A Fool and her money

[j4]

Motivated partly by the regular appearance of Motley Fool newsletters in my inbox, I finally got round to sorting some financial bits and pieces out yesterday.

First, I've got a new NSPCC credit card into which I'm transferring the outstanding balance on my egg card. That should save me about £3 a month, which isn't much, but it'll cover the cost of a birthday card, or one tube ticket, or even just one more slightly-more-guilt-free pint of beer. It also results in £20 being donated to the NSPCC when I start using it -- that's a donation I wouldn't have been able to justify making myself, to a charity which I believe to be worthwhile.

Second, I've fought my way through the Orange website and had another shot at changing my payment plan on my mobile phone, moving from Talk120 to Talk30. (I tried to do this a couple of months ago but somehow they don't seem to have changed the plan, and of course I was too apathetic and avoidant to do anything about it at the time. If it doesn't work this time, I'll be able to tell them when I tried to do this on the website, and complain loudly at them.) This should save me £10 a month, which is actually a noticeable amount.

Third, I've had a look through the records that I'm keeping of what I've been spending my money on, and it came as no great surprise to me to find that the costliest categories were food and train tickets. The train tickets are currently non-negotiable: I want to see as much of addedentry as possible, and while we live where we do the only sensible way to do that is by train. I knew I was a clingy and needy girlfriend but I'm amused to find that I really am more willing to economise on food than on time spent with Owen -- though that's partly because there's no way I can make the train journeys cheaper (except possibly booking tickets in advance, which is something I should investigate) whereas I could definitely be more economical about my food-shopping habits.

My expenses spreadsheet wasn't without its surprises, though. I was amazed to find that I was spending twice as much on gifts for other people as on books for myself (though I have been trying really hard not to buy unnecessary books), and horrified to find that I was spending as much on toiletries and medication as on gifts! Gifts are a tricky area to economise (and I'm not really in the best frame of mind to wander into that particular minefield of guilt at the moment) but toiletries really aren't: I could probably halve that figure if I just stopped buying things in Lush. If I don't buy the stuff for myself, it'll mean there's always an easy option for birthday/Christmas presents when my parents have no idea what to buy me. (Not that I would demand presents from them at all, obviously, but realistically they're likely to keep on giving me things, because they're like that.)

The really surprising thing is that according to my spreadsheet I've spent a grand total of £2.77 on music since New Year. Now I think that may be failing to take into account the couple of quid I spent on tapes in a charity shop, because I'm not infallible in my record-keeping; but even so, I'm amazed I've managed to resist the lure of Fopp's cheap CDs for this long.

The next items on the financial task-list are to investigate ways we could save money by moving the mortgage elsewhere, and to sort out my savings account. I've no idea about the mortgage but I'm guessing there are websites where you can type in the figures and they'll tell you if you could save money. As for savings: I don't really have many, but I've got some birthday money and suchlike in a Sainsburys account which was fairly high interest when I opened it but now is frankly rubbish (though still better than keeping the money in a sock under the mattress, I suppose). It would probably be better in a cash mini-ISA or something, but I keep hitting a wall of avoidance when I look at the millions of accounts that are out there which are all nearly the same, and I can't face working out which the best one would be. I think I need to just draw a line under that particular avenue of worry and find something that's better than the current situation.

So much for the outgoings and the savings. The actual income is harder to adjust; there's no way I can get a pay-rise, and I don't really want to look for another job at the moment unless I'm relocating completely (and that's all up in the air at the moment). I'm selling bits and pieces on eBay (though I haven't yet resorted to trying to sell my old train tickets -- thanks to addedentry for the link), and I'm on the lookout for psychology experiments for which I can volunteer my elite button-pressing skills in my lunch-hour (those usually pay a fiver or so), but is there anything else -- anything more productive? I keep prodding at the question of whether I could earn money from any of the skills I have. (Please, nobody suggest that I become a professional cake-decorator: I think it would take up too much of my time for too little money, and I also worry that it would take the fun out of doing cakes for friends and family.) The only thing I can think of that I could do on weeknights (I'm clutching at straws here) would be something like offering revision tutorials for GCSE/A-level English; okay, I don't have any (relevant) formal teaching qualifications, but then one-to-one tuition isn't formal teaching in that sense anyway, and I've got a degree in English -- and people do teach in schools with just a degree in their subject! The problem is, I have no idea how I'd go about starting to do the tutoring thing -- would any self-respecting parent even consider paying for tuition for their child from J. Random English Graduate? Does anybody have any experience of trying to do anything like this, or useful advice to offer?

