New life. Here we go.....

Elephantchunks

I've got an interview on Friday! I'm unsure how I feel, but looking at the above post I'd be a fool not to be happy about it. 
To be fair I think I'm over qualified & over experienced but I might be wrong. We'll see, the ad says dependent on experience, the job role sounded entry level whereas the responsibilities further down sounded much more for an experienced/qualified person. So I can only take from that that they'll take what they can get round here.
Oh gosh, the one suit that I did keep will defo not fit me now. I'll have to wear an office dress and blazer because it's short notice and ya know 'Covid'. Urgh I hate not wearing a suit to an interview. Right I'm off to have a try on session...

savingholmes

Good luck with the interview outfit. Hope the interview itself goes well too

Elephantchunks

I cancelled the interview. I couldn't face going back to office work after having my 'dream' job, not dream wage or dream stress levels but hey I do love it. I'm learning how to deal with the stress by meditating and delegating. I'll get there.

Today we both applied to change mobile phone provider. It was easier to keep our same numbers than I thought it would be, just tick a box when applying and provide them with the PAC number. To get the PAC we just needed to text a number they provided and got a text straight back with the number for free. I went through TCB to get £32.50 back and have gone from £14.30 to £8 for a better deal. I referred a friend for £40 but when DH clicked on the referral the £8 deal was only available through TCB so DH signed up to TCB after I referred him for £7.50 and he signed up & has now gone from £17 to £8 plus the £32.50 TCB then I got a text saying my refer a friend had worked and will be getting £10!

So £14 - £8 = £6.30 x 12months = £75.60 + £7.50 TCB referral + Mobile referral £10 + TCB £32.50 = £125.60
So £17 - £8 = £9 x 12months = £108 + £32.50 = £140.50
Yearly Saving = £266.10 (if all cashback works as it should)
I wont lie, it took some nagging on my behalf and a minor tiff as DH didn't think £8 was worth the bother/hassle of change and his computer was being a pain but we got there. £266 is like a really good weekend away or a months food bill which is not to be sniffed at. Job well done to us 🤑

Elephantchunks

Right then, in February I didn't do daily recording of spends so we've spent £100 more than budgeted. There were no out of the ordinary spends so I believe its gone on food and take-away.

I have drawn up a new budget for March.
DH is paid weekly on a Tuesday, there's 5x Tuesdays in the month so we're classing this as a 5x week month. Therefore,  each category on the budget is slightly more than Jan & Feb but the extra week of pay is all good so we like 5x week months a lot! (Although, DH is still on furlough pay so not as much as usual).
Groceries £250, Petrol £150, Smokes DH £105, Contingency £125

Now, Sausage Man has been yesterday and delivered us an enormous 18.2kg box of pork for £60. This pushed us to get the freezer we have wanted for a while so we spent £140 on a freezer and collected it the same day with £1.40 cashback on TCB (elephant nibbles). Freezer payment pending in bank and Sausage Man coming back for his $$ so these are March spends with half the freezer going into March contingency and 1/2 in April. An hour of bagging up and I'd say we have about 10 joints that will do one roast and another meal with the left over each week, 4x enormous ribs and 4x diced meals. Oh and still plenty sausages left from January.

In other news, someone crashed & took out 5 metres of our garden hedge this week. The utility/veg/chicken garden and unfinished house are now exposed to everyone coming past and the pear tree will be lucky to survive as it was sideways with all it's branches wiped off but still rooted. We are seriously hoping he was insured and are waiting to hear.

Looking forward to March and hitting some of the 3x month goals I set in the new year.
Most of my savings are in crypto now and this weekend has been bearish but I'm in for the long term gains.
I have two weeks off work now, so you may get a chirpier more positive me for a few weeks.

savingholmes

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope it all gets covered. 

Elephantchunks

No news from the police regarding the hedge, as in no contact whatsover after 3-emails from us and phone calls trying to speak to the police officer who said he will send us a letter with insurance details within a few days. We finally spoke to a 101 operator who told us that our insurance company needs the incident number and they need to find out who the other guys insurance is. So annoyed with other people peeing on our crisps then we have to just deal with it.

Right back to positive Elephant chunks...

