Mooloo's little tapestry of life, 2016

Savvy_sewing

I got into work 30 minutes early, set up the industrial machine and sewed the linings to the curtain fronts, all 18 of them and then at 11.30 I stopped as my arm hurt with the weight etc.
Then I went on to some easier jobs. I hemmed a pair of jeans, repaired two pairs of trousers with split seams, I put a zip in a coat, took in a pair of trousers, took out a different pair, made a skirt for a child, and did several repairs to a wigwam. Oh and shortened a jumpsuit. By 4.35 I stopped and went home, after collecting DGD and having dinner in the pub with my friend and her son.
I was so tired that I kept loosing my train of thought!
When I got back I changed my bedding, cleaned up the kitchen surfaces and washed up breakfast, then vaccumed the front room before actually collapsing in front of the Telli at 8.10pm!!

Today will be pressing said curtains to turn through and start to sew the header tape on. But first I have two urgent repair to a man's suit trousers that need to be done today.
Then after the curtain take is done, I have two pairs of jeans requiring zips, a pair of suit trousers to shorten, and a jacket sleeves to shorten.
There are plenty other jobs and what ever comes in today, but I don't think I will manage to do more than that.
The babysitter cancelled Saturday, "somethings happened today" didn't actually say what though. Luckily DGD can go and make cakes with another Lady I know.

Slinky

Mooloo, I admire your stamina, I really wish you all success with your efforts as you worked damned hard.

Savvy_sewing

Slinky wrote: »

Mooloo, I admire your stamina, I really wish you all success with your efforts as you worked damned hard.

Thankyou. I'm trying. Although I didn't get to touch the curtains today. I was kept busy in the shop from very early doors, until 12.30 when staff came in.
I did as many jobs as I could, but the interruption meant I was slower than I planned.
There were more jobs in too.
I am considering bringing work home again, but would rather not.
The people are coming back to assess the damp on Thursday. So they can quote a price to the council. Yet more time and disruption.
Twin2-and her BF plan to come next Saturday and now twin 1 has called to say they are coming.
It looks like they are going to camp in the garden!
Twin1's BFhas lost his job already. I'm not surprised but am saddened, that once again disruption etc.
It's late and I need my bed x

dktreesea

I used to think being a grandmother would be easier than being a mother. No longer. I have a cousin, a little bit older than me, who is already a great grandmother. Her grandson lost his job so they ended up moving in with her a few months ago, the grandson, his wife, and two school aged children. Going from two people to six people living under the same roof was quite a challenge. And of course the daughter then was often around. Her wry comment to me was you don't know what "extended family" means until you are heading up one.


Mooloo, commiserations to Twin1's BF. I would hate to be in the labour market, with zero hour contracts and no job security, in this day and age. Thank goodness for self employment, even if it is tiring at times.


Good luck with getting the damp fixed. I hope they do a good job of it. You'll feel better in a house which is dry and isn't growing mould in places you can't see or get to. Any progress on your driveway?

Savvy_sewing

I seem to be living in a circle or tiredness, lack of energy and with no umph at the moment.
Everything has been an effort for the last week or so.
There is plenty of work, I even went in today to do a fitting.
The work is definitely increasing.
The housework is still a mute point for me, as I know it needs doing, but my efforts have been very minimal due to the tiredness.
Looks like I need to Battern down the hatches, and have an early night tonight and hope a good nights sleep will help me snap out of this lethargy.
My todo list has gone out the window, and life suddenly has gone a bit topsy turvey.
I require focus!
On the plus side DGD enjoyed Saturday with staffs family, and so no screaming abdabs.
Yesterday she was taken out for the afternoon to a Farm with her little friend and his Mum. While I went to Asda to look at BBQs, although we didn't buy one in the end.
I've continued to read my latest book, Rich Woman, and it has intregued me.
I certainly have myself an eye opener when I looked at my "worth".
If I had no income from now it means that I would only be able to sustain our life style for 6-7 weeks!
We always talk about Emergency Funds, etc here on MSE, and the various Frugal challenges. I think that my Savings and Investments need a good shake up.
I must do better.
I would like to have 6 months Spends accumulated in my Emergency Funds.
So this evening I have my diary, my budget book, and a pen.
It is time to Brain Storm/Mind map my next move.
I had taken my eye off the ball with being so tired and so busy, and overspent this last month since my return from Portugal.
If I want to retire to Portugal, I need to rethink my Pension, my Savings and my business model.
So off I go, before I get too tired, to look at my world differently again.
I did so well in March paying down debts etc, but since the holiday I have had many small in budgeted purchases and the debt has gone up by £118 not down.

