From Little Acorns...

WhiteSnowdrop

Hi Habibiboo, yes there is always lots of 'help' around here! I'm very lucky to have 6 raised veg beds and a greenhouse. This is the first year since the kids were born that I'm really filling them all up though. I did miss quite a bit of the sowing season so have cheated at points and bought plants to help out so how have quite a bit growing and just 2 beds left to fill, although some of the first seeds I planted out a couple of weeks ago have done nothing so I've started again as the kids have been digging that bed as I didn't cover it initially, doh, lesson learned.

I've been growing veg for about 10 years now in one way or another and it never ceases to amaze me. Its very satisfying and even my husband who really doesn't like gardening loves going out to pick food for dinner and it does massively stop the shopping and make you think. I'm always looking to reduce our food budget and learn so much from other people so I shall be on the look out for hints and tips from you.
The kids love watching things develop and my little heart burst with pride when my son pointed at some plants in a garden centre and identified them correctly as tomato plants. I'm a bit sad like that!

WhiteSnowdrop

Had a lovely weekend, lots of celebrations and family time which made me very happy and appreciative of my lot in life.

Anyway back to the money/mortgage stuff. I still managed to earn a few bits and pieces over the weekend despite the fun! So thats another £44, although one I need to drop off this morning so probably shouldn't count my chickens just yet.

My to do list:
1. post items out
2. deliver mb
3. top up shop
4. meat out to defrost for tomorrow's dinner (eve)
5. make pitta bread + garlic flat breads for tomorrow lunch and dinner (eve)
6. make small cake for tomorrow lunch/dinner - no need as some left over from today
7. Uni work - 2 hours tonight - not even near!!!
8. water greenhouse
9. plant more basil/coriander seeds
10. plant more lettuce - not done
11. update GT with cots!!!! - must do job today!!!! - FAIL!!!
12. Thank you cards done - managed to get all photo's together ready but computer needs to do some update things as its sooooo slow

Right - update tonight!!

WhiteSnowdrop

Didn't get quite as many things done as I wanted today and a very busy day planned tomorrow so won't get too many chances to get much money/mortgage stuff done. I have to take lunch for us as we are out and I am cooking for 2 extra people tomorrow and will manage to do so out of my current food stocks which I guess is contributing in one way or another. Will have a think before I go to sleep to try and squeeze some more money activity in!

Managed to keep the shop to £18 which I was quite pleased with. Have asked OH to let me know any grocery spends so I can keep on track.

I absolutely have to get the cots on GT tomorrow - no excuses!! Off to bed now as I'm absolutely pooped!

WhiteSnowdrop

I've had a look at the cots and think I need to double check the number of screws we have!!!! The husband is not the most careful of people and I think it looks like we are a few screws short of a fully working cot which sounds like a joke but isn't!

Busy busy day today, so I must stop playing on here reading diaries.

To do list
1. Lettuce - plant - not done
2. Shops - Fathers day gift/flowers for gift/clock thing for kids - do Weds instead
3. Hoover downstairs/polish etc
4. 2 loads of washing done and out
5. pack lunch up
6. make spare bed up
7. clean bathrooms
8. look where screws might be!!! - found them!
9. drop clothes off (friend is buying a bag of kids clothes off me)
10. put 2 more items for sale on fb
11. put bol in slow cooker for tonights dinner
12. put garlic bread together
13. Uni work - plan what work needs to be completed this week
14. Tidy our bedroom
15. Thank you card finished and ordered - look at e-card alternatives for some people.

WhiteSnowdrop

I think its clear from the lists I've been making that I think I can achieve about 4 more items than is possible!! I am really pleased though that I've been using this site everyday for my lists I'm finding it really motivational, it may well be a little boring for the reader though!

I've used nearly half of my food budget so far this month but I do have enough dinners planned for the rest of the month so it should just be the weekly milk, fruit etc that I need, so I should be ok, and £250 should be comfortable, well nearly comfortable!

On the generating money front although it feels like I've done really well and I have quite a few things listed loads of items haven't sold yet. It may be time to try the bay of fleas as I saw it referred to on a diary. I've never tried using it and am a little intimidated by it if I'm honest but maybe it would give some of the bigger items a better chance of selling quicker? Although I've sold £65 worth of stuff so far this month to make the £300 there is still a fair bit to do so I could do with selling a big item or two.

