My rags to riches, weight loss, yummy mummy stuff and 'owt else i can think of diary!

fabfuture

ragstoricheswannabe wrote: »

Going to do the weekly shop tomorrow with a meal plan and a list (which i will stick to) and see how well i do...................wish me luck

Hope it goes well for you. I did one in the past week, and found it really useful. I spent a relatively large amount for me (£34), but it produced a huge amount of goods, including a lot of supermarket own extra value lines and lots of household things (washing powder, dishwashing tablets etc). Also found myself in a supermarket later in the week (got a craving for a lettuce salad with viniagrette) and found I didn't pick up anything else because I had got everything earlier, having thought through what I needed and knew that. Also am working on losing weight and decluttering, so good to read your progress. Keep going ... you'll get there, even if there are setbacks.

ragstoricheswannabe

Hey fabfuture and welcome to my bubble!!!!!!

Didnt do too well actually, spent £60 but was in aldi so did get a trolley full. This included cleaning stuff and lots of fruit as ds2 now eating proper food i need to still get the fruit and veggies in so he will eat them when older!!!! think i seem to have a few weeks of being under budget bit then run my stock of tins, cleaning stuff etc down so then have a week where i spend more stocking back up!!!

You have got a hell of a challenge on, £51k in a year?! good luck with that, how are you going to do it?? could do with pinching some ideas to get mine down again.......

fabfuture

Work goodness graciously hard on my business and spend as close to zero as I can!

One of the things that helped me enormously, was a coach called Michael Neill (on Hay House Radio) He has what he calls the 90-day money challenge. In it, you pick an amount that you would find exciting to earn in 90 days. That is, not an amount you think you need nor an amount that would be 'useful' - but something that makes you feel inspired and excited.

Then you think about all the ways you could change your income. For some, this might involve some ebaying, but what you can try and do is think about where you add value. The example he gave was comparing landscape gardeners. One might come around & do a great job, trimming and mowing and replanting where needed, be pleasant and so on, so they keep their job and perhaps get recommendations. The other does all of this - and after getting to know their clients, realises that despite the large garden being rather beautiful, there are children in the home who he thinks would love somewhere to play, so designs a tasteful adventure playground with stunning landscaping to go in the garden. He presents the idea to the owner and a quote. The owner may not go for it (for a variety of reasons), but he also may do so, in which case, the landscape gardener just had upped his income & his status in the eyes of the garden owner. You can imagine the owner telling their friends about the bespoke design & how excited they are that someone was thinking about them.

So it's that kind of invitation that you can put out into the world. If you've ever looked at Etsy, so many people do crafts or are creative and sell their wares on a small scale. One of my friends paints and is starting to sell his work alongside his regular income. He's looking at opening an Etsy store - and who knows, in 10 years, perhaps he won't have his 'regular' jobs.

With the kind of creative job I have, I can sometimes make invitations to clients who sometimes take up the offer and many times don't. However, the ones who do make it worthwhile to use my time in this way, even taking into consideration the time I spend on rejected invitations.

So, if you were to do this, what could you offer? Where could you add value? Perhaps you have cooking talents, or knitting, or great methods of scrapbooking that you could put in an ebook, on Etsy, on ebay etc

I tried the 90-day challenge the first time and called it the £9900 challenge - to bring in that amount of income in 90 days. I did it easily. So I tried doing the £30K challenge. I couldn't imagine at first how I could possibly get £10K in a month. Now, that's not £10K income for me to keep - you need to take out VAT and tax and the costs of the goods sold, which is about a half to two-thirds, depending on how you want to do the maths or how low you can keep your costs ... but you can see how much difference invitations can make. And I made it. I was stunned when I got my bank statement at the end of the month and more than £10K had come into my account. Unfortunately, about the same amount had also made its way out ... and then I had a few months when I felt really down about a few things, to debts built up and I got a bit behind on work, so part of keeping a diary is to keep the momentum going.

Know it's a long post, but hope the 90-day money challenge could be of use to you and others. In lots of ways, many people here do similar things - setting themselves challenges and not quite knowing how they are going to get there and having to figure our creative solutions.

ragstoricheswannabe

wow, that is a good idea, but not really sure what i could do???

I work full time at the mo (should be part time) and have my boys to look after. As a nurse its not really a skill you can profit from??? you used to be able to advertise giving people weekly baths etc that were popular with the elderly, but the start of homecare took over that area.

ummm, that is really food for thought.........................how bad is it that i need to think of a skill?????

