Dreaming of that cottage by the sea

PasturesNew

I am surprised table top sales make you any money - I've never seen one that had any buyers ... they seem to be a few random and rickety tables with OAPs (the real creaky ones) lurking behind.... and no sales going on.

I guess every area's different though and I live in an area with a higher than average bunch of oldies.

I often walk round TTS wondering if I could sell something there - and wondering what - but mostly the stallholders seem to be there just to get out of the house and natter to their mates!

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi there PasturesNew

I find table top sales don’t make a lot of money on a per event basis.

However I do them for 2 reasons:

a) Social. It gets me out of the house. Working from home is quite lonely and it’s nice to have a change of scene and get out to meet people. It’s best when a friend of mine comes with me, then we treat it as a chance for a good old natter with tea and cake. I pay the stall fees, do the driving and she buys the refreshments so at the very least, it’s a pleasurable morning with a friend for a fiver plus fuel. I always recommend having a helper if only for somebody to mind the stall during comfort breaks.

b) Networking and talking to potential customers. I tend to stick to my regular venues in a rural location so that potential customers get used to seeing me around. After a few visits, I started to get repeat customers for certain items (which I make sure I always have in stock), then get asked for new items and eventually have customers phone to place orders between sales.

I do occasionally try completely new venues but unless it’s Christmas they don’t tend to do as well as my regular spots. It takes a few visits before a new venue becomes viable.

It’s also best to go visit the sale as a buyer first so get an idea of the sort of sale it is and the type customer it attracts.

I know what you mean about some sales. In fact one of mine used to be like that. As a buyer, you walked in the door and every stall-holder looked up. You often were the only buyer there. A few months ago, a new manager took over and actually advertises the sale. Result? It's really busy and you have to book several months ahead to get a stall.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Sunny again here today, although bitterly cold and windy.

I’ve rescued a big bunch of Dafs from the wind. They were flat on the ground by the time I could get out to them. They seemed to have perked up with being in water with half an aspirin; in fact they’ve gone from bud to fully open. Very cheerful.

Was a tight day on the spends. Only had about £14 cash, no stamps and a pile of post to get out. Plus I needed a little bit of essential shopping for the week. I kept it to a minimum by buying some in Bo*ts and the rest in Mr S, using Nectar and reward points. I decided to put it all on the debit card and keep the cash. So further away from making that rent money.

Active credit card has produced a statement and I’ve put a large stock order through. I’ve now got only £40 credit left on that card – so no more spending on that until I clear some space. So much for putting wallet busting garage bill on it. Bit of a problem to solve there.

But looking on the positive…

Stock should arrive tomorrow and will be relisted by the end of the day. I have ordered a few new items (carefully researched) but the bulk of it contains hot lines that should sell over the next few weeks.

I have a table top sale tomorrow to sell my bargain lines which, cross fingers, should replenish my cash pot.

I have enough to pay my eb*y fees, the minimum on my cards and the rest of this month’s bills. Just the rent and car combo to raise. I’m hoping that my 2ndAmazon disbursement will cover the annual car tax. I’m over half way there and a fair number of trading days left before the payment date. Unfortunately, I’ve got a big fuel hungry non-green car so the tax is high. Once my finances stabilise, I’d like to swap it for a small diesel van but that’s a way off yet.

If pushed, I have my overdraft so not at emergency situation yet but a bit too close for comfort this month.

Learning points :

- I cut my float (the money I push over from the month before) by £200 this month and it wasn’t enough – definitely needed another £200, possibly £400 to be comfortable. By this date last month I had the rent money already covered so feeling the difference and the stress.

- I should have placed my stock order when I got low on my hot items last week. It has cost me a few days in sales and in turn hit my income.

Back to getting my head down…and stock listing.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi there to mad weather Saturday. I’ve given up trying to understand it today – we’ve had a downpour of rain first thing, then warm sunshine, then hail, now blue sky for twilight.

Been a bit depressing the last few days. I could have done with good sales this week but as often happens when you NEED it to be busy…it is dead as a dodo both on the river, the bay and the mid-week table top. I guess it is mid-month and I have noticed with the current economic climate, that peaks and troughs seem to reflect the monthly pay cycle.

I’ve had very little cash in my pot and no room on the credit card so day to spends have come out of the debit card. Frustrating when trying to build up funds for the rent next week. I have resigned myself to ‘borrowing’ from my savings pot. I know it would make more sense to use my overdraft but I’m going for a banking review in the next week or two and I think it will look better if I’m not in the red. I’m determined to get it back in there within a month or two.

It’s been very tempting to spend money to cheer myself up but it’s taken all my will power to resist. I’ve allowed myself a choccie bar a day which is bad for the diet but better for the finances.