• We have both changed phone provider now and both actually have signal inside the house, winner, winner.
• Now with 2x freezers we have filled them up and hope not to do take-away again, must start counting our NTAD again.
• We did a cranberry pork roast in the slow cooker my mom gave to us 2 years ago and had never used. Slow cookers are amazing! I should listen to my mom on the very few occasions she gives advise. This will be used so much more now, especially when we're both back at work FT.
• I lost a stone since new year, but after just a couple of weeks of not recording on MFP it's all getting found again, so I've whipped out MFP again today and been on the bike for an hour. 
• I finally finished my homeware & I'm more than pleased with how it's turned out. From this vision in my head to a fully made 3D useable super cool object. I've only showed one person (DH's mum) I just said I had made it for our house but she insisted that I make more & sell them & she wants one. She suggested I could charge £150 which is what I was thinking too. Chuffed as a nut!
• Better late than never, we're getting brown & white eggs so that''s 2x or 3x out of 3x hens now laying.
• Still on track to pay off the 3 year £12000 loan this month then it'll be onto the next (Hopefully releasing equity when DH is no longer part furloughed).
• Decorate bedroom was on my 3x month plan so we have 3x weeks left and all the kit ready.
• Also, 1x business plan was on my 3x month plan so must get on it now as I have an idea & a working prototype. 
• 3x days to our anniversary, nothing planned, nowhere to go, no gifts (I presume), might try and pay off the loan a few weeks early as that's the sort of fun thing we do on our anniversary. I did purchase something for him today for £7 but it wont be here until 19th. 
• I got free amazon prime to get free delivery so I need to make the most of it, I have book vouchers at work which I'm hoping I can use and so far I have 'borrowed' 2x free books from it's online library - 'How to Stop Overthinking' and 'The Power of Discipline' which I've read a third of today and made loads of notes.

I've just gone to the top of my comment and deleted 'not much to report' because it seems I've reported a lot and babbled on a bit so we will leave the book report for another day  

Elephantchunks

2x days left of my 3x months goals and I'm still working on them all....

I am working on my business plan and learning about building a website/shop (using a template) this evening. I'm no where near requiring a website yet but I've almost saved 3mth EFfor1 plus the pennies to order the parts to make 10x of my 1st product so I'm doing what I can in the mean time.

My goals for the next 3x months have started to be written along with the business plan and whilst thinking about health, wealth, home and mind.

One of my next goals is meditation. I didn't believe in it until I watched a video (is that still a word?) that said it was scientifically proven to help.
Yes, I know this is a money blog but without being in the right frame of mind some people struggle to be motivated to save, spend money wisely, improve oneself etc. so here are a few reasons why meditation is beneficial for me:
-Reduce anxiety
-Addresses stress
-Improves memory & brain function
-Focus and Concentrate
-Make rational decisions
-Boost creativity
-Reduce mind chatter
-Reduce possibility of getting chronic pain, depression, heart disease and high blood pressure

I've changed my signature - "Why not now, OK so when and how," ElephantChunks
Don't get me wrong, the procrastinator in me has been winning overall but as you can see, I am working on it.

savingholmes

Meditation is particularly good for people with ADHD. 

Elephantchunks

I've not got ADHD. Asperger would make a lot of sense to me though. But yes meditation can help a lot of people.

At the beginning of January I made myself/us some goals to achieve in 3x months. We've not achieved them all but I'm super happy with what we have done because without writing the goals none of it would have happened.

Wealth
£42,000 equity (from £41000) - Miscalculated - we're on £41,000 now
Celebrate 17 years together - Done,very quietly with no fanfare
Decorate bedroom - Done and it's beautiful!
Finish paying off £12,000 loan - Miscalculated, we finish this month
Have a business plan (we have an idea!) -Yay It's done!  
Save £600 between us - nope, 80% furlough scuppered this
Me - Save £3000 which is 4.5 mth emergency pot for 1 person  Almost   

Health
Lose 19lb to get to 10.5 stone - lost 14lb so quite pleased about that
Exercise for 30min 5x a week - Not recorded but I presume so

& to add to the goals midway, I have completed my MSE Ac@demy badge.

Elephantchunks

So the main take-away from the above post is that I have made my first business plan.
The reason I had this as a goal was to learn how business plans are written and to make a couple of extra grand this year, nothing serious although, I would like my own serious business one day.
This has taken 3x months of preparation, from having no idea, to having a full on business plan. 
The more I thought about business and solutions the more business's came to mind, I whittled it down to one that excited me and DH. One that I/we could start small and expand in various directions.
I designed, engineered, researched, sourced the parts, made the first product and did a little market research.
My £2000 plan this year has ended up as a turnover in December alone of £30,000 lol. I may have gone a bit too far   
Realistically they sell as quick as they sell. The sooner they sell, the sooner I can make the next product and so on (or not, who knows)? I'm going to set short term business goals to get wherever I'm going to get, as quick as possible and only stake £400.
Next step is to order the parts, setup new social media accounts and do every free marketing course I can find starting with OU free learning and watching how other businesses market themselves.