£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

TOPM is your website getting lots of visits, or is it still early days.

Haven't heard you mention making candles for a very long time, they will make excellent Christmas gifts.

Have a good weekend.

Still early days with the site. Social media and hits are growing slowly, but it's a long way from any significant monetisation - which will be largely through downloads, as well as promoting my existing businesses. My aim is for it to be bringing in a whopping £20 a month from downloads in January, upping over the course of 2018 to about £400 per month by the end of the year. No idea if it's realistic, but if I don't have a plan I can't begin to hope to achieve it.

Candles are a lovely Christmas gift, but to make nice ones (I use soy wax and essential oils at a reasonable concentration) it actually isn't that cheap. I did it last Christmas.

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Have you decided what you are going to knit as Christmas gifts yet? I have two balls of yarn sitting on my desk at the moment after crocheting some poppies to join the cascade at our Village Church - I had to remind myself, via a youtube video, how to do it (maybe upwards of 40 years since I did it last) but I was thinking I could sit and crochet rather than read in the evenings to be a bit more productive. Maybe tree decorations?

I am also going to make mincemeat to give away (I use the Delia recipe from the classic green Christmas book but these days I use veg suet to preserve it) - have you considered these as options?

Current Christmas knitting list includes:
- hat each for DH, DC1, DC2 and DC3
- unicorn toy for DC3
- snood/neckwarmer thing for DC2

I think crochet lends itself really well to christmas decorations and similar - I actually don't know how to crochet, although I gather it's fairly easy to pick up. If you have leftover yarn search Pinterest for amigurumi (possible I've spelt that wrong) - little crochet animals and things. So much fun, and seem to please everyone from adults and teens down to little children.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 39: Day 1

Morning! Batch cooking day today. I was pretty pleased with the quantities at the last batch cooking day I did, although did run out of lunch options a bit. Hoping to get an evening meal or two done as well - DH is away for a good few days in the middle of the month and it would be nice if I didn't have to cook from scratch (with attendant acres of washing up) on those days. On the list to cook today...
1. flapjacks (the DCs take small ones every day for snacks, I fill them with seeds and fruit as well as sugar, to make me feel better about the situation )
2. stewed apples - still have another shelf full in the fridge and they're on their last legs. To be frozen in portions for breakfasts.
3. macaroni cheese - to be frozen for next week.
4. onion quiche - DC1's favourite for packed lunches.
5. veggie nuggets for packed lunches.
6. sourdough - have run out of bread :eek: and had to buy some yesterday for the first time in about two years!
7. roast veg tarts, for packed lunches.
8. apple strudel to have with dinner, if the filo pastry in the fridge is still ok.

I have other things I'd like to do today, but the batch cooking is the priority, so hopefully I'll get through most or all of it. No idea what DH spent on the food shop yesterday, he got back after I went to bed, but will update later.

To do today
1. all that batch cooking.
2. laundry.
3. ironing.
4. hoover upstairs - my dust allergy is a nightmare at the moment.
5. tidy the DCs' room a bit.
6. plan next week's work time.
7. reply to work emails received yesterday.

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom.
3. start to put advent calendar together.
4. make candles.
5. make a start on the Christmas shopping.
6. start Christmas knitting.

To do this month
1. Keep the total spend at the budgeted level - it's high on YNAB this month (£3,842) as it includes the £470 paid off the MBNA card and all our savings pots are actually budgeted.
2. Keep a tight record of Christmas spends so I can ensure it sticks to budget as far as possible.
3. Keep beavering away at my business goals.
4. Make some candles - we've run out! And I know one person really wants another one for Christmas, so will add it to her hyacinth.

debtaghh

You are so good at your batch cooking! I wouldn’t have the space in the freezer to store it all.

System

At least website is up and running and any income it brings is better than none. Do you have a Facebook page as well , my friends have their own business and recently set up a Facebook page for the business and they have had lots of business from the page being shared. Not sure whether your business would be suitable for this.

Antway good luck with the batch cooking , your freezer will definitely be full tonight. I batch cook for one and it helps me enormously in the week with time and money.

I have been knitting hats for grandkids for Christmas as well.

Treadingonplaymobil

Well I'm glad I took a moment to sort the freezer before starting to cook. Discovered I had quite a few meals in there, plus some packed lunch bits, so have scaled back production very slightly - smaller batch of flapjacks, haven't made veggie nuggets, and probably won't bother with macaroni cheese unless I feel like it later. Have got several tubs of chilli, roast veg tarts, stewed apples, onion quiche and flapjacks ready to go in the freezer though. I also have doughnuts proving ready to be fried and bread rising. Will probable make the strudel too as the filo is in the fridge and will go out of date in a couple of dates. Sugar fest today!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 39: Day 2

Looking forward to a slightly quieter week this week - no clients until Saturday. Freezer is stuffed, although I need to save much of what's cooked for next week when DH is away. Packed lunches sorted, at least. The final tally was:
- 16 flapjacks
- stewed apples for a week's worth of breakfasts (there are still some left though)
- 8 slices of onion quiche (for packed lunches)
- 4 loaves of sourdough
- 8 roast veg tarts - not sure whether the DC will eat these, but DH will if they turn their noses up.
- two evening meals worth of chilli, plus a couple of lunch portions

Found lurking in the depths of the freezer:
- another couple of lunches worth of veggie nuggets
- an evenings' meal worth of tomato soup
- several lunches' worth of parsnip and apple soup
- a plum cake (win!)
- a couple of pasties
- a couple of pizza whirls
- a couple of lunches worth of courgette fritters for me and DH

Our little chest freezer is bursting at the seams!

