Light the fire...

woodfired

smilingbright wrote: »

Congratulations Woodfired! :TThat is great news about your DH's business and I think you are absolutely right to mark the occasion and celebrate. You actually managed to do so without spending too much. I have been in a similar situation recently of getting involved in a sideline business with a friend, which initially cost a bit and is now just breaking even but if it gets to the point where I can recoup what I put in (a couple of thousand) and make an actual profit, I will definitely be going out to celebrate! :beer:

Thank you smilingbright, it is such a good feeling when a gamble/investment finally starts to do well. We've had a few hairy moments along the way where we wondered what on earth we were thinking. :rotfl: I really hope your venture starts to make a profit soon, its a good sign when it starts to break even, at least you're going in the right direction! Thanks for stopping by.

I am so tired tonight. I did some housework then the food shop this morning then went straight to work with DH for 4 hours. I stacked 3000 parts on pallets ready for dispatch next week. It was back breaking but satisfying and way easier/faster with two of us than him working alone.
We came home shattered and then had to unpack the food shop I hate that job!

I have had a hot shower and put my PJs on. Children are fed and our nachos are ready to go in the oven. DH has popped to the pub for an hour with his friends so I am enjoying a peaceful glass of wine, play on the spreadsheets and diary catch-up. Lovely.

I have attempted to register for Nat*onwide online banking but it won't let me. :mad: That is annoying! I am itching to get set up so I can put some cash in for the interest and then recommend DH for the reward!

Tomorrows plans include finishing the housework (I only managed downstairs) and some batch cooking hopefully. We will probably take the children a walk or bike ride too, weather permitting. Have a good weekend everyone. x

Hazelnutty

Enjoy a well-earned glass of wine! I may join you...

woodfired

Hazelnutty wrote: »

Enjoy a well-earned glass of wine! I may join you...

I'll pour you one ...red/white or rose?! :beer:
Hope you are feeling better now and that your family situation is resolved.x

pinkypig

Great to hear all your family's hard work is coming to fruition WF. You truly earned that treat :beer:

woodfired

pinkypig wrote: »

Great to hear all your family's hard work is coming to fruition WF. You truly earned that treat :beer:

Thanks PP, it does feel good to stop worrying about it all!

I am at work, supposedly submitting the order to our suppliers but have happened upon the MSE website .

We had a nice quiet weekend, Mum & Dad came for a roast dinner on Saturday night then we attended our local service of remembrance (in the pouring rain) on Sunday morning. We watched Harry Potter in front of the fire Sunday afternoon and that was pretty much it. The diary is filling up rapidly now though for the next few weekends so it may be the last quiet one for a while.

Food wise, I have been making the most of that roast. I did a large chicken Christmas dinner style, with pigs in blankets (frozen out of date sausages cut in half ), stuffing and several sides of veg with mashed and roast potatoes. We had chicken and stuffing sandwiches Sunday lunch then straight up leftovers for Sunday dinner. The kids had pigs in blankets and mash with a bit of veg last night whilst DH and I had a potato and veg hash (fried an onion then added chopped up leftover veg, mash, roasties and stuffing, fried til crispy) with poached eggs. I have finished the last of the hash for breakfast and there is just a tiny bit of veg left to go with dinner tonight. I make that 15 individual meals with a bit of veg left. Not bad at all.

I also batch cooked a Thai vegetable curry for lunches this week so I have brought that with me today to have with some rice. Cheap and healthy.

In money news I have applied for DHs account switch to Nationwide but still haven't managed to log into my online banking with them. I'm waiting for a card reader apparently. I thought card readers were outdated now but seemingly not. Aside from that not much happening. At least we are both on weekly pay-days now so it makes mid month less boring as I can money-shuffle each week . I need to get a life. :rotfl:

Anyway, I suppose I had better do some actual work.... WF.x

woodfired

Gosh, so long since I last posted!! It's very busy around here, I pop in to catch up on diaries but get distracted/run out of time before I have time to update my own!

Our new business is crazy busy. I have been helping where I can and spent several hours there yesterday. Poor DH has been working 13 and 14 hour days then weekends on top. He is exhausted but can't turn work away! The cash flow forecasts for January (when November's invoices get paid) look incredible as a result though. We should be able to reclaim all invested cash and clear DH's back pay too which will be great. He cannot carry on like this long term though, it is not sustainable.

My work is going well too, lots of new stock in for christmas and all seems to be ticking along nicely.

I have finally opened DH and my new Nationwide accounts and transferred some savings in to them both (5% interest). We have decided that our wages will be paid into our own (nationwide) accounts then we will transfer most to the joint account leaving £100 per week in each of our own accounts. This is excessive for personal spends but we can leave the cash to build up then sweep into savings every so often or use for holidays etc. The joint account will be over funded by about £1500 each month. £500 of this goes straight into cash savings, £80 into my SIPP and another £50 into my S&S ISA. This will still leave over £800 for food shopping, child-related spending and yearly spends (house ins, car ins etc) but should still have a good surplus each month to sweep into savings or overpay. DH's wage has almost doubled so we are not used to this level of surplus and i'm excited to see how much of it we can save.
I have set up most of the payments/transfers to happen automatically, doing it this way will also mean that we meet the funding requirements for our many current accounts :rotfl:. The things we do for a few pounds of interest each month!

