Cazmanian_minx's MFi3 diary

taxi73

Wow what a great thread..I've just read it from beginning to end and lovely to see your business doing so well...what I did specifically want to post about if you don't mind is your re-mortgaging issue...I'm also SE and only have £47k left on my mortgage(i know you have a lot less)...at the moment I'm tied in with mine at the SVR until march but have an appointment in jan with my mortgage advisor...I too made the mistake you have just made in thinking that without books I'm sub prime but actually I'm not...and also had the same concerns as you that the mortgage fees etc will wipe out any savings...this can be true on small mortgages...my mortgage advisor said he can get fee free,with as much overpayment as I want to make plus free valuation and solicitors fees...so basically what I'm saying is go see a whole of market advisor and discuss it with them...it doesn't cost anything to ask...what I'm going to do is bring my term down from 18 years to 5 years...don't know whether this info will help you and what a lovely holiday to look forward to..

cazmanian_minx

taxi73 - thank you for your comments :beer: My broker is a whole-of-market advisor (London & Country) - his advice was that because I'm intending to pay it off in 2.5 years it's simply not worth moving. The admin fee for finishing the current mortgage is £250 and the very few mortgages that are fee-free are either around the same rate as the SVR I'll be moving onto, don't allow overpayments, have a minimum term of 5 years, don't accept self-employed applicants or have a minimum lending requirement of £30k. There literally is nothing out there for me unless I want to borrow more, extend the term or get hit with early repayment charges - none of which strike me as appealing!

It'll give me the impetus to get it paid off quick, anyway!

Caz

taxi73

sorry about that..didn't realise that you'd already looked into it..it was just a thought...you're right best stay the way you are...it'll soon be gone..take care

cazmanian_minx

What a week! Ended up taking £1,955 altogether :eek: :eek: :eek:

Unfortunately I've been so busy bagging stuff and sending it out that I still haven't got the website up and running, though it's a little bit closer than it was.

The paperwork has arrived from the court regarding my divorce - the first hearing is going to be on 6th March next year, but I have to have my Form E back by 31st January. My solicitor wants it returned to her by 10th January to give her time to look over it and get it properly typed up, so I spent most of Saturday afternoon going through it and have most of it done :T All I have left to do is get the flat valued (going to leave that one until just before Christmas in the hope that the market drops a bit more!) and value the business. I'm keeping it simple - stock + fixed assets + +cash at bank + debtors - creditors. I can't include my eBay account, with its near-perfect near-5k feedback as an intangible asset (though it's definitely an asset to the business) as under eBay's T&Cs it can't be transferred to anyone else and therefore has no monetary value. Probably the best time to do the business valuation is when we get back from Scotland in the new year, as the shop will have been shut for 10 days and there should be no outstanding sales or orders to go out - I can get a stock count done while the stock's static.

14 more labels to print (royalmail.com is being SO SLOW today) and then I can beetle out and buy a new pair of headphones so I can get on with this transcription work - my old pair has fallen to pieces!

Caz

Kaz2904

caz, did you look at martins tip about getting first class stamps cheaper from superdrug? Wondered if it's any use to you for your postage but I've not looked at it.
Don't know if you can help me here but DD was given a sharks tooth pendant a couple of weeks ago. I found it this morning in the road in bits. The tooth has popped out of its mounting and the bits for the necklace have been squished. It is on a fishing wire type thread but thicker IYKWIM with the end bits that do up by twisting into each other.
Do you sell any of these bits or know where I could get them from?
The mounting was unusual and large- brass looking and folded around the base of the tooth. It had an engraving on it of hakuna matata.
I could probably get someone to make a new base thing as I have lots of old jewellery shops round here but wouldn't have a clue where to get the rest from.
Thanks, Kaz.

cazmanian_minx

Kaz - thanks for the Superdrug tip :beer: Unfortunately my local one didn't have any first class large letter in stock and that's all I use.

The fishing-wire-type thread is called monofilament and the type of clasp you're after is a barrel clasp - there should be plenty of people selling both on eBay, but I'm afraid I don't stock either. Is the mounting broken? You may be able to re-set the tooth in it with a blob of superglue if it's intact (or clear nail varnish if you don't have any glue, but it won't hold as long!).

Not much progress to report on the mortgage-paying front I'm halfway through the latest transcription job and should finish it today, but other than that I'm at a standstill - in fact, I'm going backwards, because I still have two more Christmas presents to buy! I'm overspending at the moment and I need to stop. I think part of the problem is that I'm putting everything on my 0% card and banking the money and it's starting to feel like 'Oh well, there's £1,500 on there, what's another tenner?' The 0% period is nearly up so I think I'll pay that card off in full this month (that'll surprise them!) and go back to forgetting I've got it.

Caz

Kaz2904

Thanks for the tip caz.
The mounting was like a clasp which folded over the roots of the tooth.
DH thinks he can prise it apart and refit it but I don't know if it'll work. We'll give it a bash.

Sorry you're struggling at the moment, lets hope it starts looking up for you soon.
OK, off to ebay for a look around. I need to update my signature now as I think I'm doing quite well with my grocery budget so far!

cazmanian_minx

I've just had a record-breaking month - November eBay turnover was £6,403 :j :j :j

However, I spent a :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: amount on stock! Still, that's it now until next year, I'm not ordering anything in December, because, based on last year, it'll take forever to turn up and they'll be out of most things.

Never mind, 5% of turnover has gone into the offset savings and I'm due another £110 for transcription, £5 from Quidco and about £50 from AQA, which will more than pay for Christmas :beer:

Caz

setmefree2

Hi Caz

Well done on the record breaking month:j:j:j:j:j:j:beer:

cazmanian_minx

I made jewellery :j :j :j :j

Now, I'd be the first to say that I'm one of the least talented jewellery makers out there - that's how I got started *selling* beads!! - but even I can't go too wrong with "Apply glue to back of cabochon, place into setting, hold in place until set" :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I've put three bits onto eBay today. I did some research and found one person with completed sales of an identical item (she's not selling any currently, but looking at her other stuff she uses the same supplier I do) which went for £11.21 and had a note in the description saying she was stopping making jewellery and selling her stuff off cheaply but these normally sold for £15 at craft fairs. So I've put mine on at £12.99 Buy It Now with a Best Offer option to see what happens. Nothing so far, but then they've only been listed for about 2 hours.

Caz