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

[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.