Cazmanian_minx's MFi3 diary

Kaz2904

OK, I'll have a look now and see if it's on the guide and set it to watch. Just checked and it's 20.00 on ITV2 so set it to watch.

cazmanian_minx

I made an executive decision today and paid myself a £500 bonus for exceptional sales in October. That plus the money from the magazine transcription job got transferred to the offset, which is now a little under £6,000.

NatWest, bless them, sent me another load of credit card cheques with a 0% offer, which I thought would come in really handy for paying off the balance of the holiday (Hayes and Jarvis charge 2% for paying by credit card). Since the balance is £3,600 and the limit on that card is only £1,300, I rang them up to ask them to increase it.

'Yes, certainly,' said the lady on the other end. She asked me if my annual income was still the same (yes - I pay myself what I used to earn less the travelling costs), whether I had any outstanding credit card balances or unsecured loans (no) and then said 'Well I'm happy to inform you that we can raise your limit to £1,500.'

Thank you and goodbye! (I did double check to make sure she really had said 'to' and not 'by'!) I might as well close that card off now, it's never going to be useful to me again.

As for the holiday? Well, it's not due to be paid for until the beginning of April, so if Capital One are still doing their 4% offer at the end of February, I'll probably apply for one - yes, I'll only get 2% once the charges are taken off, but add that to the Quidco cashback and it's still around £200 altogether.

Entrepreneurial idea number 639458209 - I'm going to sell some jewellery in the run-up to Christmas. I tried this last year with some home-made earrings and it didn't work too well a) because I'm a really bad jewellery maker and b) because I only made about 5 pairs. However, I've started stocking cabochons again and even I can't go wrong with cabochon jewellery - I've done it before and got some quite professional-looking results. So I'm ordering from that supplier on Monday anyway and I'll add a few bits and pieces on for me and see how it goes. Beads and jewellery-making bits tend to drop off in the first week of December because everybody's made all their stock for Christmas craft fairs and so on, but I can sell finished items right up until the last posting date.

Caz

setmefree2

Good luck with the jewelery:money:

cazmanian_minx

Yay, we're back! :j

The bill for the new flat roof has arrived but it was £100 less than I'd budgeted for . I've transferred the money out of my offset so I can write Steve a cheque later on this week and the balance is still over £5,000 which I'm really chuffed about.

I won another small poker tournament yesterday - another $0.45 into the kitty! (I know they say every little helps, but....!) OH is away tonight so I can play in the freeroll tournaments at 5.30 and 6pm, if I can get a seat.

Oh, remember that story I sent off to the Australian and UK magazines a while back? The UK magazine finally got back to me - it was rejected, but it was one of the nicest rejections I've had in a long time:

Many thanks for your submission of Serving Mrs Simpson - I'm sorry you've had a bit of a long wait for a reply.

I've had a good read through and it's a well-written piece and quite darkly humourous. However, I do think it's perhaps just a bit grisly for us, so I'm going to say no. We have featured some edgy/gory pieces, but yours was just on the side of being a bit too detailed in that respect!

Please don't be too disheartened, though, as I think you write very well, and if you have naything else you'd like me to consider, please feel free to send it in.

All the best for now, Jill

(This bit is still showing up as italics on Preview and I've no idea why - it isn't in the text editor, so apologies if it shows up in italics when I post!) I've run out of possible markets for that story now, it's going to have to be rewritten as a competition story instead I think. I'm determined to find it a home somewhere! I've also heard on the grapevine that People's Friend are looking to stock up on stories for forthcoming Special editions, so I shall try and think myself into their world later and come up with something.

I'm sure there was something else I was going to write about....oh yes, transcription! There's another job coming up for the magazine, I should have the tapes by the end of tomorrow and I've promised them back for Monday, so that's my weekend taken care of!

In the meantime, I have a mountain of stock to get on eBay and a webshop to get open, so I shall stop nattering to you lot and get on with it

Caz

GreenNinja

Hi Caz,

Have spent most of my free moments today reading your very inspiring mfw diary! Am loving it and will be following your progress!

