It’s seems amazing that I completely my AAT Technicians course with Kaplan Financial so long ago. I studied from home whilst working and I thought that I would be doing accountancy for the rest of my life but that was before I had kids. Accountants hours and children don’t really mix well so I decided on trying a new career. I have had so many fabulously varied jobs since then that it seems my brain has gone a bit fuzzy when it comes to tax deductibles. Lucky for me one thing I do remember is how to keep good records so at least I knew I had all the right numbers, I just had to figure out where to put them.
It was this time last year that I registered as self employed. I was just completing my oftsed registration to become a childminder, a job that was going to change our lives hopefully for the better. It was something I really enjoyed doing and I loved being able to spend loads of time with the children. Little did we know that life is full of surprises and challenges and only a few months later I would have to give up my dream job to become a carer for Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s diagnosis made life hard both emotionally and financially and not being able to work became a real problem.
Luckily things didn’t turn out that bad and with the help of my blog I am still self employed, only this time as a freelance writer. From either doing posts like this or doing copy writing work the money slowly trickles in and pays the bills. Ensuring you have written down all of your income it’s time to remember all your expenses – travel, accommodation, car parking, new laptop, hosting, domain names. Anything to do with blogging or blogging events can be deducted.
Blogging isn’t the only thing you can do though and there are some great jobs available for stay at home mums and finding the one that suits you best is the key. You could even combine a few if you find you have the time. For me blogging and writing is a full time job and I spend well over 30 hours a week either writing, traveling or networking.
So if you are going into working for yourself remember these key points
- register as self employed
- pay your NI contributions
- let tax credits know you are working even if you expect to make no money
- keep good records, a spreadsheet and box file work just as well as anything complicated
- last of all, enjoy having the best boss in the world