Comments

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

You could easily earn extra money, if not a living, from writing part time. I don't know how to go about getting contacts who will give you money for writing, but you know other people who do; ask them.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

For finding outlets for writing, grab a copy of the annual Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, published by Black's and available at any decent bookshop. Very useful and helpful.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Writing part time is, AIUI, all about sending stuff to magazines etc. constantly and maybe getting one thing in a hundred published, and getting enough rejection letters that you could wallpaper your entire house with them. I really don't think I could cope with the constant attacks on my already-tiny sense of self-esteem.

I also know that work which relies on me creating timetables, deadlines, and generally motivation out of thin air is guaranteed to end up with me just slumped in front of the computer feeling like shit. :-(

I know you won't believe me when I say this, but this really isn't just me coming up with reasons why nothing will work. I know I do that, but I honestly, truly don't think that's what I'm doing here. Trying to write for money is something I've been thinking about for ages, and in some ways it's something I'd like to do; but realistically, I know how I reacted to working at home when I did some freelance stuff before; and I know how I feel about getting stuff rejected. I really do think that at the moment it would just reinforce all the things that are making me feel like a waste of space.

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

*Nods*. I wish you could find the space inside yourself to try it sometime, though. I think the world would benefit from your writing being exposed to a wider readership.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

I think the world would benefit from your writing being exposed to a wider readership.

Hear hear.
If I can get my competent unspectacular journeyman offerings published, then there's sure to be someone who'll lap up your stuff. Thinking about it, such people as minkboylove or myfirstkitchen might know more as regards writing fiction, and also there's that new magazine that rhodri and others have mentioned, whose name sadly escapes me for now...

[j4.livejournal.com]

Mrrr. Whether that's true or not, I strongly suspect that the type of stuff I'd have to write to get started (& make any money at all) would be soul-destroying written-to-formula stuff of which the world doesn't need any more. Nobody pays unknown writers money to write self-indulgent nonsense, unless they write enough of it for a novel, and even then only if the novel's about knickers and boyfriends and booze and sex and shopping. And while my knowledge of all of those things is encyclopaedically sordid, my desire to write any of it down dwindles every time I look at teh ladies loos. :-}

[hoiho.livejournal.com]

my desire to write any of it down dwindles every time I look at teh ladies loos.

Ah, but does our desire to consume it?

[arnhem.livejournal.com]

An admittedly lower-probability way of getting started that dosn't involve soul destroying writing-to-formula, is to submit entries to the various writing competitions out there. Some of them are rip-offs, but others are quite reputable. I suspect that a review of previous winners gives a pretty good indicator of which is which.

For a starter, how about this (http://www.bridportprize.org.uk/)?

[j4.livejournal.com]

The main problem with writing competitions is that you have to pay to enter. The Bridport Prize is v respectable, but six quid entry fee?? If you don't win, it really is just money down the drain.

I entered a lot of poetry competions when I was a teenager -- when I didn't have to spend all my money on rent and food -- and won some kids' competitions (including the Junior Bridport actually!) but never got anywhere with the adult ones. But then as a kid you can win writing competitions just by being able to spell and being able to use metaphors; as an adult you have to actually have something new & unique. And that's what I don't really have. I can pastiche lots of different styles but I can't actually come up with anything new.

