My Mortgage Free Mountain - A 7 year expedition to climb to the top

daisy_1571

A few thoughts - feel free to ignore or ponder as appropriate. 

Add up what weekly hours you have been working this last year. As I recall you do multiple 9 hour shifts.  Take into account you have worked at 2 chippies, the fast food place and 2(?) cafes so there were lots of different workplaces to get to, uniforms to wear/clean and have ready for each shift.  You've been shouted at by bosses, grumped at by bosses and other staff, had your shifts changed at short notice,  had your requests for particular shifts ignored, had to ask for your wages.  Thats all I can think of off top of head. All this has been bound to add to your out of shift work (multi uniforms and traveling time I mean).  

Even if for a while you do 60 hours a week till you get a better idea of how the cafe works, its in 1 workplace.   You are in charge.  You set the shift rotas.  You get to decorate the place how you want it and how you think it will work so a much nicer environmentfor you to be at.  You are going to be running it differently to your predecessor like the shelf of your own craft stuff, that might turn into a nice little earner, rent from other crafters is also money for little outlay.  

I'd say you are right to acknowledge the cold feet but I honestly can't see how it will impact any more on your work/life balance than the hours you've worked this year.  Perhaps it will help as if your husband changes jobs and has free time he can come in and help in a way he couldn't do at places you are employed.   Plus if the kids are looking at extra part time work you'll have time with them during the working day.  Lastly,  I don't know how it works but isn't the £2grand profit over and above whatever wages the owner will have taken?  (Plus someone who watches videos or whatever that line on your daily tasks when you get 26p or whatever, 2grand looks quite good 😆)

DXxx

craftingmad

daisy_1571 said:

A few thoughts - feel free to ignore or ponder as appropriate. 

Add up what weekly hours you have been working this last year. As I recall you do multiple 9 hour shifts.  Take into account you have worked at 2 chippies, the fast food place and 2(?) cafes so there were lots of different workplaces to get to, uniforms to wear/clean and have ready for each shift.  You've been shouted at by bosses, grumped at by bosses and other staff, had your shifts changed at short notice,  had your requests for particular shifts ignored, had to ask for your wages.  Thats all I can think of off top of head. All this has been bound to add to your out of shift work (multi uniforms and traveling time I mean).  

Even if for a while you do 60 hours a week till you get a better idea of how the cafe works, its in 1 workplace.   You are in charge.  You set the shift rotas.  You get to decorate the place how you want it and how you think it will work so a much nicer environmentfor you to be at.  You are going to be running it differently to your predecessor like the shelf of your own craft stuff, that might turn into a nice little earner, rent from other crafters is also money for little outlay.  

I'd say you are right to acknowledge the cold feet but I honestly can't see how it will impact any more on your work/life balance than the hours you've worked this year.  Perhaps it will help as if your husband changes jobs and has free time he can come in and help in a way he couldn't do at places you are employed.   Plus if the kids are looking at extra part time work you'll have time with them during the working day.  Lastly,  I don't know how it works but isn't the £2grand profit over and above whatever wages the owner will have taken?  (Plus someone who watches videos or whatever that line on your daily tasks when you get 26p or whatever, 2grand looks quite good 😆)

DXxx

Thank you so much Daisy. Those are some wise words and certainly give me more clarity when I'm going through the figures.

I think at the moment I'm just looking at the smaller picture in that the £43K odd we will have to part with could earn us pretty much the same in interest (if not a but more) over 3 years as the cafe might and I could then also work part time and earn something on top but you are right - I do need to think bigger than that. I also have that phrase if it ain't broke don't fix it ringing in my ears as we are ticking along nicely doing what we are doing at the moment and without doubt buying the cafe will make our mortgage free date further in the future. 

I will sit down and properly go through everything during the festive break and make a list of pros and cons (you know I like my lists) and then take it from there so your pros I hadn't considered will certainly be added to that column  

Thank you x 

craftingmad

Wow I achieved so little yesterday  
At least Christmas is nearly ready to begin in the crafting mad household finally though. I'm planning on nipping out again today to grab the last few presents and then grab the last of the food either Saturday or Sunday and then that will be me done - apart from wrapping everything of course. I'm sure I'll find time for that at some point  

Hopefully I can achieve a bit more today although it's not looking good as its gone 9am and I have crossed nothing off my list as yet

Thankfully it is also payday for hubby today as the account was looking very low despite transferring some money from one of our accounts across. It's been another expensive month mainly thanks to his mid life crisis car going wrong again! Good news is there is finally overtime in this month's pay packet so we will hopefully be ok without any emergency transfers for the whole month and have some left at the end of Jan to use towards mortgage OP's

