Archive for the ‘Money’ Category
Okay so that title sucked, but I couldn’t think of a way to say that I was looking at houses, but not with an intention to buy, if that makes sense.
First up, it’s amazing the amount of incorrect keys you hit when you’re sneezing whilst typing. Hilarious. Back to the topic at hand, now. Sooo, prices look to be… umm, pretty bad, actually. Property prices are falling still, which is surprising, but then again, with the internet, perhaps my information is old. I’m not sure, because I keep hearing a lot of news about repossession or about people having problems with repossession possibilities and threats.
There’s information out there for people to avoid or stop repossession, but it seems that often it’s too little too late. I don’t know, it makes me more disinclined than ever to actually buy a house. Sometimes it seems like renting for a while, a long while, is a good idea. Mortgage deals are getting rather out of hand again, in my opinion, I mean, 90%? Seriously? Way to not learn the lesson at hand, people.
Yeah, my fiancé and I will be renting for some time to come, and I’m more than happy with that, really. It gives us the freedom to move if we want to without all the stress of either selling or renting out to other people. I’d rather be less stressed than that. It really seems like people are kidding themselves that we’re as through the financial crisis as they want to believe. We’re still in the midst of it, sure maybe not rock bottom, but we’re still pretty close, and acting like we’re not, handing out 90% mortgages, is just perpetuating the problem.
Knitting pattern time! I’m still chilly – see pattern choice for previous pattern – so I’m going to link this dress pattern. It doesn’t really have a name – one of DROPS design’s patterns – but it’s a warm looking dress. All you’d need is a nice pair of tights and you’d be set. That and months to knit the pattern! :D
Tags: houses, knitting, prices
There are so very many of those small loans places in my town, and I see they’re doing pretty well for themselves, but I just think of those people digging themselves into debt, and it’s not good, in my opinion.
I mean, I only care because people have been doing it tough for a while now, and all these loan places promise people the instant gratification of getting what they’ve needed for a while, right now, but then in the end, they pay through the nose for it!
I think people need to be really smart with how they’re spending at the moment. I mean, I know the nation needs us to spend, to get the economy back on it’s feet more stably, so that’s understandable, but these loans are just pouring people’s money into the pockets of some already heavily lined pocket owning people! I like to take note of how the economy is doing before making big buys, so I like good, easy to understand, finance sites. This is money is pretty good, and easy for anyone to understand, but I also like to look at this site for news, and pay attention to the stuff on personal loans!
If you’re considering any loans and such, go with a regular bank. It seems that people who don’t, and go to those nasty little loans places, go in part because they know they won’t be turned down but them, but would be by a bank. If that’s the case, don’t do it! There’s a reason the bank won’t loan money to you! You’re not in a great position to pay them back! Debt is serious, and it’s what crippled the world’s economy, so I’m super careful to avoid it. If you are, though, it’s good to get advice on debt from others who are in the know, they may be able to help.
Now off the wretched topic and onto something else! Knitting patterns, yay, woot! I think the opposite of debt crappiness is comfort, so here is the Regal Comfort Shawl, rather pretty I think!
Tags: debt, knitting, Money
Isn’t it nice? My finances are just working! Finally! It’s a rare and happy place for me, usually I’m either doing quite well, or up that nasty creek!
I’m happy to be in this position, to be able to keep everything floating along nicely. I can pay all the bills that come along, and even have a small amount left over for my fiancé and I to split between ourselves. We share all our money, always have, and it’s a great way to do things, I find. So yes, we split our spare money evenly, so that we can both spend it where we like.
In my case, that’s the occasional craft shopping trip. It’s awesome! I love going shopping for craft things, but also find it frustrating in a way. I can never get exactly what I want, but that’s okay, because it gives me the chance to get used to all sorts of fabrics and yarns. Today I was pawing through the yarns – how else would you pick yarn!? – and oh my goodness the alpaca yarns were lovely!