[arnhem.livejournal.com]

Would it be bad and wrong of me to suggest you sell six 10% interests in your potential winnings from a Bridport Prize entry at #1 each? 8-)

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Never mind your self-esteem...in purely practical terms, sending out stuff to magazines will not gain you money - it will lose you money. The odds are better than good that you will spend more money on postage than you will earn.

I'm a writer, trying to get published. I know this.

[liv]

Cash mini-ISA: this is a really boring thing to know about, but the Cambridge Building Society are better than most. I found it worth my while to go through the hassle of pretending I lived in Cambridge (by means of borrowing my parents' address) in order to invest with them. And they're, like, local and friendly and not a big monster conglomerate. They genuinely do remember me by name and, ok it's a trivial thing but that kind of personal friendliness is not that common in the world of 21^st century personal finance.

Tutoring: it should be extremely possible to get a few hours a week tutoring work. There are various organizations that handle this kind of stuff; unfortunately I don't have current information on Cambridge stuff. One good place to try is language schools. Cambridge is (as you know) full of the blighters, and they usually have a reasonable population of kids, mostly from the far east, who will pay any amount of money to perfect their English. They probably want tuition geared towards various EFL competency tests (the English Proficiency thing is a major one) rather than GCSEs or A Levels, but I don't see why that should be a problem.

Anyway, language schools are good places to advertise; they usually have notice boards where you can put little cards, and probably you're looking at a less dodgy clientele than you might get putting your card in a newsagent window. They may also be able to point you in helpful directions if you ask nicely. And if not language schools, crammers are a possibility; people who are paying exorbitant rates for what basically amounts to exam training will probably be prepared to pay for personal tuition as well. Same kind of deal.

Things to think about: are you prepared for people to come to your place? OTOH if you're thinking of going to your pupils' houses, you have the hassle of getting there (and we all know driving across Cambridge is a barrel of no fun), and you have to expect that studying conditions might not be great. I've done tutoring where I had to compete with a screaming baby and a television and there was no working service but a coffee table that was also being used for younger siblings' supper.

Main thing: have a sensible hourly rate in mind before you start. It'll make you look more professional than just 'well, what are you prepared to pay me?' I would guess £15-20 ph is a sensible place to start, but I haven't investigated the market in any detail recently.

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

Twenty quid an hour, minimum. Soften the blow slightly by offering an introductory lesson at a cheaper rate, and to tutor two for the same price ie twenty quid an hour for one or two people.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip about the Cambridge Building Society -- they're one of the options that looked good anyway, so the combination of that and a personal recommendation may well be enough to dispel my indecision.

Tutoring -- sorry, probably should have made it clearer what I meant by "English" -- I really don't want to do TEFL teaching. (Though I feel a bit guilty saying this after you've given so much helpful advice about it!) I've actually got my CELTA qualification, but I've never used it; doing the course convinced me that it wasn't something I really wanted to do. (I'd probably be able to do it if I had to, but I'm hoping not to be in a situation where it's a necessity.) I was thinking more along the lines of extra tuition for people who were doing English GCSE/A-Level in schools -- i.e. helping teenagers revise their Eng. Lit. ... maybe that is just a pipedream though, I can't imagine anybody paying me to talk about books.

As for logistics -- I'd be prepared for people to come to my house but there's no way sion_a would allow strangers in the house; it'd make him stressed and frightened and unhappy. So I'd have to go to their houses, which is fine, because I've got a car and a bike and a pair of legs; and driving round Cambridge isn't that bad, it just always seems to take slightly longer than I think it will...

[liv]

OK, if you don't want to do EFL, fair enough, I just suggested that as the easiest way. Crammers are still an option, and it can't hurt to ask around the local schools. I'd start with The Leys, as the pupil base there is probably (excuse the generalization) both richer and less academically inclined than some of the other Cambridge private schools. Hills Road is worth looking into; it's a state school but takes a lot of middle class pupils who want a bit more freedom than your typical private secondary. So their parents are people who are used to paying several thousand a year in schoolfees anyway.

