This has been in the works for the last week and yesterday it was made official. B got a job! Very happy news.
He has had a carpentry business for nearly 9 years, but it was taking a toll on his body. Before that he was working as a building supervisor - overseeing the construction of new homes, and now he has just got a job doing this again.
This will mean that he can work in a non-physical job, meaning less damage to his body. The money is very good ($75,000 per year as opposed to around $40,000 which the business brings in), but it is a higher stress job, so we'll have to see how he goes with it. Hopefully it will be all fine. He starts in 2 weeks so has a very busy couple of weeks finishing up his current jobs.
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My holiday plans are now officially up in the air. I took a couple of short holidays last year, but really our money was tied up with saving for the big party we had for B's 40th. I feel like I need a decent holiday. (Like an adventure holiday!)
B can't go now because you don't get holidays in the first year unless it is mutually agreed, and often it is unpaid. For him now though, the new job will be his focus, so he doesn't want to ask anyhow; and I'm totally fine with that.
So now I'm left with either doing something with friends or (gulp) going somewhere on my own. I do want to organise something this month so we'll see how that works out.
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This morning I thought I would look up the dividends my new shares are going to receive. It turns out they are both being paid in April (a day after my birthday), one is $21 and the other is $45. The shares that will pay $45 (QBE), I have 150 in and want to end up with 1,000. The dividend record date is 11 March, so if I buy more by 11 March then I'll get a bigger dividend. I was planning on buying 50, so put in an order in, so we'll see what happens there. If I was planning on buying anyway, may as well earn a bit extra on it 
B Got A Job!
March 2nd, 2016 at 11:29 am
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Carol & snafu: I have many travel options available, I just don't know what the outcome will be
These are my options in order of which one I will try to make work first:
1. Friends of ours invited us on a cruise in January (when we had no money) to go away next January (seasonally an extremely difficult time for B's business, glad we will be rid of that soon), so we declined. They have a teenage daughter so I looked at cruises in the school holidays and they are currently a good price, so my first choice will be to offer them to go on a cruise. The cruises are about 7-10 days.
2. B has a family friend in the UK who has always wanted us to visit, so he has suggested seeing her. She has always said we'd go on a side trip somewhere cool. Accommodation is free, I just need to get there. It would be better if B came but it's a struggle to get him on a five hour flight, 24 hours is nearly impossible!
3. They have really cheap tours to Vietnam. I don't love Vietnamese food but I think Halong Bay is pretty and I love the French colonial architecture they have. This would be the holiday on my own, but it's not the kind of stuff that B likes, so it would something different and cool.
4. Snafu's staycation idea! We have a mansion with a day spa, we have wineries and restaurants so we/I could do these things. Because I have a little bit of money and the means to go somewhere I will choose the other options first though.
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