Anyway, I’m happy about all this financial stuff. Sitting down to my budget and seeing it work is just great, a little less stress in daily life. I’m aware, though, that so many people aren’t in that position, and have to resort to extreme means to get funds for regular living expenses. That seems so wrong, like all those bloody loans places, you can even do the stupid things online now, those loan brokers really knew what they were doing, I think. They seem so able to prey on people who don’t know any better. I’ve not heard of one person who took out one of those loans being entirely happy with the process. I think it wouldn’t be so bad if they went through one of those loan calculator applications, so they could see how much they’d be paying back in it’s entirety, and just how long they’d be paying for it!
Anyway, onto less dour things… knitting! And Crayons! I love crayons, well, I did love crayons, when I was a little girl. So here’s the Crayon scarf!
Tags: finance, knitting
Due to my wrist hurting (not really sure what the cause is) I was thinking about health insurance the other day, and it got me thinking about insurance as a whole.
First thing I realised upon having a quick peruse of some insurance sites, is that there are now so many types of insurance! I mean, I noticed one company that offers car, home, pet, travel, and income protection… that’s a heck of a lot to worry about, you know? I mean, if you are to insure against all of those different events, you’re well covered, no doubt, but you’re also paying a lot of ‘in case’ money. I think insurance is only a worry when you first set it up, then after that it’s like paying for extra peace of mind. It seems worth it to me.
I’m still young, so I don’t need life insurance, but if my fiancé were to be the primary child care-giver when we have children, then I would get life insurance no matter how young I was; to ensure his safety and that of our children. There’s a few websites around for life insurance news and other forms of insurance, not that I’d want to really look at them all that often. Health insurance seems important for the both of us, because all sorts of issues can crop up at any time, sadly. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have arthritis in about five years. Everyone in my family has it, and I’m thinking I will too.
After all this insurance talk, I think it’s time for some knitting insurance… By that obscure remark I mean a needle case, because your needles are just too important to have scattered around! I really like this case for a few reasons. One, the felting gives you a much stronger fabric and protects your needles better than your average knitted needle case, and I also like that the needles are fully encased. Many others I’ve seen show some of the needles, either the tops and bottoms, or the middles as they are pushed through a rise in the centre… that’s hard to explain. Anyway, I also like that this one has a nice button closure, partly because that would mean I would get to go shopping for pretty buttons!
Tags: health insurance, home insurance, insurance, life insurance, pet insurance, travel insurance
Yeah, I got distracted by YouTube… you can’t blame me, though, because it was my fiancé who showed me the video that distracted me and threw off my post here. See, I had this well prepared post in my mind, all nice and neatly laid out, but then I saw that video and I had to include that, and that made the post too long, so instead I abbreviated what I was going to write in the first place!
Okay so whilst I don’t think I am going to be investing any time soon, I did put some research into the subject, and rather than wasting all my time, I figured I would share some of the sites that seemed helpful or whatnot here. I figured the smartest place to start would be investment news, its something you should know about if you are going to invest. You would also need to know which kind of investing you want to go for, there’s all those stocks, bonds, and equities – so, the Market, basically – or you could go the way of more corporeal investments and invest in agriculture. You could also invest in foreign currencies, which you might need an offshore banking, or you could invest in a whole bunch of other things, but those were the ones I found quite quickly.
Okay so now onto what got me so distracted… Isn’t laughing great? Don’t you find that if you hear someone else who is genuinely mirthful, that you can’t help but laugh? Well I do, and that’s why this video that my fiancé showed me was such a laugh to me. :D I showed it to some people I know and they all thought it was a hoot too! Do yourself a favour and watch this, especially if you are feeling grumpy or down, like I have been, because I’m chronically tired lately.
For today’s knitting pattern, I think it should be something equally complex as all that investment stuff… so the Aeolian Shawl is the one for today! This is such a pretty shawl, and I love learning new techniques, and I like the inclusion of beads in this pattern. I’ve never done anything along those lines, so it is an even better pattern for that!
