Moving forward and upwards

MovingForwards

Thank you SH and Skinty

It was a relief finding a hairdresser as I had been randomly searching for quite a few months and beginning to get really stressed. The girl was great and I walked out very happy.
- extra pressure as I'd set my mind on look good / feel good for the holidays. 

I've been wrapping gifts throughout the day, realising I've hidden ones to find and wrap. Just waiting on one last item for hubster. Funny having gifts under a tree as I've not done that in years 🤭
- playing Santa tomorrow and delivering gifts to wider family.

Finally found the decorations so they're now up too.

Paid for my college course, printed WB certificate and I'll frame that when at 3rd home.

I'm trying to clear a load of things that I've just not normally got the time to do. Next big things are log my CPD and cancel registration, reconcile invoices / outgoings and takings, find an accountant / book keeper.

Not sure how I've got through this year, but I plan on spacing training to avoid a repeat!

Skint_yet_Again

Hope you had a lovely Christmas MF. Plans going forward sound great & good idea to space the training. Wishing you and Tombo a very happy new year x

MovingForwards

End of year round up:

What a year 2024 has been 😀

Health has been up and down, however the aromatherapy has made such a difference to my pain levels and gave me hope; still no script pain meds being taken. Bloods came back as low foliate, again, so I'm taking meds for that but haven't noticed any improvement the few weeks I've been on them. 

Finance is lower than usual due to starting a business, undergoing a lot of training, renting a room in an existing premises and having my confidence ripped away. Changing direction, undergoing even more training for that and opening my own premises with just three clients. Some would see it as risky, I thrived on the challenge and word of mouth is doing the rest.

I did open another pension to pay 10% of my business takings into.

I stopped mortgage O/Ps due to my business venture as I needed to ensure I could access to a lot of money each month for my premises (rent) while building a client base, plus I used savings, day job income and my CC for training, furniture, equipment and products.

Savings £5865
Pensions £20k
Pension Cash £575
DB Pensions £2400 per year

Outstanding mortgage is £47,111 and my fix ends in 4 months. As I'm with a sub-prime lender I can't just select another fix, due to starting my business I can't remortgage to a mainstream lender. I'm watching how their standard rate alters with each BOE change.

2025 plans:

- O/P the mortgage;
- Continue to build my business;
- Attain qualification(s) for business;
- Get 2nd home fully up and running.

MovingForwards

Thank you Skinty 

We had two Christmases and enjoyed both.

I logged my CPD for previous career, membership only runs for a few more days. 

I've just laminated and filed my remaining training certificates, had a few more than I thought 🤭

My college L6 course starts next month and need to practice/ complete reflexology.
I've lined up a L3 trainer for HS / WB, and also have the training videos.  I'll also be training in some aromatherapy. All carefully spaced throughout the year!
- L6 / L3 are equivalent just Scottish / English depending on who I do my training with and I'm being very selective about who I use.

I've a client tomorrow, day job the day after and I'm off again 🤭 hopefully that will give me the time to log all my business expenses, collate / print invoices, log income. I know I've spent loads getting this far, however it's been worth it. 

My feet are up for the rest of the day.

jwil

You've had a great year.  All the best for 2025

~FlowerPot~

Hi mf, nice to see your end of year round up.
You've had a really busy year with learning new skills and setting up a new business and then moving to your own premises.
You have such a lot to look back on and be so proud of! 
I wish you all the very best for 25th you continue to build your business.
Flowers x

savingholmes

I agree MF. You've achieved loads this year! Here's to a successful, prosperous and satisfying 2025!

MovingForwards

Thank you Jwill, FP and SH

The busy year caught up with me and I've survived the holiday period, although it's gone too fast and I need a lot more rest.

I popped to 2nd home Saturday and had a look round the garden. This year I'll start the asparagus farm at home and do the usual veg. 2nd home I'll have the herb section, strawberry farm and fruit section up and running 😀

Visited A&U Sunday, took their decorations down and hubster put them in the loft. Took ours down after we got home.

I've been removing mahogany varnish from a large bamboo (5.5 x 18in). There's still a bit more to remove where it bled into the natural cracks, but looks so good with how much effort I've put in. I'm torn between another session to get it fully back to natural or leaving it as is. I'll think about it for a few days. It will be put in the hall by my business and artificial blossom flowers added.

Paid business insurance for the year, under £185 (from salary), docs received.

Spent today reorganising 3rd home and it should only need a couple more hours before it's finally how I want it to be. I've prepped everything ready for Friday which takes a bit of pressure off.

As I've less training to do this year I'm going to plan a work / business / good life / pamper / fun plan.

6% account matured, £200, £1000 and £508 mortgage O/P's made so far this year, £45k outstanding ☺️
- works out to about 58% LTV.

I've spoken with my lender and they now do product transfers, again through a broker. Caught up with my broker and he'll organise the new fixed rate; it's just under 1% more than my current rate. I asked for a 5 year fix again as I'll have it paid off in that time 😆

All in all, a good start to the year!

savingholmes

Well done on the new fix. You've made rapid progress on the mortgage. Well done. 

Glad you made some time to rest too.

MovingForwards

Thanks SH, it's a few more weeks before the new fix application process starts; not straightforward as they have to buy back the loan before being able to switch the APR.

January is turning into a very expensive month, new boiler last week and waiting on roofer to confirm repairs date (thanks storm).

College has started and I'm the only one with experience. Assuming we pass, we'll gain Level 5 in facials and Level 6 in massage; L2 and L3 in E&W. 

The facial training is no different to what I can already do, there's a few extra bits with the massage training, but a lot less to the theory for both than I've worked through with my previous training.

Their facial products are not good for my skin and I had to spend a few days undoing what they did. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the class got on.

I've been pottering about at 2nd home, weather permitting. Ordered perspex to fix the GH after the storm damage; very expensive month!

Sowed some seeds at home and the beans were plants after 10 days. I'll sow some others this weekend.

Nothing really going on at the moment 😊