Let's make a start:-

So today I HOPE I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (50 points target) - 7 points so far 
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE eight videos watched for a total of 42p 
3. Read lease to see if it helps me make up my mind how to proceed (or not)
4. Write and schedule social media posts for next week
5. Return dies to Amazon for refund - DONE £7 odd pound coming back to me
6. Cut and post off 70 business cards - DONE  
7. Get final Christmas gifts - bought a few more and to be honest what I dont have now I wont get  
8. Wrap said gifts
9. Get business accounts up to date
10. List something on facebook marketplace
11. Prepare emails, facebook group and samples for cardmaking advent calendar
12. Take a course from a membership 
13. Design something new to sell
14. List something new on Etsy
15. Check freepostcode lottery
16. Complete Prime Opinion survey
17. Create another cardmaking download
18. Tidy more of craft room/office
19. No heating on until 5pm - DONE
20. Update shipping dates on Etsy so people are aware they will now not get until after Christmas

craftingmad

Morning all,

I'm feeling a bit deflated today thanks to our daughter She was out last night so when I woke up for a wee at 1.30am I sent her a quick text asking if she was ok and if she had decided if she was coming home or staying at a friends for the night. I got back 4 texts from her basically telling me to go away and it was none of my business. I also arranged to meet her at 11am in town to pick up a couple of gifts for her as she has not been very forthcoming about what she would like but I have heard nothing from her despite me texting Honestly I have given up with both my kids being so selfish so it looks like they will have three presents each to unwrap and that will be that I just cannot be bothered doing it all this year so I'm not going to - it's only one day after all! It might actually do them good and make them appreciate everything they have had in the past. Rant over 

I am planning on having a quieter day today as feeling exhausted and I can feel my mental heath declining from the stress of everything so I'm going to potter around doing only the necessary things and make sure I take time for myself today

I'll add a list but there is a good chance I will achieve absolutely nothing on it and you know what I don't care if that is the case  

So today I HOPE I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (50 points target) - 27 points so far
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE eight videos watched for a total of 42p 
3. Read lease to see if it helps me make up my mind how to proceed (or not)
4. Write and schedule social media posts for rest of month and first week of Jan - written posts for first 8 days of Jan
5. Get some loads of washing done and dry before guests arrive on Monday - Two loads almost dry 
6. Wrap Christmas gifts
7. Write Christmas cards for neighbours and work - DONE
8. Get business accounts up to date
9. List something on facebook marketplace
10. Prepare emails, facebook group and samples for cardmaking advent calendar
11. Take a course from a membership 
12. Design something new to sell
13. List something new on Etsy
14. Check freepostcode lottery
15. Complete Prime Opinion survey
16. Create another cardmaking download
17. Tidy more of craft room/office
18. No heating on until 5pm - FAILED as needed to dry cl0thes so went on at 3pm
19. Update shipping dates on Etsy so people are aware they will now not get until after Christmas - DONE
20. Make some time for me - DONE made three cards to help me relax using my stash
21. NSD - DONE

Baileys_Babe

You rant away I feel you have every right to.

Your daughter's behaviour is coming across as very selfish. Really you just wanted to know she was safe.

Last year our eldest, 18 years old at the time, didn't give us any ideas for presents despite being asked repeatedly by us and the grandparents, they were warned if they didn't give us some ideas they wouldn't get any presents, still no list. On Christmas Day we gave them a few token presents and told them when they had some ideas to let us know, my parents were shocked we did this, but it saved us a lot of stress and we didn't waste money on things they wouldn't use, a month later we asked again and with in a couple of days a list was produced and we brought their belated Christmas presents. This year we were given a list 😉

Have a day of looking after yourself 🤗

LadyWithAPlan

SuperSavingD said:

Baileys_Babe said:

~FlowerPot~ said:

hi ((waves)) im here,

No one reads my diary either, alhtough Im not surprised, there not much saving going on for a savings diary!!!!

Im an avid reader both @craftingmadand your diary @~FlowerPot~

Me too I just love reading all the diaries, they keep me motivated.  I just don’t often post on them, not sure why.

i also am an avid reader here... I just dont always comment Keep on posting ...

Daisy as always makes some v valid points so  I am glad the cafe completion is next year which gives you time to make the right decision. Have you worked out the cost for the increase in employees etc?  £2k profit is nothing  but what was the salary bill? Do you think you can make some major changes, bring new people and as you have said sell local crafters stuff to increase revenue etc. . think you need a spreadsheet of the hours you can/want to work and means you dont have a boss esp grumpy chippy ones.
I think you should sell the most amazing chips as well  

If its costing you £43k  to take over then £2k is what you will earn in interest per year anyway as you say.

Quite near to me is a ' do pottery together' place - so people learn to do hand building and wheel throwing or  they can choose blank items and then paint mugs, vases  etc  with their friends and they get fired up   . they do it as a 'party thing' to do . the place has gone from a small venue to a second huge one ..and is always busy... Might be worth a thought if you could buy one kiln etc or doing a similar arts/crafting  place  to attract more regulars  (I can dm you their website for ideas if you want)

Maybe build a vision board with your OH on what you want next year and in 5 years and see how the cafe fits in with the big plan

Sorry your DD was so rude.. Maybe you cant rely on her for extra work as you had planned.

craftingmad

Baileys_Babe said:

You rant away I feel you have every right to.