I’m hoping that the weekend will bring a change in weather, sales and mood. I did a table top this morning and sold a fair bit of my bargain stock. I’ve probably sold half of it so far and the rest should shift by next Saturday. So at the very least, my cash pot has been replenished enough to cover the post office and essential spends for the coming week.

I’m thinking about starting the PAD strategy, into my active credit card. I’m not sure about the amount yet. Whether to send £2 a day which over the course of the month will cover the minimum payment. – A bit dull and won’t really encourage me to pay off more that the min.

Or to do something a bit more fun ..perhaps sending a % of money earnt, or odd pennies/pounds over round figures in my bank account.
Anybody have any fun ways of selecting amounts for your PADs.??

Cross fingers for a busy Sunday.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Welcome to Foggy Tuesday. Has there been any kind of weather we haven’t had this week?

Well I’ve paid the rent and have enough to cover all DDs this month plus the annual car tax. The bad news is that I’ve managed it by borrowing from my dream cottage/pay off 0% credit card fund. Not happy about it but it had to be done.

I’ve started my PADding…paid £10 off active credit card today, to make it a nice round figure.

At this point in the month (now that all bills are covered), the pressure eases a lot but the amount I raise till the 31st makes a big difference to how stressed things will be in April. I’m trying for an extra £200 float (hopefully more), as March’s just wasn’t enough.

Essential Goals for rest of month:

Raise another £300 for next month’s float
Pay off at least another £30 from active credit card (min payment) through PADding.
Buy £50 of packing materials –will run out in about 2 weeks.
Might need another stock order towards the end but try and keep it to £100

Next level goals:
Raise an extra £100 float
Pay off an extra £100 from active credit card by PADding
Pay back £100 into savings pot

The only thing I’ve yet to sort out is how to fund the car garage bill. I don’t have enough excess in my credit card and I doubt that my bank account float will cover it at this stage. I’m finding that these large annual bills are the thing that stops me building up my dream house fund. Once I’ve paid this one (definitely the largest one of the year), I’m going to start a separate annual bills fund. I’m going to aim for £2000-£2500 which should easily cover all the biggies and allow for contingency. Just need to work out how to raise the required £166 a month to achieve it.

Best get back to it.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Wet and wild Thursday here.

Quite a busy night on the sales front so I decided if this continues (ever hopeful) then I’ll probably run out of packing supplies on Tues/Wed next week. So I thought I’d better get the order in today just in case there is a delay in despatch. My last order was received next day but I didn’t want to rely on a repeat performance. £50 spent but should last me 6-8 weeks

A £5 PAD to active credit card and I was feeling positive..that is, until I received my new credit card statement. When I checked online, I didn’t take notice of the min payment figure and assumed it was £50. This month it has gone up to £85. So I need to be Pad-ing at least £6 a day to cover it before starting to nibble away at anything extra.

Car has been booked in for next week for wallet busting service and mot combo. I’ll have everything crossed between now and the fearful phone call telling me the amount. I have resigned myself to use another chunk of savings but this means I’ve got to make a real effort in April to replace it, otherwise I’ll be stuck in August when I need it to pay off Temptress credit card. At this point, I just want to know how much the bill will be so that I can get it sorted and move on. My car is at the age where the annual visit is starting to get very painful. Then you reach the dilemma point. It’s not worth anything so do you hang on until it’s last journey is on the end of a tow-truck to the crusher, or quit when you’ve just got it through the service/mot and might just be able to sell for a few hundred pound.

I seem to have either zero spend days or high spendy days. Today, I feel will be the former…above plus post office and then I’m going out with a friend later. We have chosen a 2 for 1 day at a local pub so won’t be silly and it will be lovely to have a catch-up.

Tomorrow I’m volunteering so low spends (just post office) but must remember to take lunch to avoid onsite cake shop.

Saturday I have a table top sale but am in two minds whether to go. It’s a location where I always come out and say ‘never again’ as it’s so dead. However, it’s the last one of their winter season and I do need to take every opportunity for extra cash generation. If I don’t go, a friend has suggested a shopping trip followed by lunch which although preferable, I think I should favour earning rather than spending.

Decisions, decisions.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Hi – sorry I’ve neglected my diary this past fortnight.

After ‘borrowing’ from my savings last week, I saw the light and decided to do the sensible thing….to use my savings (earning 4%) to pay off my active credit card (charging me 15%). I sat down and worked out how much my savings were earning and how much my borrowings were costing me. It was actually costing me £30 more every month than I was earning.

Madness…

Especially as I was probably going to have to use them in August anyway, to pay off the Temptress 0% card.

