Dreaming of financial freedom!

themadvix

Fingers crossed about the business!

Sorry to hear about your Grandma, but glad the alarm worked and she's okay - she sounds like a lovely lady!

Your Dad's condition sounds awful (I'd never heard of PSP before, but have just looked it up) - it must so hard for him, as well as you and your family. You're doing really well to keep so many plates in the air as well as finding time for him and your Grandma. That's good news about the grant - let's hope the researchers find a cure.

ch4rly2002

Thanks Vix, that's a very sweet post Thank you for taking the time to look up Dad's illness, that's really thoughtful of you. To be honest, we'd never heard of PSP either until my Dad was diagnosed. I think that's part of the problem.. it's so rare and unknown that they struggle to raise awareness and funding. I'm sure the grant will go a long way for them, and lots of people whose family (mainly a parent) do quite a bit of fundraising - London marathon, sky dives etc. I hope they find a cure too. My dad will hopefully be donating his brain to research as it's such a rare illness, but they'd have to get it into appropriate storage within 4 hours! so, fingers crossed he doesn't pass away on a weekend or bank holiday as they may struggle. I hope that, if we do get this business, we can make it a huge success and make PSP the company's charity of choice

ch4rly2002

Disappointing news, unfortunately our offer wasn't accepted for the business. They'd received a bid, almost double ours, 20 minutes prior by a cash buyer who could complete within a couple of weeks. Even if we had doubled our offer (which we wouldn't as there's no way it was worth that), the business owner would have still gone for the cash buyer and quicker completion, so we didn't stand a chance. It is very disappointing, but it's lit a fire in us and we are thinking of what we would like to do next - look for new jobs, look for another business to buy or start our business from scratch. We are going on holiday with the in-laws next Monday for just shy of 2 weeks so we will have plenty of time to discuss ideas... over Sangria!

On a side note, while we were 'researching' the potential business opportunity, we discovered that ALDI's £9.99 per litre bottle of gin is really rather nice, so I'm wondering if I should class that as money saving?

I sold another item on eBay over the weekend, and have quite a few viewers on my other items, but I have learned not to count my chickens before they hatch with viewers - they're just window shopping normally! I'll take my listings down on Wednesday as I don't want people trying to buy things from me while I'm on holiday.

I went to visit my Grandma last night. She's not feeling too cracking at the moment. She's having a new kitchen next week though so she has something to look forward to. I learnt from the business experience that having something to be excited about makes such a difference. We'll go and pack up her kitchen on Sunday and then it shouldn't take too long for the work to be done.

Surveys are going nicely - OnePoll is up at £21.75 so just over half way I've given up on Yougov, I didn't really enjoy their surveys and it was taking so long to build up. I might go back to it in the future but for now it's on ice. I've had a couple of Pinecone survey invites this month too, which I always enjoy. Curiously, I haven't had any Bzzzagent invites for a while, but all my surveys are up to date... perhaps I'm just not their target audience for the latest product trials.

It's wet outside, but the sun is shining. I'm hoping the sun stays out and dries it all up - everything seems better when the sun is shining!

Jessy103

Aww what a shame ch4rly but I'm a big believer in what is meant to be will be so I'm sure something else will come along soon that's just right for you! Are you still looking to move? (sorry if you've put about it previously, I'm abit behind with diaries at the moment!) x

ch4rly2002

Thanks Jessy. That's what my mum said, she too is a big believe of that as well.

No, we're going to stay here over winter while we think about what we want to do next and then look to put the house on the market in the spring. At least I'm a lot happier with the house now that we got some essential jobs done

Moominmamma89

Sorry to hear about your offer ch4rly. I agree with you about YouGov, find it a real slog at times to make it through the surveys!

themadvix

So sorry to hear about the business Charly, but I think you made the right decision... it can be someone else's headache now (not that it would have been if you'd bought it, but at double the price of what you reckoned it was worth, it will be I should think!)

The gin is definitely money saving!

Kittenkirst

Just catching up Charley. Such a shame about the business and I'm a wholehwareted believe in the 'if it was meant to be' adage too. Something just right for you will come along I'm sure, especially now you're already open to changing things:)

How scary for your grandmother- glad she is doing ok after the fall.

Also, virtual hugs for you & your dad. You cope admirably with the situation but everyone needs a hug every now & then xx

ch4rly2002

Sorry there hasn't been an update for a while, we went on holiday shortly after the last post. DH and I have just spent 2 weeks in Majorca, and it was a much needed break. We went all inclusive for a change so we didn't spend much while we were out there... I would recommend it! It was so nice knowing roughly how much the holiday was going to cost us rather than totting up the receipts at the end of the holiday and gloomily having to pay out a big credit card bill. The hotel was lovely and the food (and cocktails!) were great so that definitely helped

Things are back to normal now. Work is a bit slow as I get my security checks done and we find our way on our new accounts, but it does highlight to me that I still want something different so new job / business is still on my mind. The house is also going on the market soon. It feels good to have it all sorted and ready to go. Doubt we'll have much interest before spring, but at least if it's on people can see it and you never know - we did buy the house in December so I'm keeping optimistic.

I finally had a win on the PBs I'd decided that if I hadn't had a win in a year I would move it into a savings account until I had more (and therefore more chances to win), but 9 months in and I've won £25, which is about what I'd have made in interest in a normal account but I also had the chance of winning a million, so for now they're staying put. That makes £50 win between DH and me.

I'm going to update my signature now... happy Thursday everyone - nearly the weekend!!!

ch4rly2002

Sorry, I've been quiet again recently. I have news on the house front... the 'For Sale' sign is up outside and they're coming to take pictures on Tuesday so it should be on Rightmove by Tuesday. I spoke to the estate agent who said the couple who were going to buy the house two doors up (the sellers cancelled at the last minute) would like to come and view the house, although we know they had an offer accepted on another property so I'm not sure how serious they are - taking that one with a pinch of salt. We've got the decorators in at the moment filling cracks, painting etc to make the place look a bit better for viewings. The survey we had done when we bought the place said the cracks are cosmetic, however I know it concerned us (until we got the survey back) and the estate agent said it would put people off so they've been filling in and painted over. They're also giving the new ensuite a fresh coat as my attempt is a little patchy, and the room it leads off from had a big dark grey feature wall that was terribly painted and need some serious filling to make the make the walls nice and smooth (the previous owner obviously liked his art work!). I'd say it's £400 well spent, especially considering the estate agent gave it a good valuation I've also found the deadline useful to push further with the decluttering. I've been listing on fleabay and things have been selling.