I think one of the reasons it has inspired me so much is because of some similarities, I am close in age to you, am 40, and have a similar amount to pay off, its 27,000 to pay back on my mortgage.

So.. will be checking in to gain inspiration on my own mfw journey!

:T

gallygirl

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Yay, we're back! :j



(This bit is still showing up as italics on Preview and I've no idea why - it isn't in the text editor, so apologies if it shows up in italics when I post!) I've run out of possible markets for that story now, it's going to have to be rewritten as a competition story instead I think. I'm determined to find it a home somewhere! I've also heard on the grapevine that People's Friend are looking to stock up on stories for forthcoming Special editions, so I shall try and think myself into their world later and come up with something.



Caz

Scottish District Nurse melts the heart of aggressive rich southerner when she has to go in every day after he hurts his leg falling through roof of the local manse he's bought as holiday home & renovating. He's not really aggressive, just been badly hurt in the past. He comes to the rescue when church hall burns down night before the ceilidh and ends up holding it in the manse, so all the locals love him as well and they all live happily ever after.

Or have I already read that one .

PS don't forget the bit where she secretly spots him nursing an injured deer.

cazmanian_minx

Ali007 - perfect!

Another £69 incoming today from the university transcription work and the tape has arrived for the magazine job. The editor reckons it's 1hr 20 minutes, which will be about £65. I've said I'll have it back to him by Monday, so I'll copy it to the PC tomorrow and then transcribe it over the weekend while the OH is glued to the Scotland-Italy game!

I played in the 5.30pm freeroll last night but I think they've changed the rules so you can only play one freeroll a day, as when I tried to register for the 6pm one it couldn't find any freeroll tournaments at all. I'm getting better - 77th out of about 300, but they only paid to 10th place. I'd have got further if I hadn't been switched onto another table to make up numbers and come up against 2 absolute nutters who insisted on going all-in on every hand.

It's my brother's birthday soon and I've saved up all my Piggy Points and got him some gift vouchers, so that's taken care of. I need to start the Christmas shopping soon - I've got a grand total of £6 in Clubcard vouchers, not sure if that'll get a present for someone, but I'm going to have a look at the website later. Other than that, it'll be Quidco and cashback cards all the way. I need to rein in my spending a bit in the new year, my cashflow has been very tight this month - my fault for paying myself that bonus!

Caz

kassytbag

hi caz, can you tell me a bit more about the university transcription work i.e. dont mean to sound dim but exactly what is it and how do you go about getting any?
am desperate to get some more part time work from home if poss and really hoping this might be a solutioin
thanks

cazmanian_minx

kassy - I fell into it by accident, a friend who works for the university was doing it in her evenings and weekends, wanted her free time back, knew I had secretarial qualifications and asked if I wanted the work.

The work I do is transcribing interviews for the Learning and Research Institute - they send me the interviews on CD, I copy them onto my PC, play them back through headphones, turn them into Word documents and email them back.

If you wanted to break into it, I'd recommend contacting departments that might be taping interviews in the course of their work. Learning & Research is one, Linguistics is another, I'm guessing Anthropology or Sociology might also be subjects that need transcription services.

If you live in a university town, you could try doing what a friend of mine did - she set up a proof-reading and editing business for overseas students who wanted their final dissertations checking over for correct English. I think she charges about £20 per 1000 words, so it's a nice little earner, and all her work comes from an advert pinned to the wall in the Student Union and a static website.

Caz

cazmanian_minx

I missed something in my MFi3 calculations.

Pensions. As in, since I went self-employed a year ago I've not been contributing to one and so I need to start again.

Thanks to someone on the Pensions board, I've worked out how much I need to be putting aside each month and I've sent off to Hargreaves Lansdown for a SIPP application form.

Since I've got over 30 years until I'm 65, I don't need to put a huge amount aside and I'm going to try and fund it completely from the AQA-ing money, but it does take a little slice away from my MFi3 money

I've spent most of the weekend doing the transcription for the magazine and sent the file back this afternoon together with an invoice for £64 Plus it's shaping up to be yet another good week on eBay, I've got 35 parcels to go on Monday morning at the moment and I hope there'll be a few more overnight.

Caz