may be to sell individually - there are in the 100s!! Hubs step challenge at work means he wants to average 15-20k steps per day this week (most done at home) so that means 1-2 hours of walking lol shouldn't complain as it will all stop when the weather changes

Task list:
1 - Job hunting news, no champers bought yet!
2 - Allotment duties (weeding/picking)
3 - Sort deep freeze
4 - Decide if its worth changing bank accounts to get more interest (ours and kids and decide what to do with premium bonds held)
5 - Stick to meal plan
6 - Baking/relish making - just some beetroot chutney to make
7 - Bit of make do and mend on some clothes items that need sewing, although not sure dh wants his underpants holes sewed!!
8 - Ebay items package and send/re-list
9 - Start planning next years allotment! I would really benefit from a small greenhouse and shed so will get looking on free sites/ebay
10 - Coin search (loft raid)
11 - New eBay items prepare /photograph
12 - Car service book in

Sundaysgirl

Hi SLM, good luck with the job hunting, sounds like you are keeping busy!

Just a quick post and dash, but wanted to say that if you do go self-employed I would suggest seeking advice from an accountant - tax is not my specific area of expertise but it's not necessarily the best option to set up a limited company (in addition to the set up cost there will be the ongoing running costs and hassle of annual accounts, corp tax returns etc - and you'll still have to do a SA tax return for any income you take as divis). The company you contract with might have a preference, too.

spendinglikemad

Thanks Sundaysgirl - yes will be getting an accountant as I haven't had to sort out my own tax (ever!) I did a quick look online and at the daily rate I would be getting it implied I needed to be limited but I will DEFINITELY be getting advice from an expert!

SLM

spendinglikemad

Still no news regarding 2 potential jobs, but no bad news either and some small updates from the agency/HR dealing with roles, so just need to be patient. Still ebaying and baking/preserving my way through allotment.

@ldi wagyu steaks x 4 bought for next week hope they are good as we are fans of steak!

My mums birthday next week and we may go and look after their animals so they can have a few days away, it will cost us in petrol (400 miles round trip) to get there and we pay someone to look after our cat so its not a cheap trip. I was thinking a homemade pressie of a little hamper for them to take with them like cheese, crackers, chutney, homemade cake selection and wine/beer - should be able to do this for around £10.

Task list update

1 - Job hunting news, no champers bought yet!
2 - Allotment duties (weeding/picking)
3 - Sort deep freeze - getting there....still some to do
4 - Decide if its worth changing bank accounts to get more interest (ours and kids and decide what to do with premium bonds held)
5 - Stick to meal plan - yes
6[STRIKE] - Baking/relish making - just some beetroot chutney to make[/STRIKE]
7 - Bit of make do and mend on some clothes items that need sewing, although not sure dh wants his underpants holes sewed!!
[STRIKE]8 - Ebay items package and send/re-list[/STRIKE]
9 - Start planning next years allotment! I would really benefit from a small greenhouse and shed so will get looking on free sites/ebay
[STRIKE]10 - Coin search (loft raid)[/STRIKE]
11 - New eBay items prepare /photograph
[STRIKE]12 - Car service book in[/STRIKE]

Won't get as much done next week with DH on holiday so need to focus on being efficient and stop having lazy starts to the day!!

SLM