Workshop and talk price increases for 2011

For 2011, I am going to have to increase my workshop & talk rates a little, as they have been the same for more than 3 years and just aren't keeping up with the rocketing cost of living in the UK. Rather than put on a flat rate increase which could hit smaller groups with fewer members, the fairest way to do it seems to be to charge £15 per student with a minimum of 12 students per workshop, adding on £15 per student up to my maximum of 16. This also covers the point that, for all my workshops, there are sets of take home worksheets (in full colour) included for every student - the cost of a set of cartridges for my printer has increased from £24 to £34 in the last two years (I can't use generic cartridges in the printer when I'm also using it to print high quality patterns and generics are only marginally cheaper anyway). Remember, my sashiko workshops don't require a lot of space per person and smaller groups can save on their total workshop costs by being taught in one of their homes rather than hiring a hall.

My new talk rate is going to have to increase slightly to £110.

These increases are on a par with the kinds of price increases on materials too.

My mileage is now 37p per mile. As petrol has increased from 92p per litre to £1.13 per litre in the last couple of years, my mileage rate has to increase by 1p per mile for every 10p that goes on petrol. Yesterday, I found out that motorway services have hiked their petrol costs up to £1.20 per litre!