So, I’ve emptied my savings pot and re-jigged my finances:

My current status…

Active credit card owing – zero. From now on, every time I spend on it, I’ll put the equivalent funds into my savings account. So I still ask myself the question, ‘can I afford this?’ before spending. The car has a full tank of petrol and I’ve put a stock order on it (didn’t want to be low during the Easter weekend). I’ve also bought a bulk supply of stamps again. It was a pain last month having to buy them every day. I only stopped doing it as I realised that I was paying interest on them sitting on my packing table. However, as I will now be paying it off every month, I’m going to stock up at the start of each month. I might chance the policy towards the end of the month.

Temptress credit card £6500 - 0% until August. I will be saving as much as possible to pay this off but will also phone round nearer the time for a 0% deal. In an ideal world, I’d like to get it under 5k by then, but we will see.

Enough Float for next month. My aim is to get to a point where I have all the next month’s bills covered by the end of the previous month….like a proper job.

Savings – 0. I’m very nervous about this. I’ve worked out that I need about £2000 per annum for those ‘big’ bills. I’ve just had the most expensive month of the year (car tax/mot/service combo) and the next one isn’t until August (car insurance), so time to build an annual bills fund. First target is to keep my current account topped up. It’s a Nationw*de flexdir*ct so will earn 4% up to £2500. Next step is to keep an eye out for a new 13/14 Isa with a good rate.
Everything else stays the same – still spending cash, rather than cards, if I have it. This keeps my spending in check.

I’m looking forward to April. All the bills are covered so pressure is less but I’m determined to keep my float level high, and start to re-build up my savings pot.. I’ve got 3 big table top sales booked, plenty of stock and even a small trip planned. I’m off on a short break to visit the folks, but am taking my ‘shop’ with me.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Back from my mini-break. I took my shop with me and had a fairly good week with online sales, plus a profitable table top on Saturday.

Current position for April…all bills covered, and just need another £150 to meet my float target for May. Once that’s raised, time to concentrate on my active credit card. I really need to be paying this off every month and not let it build up again. Therefore £500 required by 4th May. It is doable but I need to focus and not procrastinate when I should be working.

Once into May, I need to think about what to do about Temptress credit card. Each month from June, a portion will be coming off 0% and moving onto standard rate which is probably around 15%. Active credit card is currently advertising a 0% transfer offer on it. There will be enough room for the 1st and possibly the 2nd chunks but still need to find a home for about 2k of debt in August.
So I have 3 months to raise the funds, find a cheaper card or suffer the 15%

Anyway, back to what I should be doing – taking advantage of the free listing week on the bay.

Hope you are seeing some of today’s patchy sunshine.

Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post. Although it has been due to keeping my head down work wise.

Position for end of April:

All April bills paid, including garage bill and active credit card (in full) .

I’d raised a good size float for May but the bulk of it was gobbled up by a £800 credit card bill (again paid in full). I did catch myself debating whether to just pay the minimum and sort it out next month, but that’s how I got into this position, so no. I need to be strict and pay it off every month.

May is going to be a toughie. With only a small float to start with, it has been very tight.
First target is to raise another £300 to cover bills for May.
Second, start raising funds for June….credit card bill will be £800 again
Third, I need to raise a much bigger float for next month, as this month has been stressful being only a week ahead of the bills
Fourth, I need to put some money aside to replace my savings pot. Next big bill is car insurance in July so approx.. £400 required by then.
Finally, I need to think about Temptress credit. There is a big chunk coming off 0% in June.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to increase my incomings in a dramatic way if I’m going to get out of this cycle. I just about make enough to cover monthly bills, but not to pay the credit card. The card pays for business stock, postage, food shopping and petrol. The latter 2 I have reduced to a minimum and if I have excess cash I pay that way. If I reduce the former two, I’ll have no stock to sell which means no income.

Possibly time for a long hard think about whether I can afford my current lifestyle or whether I need to be realistic and return to full time employment.

In the short term, I’ve applied for a part time job and am going to Ebay everything that isn’t nailed down for next week’s free listing week.

Now…let make a start on that £300.
Cottie

cottage_by_the_sea

Feeling frustrated at the moment.

Every time I get under’ £300 to go’, I have to spend another £50 and it goes up again. First it was a stock opportunity too good to miss (already sold enough to pay back half of the investment) , and now I’ve run out of packing materials. I think I should be able to hold off spending anything for the next few days so time to hide the purse and stay glued to computer to get as much listed as possible.

I’ve put off placing a large stock order on the card .I’ve not run out of anything and my usual hot sellers have slowed with the change in season, so I will aim to delay until next week. I’ve almost run out of printer paper, but found an emergency pack that had fallen down the back of my bookcase, so will delay another purchase.

I’ve pushed a couple of bill payments to the end of the month, so if I can just be strict for the next week or so, I might just do it.
Also, must finish that job application over the weekend. It’s only a one day a week contract but mentions ad-hoc holiday cover so could potential lead to more.

Back to it

Cottie