Grand Rapids Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tuesday Randoms
So I will get it started.
How is everyone this morning.
I just found out my hours got cut from 32 to 28 for next year. For me personally, I'm kind of happy. This will mean I'm working from home 4 hours, instead of 8. This will help free up time to do stuff when the girls are napping or after bed. However it will suck paycheck wise, but we can get by. I know Brian isn't going to be happy at all, but it will work out. It will just mean I will be saving less each month for a new car.
Re: Tuesday Randoms
I'm sorry to hear that MB, but it sounds like you've got the right attitude about it. Hopefully Brian can see your perspective too.
I've had a ton to do at work today, but the day is still going slowly. Normally when I'm busy, the day flies by. I wish that were the case...
I'm glad the hours cut is what you were looking for - even if Brian wasn't. I'm sure it will all work out moneywise too.
We were told our raises today and I'm pretty happy - 4.7% increase. :-) We will also be putting the extra money towards a new car savings. Here's hoping the Taurus lasts through winter and we can purchase a car in the Spring when our payments on the Jeep are done.
Awesome on the raise. We get nothing, once again.
I received a raise in 2006, nothing in 2007 because I was going on maternity leave and working from home after that. Since I didn't have to commute, I "didn't deserve" a raise. When I was told in 2008 that I had to return back to the office 3 days a week and pay for daycare, I recieved a $.25 an hour raise (nice huh?). In July 2009, I received a $.25 an hour raise, because I was going to get my real raise in Jan. They were switching us to a calendar year for vacation and raises. Then they told us in December that we weren't going to get a raise and was told today that we wouldn't be getting one again this year.
So I asked my boss if they could do something like give us our birthday off with pay or close down for Good Friday. I suggested that it might boost moral since we weren't going to get raises for at least two years.
BUT, I have a job. So I need to be takeful for that.
cool, what kind of business? DH and I are still writing a business plan for a microbrewery. We're pretty excited about it, even though it's going to be at least a year before we're ready to go.
I'm headed to Vancouver for work tomorrow. Kind of sick of traveling, I just got back from Atlanta (that was a personal trip though, for a Food Blog Forum Seminar).
I'm having a lot of trouble with my diet. I'm supposed to eat breakfast to 1) kick start my metabolism and 2) to keep my blood sugar in check.
But I'm not hungry in the morning, so I hate even eating fruit. I just don't have an appetite. I force myself every day to eat, because I know I need to watch my health, but it's getting to the point where I get pretty grouchy about it.
Last updated 4/06/11
Wow - I love that you're doing that!! That's our dream too, but instead of actually doing anything about it we just talk about it all the time. Kudos to you for making it happen. Where do you want to open one?
A rental property business. I just contacted a realtor to go look at some properties.
I figure it won't be profitable until the mortgages are paid off, but the houses we are looking at we could easily do 15 year loans and pay them off using the rental income.
It would be nice to quit my job when I am 41.
I hate eating breakfast too. I'm just not hungry yet. I will drink a glass of carnation in the morning and then eat a snack like PB and crackers around 9ish.
Can I give you some unsoliciated advice - I would strongly recommend that before you buy any more homes, that you write up a business plan, set yourself up as a business/Corporation, meet with an account and a lawyer. That last thing you would want is to get your personal finances mixed in with something like that. I can't tell you how many time DH has done foreclosures on people with 2-3 mortages on different properties. They got caught up in the flipping/renting business and couldn't keep up with the payments. They were trying to stretch their funds between several different properties and lost everything including their main home.
Have you tried different things - like eggs, toast w/pb&jelly, oatmeal w/loads of fixin's, yogurt, etc.? Maybe one would taste better in the morning to you. Or have you tried a little light activity first, walking, yoga, etc. to get your appetite going? Or maybe a drink like a smoothie or tea would work. You may have already tried all of these - but just thought I'd offer some thoughts!
Happy for you...but jealous...my company hasn't done any raises (not even cost of living) for the past three years and this year looks unlikely too.
Thank you for the advice. I am up for any and all at this point! It's really just a dream, but hopefully someday a reality.
There is no reason why you can't start now and start small. It probably wouldn't be a bad thing to talk with an attorney and or lawyer anyways to get the basics, esp since you are going to rent your old house. Start doing your reserach now so you learn the tricks of the trade.
The resident public accountant agrees.
Set up some LLC's, file the S-election, so you can take the losses (if any) on your personal return.
You could easily do the accounting on your own, and just have a CPA do the tax return, to keep those costs down. Run everything through a seperate checking account. You can have one for the business, not one for each property. Make sure the account is in the business name, with their EIN number. You may have to co-sign the checking account personally, but not a huge issue -- at least until the company estabilishes their own credit history.
Do everything in quickbooks, and your CPA will love you.
The resident public accountant agrees.
Set up some LLC's, file the S-election, so you can take the losses (if any) on your personal return.
You could easily do the accounting on your own, and just have a CPA do the tax return, to keep those costs down. Run everything through a seperate checking account. You can have one for the business, not one for each property. Make sure the account is in the business name, with their EIN number. You may have to co-sign the checking account personally, but not a huge issue -- at least until the company estabilishes their own credit history.
Do everything in quickbooks, and your CPA will love you.
Not sure yet. We'd love Allendale but not sure they would allow it, so we are looking into that. A member of the homebrew club offered to give us a good deal on a property on Wealthy but I worry about too many in GR. And, we also have friends who are begging us to go to Rockford but not sure if we can find a place with good traffic that we could afford. So we're looking into all those options while DH draws up a budget for business expenses/brewing equipment needs. My cousin is a brewer in Portland (OR) and is giving us some good advice as he's opening one out there. We also know the owners of Michigan Beer Cellar so we are definitely aware of what it takes to get it up and running.
Very cool. I think either Allendale or Rockford would be great spots - I would have thought Wealthy too but now I think they're opening up 2 new breweries in that area if I remember correctly. I think in Allendale you could go for something that would attract the college kids (like KBC or Bell's Eccentric Cafe) and Rockford you could go for a kind of touch more classy feel (like Waldorff). Good luck - I'll definitely be there to check the brewery off our list when you get it going!
I am so intimidated by all that! I need to start reading and researching
Would it make a difference if we already had one house rented out? Because the other house is rented and we've already collected monry. Is it hard to switch everything over once we establish an LLC?
Not hard at all. I'm not sure the name of the form in Michigan - quick claim deed? Anyways, you fill out a form, and pay a small fee.
MSG me on facebook, and I can answer questions, although somethings might be different, due to the states.