If you want to be paid to talk about books, it might be worth looking into the Open University. I haven't done this myself but I know from reliable sources that they're prepared to take on graduates in the relevant subject with no further qualifications to teach or help teach foundation courses. And someone doing an OU foundation course in Eng Lit is probably going to be more interested in the subject for its own sake than someone who just needs a decent mark in English GCSE so they can do something more interesting. And you can set your own hours pretty much and work from home.

[perdita-fysh.livejournal.com]

You've reminded me - when I was at warwick, one of the professors there used to arrange for book reviews for the British Computer Society. The deal was, you provided a 2-300 word review for the book and you got to keep it (whereupon you could flog it on ebay if you so desired). There may be something like that around, perhaps? I guess it is about knowing the right people for that kind of thing though.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips about Cambridge's schools -- cynical but very useful! ;-) When you say "ask around the schools", though, I'd've thought that contacting the actual school would be a bit undiplomatic as it seems as though it's basically saying to them "your teaching isn't good enough"! Or do they not mind? Or did you mean to ask people-whose-kids-were-at-the-school? If so, what's the best way to get in contact with them?

I looked into the Open University a while ago but I got the impression they needed a lot more time commitment than I could really give while holding down a full-time job. OTOH I suppose the people who learn with the OU are often doing full-time jobs as well, & if you say that you can set your own hours that does sound quite promising... I will go and look again. Thank you for the reminder.

And someone doing an OU foundation course in Eng Lit is probably going to be more interested in the subject for its own sake than someone who just needs a decent mark in English GCSE so they can do something more interesting.

Okay, this is going to sound loopy, but that's partly what makes me want to tutor teenagers instead of adults. People who are interested in the subject for its own sake and paying to do a degree in their spare time will probably enjoy it whoever's teaching them, whether they get extra tuition or not, and they'll have their own ideas about what they want to study, etc. Whereas people who are frustrated by classroom teaching might really appreciate the chance to say what they think without being told to shut up because the other 29 people in the room aren't interested; and people who are convinced that English is "boring" might actually come to see it in a whole different light if somebody just happens to say something that pushes their buttons in the right way, something that makes it come alive for them. And if not, well, hopefully they can be helped to get the marks they need to do the thing they want to do -- I loved studying my subject and I love talking about it but I don't demand that everybody else loves it for its own sake; it can be a means to all kinds of random ends as well.

[liv]

I'd've thought that contacting the actual school would be a bit undiplomatic
Shouldn't be a problem, I think. Because you're clearly not saying anything about individual teachers, all you're saying is, I'm offering tutoring and I wondered if any of your pupils might be interested.

I also have a very strong impression (and maybe you'll call me cynical again) that a lot of the reason private schools get such good academic results is because pupils routinely get extra tuition in subjects where either they're struggling or the teacher isn't up to snuff. As far as the school's concerned, therefore, private tuition means that they can boost their league table ranking without any extra effort on the part of the school. There are ways of presenting this which aren't quite so brutal, but basically it's an everybody wins situation: you get money, the kids get better grades, and the school gets to boast about the better grades and attract more pupils (who will then get tuition to make up for the school's deficiencies, but never mind that).

I actually think some of the stuff you've mentioned in your comment might work as pitch. You're clearly not criticizing the teachers if you talk about class sizes being too large for kids to get individual attention; I'm sure most teachers would agree! And you're not criticizing the teachers if you talk about pupils who are convinced English is boring (may also be worth mentioning those who find English hard; again, pupil incompetence issue rather than teacher incompetence issue).

this is going to sound loopy
I think I would say idealistic rather than loopy, myself. (And given some of the teaching jobs I've done, mostly voluntary or working for charitable organizations that paid what they could but that barely covered expenses, I'm not at all in a position to call anyone else loopy.)

I guess from your original post I thought you were kind of flapping and feeling the whole idea was an impossible pipe-dream. From things like: " I have no idea how I'd go about starting to do the tutoring thing". But actually, now I've started giving you some practical advice it's clear you actually do have this a lot more thought through than the impression I got. You have a very firm idea of what you do and don't want to be doing and why, and you've obviously investigated lots of the options. In which case my advice is mostly superfluous and possibly patronizing, for which I apologize.