Your daughter's behaviour is coming across as very selfish. Really you just wanted to know she was safe.

Last year our eldest, 18 years old at the time, didn't give us any ideas for presents despite being asked repeatedly by us and the grandparents, they were warned if they didn't give us some ideas they wouldn't get any presents, still no list. On Christmas Day we gave them a few token presents and told them when they had some ideas to let us know, my parents were shocked we did this, but it saved us a lot of stress and we didn't waste money on things they wouldn't use, a month later we asked again and with in a couple of days a list was produced and we brought their belated Christmas presents. This year we were given a list 😉

Have a day of looking after yourself 🤗

Thank you Baileys. As ever you have made me feel much better x 

craftingmad

LadyWithAPlan said:

SuperSavingD said:

Baileys_Babe said:

~FlowerPot~ said:

hi ((waves)) im here,

No one reads my diary either, alhtough Im not surprised, there not much saving going on for a savings diary!!!!

Im an avid reader both @craftingmadand your diary @~FlowerPot~

Me too I just love reading all the diaries, they keep me motivated.  I just don’t often post on them, not sure why.

i also am an avid reader here... I just dont always comment Keep on posting ...

Daisy as always makes some v valid points so  I am glad the cafe completion is next year which gives you time to make the right decision. Have you worked out the cost for the increase in employees etc?  £2k profit is nothing  but what was the salary bill? Do you think you can make some major changes, bring new people and as you have said sell local crafters stuff to increase revenue etc. . think you need a spreadsheet of the hours you can/want to work and means you dont have a boss esp grumpy chippy ones.
I think you should sell the most amazing chips as well  

If its costing you £43k  to take over then £2k is what you will earn in interest per year anyway as you say.

Quite near to me is a ' do pottery together' place - so people learn to do hand building and wheel throwing or  they can choose blank items and then paint mugs, vases  etc  with their friends and they get fired up   . they do it as a 'party thing' to do . the place has gone from a small venue to a second huge one ..and is always busy... Might be worth a thought if you could buy one kiln etc or doing a similar arts/crafting  place  to attract more regulars  (I can dm you their website for ideas if you want)

Maybe build a vision board with your OH on what you want next year and in 5 years and see how the cafe fits in with the big plan

Sorry your DD was so rude.. Maybe you cant rely on her for extra work as you had planned.

Aww thanks for reading Lady - I hope I don't bore you too much x

You have offered some great advice so I will certainly take it all on board and like the idea of creating a vision board with hubby to make sure that the cafe does fit into our plans for the future. I think I was originally blinded by the idea of running a cafe which I love but now is the time to think with my head and not my heart so we really need to deep dive the figures more carefully I think. I love the idea of a pottery cafe though so will definately look into this.

You are right I sadly do not think we will be able to rely on our daughter doing the hours at the cafe which was one of the reasons we were going to buy it so more food for thought there x

craftingmad

Morning all,

Thank you for your words of encouragement and for listening to me moaning yesterday. I feel much better today and am positive about the festivities ahead. Hubby finishes his job today so I have hopefully spent the last night apart from him for quite some time. I may hate it as he does tend to get on my nerves (again I blame the perimenopause) but it will be handy to get more housework done as he is a super clean freak of nature which balances with me perfectly as I hate cleaning with a passion

I've made a food shopping list for all the last minute bits we need and am planning to go with him tomorrow when I finish work (half day so should have time before going to collect the parents)  

Popping out to the shops today with kids so we can hopefully find a couple more gifts for them and then it will be home to deliver the christmas cards I wrote yesterday and chill out before mum and dad arrive tomorrow.

Depending on what time hubster gets back tonight, we may have time to start vision board and cafe figures deep dive but if not then it can wait for a week or so. I'm not going to rush the sale until I know for certain that buying it is the right thing to do for us.

OK list time - here we go:-

 So today I HOPE I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (50 points target) - DONE 156 points so far 
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE eight videos watched for a total of 52p 
3. Read lease to see if it helps me make up my mind how to proceed (or not)
4. Write and schedule social media posts for rest of month and first week of Jan
5. Get two loads of washing done and dry - one load washed
6. Wrap Christmas gifts
7. Deliver Christmas Cards - DONE
8. Submit this weeks hours to cafe for payment - DONE 27 hours of money (minus tax of course) should be coming my way later today  
9. Get business accounts up to date
10. List something on facebook marketplace
11. Prepare emails, facebook group and samples for cardmaking advent calendar
12. Take a course from a membership 
13. Design something new to sell
14. List something new on Etsy
15. Check freepostcode lottery
16. Complete Prime Opinion survey
17. Create another cardmaking download
18. Tidy more of craft room/office
19. No heating on until 5pm - DONE
20. Buy final gifts (including scratch cards) - bought a few but forgot scratch cards so will need to pick up tomorrow
21. Make some time for  me

MFWannabe

Can I have your super clean freak husband please 🙏  I’m you 😂
Personally I’d relax now and enjoy Christmas break 
Plenty of time to look at figures for cafe etc after x