Cazmanian_minx's MFi3 diary

Kaz2904

Fab! You said you were going to start doing this- I'm glad you have.
Lets just hope that you get lots of sales as people are finishing off their Christmas shopping.
Do you find you get much of a mark up on these?

cazmanian_minx

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Do you find you get much of a mark up on these?

Put it this way, by bulk-buying the components (because they're all things I sell anyway), the parts and packaging cost less than £2.50, so if that other seller really has been selling them at craft fairs for £15, I may be getting myself on the road next year!!

Caz

Kaz2904

Blimey- that's quite a mark up!
I had a look at them and they are very nice btw. I showed my friend at work and she said I ought to do it to (in this area) but we figured that they cost at least £4.90 per bracelet to make.
I like your figures better though!!!
TBH I don't think I have the time to do it at the moment.
TTFN, Kaz.

cazmanian_minx

Glad you like them :beer: I'm impressed you found them, given they're not under my normal selling ID!!

I spent another hour working on my divorce finances this morning, including phoning the estate agent to get a valuation booked. I think the market must be really slowing up around here, not only did I get put straight through to the valuations department manager, but he's coming round himself and he's coming tomorrow lunchtime :eek: :eek: We had a bit of a chat about the local market - I told him that we were possibly going to have to move to Scotland at fairly short notice as OH's mum needs looking after (true), that we were going to look at some properties when we were up there over Christmas and New Year (also true - though OH, after swearing off buying anything that needed work doing, has now fallen in love with a plot of land :rolleyes: ) and that I needed a realistic valuation that was going to sell the flat quickly in the current market - I didn't mention that I also needed the valuation for divorce purposes! So I'm hoping he doesn't think it's worth anywhere near the £140k it was valued at for the remortgage 2 years ago! I'm expecting about £125k to be honest, it's looking very tatty these days (I've warned him about the 80s woodchip!).

I've also finished my Open University photography course today - zipped up my files and submitted them through the electronic system about 20 minutes ago :j :j The final 10 images I chose to submit for marking were these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22544094@N00/tags/eca10/

- so I'm hoping they'll do. The course is graded A-G with a special grade of HU for outstanding submissions. Looking at the sample assessments on the course website, realistically I think I'm going to be somewhere between a B and an A, but I'd *love* to get an HU for one section (you get 3 grades, one for artistic, one for technical and one for written answers to the assignment questions) - I don't mind which!

The mortgage payment went out today and another £60 has been chipped off the total. Not a huge amount, but it's cheering that it's still coming down thanks to the offset, even though I'm on interest only. IF tells you what your final payment will be at the end of the mortgage term if you keep everything the same and I've got it down to requiring £7,200 in 2031! First target is to get that to £0 and then start knocking years off the term! However, I've just paid off the stooze card and my solicitor is wanting another £500, so that's all still on hold for the moment.

Caz

Kaz2904

Sometimes I have waaaaaay too much time on my hands!
It took me a little while and then I remembered your pm. I looked at that to check the name of your shop.
As a nurse I am trained to pick up the subliminal messages and remember the information I've been told. I then use it at a later date when needed;).
I wasn't going to own up to it but I didn't know if you could see the ID's of people who have bookmarked your things:o .
If it had been earlier in the year I would jump at it. Now I need to really think about this. If I order stuff I need to figure out how to fix it, get the time to do it and then make time to sell it.
My friend has just started selling Usborne books so maybe we could sell stuff together. Hmm, lots to think about! Of course if I do start this then you'd be my supplier!
I had a look at your photos and they are lovely. I hope you do get the grades you want.
Good news on the mortgage payments. Do you think it will be better for you to get a lower value?

cazmanian_minx

:rotfl: Kaz, you should be Kaz007! :rotfl:

The estate agent has just left after valuing my flat at £30k more than I thought it would be worth - and this is the agent renowned locally for giving low valuations! :eek: :eek: :eek: On the one hand I'm very pleased, on the other hand it's a bit of a disaster as regards the divorce finances!!

Of course, the temptation now is that we could pretty much do a straight swap, value-wise - this 1-bed flat for a 3-bed detached cottage in Caithness or Sutherland...

However, if we could borrow another £120k on top of the equity, we could have this:

http://www.hspc.co.uk/schedule/26806.pdf

and if we won the lottery we could have this!

http://www.hspc.co.uk/schedule/26060.pdf

We're going to have a good look around while we're up there anyway, we have a list of a few plots and renovations to go and have a look at - and we might pop in for a pint at that pub The problem is that OH's career is accelerating into the stratosphere at the moment and for that to maintain its momentum, we need to be in England - though possibly not in Croydon, as we don't know which project he's going to be put on next (he had a meeting with the worldwide president of his company this morning and the guy told OH's boss that OH needed a much bigger project to run as he was being wasted where he is!)

I think 2008 is going to be Very Interesting...

Caz

catshark88

Hiya,

Do you really have to be in England or do you just need to be easily accessible to a good airport??

I used to work for a big 4 firm of management consultants and most people spent so much time flying off everywhere that it didn't matter much where they actually lived. Mind you, I never got more exotic than a week in the US...

I haven't had time to do the OU course (hurrumph, wasted fees!) but good, good luck on your assignment! I need to go online and print off all the notes on photoshop though, it seems that the more of it you know, the more of it you know that you don't know.

I wish that this weather would improve, I am sick of taking pics of soaking wet horses in blizzards!

Catshark

Kaz2904

The offer still stands to move in with you and help! Lovely looking houses. Hope you find something.
Good luck for OH and his career prospects.
Are you going to have to pay more now then to buy ex out of house?

cazmanian_minx

Catshark - most of the work the company has in the pipeline is/will be based in Derby, Cardiff, Aylesbury, Birmingham or London and OH may be working on more than one of those projects. We've had a chat about it and he says he'd rather be living back home in Scotland on a much, much smaller salary than being a high flier, so we'll see what comes up when we're up there.

Kaz - probably My solicitor is fairly confident he won't be entitled to 50% of the equity though.

We've been at my Mum's this weekend to swap Christmas presents. She's a bit of an inspiration really, at 68 she's mortgage-free and has enough invested that she can afford to live very comfortably and take two or three good holidays a year on the returns. I've started reading David Bach's Start Late, Finish Rich!

I got back to find I'd had a Best Offer on one of my bangles, and since it was a reasonable one, I've accepted it Good thing, as a quick glance at my email shows only 13 Paypal payments over Saturday and Sunday, which means the beads have had their Christmas rush!

Caz

catshark88

I met a chap today who has given up a highly paid city job and has moved down my way and become a wood turner. He said he's never been happier. He has a horse, competes and looks the happiest man I have seen in a long time. Good luck with deciding where you want to be. x