Prosperous & Creative Soul Year 4

TallGirl

Don’t know if you have Monzo already but they do a great business account that’s free my DG has one. 

I know you’re very risk adverse but does sound like you can wait with the insurance. Business stuff is tax deductible so keep all receipts    

SandyShores

Its taken me a while to get back to walking again, you'll get there, its just that sometimes life gets busy.  I take some water out with me, and a podcast or just listen to the news, so I feel like I'm multi-tasking - hydrating, listening and walking

I miss our best cleaner too, it was lovely coming home from work to a sparkling house.  The last one wasn't very good at all sadly.  I have thought about having a cleaning company in to do a thorough clean maybe every 3 months, at least that way it will never get too bad and it saves having one person who comes and flicks a duster every week.  

LadyWithAPlan

Starling also has a very good free business bank acct - I also have a mzo for personal but prefer starling for business 

I don’t think you need insurance yet unless you doing something that could cause issues ? 

On the video editing it’s v easy to learn by playing - just think of it as a way to make art .. collage in a different form . Not sure what you using but YouTube has brilliant videos on most software .. 

unless you are KK most people are putting weight on during this long cold forever winter - I am only ok as I pay for the 2 ems sessions a week which I walk to .. so give yourself some grace - there are some good YouTube videos to get you moving be it yoga or a gentle dance or aerobics class .. 

savingholmes

Thanks Sandy, LWAP and TG

Definitely risk averse. I need to push past it. Speaking to a family member re Ai tomorrow to see how best to use it. I need to make myself push past everything - and try and 'launch' this weekend. That will then hopefully give me the impetus to keep going.

I enjoyed my art group again this week. I'm continuing to make lots of art - mostly in my sketchbook or gel printing. I'm using some of those backgrounds for my life drawing class and it is adding interest. 

The window cleaner came this week and did the windows. I've asked him to come monthly from now on. The birds have increased their activity recently. Blue tits / great tits on my feeder, as well as robins, dunnocks, blackbirds etc. I love watching them. 

I contacted a garage company - they will do a survey in a couple of weeks time and then hopefully fit it around 3 weeks later. Costs look likely to be £1.4-1.6K. They can resolve the electrics - and an external manual override.

I did some potato planting in pots for now. I want to improve my garden this weekend and do some tidying. I still need to buy black square slabs and re-edge the difference in ground height between me and next door. I also still need to work out how to raise the shed - and then get the doorway etc to fit so it will close properly again. I want to try and get some extra slabs underneath the frame and then ideally get some kind of floor fitted. It's rotting from underneath as it just sits straight on its base. It might be something the joiners could help me with but I forgot to ask them.

The joinery company said the counters are included in their price which made me feel better about the quote. I'll plan it for the garage door to be resolved first - that way I can move some things out of my utility area to make room for the work in the utility. They are going to resolve my utility floor where there is a gap between it and the wall.  Supply and fit skirting board. Fit banister spindles. Box in my soil pipe! Fit a doorway architrave and a door. Face up my understairs cupboard so it looks nice and has two quality doors. Fit a counter to my utility and my garage. £1.8K. They want a £300 deposit.

The electrician hasn't come back to me - so will try and get yet another quote... It would be good to have the electrics in the right place before the counter is fitted or it will be more awkward.

Moneywise I'm doing okay. The cleaner not coming for now has freed up my budget - it all helps. I'm trying to track monthly net worth change so that spikes in spend like the holiday, joinery etc are less scary - but it is still difficult. I can totally see how my past debt struggles arose - because now I want to preserve my capital - despite also wanting to do work on the house. I'm still trying to give my £ multiple purposes for the same money. I am having to force myself to take a step back and look at the overall upward trend in net worth rather than focus too much on individual big spends and remind myself I knew when I increased my AVC contribution that it would be likely to mean my savings were eroded for any work on the house.

Right - I'd best get on.

Alchemilla

A bit late to comment but agreed about the floor cleaning. When you mop there is always something that needs finished by hand.

jwil

It's hard seeing savings reduce but the work on the house will be so worth it in the long run.

savingholmes

Thanks Alchemilla and Jwil. 

Well I mopped a small part of my floor at the weekend. I've done some furniture reorganisation. I've taken away the dining chairs and moved them upstairs for now so there is more room for my art stuff. I've mentally relabelled my double length (of an L shape) all my art studio now. This includes a seating area where I also make art as well as my dining table and a sit/stand desk on casters. Of course I haven't finished the reorganisation so there's more to do. Once the garage is done I can store the chairs in there. For now I've put them upstairs.

I'm desperate to brighten my 'inner' room and have bought extra lights and mirrors. I'll let you know if they work.

I did some gardening Saturday but Sunday was a very chaotic move around of stuff. I still need to find homes for things or let some things go. I got a tall leaner mirror from TK and that made me realise I could move my bins to nearer the back door -  and then move the cat stuff where the bins were - which would then free up the 'mirror eyeline'. I also realised I should move my microwave into an unusable triangle and that would then free up usable counter space all because it was reflected in the mirror and I could then 'see' what was wrong and how to fix it. Lots still to do. 

I still haven't launched my business - I didn't really do anything on it this weekend in the end. Although part of why I'm trying to organise the space better is so that a) it is easier to declutter, tidy and clean and b) it looks better on YT.

jwil

Hope the reorganisation helps.  It can make such a difference to how the house feels, and those small changes you've made sound like they will make things easier for you.

Blackcats

Good idea to move things around to create zones that work better for you.

TallGirl

Reorganisation sounds like its going well it sounds like youve always struggled with that L shape hopefully this is the right way to organise it. Make sure you do not buy too far in advance and then its too late to take things back. Its always lovely to buy new things for a new space but sometimes repurposing is just as good.