Tags: investment, knitting, research
Yep, I got mine back! And in spite of my not using a money broker or tax accountant, it was great! I don’t think I will need to have someone else do my taxes for me for quite a while, and that’s fine with me!
My fiancé and I share an account, and with this current account, he gets an email whenever the balance exceeds a certain amount. Well, yesterday morning he got such an email, and sure enough, there was my tax return, all neat and shiny and new and ours!!! So this meant that we immediately bought some stuff that we had been after, paid some bills, and then I got my £50 to go shopping with!!!
So today off I went and I bought the following… 1.2 meters of beautiful grey faux fur. Almost rabbit like, with a flecks of light grey, dark grey, and black… the fur is black close to the backing, and lighter at the ends. It is just lovely, not too thick. I got 2 meters of pewter luxe stretch satin to line the cape with, as it had to be a thicker lining that regular lining fabrics. The reason I got more of that is because it was only 112cm wide, where as the fur was 150cm wide. I am want to buy a wooden frog closure of some sort online, as the store didn’t have any. I haven’t found anything just right yet, but something like this would be my second choice if I couldn’t find a wooden clasp.
With that, I got 3 meters of 4-way stretch velvet in red… this stuff is gorgeous! When I was standing at the counter getting it cut, I heard ladies behind me admiring the colour, it is really that lovely. I also got 5 balls (100 grams, 250 meters) of a dusty rose pink merino wool that I intend to make a jumper out of, and one ball of forest green wool that I am going to make a felt purse out of, with a coconut wood button that is really, really pretty.
In seeing my tax return come back all excellent, it kind of made me think that perhaps I had been over thinking the whole money issue. I mean, what need do I have at this stage for finance forums or using a foreign currency bank account for investment? I don’t have need for that stuff, for now I have other things to focus on.
Today’s knitting pattern… the one I am thinking of knitting up that merino with, the Terra pattern. It is shaped so it will fit well on any size, and there are a lot of size options.
Tags: fabric, knitting, Money, Sewing, tax return, yarn
As I have talked about the option of having my little hypothetical business in my community already, I am now going to talk about the net option. There’s a few ways I could go about this… I could create my own website (which would take me FOREVER!) or I could sell things on Etsy, a handcrafting sales site. I would have to consider what would be necessary investments for the net option, and if it was still worth it.
I have been looking into what I would need, and it is somewhat daunting. From what I can gather, I think I would need to investigate leased line providers, and make sure that I am in an area that has business SDSL availability. I think there are a number of broadband companies around at the moment, so I could shop around for a good deal.
That’s all if I chose to have my own website, but I would be concerned that I wouldn’t get enough traffic to make it worth while. I could just have a shop on Etsy and then I am much more likely to get traffic, but I also have fewer options to make my part of the site stand out. The more I think about doing this, the less inclined I am to do it. I think that I may hold off on this for a while, until I am much happier with what I make, and have a stockpile of really unique items.
As for really unique items, this isn’t a knitted one, but rather a crocheted one, but this is one of those really unique patterns that needs to be looked at. A Beholder, as in D&D Beholder, crocheted amigurumi style. :lol: I wouldn’t personally make this, but it’s still unique!
Tags: handmade, knitting, online, Sewing, small business
When I first thought about what I was going to write about today, I had planned on doing something to do with the small business I had been thinking about. But then I heard on the radio the news of what has been happening today in Indonesia. I was shocked, saddened, angry, and felt that my writing of a small business just wasn’t as important as I had thought it was. But on the other hand, I will not dedicate an entire post to talking about the horrific drama caused by cruel acts of a few, so the last thing I will say on the subject is that I wish those recovering after being injured a speedy, healthy recovery, and my condolences to those who have lost family.