Savvy_sewing

Morning.
I went to bed at 9pm and lights out about 9.45 in the end. Woke twice in the night. Then woke 3 minutes before the alarm. Still feel knackered though!
Kettle is boiling and I shall make my cup of tea before I surface properly.
I played around with the budget, thought about my options, and felt rather deflated with research.
If I wanted to buy a property at the moment the mortgage calculators reckon I would need 25% deposit for a £200,000 house. So that's £50,000!
If I save every spare £ that is not part of my fixed costs it would take me 10 1/2 years. By then I'd be 65 and probably too old for a mortgage anyway!
So owning my own home is not going to happen.
If I retire at 67, then I would be lucky to have £52,000 in savings and that would only give me a "worth" of 30 months!
So apart from the option that I work until I die, what options are left to me?
I won't have a very good retirement as I spent all my money over the years on my family. Will my family look after me? Probably not.
I may find it too late for me to build much of a pension pot now, but it has made me realise that somehow I have to make changes, and try and teach DGD and possibly my adult children that they need to look at their money now!
This has really opened my eyes into the fact that I am not going to have a comfy retirement unless I can turn my world around, and even then I think I missed the boat. Let's hope I can still catch the life preserver!

My first port of call is to really look at my budget and get 25% into the savings pot not 10%.
My second is to stop buying junk and to declutter what I have via selling sites, and put any profit from that into Silver Coins.
As they are commodities and should appreciate better then the bank interest over a decent period of time.
It will help me to declutter, and to have a goal to turn my junk into treasure.
At the same time I will try harder to look for ways to generate cashflow. I.e. Rethink what I do with my spare time, and educate myself better, so that I can find ways of bringing in money other then my wages.
I'm thinking here of finding out about adverts on my website, tutorials, and sewing articles, books or something that I know a little about, that could bring me in extra money.
On the shop front I am determind that it will start to give me a wage. It has been able to pay me £50 a week back for the rent I had to pay in January, but I am going to look to see if it can sustain £75 from this week, and pay me back what I put in since opening, to keep it afloat.
Then once that's been returned, then keep paying me drawings as a wage.
( although then my tax credits will alter), but that should not leave me much worse off). It will just be swapping where my money is coming from.
So kick me up the proverbial, and challenge me off the arm chair and into the drawers, boxes and cupboards, into the virtual classroom, and anywhere else I need to push myself to turn my worth etc around.
I want that retirement in Portugal to be real not a pipe dream!

Savvy_sewing

So I didn't have The best of days.
I ended up giving ds £60 for food! ( I know I don't even spend that on us a week).
Then twin2 rang to tell me she's coming up early. On Thursday. I'm not ready. The rising damp people are coming on Thursday.
Twin one is cancelling.
Biggest cancelled the need to babysit.
They all desturbed me while I was trying to work.
The electric board are coming to change my meter on the 18th may.
The drive is being done on the 19th may.
I had a bride with a dress that is 14" too small getting married in 19 days needing miracles, another walked in expecting her dress to be altered before a wedding this month, no bookings, no fittings etc,
And several more rediculously stupid requests.
I had a very stressful day as I was constantly interrupted.
I am off to bed in the hope that tomorrow will be a better day!

dktreesea

It's great to hear you are giving yourself a pay rise. Not sure about silver coins as an investment though. Silver is trading at around £12 an ounce at the moment, and coins seems to be priced anything from a 10% to 25% premium on that.

I keep thinking I would like to buy a house, rather than seeing out my days in a rented flat. We could afford a house if we were prepared to move 30 to 40 miles away. Houses that are only £60k to £90k freehold. Nothing wrong with any of the houses I've looked at, but from a location point of view, we're settled. We have a good doctor and dentist, and our children don't want to move. The equivalent house here would be £240k and counting. I wouldn't like to buy a flat. By the time repairs and maintenance are factored in, flats can be an expensive option compared to a house in our neck of the woods. I've concluded that, barring a windfall, I won't be buying a house here any time soon.