[j4.livejournal.com]

In which case my advice is mostly superfluous and possibly patronizing, for which I apologize.

Don't be daft, 'twas useful advice, though I feel guilty for making you go to all that effort when I'd already decided against TEFL & just hadn't said so clearly enough.

The real problem here (as everywhere else in my life) is that I have ideas about what I'd like to be able to do but absolutely no idea how to do the practical bits. e.g. I could probably talk to people about Eng. Lit. but I don't know how to advertise things, or how to phone people without just panicking and rambling and talking crap, or ... well, basically, how to function as an adult human being. At all. I have the basic life-competence of your average 7-year-old, which is why I'll never actually do anything interesting with my life despite all the dreams.

Helpful hint

[anat0010.livejournal.com]

Have you thought about going for advanced English learners ? When I lived in Cambridge I got to know lots of au pairs and teaching assistants who had gone to Cambridge to perfect their English by talking literature with arty types and ended up speaking French / German with other au pairs / teaching assistants in Tatties.

Teaching English to foreigners doesnt have to be 'see spot run' but can easily be in depth discussions about interesting books with people who have a good understanding of the language but just need practice with a sympathetic English person. Which can be incredibly difficult to find if you're an au pair charged with feeding dog and taking children to and from school.

You never know, you might enjoy it, and if might bring in some extra cash. Why not give it a go ? You can always stop if you find its just not for you.

Re: Helpful hint

[j4.livejournal.com]

I really, really don't think I would be (or am, when I have to do it) very good at talking English to non-native English speakers. I talk very fast and keep bouncing off into digressions and sub-clauses and general rambling and mumbling, and I'm very bad at slowing down and speaking clearly without just sounding patronising. It's a failure (or rather a lot of different failures -- like my life) in me, not in them, obviously; but it makes it difficult for both.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

I did some tutoring (maths and physics) back in the dim and distant past and it worked out OK, though people did usually want their school-age children tutored at a just-after-school sort of time which might not fit well around a job. EFL-type tutoring might be easier in that regard... can't hurt to try, anyhow...

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

The NSPCC credit card is worth considering, but do the Halifax charge you a handling fee for transferring a balance in from another card? I was going to go with the Holiday Inn Priority Club card (very similar) because they would give you a free night at a Holiday Inn as well as 0% interest for 9 (10?) months, but they wanted to charge £35 handling fee for transferring money in from my egg card. Not going to happen.

Well done you for keeping records on whewre your money goes, by the way. Seriously!

[j4.livejournal.com]

Handling charge -- if they do, I can't see it in the small print (http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/importantinfo_conditions_5.shtml). Am I being dense?

[oinomel71.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of the Fool, although they do seem to have a remarkable talent for offering the same advice over and over again in slightly different ways.

Don't sweat looking for the "best" savings account, just go for one that's good and convenient. There really isn't that much to choose between the good ones.

And well done!

Trains

[bjh21.livejournal.com]

Assuming that addedentry's userinfo is correct, I doubt you can get advance-purchase tickets for visiting him: WAGN don't do advance-purchase tickets, and 'one' don't do them from Cambridge. You have got a Network Railcard, yes?

Re: Trains

[j4.livejournal.com]

I've still got a Young Person's Railcard actually! But that runs out in May, & after that addedentry says he'll be able to get a cheap Network SE or whatever it is railcard for me as part of some crazy London commuter Oyster thingy deal. Or something. I trust him. :-) But, yeah, I am already saving a fair amount on train tickets. And sometimes they don't check my return half, so I get away with using the same return several times. Ahem.

I didn't realise you couldn't get advance-purchase tickets, though! That's good, in a way, though, because it's something I always feel guilty about being too disorganised to do... so if I couldn't do it anyway, I needn't feel guilty. Hah.