Now, what I was going to write of today. I have been considering for some time the idea of selling my wares. Little things I make, wheat packs, knitted scarves, certain items of clothing, that sort of thing. What I have been pausing about was whether it was worth it to do this out of my home to people in my community, or to do this online. If I do it in my own community, then I have to get a secondary phone line specifically for that, I don’t want to tie up a phone that my fiancé has to share with me. That would also mean another phone, and having to decide which of the telephones and cordless phones to choose between. :-? I hate having to find those sorts of things! I just asked my fiancé and he said the Panasonic KX phones are alright, especially the ones that come with an inbuilt answering machine, so I would never miss an order and I wouldn’t have to get any call logging services/a>. I don’t know how to get a second phone line set up in the house, I would have to talk to a telecoms companies about it.
Then there’s the net option, which I will include in the next entry, as I don’t want this one to be mammoth sized! :lol:
As for today’s knitting pattern, I think it will have to be a cute little cap with leaf motif. I can’t wear these sorts of hats, I look ridiculous, but they are still cute. :D
Tags: Jakata, knitting, phones, small business
I got myself thinking with that last post I wrote. My fiancé and I have been saving for a while for our home, and it shouldn’t be too long before we are ready to buy. I have noticed that houses are still selling for a lot lower than their actual value, so I got to thinking maybe buying a home is closer than we had realised? I have decided that I am going to be paying a lot closer attention to the housing market from now on!
I’ve found a few places on the internet to keep an eye on things of this nature. I am going to this site here to find out about property prices, and the BBC News has a groovy page that you can check house prices in different areas. Of course, I will also be keeping an eye on property news and such.
I know there are also real estate forums, but I can’t really bring myself to read through that sort of thing. I just want the news, rather than personal opinion. I’m really not interested in any of those quick house sale things, they don’t seem on the up and up! It should be interesting to see where the market goes from here though, I mean, everything has been so changeable since the financial crisis really hit.
Now on to today’s knitting pattern. As I’ve mentioned before, I love faeries, and as this entry here is on houses, why not a knitted house for faeries!? Technically this is a felted bird house handbag, but I think it looks more like a faerie house! I don’t actually like handbags – I know that’s strange for a woman – so I have a leather back pack that I am hoping will carry me through to at least sixty years of age, but I would like to knit this little house up as a box to keep little bits and bobs in, like bobbins, stitch counters and stitch markers.
Tags: bird house, Faeries, house news, house prices, housing, knitting, UK housing
A most wonderful time of the year! *sings* The reason revolves around the end of the last financial year. Not only will I receive my tax return in the next week, but I just received a catalogue in the mail, a catalogue that I considered having framed! It is the 1/2 price fabric and 33% off yarn sale at my local fabric store!!! 8O
So, my fiancé and I were talking about what we are doing with this year’s tax returns… firstly, we are saving a large portion of it to put away for a house, and to improve our credit ratings as we save for a home deposit, so when we do decide to buy, we have fantastic credit. We know the banks aren’t as free with loans as they once were, but nor are they as restrained as they were six months ago, so things are looking good there.
We also want to just leave a portion of it in our bank account, to take care of any unexpected expenses through the next few months. We do this every year with a percentage of our tax returns, and has been quite fortuitous on a number of occasions. We’ve also joked about an offshore bank account, but we don’t think that’s really necessary, I doubt we’ll have to go on the lam at any point, and that’s the only good reason I can think to have one at this stage in life. :lol:
Now, after all that, there are a few expenses to be paid up, and then, after that, there is some left over, probably around a hundred pounds, and that is all for me to go get fabric and yarn… with that sale, can you imagine how much fabric and yarn that is!? I am so excited! It’s like Christmas for me when this store has this sale, they have some of the loveliest fabrics. Their jersey is some of the nicest I’ve ever seen for sale, and they have some lovely wool flannel. They also have amazingly beautiful faux fur, which works really well for this cute little cape pattern.
As for today’s knitting pattern, Rebecca Danger of Bunny Nuggets fame has put up another awesome pattern, this time for an awesome little toy that goes by the name of Monster Chunks. I must say, I can’t wait to have stacks of these awesome little critters on my desk!
Tags: 1/2 price, banks, fabric sale, Sewing, tax return, yarn sale