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

craftingmad

Baileys_Babe said:

Enjoy your beach trip, the weather is glorious here.

Thanks Baileys. It really was lovely x

craftingmad

Morning  

And what a wonderful morning it is again. Perfect weather for a nice long walk with the doggo once I have managed to get the son out the door for college (that will wear me out for the day!!!).

Sorry for not posting yesterday - I don't really know where yesterday went. I was at Burger King for a 5 hour shift (which actually turned into a 6 hour shift as I swapped my 5pm finish for a 6pm so he could go on a date) and it was so busy I didn't have a moment to stop so was exhausted when I got home.  I do love it there though as the people are lovely and we have a right old laugh so I'm really pleased I've got my hours back. On the plus side hubby made dinner so that was a nice treat for me.

More news on the hours front too - I've got back my Tuesday evening shifts at the chip shop as they have decided the girl who took them from me is so useless that she has to go so they are back with me again It does mean that I will be pulling long days again now though as often also at the cafe on Tuesdays but I'm thinking of our long term goal and hope I can get through  

I've also got a day off today so as well as trying to have a little bit of rest and relaxation, I'm hoping I can crack on with my list and make some serious progress. Only time will tell though as I may just decide to enjoy the sunshine  
  
So today I REALLY WANT TO:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 22 points so far 
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE two videos watched for a total of 14p  
3. Pay in chip shop wages and transfer to savings account - DONE £46 paid and transferred straight to the OP savings account
4. Cash out Airtime rewards voucher - DONE £10 will be taken off my next mobile phone bill so I've transferred this amount into the OP savings account  
5. Sort and declutter more of our bedroom
6. Meal plan for week - DONE wont need much shopping fingers crossed  
7. Put away my clean clothes mountain currently in our hallway 
8. Comment on in search of posts to hopefully get some more orders - commented on three so far today   
9. Write and schedule rest of social media posts for May
10. Design business card for neighbour (freebie so she can wait if I don't get time)
11. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get some interest in my items
12. Give prices for stickers following on from enquiry  
13. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freemoji - DONE not a winner  
14. Complete Prime Opinion survey
15. Look into why I cannot upload on Craftsuprint
16. List something on FB Marketplace - DONE three items listed - a pac a mac raincoat, travel towel and kids gilet (all new) listed today for a total of £17 - fingers crossed they sell although it seems very quiet on there at the minute Sold travel towel for £5  
17. Finish colour cube type idea
18. Create a new item to sell using clipart from membership - DONE created three new cardmaking downloads which I will hopefully list for sale later in the week  
19. List something on Etsy to help refresh my shop 
20. Create an item from the teddy bears I bought for 50p each a while ago
21. Take a course from a paid membership
22. Research Etsy gift mode and tweak listings to see if this will give me extra exposure
23. Look at SEO report from website and make small improvement
24. Finish tidying craft room
25. Action one thing on my business growth list - DONE designed and sent a survey to my subscribers and facebook followers asking how I can improve and what new products they would like to see. Hopefully this will help me focus on the right things which will result in orders  
26. NSD - DONE - hubby picked up a few bits for me so technically I have not spent any money   

 

Baileys_Babe

One advantage of having café hours and chip shop hours on the same day is it is only one day disrupted working outside the home, hopefully meaning you have a whole day to devote to your business and house.

Great news on hubby making dinner.

If you are working all day and evening Tuesdays what plan has the household come up with dinners? Can Someone make or prepare it in advance? Can son and hubby take it in turns to cook? 

craftingmad

Baileys_Babe said:

One advantage of having café hours and chip shop hours on the same day is it is only one day disrupted working outside the home, hopefully meaning you have a whole day to devote to your business and house.

Great news on hubby making dinner.

If you are working all day and evening Tuesdays what plan has the household come up with dinners? Can Someone make or prepare it in advance? Can son and hubby take it in turns to cook? 

That is very true Baileys - I really do need time to work on my business too as I want to get it back to its full earning potential as it is much more enjoyable and feels like less hard work than the part time jobs I have if that makes sense?

I have planned quick and simple dinners which hubby can just pop in the oven, airfryer, grill or hob (or leftovers to be heated in microwave) on the days I am working so hopefully there will be no need for me to put in a full day and then have to feed us as well. Fingers crossed it will work and then when he starts working away I will have to train our son to get in the kitchen instead!

craftingmad

Good morning.

It's a quick post from me today as have shifts at both the cafe and the chip shop so will be working around 9.5 hours straight which is a bit of a shock to my system to be honest as I'm out of practise with those sort of hours  

By the time I have  had breakfast, got son out the door to college, walked the doggo, made my lunch and got both uniforms ready it will be time for me to go so its a very short list from me today I'm afraid. At least by working I am still doing something productive (and lucrative) to help climb our mortgage mountain so the day is certainly far from wasted. 

So today I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 22 points so far 
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE two videos watched for a total of 14p   
3. Cafe Shift (5 hours) - DONE was actually 5.25 hours
4. Chippy Shift (4 hours) - DONE turned out to be 3 hours  
5. NSD - DONE

craftingmad

Good morning,

What a change in the weather today. Its throwing it down on the Broads today so no long walk with the doggo for us. She is very much a fair weather girl and refuses to set foot outside the front door if there is the slightest bit of water coming down. I'm quite happy with that as trapesing about in the rain is not my idea of fun either! 

Both the work shifts yesterday were really busy so my body is aching and I feel pretty tired today but I have the day off so plan to try and make the most of it and get as much done as I can whilst respecting that my nearly 50 year old body needs a bit of time to recover as well. 

I managed to sell two of the things I listed on Facebook at the start of the week to a friend so that will be another £10 to add to the OP savings pot. We don't really seem to be getting anywhere this month for reasons unknown to me so any little amount which is going in is a bonus. 