Savvy_sewing

I would love to save in other ways, but I'd rather something little that I can see till I get in the habit.
I have 5 silver bars, 1oz ones previously bought when silver was £11.40 an once a few weeks ago. I'd love to buy gold as there is no vat on gold, but I'd need around £900 to get an ounce, and my willpower to save that much gets tested by pester power. So although I have to pay VAT on the silver it's a starting point for now.
As far as I can understand it is more volitile than gold, over the years but as a commodity it generally is better then cash in the bank.
Listening to the finance experts it's very difficult to understand, I've a lot to learn, but anything is better than nothing and I don't trust the governments to not just keep printing money, which devalues it. Also with The American dollar trading the price of oil, and Obhama going to Sudi Arabia a few days ago, I believe there is going to be another recession, soon. It's all very complicated but that's my drift that the USA are dipping, and China already has slowed down.
I can't afford to invest in mining stock or I would!
Oh well.
Like you, I am renting but it's Housing Association, so at least it is an affordable rent at £116 a week.
And they are dealing with the maintenance. Hate to think what it would be costing me for the rising damp, and new windows and doors.
But I would still like to have owned my own home.
I would like to have been on the property market to invest in Buy to Let, which would eventually bring in cashflow every month, but I'm probably going to miss the boat on that one!
Certainly around here! The demand for houses is high, and the prices for our little boxes are going through the roof.
But I can look, I can number crunch, and I can start doing something even if it's not very likely at the moment.
I do know that eventually I will inherit from my Mum, around £55,000 if she doesn't out live us all first! (Or have to sell her home for care fees etc), but I would rather have Mum a lot longer than imagine using her money for me.
So on my own, I'm starting at the bottom rung and working my way up.
3 years ago I was on ESA at £99 a week or something similar. (Plus DGDs money).
Then I improved enough to work 2 days a week.
Then I pushed myself to 3 days and then I used the money to rent the shop in Sept 14.
Now I am beating down my debts, have £1,000 in my big emergency fund and £345 in my small emergency fund.
My debts are coming down through over paying the monthly amounts on the smaller cards, and card tarting got the bulk of the debt into 0%, which is being cleared at £150 a month.
I have certainly come along way in 3 years.
Be it with some help from my Dad when he was alive.
But I have continued to strive for better and know that I can do better.

This morning I have woken earlier then planned as I had a text at 6.15 from the builders about the drive. So I've had my tea, done my thinking, and am now ready to get on with the day.
It will be better then yesterday, as I figure the family all contacted me several times yesterday so I will be left alone today!
The shop closes at 1pm so I will have two hours peace to sew without interruptions, and the other seamstress is going to stop longer as well. So we should make a good dent in the list of jobs.
Even though we have had to squeeze in another bride who came in yesterday, and one who is coming as a different dressmaker has made a mess of her dress! ( I haven't said we can do it, need to know what mess she's talking about first).
Have a good day everyone. Hope the Sun shines for you.

dktreesea

O.M.G. brides! The lady downstairs has been telling me she's got a size 18 bride to be trying to get into her size 14 to 16 wedding dress and wants it "let out". The wedding is 6 months away. When I asked why couldn't the bride slim down for the wedding, she said she "didn't like to ask". This I can understand! She went on to say the bride wants "at least 4 inches" let out but there aren't even 2 inches of seams to let out. Sounds like the bride to be will be dieting after all.


It did make me wonder, though, if some jobs are simply not worth taking on.


I did look into buying a quarter share in a housing association town house - all we could afford if we want to stay in this location. But the thing is, despite paying rent on the balance ( it was £282 a month, so do-able), when it comes to repairs and maintenance, that all falls on the shoulders of the quarter share homeowner. Something not immediately apparent until one wades through the fine print. Also, while I may not live another 20 years to see it, housing association rentals have their bathrooms and kitchens replaced every 20 years plus the floors redone up here.


It's great that you even started a business, much less one doing well enough to pay you something and employ people after less that 2 years. That's pretty amazing when you consider 76% of all businesses, including our own, don't employ anyone other than the owners.
(Source: http://www.fsb.org.uk/media-centre/small-business-statistics)