Memorygirls - Make Do and Mend

clairewop

Tescodealqueen wrote: »

Sending positive vibes to Chesrisong and Parsniphead. Hope it turns out as you wish.
Clairewop - it may come as a shock but you are doing this = look how far you have come and I have only been following this thread for a week......

yes I suppose I am

well best move i'm not getting anything done sat here lol

crickett1234

Morning one and all...

Just popping in to get my morning dose of inspiration And here it is. I have lots of work to do today, but I am planning to spend some time thinking about my life outside of my current job and start to plan how I can make it work better for me than it does at the moment (I even have that time on my to do list! What can I say, I am a list addict - if it ain't on a list, it doesn't exist! )

I seem to spend every moment outside of work thinking about all the jobs I have to do before I can do the stuff I like to do. I think this weeks challenges on the blog are set out just for this reason. Sometimes, if you are not careful, your life becomes one long to do list and the joy just gets sucked out of it. So my plan is to set up survival strategies at home which mean I can get all the chores done, but also manage to have some fun. I'll let you know how I succeeed!!

hypno06

Ok.....time for more straight talking.

Claire - you have come a long way. Fantastic.

BUT, you obviously expect, and/or are expected to be doing things that are sapping your positive energy. I am, of course, meaning things like making sandwiches for your sons.

They are big enough to make them themselves, and to clear up after them. If you continue to do so, they will continue to expect it. They are old enough to accept the consequences of you not doing so, without it making you a bad mother!

Look at the positives you would ALL gain from you making the conscious decision NOT to make their lunches.....

• you don't have to get wound up about whether it has been left to you to do.
• they get to make choices. Can they be bothered to make lunch, or not. Their choice, not yours.
• you are giving them valuable life skills by getting them to make a) choices and b) lunches
• when they leave home or go to uni, they won't find themselves unable to cope
• by not spending time making their lunches, you have more time for building up your business.

So, no excuses, no "it's easier if I do it myself". Just tell them that from now on, this is the way that it is - point out the benefits to everyone, and because there are benefits it is a very positive move.

Believe me, as a working mum of teenagers, I know the "difficulties" but I also know that in the grand scheme of things, making your own lunches and clearing up afterwards is something that is very easy for them to get used to.

Tregemred

Morning all!

Quick check in to wish Cheri and Parsniphead positive vibes and also to all who need them.

TGR

se999

Claire - you are doing this to make the whole family's life better. So you should renegotiate the practical arrangements. Teenagers change so fast that normally it's a time for extensive renegotiation anyway to deal with the change in relationship and their growing independence, but it's also a time for them to learn that parents are people too, with needs and wants too and as young adults rather than children they have to learn this new relationship. If everyone does 15 mins in the evening to clear up it means 1 hour free for you in the morning, besides the emotional benefit of not dealing with the mess which you obviously don't like getting up to.

savingholmes

I agree with the lunches thing - at one point my 11 year old son was making his and DD's breakfast and 2 lots of packed lunch so at your kids ages they can definitely do it. My son is now 12 and mowing the lawn has been added to lunch making and unpacking dishwasher duties... DD can now do her own breakfast.... Try the "make your own lunch as there will be no dinner money" approach - they will only let let themselves go without one or two times before they get the message.

Hope you have a good day MG et al!

Memory_Girl

morning peeps

i know its late for me to be popping in - but i've been out around town before the school run today - doing a little quiet bit of market research on behalf of us all.

bear with me whilst i explain;

yesterday i posted:

"the first thing i am charged with is creating some "hands up" lists - lists of people who would be interested in "putting their hands up" to get more information on different stuff we will be doing.

These are not lists of "I want to buy now" - but more a list of "tell me more" iyswim.

So i have created myself a little fill-in sheet and am taking a deep breath before i plunge in here (because all of a sudden this is beginning to get scarily real like all this playing will actually result in me being properly back at work)

So - anyone who is interested in finding out more about the weekend "Student Survival Guide" training courses, please pm me your name and email address - if you are not, but have people around you who are, then pm me their names and email addresses (but please make sure you ask them first because i don't want to get you in trouble when I send out info iyswim).

i don't want to put full details up on the forum obviously because i am pretty certain that would be against the rules as it would be direct advertising. "

btw overnight i got up to 15% of my target for this list :j:j

so - about 3.30 am this morning i woke up and had a blinding flash of the obvious- inspired by a PM from kavics17.

what this thread is about is us all working together to create our hearts desire for us all - right?

there are loads of us on here in lots of different locations - right?

we've got the power of numbers - and of leverage, so we can all do a little and everyone gets helped a lot - right?

sooooooooo ............... this morning I went for a quick scoot around town at 8am - and i used claire as my "test subject". the object of the 30 minute walk was to find places that would distribute claires jewellery flyers.

i figure i have a printer so even if i could print out 100 flyers or so between now and christmas - or get simple simple info slips created, 4 to a page that would be 400 or so.

local newsagent 1 - delivers papers to the posh end of town. Would take 72 and put them in with the monthly bills that are hand delivered.

local newsagent 2 - the same - but 45 bills

local florist - would take some flyers to give away on counter sales

local coffee shop - where the yummy mummies meet - would put a slip on each coffee tray for us.

local coffee chop two - more a trendy grannies and grandkids, but has a crafts area would do the same.

feeling totally energised i accosted a local accountant in the street (not for claire, but for another business idea thats been floated)

"Do you ever have clients that would benefit from the services of a virtual PA?"

- the clean answer was

"bellyhell yes" give me some details and you also need to pop in and get a list of other accountants in our network."

now, i'm just in a wee town in rural fife - but imagine if we all just kept our eyes and ears open for opportunities for one another like that?

WE WOULD TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!:j:j

So if its not too much hassle to ask - can i extend yesterdays "hands up" request to create an email list of everyone who would be interested in playing the grown up game of "join the dots"

I figure if we have 100 peeps playing - who each can place 100 flyers - then that is 10,000 people that can hear about claires business overnight - if that is what she wants? but that is some amazing christmas campaign.

if everyone of the 100 can find 1 key-introducer for our potential PA to talk to- then thats 100 people on her call list to get her off and rolling.

So have a think guys - and have a think how we can all help one another get everything we truly deserve.

if you want to play - pop me a pm with your name and email - and if you know any women who are running small businesses get them to join in too.

i love it here

memorygirl

clairewop

I have been told hehe.

all done now, I haven't swept the floors though. and i got a loaf of sultana bread in the breadmaker

need to post parcels and get batteries for the camera

elantan

Have to admit my son learned alot of his life lessons the hard way ... The ironing and room tidying being two memorable ones lol ....


He's doing great now he can support himself extremely well ( even though he has just moved back in after being away for three years )

se999

clairewop wrote: »

I know plenty of crafters but not sure whether they have accountants.

This is nearing the start of the Christmas Craft market season, why not ask some of your crafting friends if they'd like to share a table/pitch. It lowers the cost/risk, and you can take it in turns to man the stall. Ideally get a nice mixture of different things so that people get browsing.

So you do jewellery, another cards, another something fabric or pottery related.

If you do a few fairs/events, you can have a rota to cover them, so you don't lose too many weekends.

I was going to do this at one point with a friend, but not really in a position to really follow it through at the moment unfortunately.