Have a surveyor coming to do the valuation for the mortgage today. Am hoping that the fact we have got to the stage of a valuation means the credit checks etc have been ok, but no idea whether that's true (it's free, so I'm hoping they wouldn't do it if the mortgage application wasn't otherwise ok). Fingers crossed!

To do today
1. prep some social media posts for website.
2. ironing.
3. pack orders for smaller business.
4. phone my mum to confirm some childcare.
5. make some granola - I promised the DC I'd make some while batch cooking and completely forgot.

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom.
3. start to put advent calendar together.
4. make candles.
5. make a start on the Christmas shopping.
6. start Christmas knitting.

To do this month
1. Keep the total spend at the budgeted level - it's high on YNAB this month (£3,842) as it includes the £470 paid off the MBNA card and all our savings pots are actually budgeted.
2. Keep a tight record of Christmas spends so I can ensure it sticks to budget as far as possible.
3. Keep beavering away at my business goals.
4. Make some candles - we've run out! And I know one person really wants another one for Christmas, so will add it to her hyacinth.

Suffolk_lass

I see you suffer from a dust allergy - I was wondering if it is just dust? I get rhinitis (hay fever, to you and me) from a leaf-mould allergy and that makes me a "happy wheezer" in the autumn. Dust sets it off and for years I thought it was dust but it turns out to be the falling leaves, moulds and fungi. I'm allergic to mushrooms too.

Cherryfudge

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I see you suffer from a dust allergy - I was wondering if it is just dust? I get rhinitis (hay fever, to you and me) from a leaf-mould allergy and that makes me a "happy wheezer" in the autumn. Dust sets it off and for years I thought it was dust but it turns out to be the falling leaves, moulds and fungi. I'm allergic to mushrooms too.

Ooh, I think that might be me, Suffolk lass. When it comes to Autumn I get stuffed up and itchy-eyed, and this house has quite a lot of trees. I would almost rather live in dust masks than get rid of them but that might frighten the neighbours.

Autumn is the start of condensation and consequent mould, too... sloping ceilings make that a perennial problem here as the part that goes into the roof space gets colder and damp.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head for me, if not for TOPM.

Suffolk_lass

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Ooh, I think that might be me, Suffolk lass. When it comes to Autumn I get stuffed up and itchy-eyed, and this house has quite a lot of trees. I would almost rather live in dust masks than get rid of them but that might frighten the neighbours.

Autumn is the start of condensation and consequent mould, too... sloping ceilings make that a perennial problem here as the part that goes into the roof space gets colder and damp.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head for me, if not for TOPM.

I use my spring hay fever remedy until about Christmas, then a break until March normally - I use a nasal spray and eye drops (on prescription) but I have two other prescription items so I have a pre-pay certificate.

You could try an anti-histamine and see if that helps - more likely to give you an answer than the under-pressure NHS. I also used a homeopath to check food intolerances and allergies (having done the full stuff under the Doctor and they were the same) My confidence level with causes is pretty high (with homeopath allergy testing)

Sorry to hijack TOPM!

Treadingonplaymobil

Laughing at the allergy chat - no topic is out of bounds here! Mine is definitely largely dust, but any house with a wood burner/open fire sets me right off, sneezing and wheezing - I have wondered for a while if it's mould spores or something, as it seems more related to whether there is wood stored inside than whether the fire is lit/has been recently lit.

Surveyor came for house valuation for remortgage, gave no indication of whether our house was up to the value the mortgage broker estimated. We'll find out soon I guess.

Got another booking for the weekend today, so have next month's expenses and £70 of my salary earned already. If it wasn't for Christmas I'd be feeling pretty perky about our finances right now! Ah well, we're doing a lot better on savings pots than we were when we started out, barring disasters we shouldn't have such a big shortfall for Christmas/holidays again.

To do today
1. prep some social media posts for website. Done.
2. ironing. So not done. Apart from the trousers and tshirts i had to iron so the DCs actually had some uniform. :eek:
3. pack orders for smaller business. Done.
4. phone my mum to confirm some childcare. Done.
5. make some granola - I promised the DC I'd make some while batch cooking and completely forgot. Done. Efficient day!

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom.
3. start to put advent calendar together.
4. make candles.
5. make a start on the Christmas shopping.
6. start Christmas knitting.

To do this month
1. Keep the total spend at the budgeted level - it's high on YNAB this month (£3,842) as it includes the £470 paid off the MBNA card and all our savings pots are actually budgeted.
2. Keep a tight record of Christmas spends so I can ensure it sticks to budget as far as possible.
3. Keep beavering away at my business goals.
4. Make some candles - we've run out! And I know one person really wants another one for Christmas, so will add it to her hyacinth.