[norantiskitchen.livejournal.com]

Hey. I have experience in tutoring children at an after-school cram school and one-to-one at home. You *must* charge at least 20 pounds per hour for this or you undercut the market and make the rest of us cross. You can charge up to 40 pounds as you become more experienced. The initial layout is going to be a) in books and b) in advertising yourself. Local papers are best, though if schools, churches,etc let you stick up notices that works well. You must be prepared to work several evenings a week and possibly at the weekend to get the classes. Once you have one or two word of mouth tends to take over. The most important thing is to prepare by getting some syllabus, revision, workbooks etc. The skills these days are pretty specific so you've got to know what you're talking about. Then just offer a spiel about catering to the individual child's needs and you're away.

Generally, my advice is - go for it. It's very very rewarding seeing a one to one student improve. And the nice mums bring you tea and cake while you're teaching.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Mortgage - go and look at http://www.lcplc.co.uk - they talked me through a variety of options and helped us find the best remortgage last year. It was good enough that the deal they got us is still appearing in the Guardian's top five remortgage deals a year later. They also offered to call us when the deal period ends to see if they can find us another good deal, so I agreed - I can stop worrying about thinking about it myself.

Useful advice for tutoring. Hmm. The people who are looking for tutors are going to be the parents of kids rather than the kids themselves. So, I wouldn't bother asking in schools. Isn't there a cam. group for ads? Stick an ad in there. Stick ads up at work, and maybe in colleges/the university. Oh, and remember that in some cases tutoring may be for the parents, not the kids - the parents want it, the kids don't. You'll need to have plenty of patience to teach kids even one-to-one if they really don't see the point.

And livredor's got a point about the Open University too.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

You could easily tutor GCSE English. I do (and I don't even have a degree in it) and I think they make progress with me.

I advertise on A+ Tutors (http://www.aplustutors.co.uk) - it's thirteen quid for a year, you can specify area, and I've got lots of work from it.

Twenty quid is normal for GCSE in London, like people said.

But k425 has a point - it's not just about conveying the knowledge. How would you feel about trying to inspire a disaffected kid to study?

[j4.livejournal.com]

How would you feel about trying to inspire a disaffected kid to study?

There are teenagers who aren't disaffected?

Seriously, though ... it sort of depends what it is that's making them feel like that. If they're just not interested in studying for its own sake then frankly I'd want to be able to tell them that, actually, that's fine. To be able to be honest with them about the value of what they're studying. None of this "if you fail a GCSE you will be CAST OUT INTO THE OUTER DARKNESS" malarky that we got at school, just "realistically, it will be easier for you to do the stuff that you want to do later if you jump through this largely pointless hoop now while somebody else is paying for your bed and board". I don't think it's necessary to inspire everybody to love a subject for its own sake, to embrace academia; different people are different.

OTOH if they're just convinced that English is boring, well, I'd love to try to convince them otherwise. How to go about that depends what they are interested in. All human life is there in literature, if you can see it; there's got to be something that stands a chance of sparking an interest, even if it's only a passing interest, even if they still drop the subject like a hot potato after GCSE. I've tried to convince geeks that poetry isn't all a load of shit, and mostly I've failed because they're all 30-somethings who are never going to change their opinions because They Know They're Right; but occasionally people have said "oh!" in that kind of I'm-totally-not-going-to-admit-I'm-interested-but-actually-that-might-have-made-me-think tone of voice.

[Now feeling very nervy having written all that down because I fear all the actual real teachers are going to jump on me with both feet and say "You can't do that, that wouldn't work, you don't understand kids at all, you'll never make a good teacher".]

And I'm sure there are all sorts of other issues I haven't even thought of. And yes, it's usually the parents who want extra tuition, and it may well be that the kids don't even need it, and what they actually need is somebody to vent at a bit for half an hour, and/or a bit of reassurance that they do actually know their subject and they're not going to fail horribly. (That's one worry I do have, actually; what happens if you give people extra tuition and they still fail? Do the parents come round and yell at you?)