One skill i do have is baby puree's!!!!!! not sure people would buy frozen cubes of food as can so easily get the jars in the supermarket or make there own?????? would love to do it as a buisness even though there is already a huge market..............

fabfuture

ragstoricheswannabe wrote: »

wow, that is a good idea, but not really sure what i could do???

I work full time at the mo (should be part time) and have my boys to look after. As a nurse its not really a skill you can profit from??? you used to be able to advertise giving people weekly baths etc that were popular with the elderly, but the start of homecare took over that area.

ummm, that is really food for thought.........................how bad is it that i need to think of a skill?????

One skill i do have is baby puree's!!!!!! not sure people would buy frozen cubes of food as can so easily get the jars in the supermarket or make there own?????? would love to do it as a buisness even though there is already a huge market..............

The thing is, just think about where you can add value - that could be with some of your nursing skills, or baby purees, or any of the other skills you have. You don't have to figure it all out today - but can do a bit of a brainstorm and then leave it and have another think later. If you pose the question and then sleep on it, your subconscious will work on it for you. Also, if you have good friends or family who know you well, you can ask them where they think you can add value - where some of your talents are. And it doesn't have to be big. For instance, if you did frozen baby purees, you might turn it into a huge business or you might keep it relatively small. I don't have babies, but would have thought the idea of cubes of food rather than jars means less waste - fewer half jars left in the fridge to go mouldy. (Or perhaps that's just me and fridges :cool: ). And perhaps it's a USP - perhaps there aren't any competitors. Or perhaps you make a mean packed lunch and you could supply your neighbours when you're making your own. It might make you money and save it for them - as well as giving more choice than buying a sarnie & packet of crisps. There are all kinds of ways we can add value. I can't find a handbag I like, virtually anywhere, even if my budget was unlimited. So, I'm going to make my own. Depending on how it goes, I might make more & sell on Etsy. It's that kind of thing. (A handbag for me, has to be big enough to take a pair of dance shoes, so I'd probably list that as one of its selling points). I can do a bit of cross stitch, so might use that for decoration and funky colours. I have a problem in not being able to find a perfect handbag, and if there are enough people with similar tastes who have the same problem & can reach them, then I could probably sell them the same solution.

Sorry, rambled on a bit there ... just love free enterprise. Everyone benefits.

retrocircles

Bloody hell! Ploughing on aren't you Rags! Well done! I hope you're having an absolutely wonderful holiday. Good luck with the Ebaying, just keep your eye on your goals and you will be fine!

Your diary is so popular it takes me ages to catch up when I haven't been around for a few days! Ever so good.

ragstoricheswannabe

Hey retro, my eyes are firmly on the goal of being debt free as we are starting to realise what a noose around our necks it is........if we didnt have so much debt i wouldnt have to work as much as i do, we could save for the things we want (like a new car) and i would be able to have clothes that fit!!!!:rotfl:

Been baking like mad today, have had a tester wedding cake for my mate so she can see the sizes of the tiers and the flavours. All is good apart from the mountain of cake that is in my kitchen...............no good for my goal to be slimmer!!!! need to step up my exercise and start toning up, this muffin top is just simply annoying me now!!!!

Another payment goes out to the egg2 cc so will be able to update my tickers and will be under £22k again!!!!!! still kicking myself about it going back up but cant turn the clock back and we do need new doors (you can see daylight through the sides of my back door)

right, am off to read other diaries and a little more of weezls 50p a day thread over on the os board for motivation

Love rags
xxxxxxxxx

ragstoricheswannabe

O.k, its nearly the end of the month so thought it was a good time to update my tickers. SO..................................




Whoo Hoo!!!!!! and for my total debt...........



Not quite as good but am off the o% mark. This isnt really a full month though as started half way through............

ragstoricheswannabe

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Am not a happy rags, just got an email to say that scottish power are upping my direct debit to £74 a month as i owe them £64??? not sure how as dont really use the central heating at the mo as its warm enough....................will keep an eye on the electric useage but cant see us using that much, even more so as no one has been in most days as working????????

mummy2mygirls

well done rags!!good to be over the half way mark ad also great to be of the 0% like you said.
Bet all that cake is yummy!! but not great for your weight loss!! im also trying to lose a little now...but will prob take me forever, need motivation to loss it all.....
xxx