Our daughter is home from Uni for good (well she has finished Uni and I think she will be back with us for at least a year) in just over a weeks time so I really do need to get the bedroom back to some sort of order for her and try and move out most of my crafty stuff I store in there so she can have some room (she has taken over our spare big bedroom and seems to still have lots of her things in our small box room too) so I'm not really sure where I can put it but I can but try. I think I feel another big declutter coming on!

Our son has an open college evening today as well so I will be out of action from 3.30pm collecting him and taking him to the City to look around the college there. He really is not happy with the A level courses he is doing at the moment so wants to look into more vocational training like carpentry or hairdressing. He also mentioned that he might go for a tattoo apprenticeship so hopefully something will light the spark in him and getting him up in the mornings will be much easier for me    

Other than that the plan is to work on my business, get some housework done and try and climb even a few more steps up this mortgage mountain. 

So here's my MUST DO list for today:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 42 points so far 
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE three videos watched for a total of 20p   I'm up to a £5 already once it has cleared so this really seems to be adding up  
3. Transfer FB Marketplace sales money into savings - DONE £10 added into the savings account  
4. Design and send proof for jewellery planner for Etsy order - DONE hopefully she will get back to me quickly so I can get it printed, bound and posted off later today  
5. Design moving planner for a returning customer request
6. Finish sorting and declutter our bedroom - made a start and another pile cleared  
7. Put away my clean clothes mountain currently in our hallway - three wash baskets put away only hubbies stuff to go into newly emptied drawers and a pile of socks to sort through It was much easier now our bedroom is nicely organised though   
8. Design 10 more cardmaking sheets to sell - one made so far  
9. Start going through mountain of craft stash in spare room - Sorted through a big wardrobe filled to the brim and managed to throw several bits away, compact some boxes into others and also found a few bits to sell so it is now only half full rather than stuffed to the brim Getting there one little bit at a time  
10. Comment on in search of posts to hopefully get some more orders - DONDE commented on three posts  
11. Write and schedule rest of social media posts for May
12. Design business card for neighbour (freebie so she can wait if I don't get time)
13. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get some interest in my items
14. Give prices for stickers following on from enquiry  
15. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freemoji - DONE not a winner  
16. Complete Prime Opinion survey - DONE one survey completed for 105 points  
17. Look into why I cannot upload on Craftsuprint
18. List something on FB Marketplace - DONE two items listed (31 horrible history books and some maths help books) for a total of £14. Fingers crossed they sell as taking up lots of room
19. List something on Etsy to help refresh my shop 
20. Create an item from the teddy bears I bought for 50p each a while ago
21. Take a course from a paid membership
22. Research Etsy gift mode and tweak listings to see if this will give me extra exposure
23. Look at SEO report from website and make small improvement
24. Finish tidying craft room
25. Action one thing on my business growth list
26. NSD - FAILED picked up some snacks on way to collect son and also some salad on way home for dinner - at least the salad was cheaper than the takeaway we nearly went for  

  

Baileys_Babe

Could you put all your daughter's belongings in one room and your stuff in a different room? It sounds like your daughter's belongings are dominating the house and she hasn't even moved back yet.

I hope your son finds something to motivate him at the college open evening and I wish my eldest could find something too.

craftingmad

Baileys_Babe said:

Could you put all your daughter's belongings in one room and your stuff in a different room? It sounds like your daughter's belongings are dominating the house and she hasn't even moved back yet.

I hope your son finds something to motivate him at the college open evening and I wish my eldest could find something too.

That is a good idea. It is just a case of seeing if my craft supplies will fit in the box room. If I work hard on trimming them down then they should do as they are actually the overspill on what would not fit in my craft room so I need to get it under control. At least I don't buy any new craft supplies at the moment so it's not growing any bigger

With regard to our son, thank you. I really hope so too as it's horrible seeing him so lost at the moment. 

craftingmad

Morning all,

I've got a 7 and a hour shift today at the cafe so I won't be achieving much else than that today I think. It's absolutely throwing it down here so I don't think it will be very busy but fingers crossed a few people turn up so I have something to do whilst I'm there. Hopefully there will be some cleaning and baking to do so I will not get too bored. 

Our son was sadly put off the carpentry course yesterday after his interview at the college because of the man who was running it. He asked him what GCSE grades he was predicted to get and once he told him he already had is grades as he is in Year 12 and he got 6 and 7's he told him that he shouldn't do this course and should do something more academic instead So that looks like that idea is out of the window now as it's really put him off and I can understand why. It's like saying if you want a trade then you must be stupid which is so not the case

Here's my very short list for today.
I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - DONE 127 points earned today  
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE six videos watched for a total of 36p  
3. Take a Prime Opinion surey - given up for now - tried 5 surveys and either would not accept answers or got half way through and then got kicked out - 3 points earned  
4. Design one more cardmaking sheet - started but run out of time  
5. Cafe Shift (7.5 hours) - DONE  
6. Check Free postcode lottery - DONE not a winner  
7. NSD - DONE  

craftingmad

Morning all,

Another quick post from me today as have a shift at both the cafe and chippy today so that will take up most of the day. 

So today I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - DONE 42 points earned today
2. Watch videos on WeR8 - DONE three videos watched for a total of 18p  
3. Print and make up Jewellery planner for Etsy order and get hubby to post off on his way to work - DONE
4. Prime Opinion survey - DONE one survey completed for 100 points
5. Design one more cardmaking sheet
6. Cafe Shift (5.5 hours) - DONE
7. Chippy shift (4 hours) - DONE
8. Check Free postcode lottery
9. NSD - DONE