I dunno. Maybe I'd be hopeless at it. Maybe I'd have my idealism kicked out of me within a week. Maybe I'd just end up getting frustrated and cross and miserable. But, well, I'm already frustrated and cross and miserable about a million and one things, and I'm not achieving anything for it.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

As a piano teacher, I find dealing with the parents more difficult than dealing with the students.

[j4.livejournal.com]

In what way? Do they interfere, or have unrealistic expectations, or ... what?

[perdita-fysh.livejournal.com]

Morgages: best to use a broker (in my experience). First off many places (particularly high street places) don't offer their best deals to punters off the street, only via brokers. Next, they know what is currently hip with it on the market. Also, they do all the chasing when the lender isn't processing the application fast enough and finally their cut is paid by the lender, not you.

I used mortgagearrangers.co.uk to arrange my recent one - they were an entirely random google pick but they got me a good deal (a base rate tracker at -0.11% below base rate for 2 years with no tie in) and I have no complaints. Plus the guy was email compliant which suits phonophobic old me.

Cash ISAs bad, Stock ISAs good. Ok the stock market has underperformed cash in the last year or so but that was like the first time ever ever and makes it an even better bet to invest in stocks instead now. But as a fool reader you already know that.

Cake decorating: I can understand not wanting to make it 'work'. I did a nightschool course in decorating, which I thoroughly enjoyed. You could teach it at nightschool? That pays quite well I think, nightschool teaching? And the teacher of the class made my wedding cake for me (as I knew I'd beat myself up over it way too much) and charged me a mates rate of about 120 quid. It costs about 4-500 quid for a wedding cake now I believe. So if you wanted to do it, there is money to be made there.

Tutoring: If you get one student, the rest should follow. I know the one tutor I had (for maths alevel) my parents chose because Elizabeth's parents sent Elizabeth there, who chose him because someone else etc etc. He was a rockstar though (albeit a rather elderly one).

[karen2205]

A spread of savings is a good thing.

If you've only got a small amount of savings most of them should be in something safe - and here a cash ISA is generally the best place for a taxpayer to put them.

Only once you feel that you've got enough money stored away for a rainy day + a bit more should you think about buying stocks & shares.

It's worthwhile considering whether it'd be cheaper to get a bank loan to replace the credit card debt - it'd probably be rather cheaper.

In the teaching line - how about local adult education colleges? Are they looking for tutors - either in English or in cake decorating? You might also like to look at becoming an examiner (http://www.examinerrecruitment.org/whocandoit/default.htm)

[j4.livejournal.com]

It's worthwhile considering whether it'd be cheaper to get a bank loan to replace the credit card debt - it'd probably be rather cheaper.

I'd be amazed if I could get a loan cheaper than 0% interest for 9 months, which is what the credit card's offering. (And hundreds of other cc companies are offering similar deals, so if I don't pay it off in 9 months I can just transfer it again.) It's not really that much money, I need to just crack on and pay it off, but it's silly to be paying interest on it when I don't need to.

The examiners thing is interesting -- thank you! -- though it does sound like they'd prefer teachers. I might contact them though & see if a good degree and the "flexible thinking" they talk about would do. The worst they can do is say "no, piss off". :-)

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

They are desperately short of examiners. Obviously, they would prefer someone with teaching experience, but it's worth a try, especially if you've been tutoring for a bit. Plus you do have an EFL qualification.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Cash ISAs bad, Stock ISAs good.

Given how little money I have (you probably wouldn't actually believe how little money I have) I do not want to take risks with my meagre savings at all. I want to put them in the moral equivalent of a box under the bed, only I want it to be a burglar-proof box that the bank puts pennies in every now and then. Really.

Teaching cake decorating is something I'd never thought of... I really don't think I'd have a clue where to start, though! I don't do any of the techniques that people normally do, I can't even pipe icing in those little starry splogy things you get round the edges of frilly wedding cakes; I just make it all up as I go along. It's like... there's a grammar of cake-decorating that I never learned, & I think that's part of what people would want to learn if they were going to that sort of course. IYSWIM.