Lunch today - jacket spuds and beans
Dinner tonight - hm pizza and wedges (make an extra base and freeze)

todays list to follow...

WhiteSnowdrop

To do

1. Uni work
2. make space for b/day new toys etc
3. strip spare bed and wash
4. pop into shop for milk etc
5. collect all the screws for cots - sort out
6. put mattress protector on the cots
7. fill veg bed 3 up with seeds
8. water greenhouse
9. emails
10. Thank you cards

Beckyy

I hope you get the cot screws all sorted! e bay is very handy, especially now you can list 20 items a month for free. The final valuation fee still annoys me, as they automatically take about 10% but I suppose it's better than having something which just gathers dust

WhiteSnowdrop

Hi Beckyy

I didn't know how it worked at all so your info really helps, thank you. Think I need to do a bit of reading before having a go.

Habibiboo

:wave:

WhiteSnowdrop wrote: »

Didn't get quite as many things done as I wanted today and a very busy day planned tomorrow so won't get too many chances to get much money/mortgage stuff done. I have to take lunch for us as we are out and I am cooking for 2 extra people tomorrow and will manage to do so out of my current food stocks which I guess is contributing in one way or another.

Most definitely ... if it means you get extra value out of something you already have, which saves a spend then it's still a great contribution. Some days the only contribution you can make is to squeeze in a no spend day or avoid a spend by being thrifty and savvy with what you have. May not seem like much today or tomorrow, but by the end of the month (and end of the mortgage term too) it will have counted in the MOPs to get you MF!

Thinking this way really helps to keep motivation going too ... you are doing all the right things even on a day when there's no MOP or Tilly Tidy to be made!

WhiteSnowdrop wrote: »

I think its clear from the lists I've been making that I think I can achieve about 4 more items than is possible!! I am really pleased though that I've been using this site everyday for my lists I'm finding it really motivational, it may well be a little boring for the reader though!

:wave:

Some of the productivity gurus endorse the idea of having over-full to do lists with items of "must do" "should do" "might do".
For the first few days it tends to be the "might do" items which are left each time and get carried over (and maybe "should do" ones if you're procrastinating and avoiding something grim or boring -which we all do from time to time :rotfl:). Sooner or later the might dos and should dos work their way up to being must do! You can see that easily in the context of uni work ... a project might start of as might do, then become should do as the deadline draws near, then it definitely becomes a "must".
So , no worries about having too much on there and not getting everything done, measure yourself by what you DO do in a day and carry the rest forward with a smile!
Oh and don't worry about it being boring at this end ...
a) Tis your thread
b) We all learn from each other, eg; I'm interested in your GT and FB sales because I now really hate Fleabay (also don't like FB much to tell the truth) so it's interesting to see how you find the process etc. And of course we all have the same MF or retirement pot goal over here!

On the generating money front although it feels like I've done really well and I have quite a few things listed loads of items haven't sold yet..

:T Yes, you're going great guns! How about boot sales? Even if you go for a chunk of the day, if you have lots of things it still seems to take up less time than photographing, listing, packing and trips to the PO. Also make for a very MSE outing and day's entertainment for little people ... and the fee rarely works out at 10% of your sales - usually much less if it's a good venue and good weather!

WhiteSnowdrop

Hi Habibiboo

Thank you so much for your kind words, it really does help. It's nice to know what I'm doing is contributing and that other people see it too. I think I will use what you've said about lists and try structuring them in a different way…watch this space
Another thing you've prompted me to think about is NSD. Its something me and my husband used to do regularly so I think its time to resurrect them!
I find GT and FB good from a cost point of view, i.e. they are free! But there seems to be little rhyme or reason as to what sells or not. My perception of flea bay is that more items people list tend to sell, but as I've never sold on their that may be completely wrong and I guess the only way to test the water is to do it. I'd be really interested to know any opinions?

In May in did a children and baby market which does sound like you can buy and sell them but in fact is just like a posher car boot for kids stuff. The one I did was only 2 hours but I made £100 excluding my table fee and most of the money was made on the 50p/£1 items which I was surprised about. I will defo do one of them again but in the winter months as that's the kind of stuff I have left. My plan was to do a car boot once I'd done the next baby fair to just get rid of anything that's left as you can't cart newborn clothes around forever, especially when your kids are 3!! Its good to know that you make some money as well. So maybe its worth doing one sooner than I planned.