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

Saramond

Fantastic news, that must be SUCH a relief for you!

stoplurking

Very, very pleased for you TOPM. X

walkonsand

:j

I'm so glad 2019 has started so well for you TOPM.

After reading all 201 pages I am surely excused for the fist pump I just did, right? :rotfl: :rotfl:

Cherryfudge

Phew! And whoopee! So pleased you are free of them.

Mum_of_2_monkeys

Fantastic news xx

BalanceBy50

Wonderful news and I am so happy that you can now move onto the next chapter of your career xx

Treadingonplaymobil

Wow, thank you so much for all your lovely positive comments! I am similarly thrilled, and I'm so pleased to finally be able to move on. It's lovely to start a new month with one less thing to worry about.

Someone said upthread that it threw the debt into a whole new light, and I feel the same - this chapter closing finally feels like the chance to move forward from one giant bad decision which impacted our lives so much. That comment really reminded me that actually I'm not a terribly person and I didn't spend thousands and thousands indulging myself, but on a bad business decision and the need to keep trying to turn it into a good one. The silly thing is that I always knew it was a bad one - from so early on when it didn't make the money they said it would I knew I'd made the wrong call, but I kept hoping that if I worked harder and did more that it would come right. I feel that the negativity and stress it brought really meant we were always going to struggle immensely to get out of debt while it was there. It has always just sucked so much brain space and energy, and just didn't bring in the money it should have.

Anyway, now that chapter is closing I can really throw myself into the next step and enjoy what it has to offer. I had my life coaching yesterday (by phone rather than in person, as snow stopped play at her end) and I was reminded how much I've achieved in January and how hard I've worked on the new business. I'm feeling so positive about it and I can't wait to actually launch the website and start selling products. Obviously this year is going to be slow, but as I said at the beginning of the year, I know I've got a business with the prospect of real serious growth, and the quicker I get stuck in the quicker that growth can come.

I'll do a finance catch up at some stage soon, very busy this morning as I have contract work to do, emails to clear, and a ton of other bits and bobs which have fallen by the wayside over the course of the week.

Treadingonplaymobil

A bit more time having completed my contract work, so just popping back on to post more fully.

I was looking back through my posts for a debt update, I knew I'd posted on this month but I thought it was at the beginning of the month - it was only 10 days ago! But anyway, while I was looking, I found a couple of points I mentioned when I first popped back here to start writing again, and I thought I'd update on how we're doing on those goals I noted down.
1. Good quality, abundant fresh food. This is wonderful, and I'm so pleased we've recommitted to our health. DH and I are both feeling much healthier generally, the DCs are eating a wider range of stuff, there are fewer arguments about food because the menu plan isn't so painfully rigid. It's all good. I'm not going to pretend it's cheap - we spent £625 on food in January - some of that was on building up a bit more of a store cupboard, but then we also had the advantage of Christmas leftovers, so swings and roundabouts. It will be interesting to see whether it remains at that level or comes down a little (February will obviously be cheaper anyway, being shorter!).
2. Making a space to work in that I love. I haven't done anything crazy to our space or spent any money (actually I lie - I bought a beautiful hourglass to use instead of an irritating buzzer timer), and I'd still like to work on this a little (limit to what I can do pre-renovation, of course), but something that I have done a couple of times is gone and worked elsewhere - local cafe etc, and it's really helped keep my energy and creativity levels up, and it makes me less annoyed with our tatty house.
3. Investing in the business. January had one huge spend - branding work - and a couple of little spends, mostly photo props or small pieces of software, but I'm really content that what I spent made for sound investments in the business.
4. Not scraping out extra work minutes to earn a pound or two. I haven't done this at all, but what I have done a few times is been so carried away with excitement about all the new stuff that I'm doing that I've got straight back to work after dinner and carried on (the days I was doing the new website, or the email newsletter, and was really in the headspace for it). DH has been great about this, because I think he's so thrilled with not being left to do absolutely everything on the other evenings! So I'm not unhappy about the evenings I have worked. I need to make sure I don't get sucked in to squeezing in a few extra minutes when the DCs are home from school though.
5. Being aware of the debt reducing without fixating on pennies or pounds. Obviously I'm not expecting to see this one unfold until much later in the year, but I'm going to keep mentioning it because I want to keep it front and centre. The whole purpose of what I'm doing is to create a lifestyle that makes me immensely happy, and being financially sound is a cornerstone of that.
6. Set an income goal for the next three months. I need to do this, even if it's a fiver! Going to sit down and do it right after I hit post here.
7. Work out the investment my business needs and how to cover it. This is largely clear - I'm expecting to need one more large outgoing on the branding/product design front, then a smaller one ordering packaging, then that should be it until the summer, when I will have two months trading behind me and hopefully be able to forecast and plan more accurately.
8. 10% social media growth. This was always my bottom line bare minimum number, and I achieved 18% growth in January, which I'm pleased about but not ecstatic - if I'd smashed 20% I would have felt super confident. It's reminding me not to get too ahead of myself. I still need the growth.

So my key goals for February, which hopefully I'll remember to revisit at the end of the month, are:
1. 10% social media growth. Again, this is my key metric for the sustainability/growth of my business at the moment, as I don't have any sales numbers to rely on yet.
2. Launch my new website and all the associated stuff (newsletter, downloads etc). SO so excited about that.
3. Get myself totally clear of the franchise once and for all - all documents signed and equipment returned, and not have to think about it beyond this month.
4. Keep looking after my family unit. Good food, enough sleep, enough time together, for all of us.
5. Keep my eyes on the goal - major growth for the business this year, all the products launched as planned throughout the year, and an income that feels secure and growing by the end of the year.
6. Accept this busy period while everything launches, but be really aware of how many hours I'm working and whether DH and the DC are getting the best or the worst of me.
7. A definite start date for the renovation wouldn't go amiss :rotfl: . Builder was talking late April again when DH spoke to him the other day, which would require us to get our skates on a bit! He is on hold with a build that has a building regs issue, so it's very dependant on that, but he has promised to confirm by next weds.

And a quick update on the debt totals...
£780.99 769.06 barclaycard
£5,128.15 5,180.96 virgin
£5,544.76 5,600.77 santander
£8,206.21 7,544.80 partnership
£19,835 parental loan
£39,495.11 total (£565.11 up from January)

189,373.81 mortgage (£322 down from January)

When I went online to double check the mortgage balance I noticed that our mortgage company increased our house valuation estimate at the beginning of the year, which is interesting - it's gone up £7k since last year. I'm astonished, in light of Brexit etc! No complaints here though.

So the debt is up, which I knew it would be (I'm kind of surprised, and pleased, that it's not up more, and it makes me feel we can probably manage to keep it fairly level from here on in, until I start earning enough to reduce it). We need to look at shuffling some of the partnership debt on to a 0% card at some stage soon, so we're not just throwing money away on interest, but other than that I'm, well, comfortably uncomfortable with the debt numbers.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Is all the debt increase due to business costs? Are you balancing your day to day budget?
How does the increasing debt affect the minimum payments?

(Not questions you need to answer here, but just the questions I would be asking myself?)

You do 'sound' so much happier and generally more relaxed, I really do hope it's income up and debt down from her on in.

MatyMoo

:Just caught up & seen ten the franchise news

:beer::j:T:beer::j:T:beer::j:T:beer::j:T

So pleased for you, that must be a huge weight off you mind