Today is a quiet one, we have visited my parents at the farm this morning and taken the sheepdogs for a walk. We are now home with the woodburner lit enjoying a toasty warm, quiet Saturday afternoon. xx

pinkypig

Such good news on your businesses WF:T. It takes courage to make that leap of faith from PAYE. Nice when you enjoy the success you've worked so hard for

woodfired

Thanks PP, it is hopefully paying off. I've been busy taking a leaf out of your book and trying to get organised for xmas!x

Afternoon Folks. It's a bit chilly around these parts today. I'm keeping warm in my little kitchen-come-office at work with the heating on whilst having endless conversations with customers about the weather. We British are never happy. :rotfl:

Things are looking a bit snug in the budget approaching month-end and I've had to import some savings to tide us over. This isn't helped by the fact a customer failed to pay as expected on Friday which disrupted the cashflow in one of the businesses resulting in a small loan being made to tide it over, they should pay this Friday instead when I can then return the loaned amount. I'm looking forward to a few weeks time when we have some money saved up in the account for instances such as these, I hate things on a knife edge.
We have also had a spendy weekend finishing the Christmas shopping for the children. I don't save throughout the year for this expense but perhaps I should. I usually just take the hit in the November/December budgets but I hate it if I need to pull back savings to cover the cost.
On the plus side, DD is totally finished and DS almost done. I have also sorted presents for in-laws, most neices and nephews and all 3 of my sisters. Just about 3 people to buy for and DH then I'm done. I suppose this has all come out of November's budget so no wonder its looking tight! December should be better comparatively, although, then the expense of nights out and Christmas food kicks in so perhaps not! Roll on January :rotfl:.

Dinner last night was home-made burgers on brioche buns with home made chips and salad. There's lots left for tonight's dinner too. I peeled too many potatoes whilst chip-making so I grated 3 of them, squeezed out the water, then added a little chopped onion, an egg and some seasoning and turned them into hash browns, my faves. I've had one for breakfast today with poached eggs and ham. Lunch is thai veg chilli and rice from the freezer and I'm trying hard to avoid the temptation of all the goodies in my shop. It's very hard. .

Ok, off to catch up on some paperwork. WF.x

woodfired

Morning folks!

Yes, we made it into the £125 000s!! Very pleased about this. Also pleased that I was £300 better off than expected at month end. I'm not quite sure how I gained £300, obviously an error somewhere, but there has been so much movement in the accounts this month that it was inevitable that I'd miss something, at least it was an error in our favour! The end of month money shuffle has been completed and the banks reconciled, I love that job. :rotfl:

In other news we had a lovely day out in Manchester at the Christmas markets on Friday. We caught the train in then got a lift home with my sister who works in the city. Mum agreed to collect the children from school and met us back at home at 8pm.
We had a lovely lunch out and a few mulled wines in the market. We were supposed to be Christmas shopping but are actually quite organised in terms of present buying for faimly/friends and the odd bits we did see for each other we agreed we would find a better deal online. MSE ways die hard!! The only spends besides drinks/lunch and the train fare was £3 for a handmade tree decoration. It was a lovely festive day out.
Yesterday we had a family day, we spent the morning listening to xmas songs and playing and then took the children to a trampolining center for an hour before back home to watch a Christmas film. I wanted to trim up the front of the house but the weather decided otherwise. Its not any better this morning either and looks like being another indoor day. It is carols around our village christmas tree this evening so hopefully the weather will improve by then.

My plans for today involve finishing the washing and ironing uniforms etc for the week ahead, sorting the order for the shop and cooking a lovely big dinner for this evening after the carol service, I'm thinking minted lamb hotpot? It will sit nicely in the Esse whilst we are out and I have loads of diced lamb in the freezer from the wholesaler, will dig some out.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend.x

woodfired

Monday morning. What a weekend.

Actually a really nice, festive, weekend but culminating, very sadly, with the death of my little cat last night. Cue much upset and lots of tears from the children and a very late bedtime as a result. Not a great start to the week all round.

In happier news I have completed all of my Christmas shopping. It is organised and ready to be wrapped and the cards are ready to be written during the quieter times at work this week. I have also got an envelope of money saved over the past few weeks for cash presents as I always forget about these and have to find the cash last minute. Saving bit by bit I haven't noticed it yet it should help the budget in those last few days before Xmas.
DH and I had a lovely shopping day on Friday then took some members of his family out for dinner that evening. On Saturday we put up the Christmas decorations, minus the tree, then had an impromptu offer of a babysitter which is never to be turned down so the two of us popped to the local for a couple of drinks and another dinner out!! How extravagant!

Yesterday was meant to be spent collecting the tree but it never happened so instead we had a lazy day watching Christmas films by the fire until Puss Cat appeared, a bit poorly, and by the time I decided I should call the emergency vets it was too late. She was very old and had grown very thin and tired so we cant be too upset but it is still sad to watch your pet of 13 years slip away. Digging a grave at 10.30pm on a frosty Sunday night is also not ideal.

In money news, it's a bit of a disaster. Yet again customers failed to pay on Friday which meant much money shuffling in order to keep all accounts in credit. They have both assured me they will pay today so I am waiting reverse all the transfers. Keeping track of it all is a bit of a nightmare. However, when the payments do hit the bank we should be looking OK considering Christmas expenses. Hope you all have a nice week. WF.x