If you have taken out a personal pension plan, do not forget to include this in your tax return. If you are a basic rate tax payer, it will have no effect but if you are a higher rate tax payer, you will benefit from some tax savings. Continue reading “Reporting your personal pension contribution”
Tag: Friday Morning
The Go To Expert by Heather Townsend and Jon Baker
I’ve just finished reading this book which I am sure I started at the beginning of the year. I know I started reading it while on the train to London which was in December or January time. However, I don’t travel on the train on a frequent basis so my reading also got less. I’ve currently found a new time to read, while putting the girls to sleep as long as it is in a kindle format. Continue reading “The Go To Expert by Heather Townsend and Jon Baker”
The Pain of Class 2 National Insurance
A change in tactic in my blog post today and hopefully going forward. Once a month, I’m hoping to post a technical accounting or tax related post. At the moment, I have no schedule for it and it will most likely be on what takes my fancy or what I had to deal with in that month. So, for today, I’m going to look at national insurance and in particular Class 2 NIC. Continue reading “The Pain of Class 2 National Insurance”
The Conquer Kit by Natalie MacNeil
This is another book about starting, progressing and excelling in your chosen business.
The chapters are called steps and you have to go through each step in order. In each chapter there are tasks for you to do and at the beginning of each task, there’s a time frame as to how long that particular task should take. Continue reading “The Conquer Kit by Natalie MacNeil”
A Mums Morning Poem
In the darkness of the night and the early morning,
When monsters lurk just behind the shadow of the door
And spiders threaten to come out and hang,
A restless stirring, shows the nightmare is in full swing,
A woman creeps out of bed to start the day.
A list of things to do running through her head,
Making sure the girls have everything for school is her first priority
But its an endless list making her angry and helpless at the same time.
This is when meditation needs to be done (and ticked off the list).
A multitasking meditation, deep breaths while ironing,
Knowing that the things that she wants to work on will get left behind again.
When did life become so busy? When did lists become so long?
A loud swoosh as a door opens, brings the woman out of contemplation.
There’s a patter of small feet running across the hall searching for a grown up,
And a big relieved hug from two sleepy girls as they find their mummy.
Maybe life will be frustrating for a while but the big hugs are amazing.
A Mumpreneur Guide by Annabel Karmel
One of the best things I like to read about is inspiring stories of people (especially women) who have achieved amazing success against all odds. This book is full of motivational stories like this, starting obviously with:
Annabel Karmel – Cookbooks for healthy food ideas for babies and children at different stages of growing up. This is where I first found out about Annabel Karmel. I was all into cooking healthy nutritious food for my babies. Continue reading “A Mumpreneur Guide by Annabel Karmel”
The pursuit of Happiness and why it’s making us anxious
The Pursuit of Happiness and why its making us anxious – By Ruth Whippman
There are lots of things I want to say about this book. Firstly, I have seen lots of things on the internet selling courses on how to better yourself but I had never realised that the pursuit of happiness was such a big industry. Secondly, I had no idea about the happiness work project by the shoe company Zappos or more specifically Tony Hsieh and especially not about the downtown project in Las Vegas. Thirdly, I had no idea Mormons were so ‘happy’ and such a big community in Utah, although, they do seem to be happy by popping anti-depressant pills. I do have the urge to look up all these three things just to understand the logic of it all. To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever thought about happiness. I do think about bettering myself but that’s as far as it goes. Then again maybe its all part of the same thing, this inward thinking about yourself rather than thinking about the community in large or other people in general. Continue reading “The pursuit of Happiness and why it’s making us anxious”
A weekly timetable to help organise your life
Regardless of what happens in life, some things have to carry on in as much of a routine as possible. So even though the year started off with a funeral and in a few months we might be moving houses, the girls still have school and nursery to go to and I still need to do some work and we all need to eat healthily. Continue reading “A weekly timetable to help organise your life”
The Playground Mafia
This is my first book review for a book I received from Britmums. Normally, I think once I’ve finished doing everything, I will sit down and read the book and I’m sure there must be some format to do a proper book review but as soon as I got this book, I couldn’t put it down. I opened the book and thought I would have a quick review but as soon as I started reading, I could feel myself nodding my head in agreement. The Hot Mum? – Oh yeah, I know her at the school gate! The Snooty mum – I know her too. The Naughty Child mum – oh no, that sounds a bit like me – eeekk! It’s so funny especially as my daughter has just started school and I’m still getting to know all the mums, it’s easy to put a label on them. Although, in real life once you get to know them, the snooty mum is not really that snooty and the hot mum is quite normal too!
It’s a nice pocket size book with a sketch of each type of mum (and a couple of dads) and a checklist of what to expect from that type of mum and then a little description or a little story about each mum and the type of cocktail they would be. The paralyser sounds about right!
I think these should be on sale at school gates on the first day of school for all new parents! It’s such a funny book.
Practising Certificate
I can’t see the point in me having a practicing certificate. I know when I first started to apply for it, I was getting frustrated at what a long process it was, trying to update it, get everything signed, send everything off etc. When I got the certificate it really did feel like a sense of achievement but I am (fairly) happy doing work for others on a subcontract basis. I do a few tax returns, only two that I get paid for and I think my ATT certificate covers that so at the moment I really can’t see the point in having a practicing certificate. Continue reading “Practising Certificate”
An accountant and a Mum 