On the other hand, 400-500 quid for a wedding cake??? What am I thinking?? I will go and learn to pipe splodgy starry bits of icing RIGHT AWAY! :-)

[rmc28]

On the teaching side, what about undergraduate supervision? I don't know if it's the same for English as the sciences, but my college was always looking for extra supervisors, and it's pretty easy to get sorted out even if you're not currently attached to a college (as I discovered a few years ago).

The money's probably not as good as tutoring teenage children of rich parents though :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

I thought you had to be doing a Ph.D. to do undergraduate supervision?

Also not sure I'd be good enough to teach at that sort of level. :-(

[rmc28]

You just have to be a graduate. I supervised Computer Science for a year when working at MISD, with only 1 year of degree-level study of the subject and a bit of practical experience of a couple of the courses, and the DoS seemed happy. It may have helped that the lecture courses I felt I'd understood thoroughly enough to be happy teaching were the least popular among his existing group of scary geeky PhD students, who seemed to be heavily biased towards security research.

As it turned out, several of my students understood the courses better than I did, but even then I had stuff to teach them: what were the important elements of the subject and how to pick them out, real-world examples (if possible), reasons to know this stuff anyway, and how to pick patterns out of past-paper questions so they could get a feel for the kind of questions they'd get asked. Most of the time I felt like a guide rather than a teacher, and with a particularly bright group I had the pleasure of mostly just refereeing as they taught each other. My contribution there was really just to keep them on track and make sure they understood all the essentials they needed to.

At the other end of the scale I had a couple of very unsure students who panicked every time they didn't understand something basic, and so I tried to walk them through it as slowly and reassuringly as possible. I had to rearrange supervision groups a couple of times for big mismatches in skill/confidence. The other useful thing I did was translating English colloquialisms for the overseas students.

I honestly don't know how English study compares to computer science, but when I was supervising, I tried to remember how my favourite supervisors had gone about teaching me, and based my approach on that. Doing the same for your experience would seem sensible.

To be honest, I would love to supervise again, it was a very rewarding job, but a bit too tiring on top of the main job, and I'm lucky enough to not really need the money. I probably took on too many students for too many courses too quickly, and I didn't benefit from sticking with supervising for more than one year and having done most of the preparation once already. Maybe if they stop working me so hard on CamSIS (ho ho ho) I'll do it again, but with fewer supervisions per week.

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/committee/seniortutors/supervisors.html has generally useful information about supervising and http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/committee/seniortutors/rates.html has the current rates. http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate/local/grad-sup-guide.htm is the guide for supervising in Cambridge's Faculty of English.

[scat0324.livejournal.com]

As well as the fool, http://www.moneybasics.co.uk/ (http://www.moneybasics.co.uk/) and http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/) have some good advice. There's a free printed guide to re-mortgaging (also available as a PDF) linked from the front page of the latter. It's pretty recent so the advice is up to date and I've just been using it to work out what I need to do now our special offer period is up.

I'm sure you don't want advice from me, but I can say that my experience (personal, and in training with http://www.creditaction.org (http://www.creditaction.org)) is that no matter how big the financial hole, there is a way out, and you're on the right direction at the moment.

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

Someone pointed me to this entry, as a friend of mine runs a tutor matchmaking company in Cambridge, A Grade Tutors (http://www.agradetutors.com/index.php) -- basically taking the scary stuff like advertising, vetting, CRB checks, etc out of it, and handling all that for you. He mainly does GCSE and A-level tutoring as taught by undergrads. Another, similar, Cambridge-based service is Bright Tutors (http://www.brighttutors.co.uk/). Plus, there's always supervising (as Rachel says) - it's always worth getting in touch with a college DoS or two and asking if they have supervision slots. Having done this myself last year the practical approach is just to email the DoS and the appropriate person within the department, but they are less keen if they don't know you, unfortunately. Opportunities are probably few and far between this year, though perhaps revision supervisions next term are a possibility.