Challenge tru's house

tru

Oooooooh the downsizer website, I'll save it in my favourites :T

I found THIS MAN today, he's inspiring :T

Dough craft sounds interesting, I've never tried that (though I think I had a hand in clearing up after the kids in playschool - it WAS 12 years ago and I can't quite remember properly lol)

I have 2 empty fish tanks.

I'm not posh enough to have a garage and the drive isn't a proper one, there's no dropped kerb.

My garden is approx. 60ft x 30ft so I could keep a few chickens :think:

I know that Hester's tales are off-putting but I'm always interested to read about what she's been up to My 'lodgers' are master tru and miss tru, they pay [strike]us[/strike] me 20% of their wages

My house is ex-council so I don't think anyone would want it for their films/TV progs. Saying that, Sean Bean was in Gloucester filming in a VERY VERY ugly area, so you never know

Great ideas here, keep em coming :T

D&DD

Self Reliance by John Yeoman is a great read of you are into all this sort of thing...It has tips for " getting out of debt and staying out of debt,becoming financially independant.Packed with essential info for anyone wanting to live a more self reliant lifestyle" Its one of my favourite books
Has a lot of useful info and its British :j

tru

I've been thinking about rabbit and guinea pig boarding

I will need more hutches (I'm thinking 4 at the mo) and a huge run. I can build them myself, using hinges on the run so I can fold it down when it's not needed. Also I'll need to contact the vet to register myself and find out that if there's a problem, is it easy to get hold the animal's usual vet to find out any history. Or maybe just use the animal's usual vet? Not sure on this :think:

I've kept rabbits and pigs for years, so feel like I've already got a head start on this one

D&DD, I have some book tokens so will look out for Self Reliance when I'm in town :T

ceridwen

tru wrote: »

I found THIS MAN today, he's inspiring :T

:T

Interesting thread I shall be following for ideas. Have come across abovementioned website - but only wish I could read it clearly for the "nuggets" I am sure are buried within - as its so badly-produced that a lot of it is illegible.!:cool:

brila

Cool idea. When I worked in a department store years ago there was an obsession with "square footage". Every square foot of shop floor had to bring in a certain revenue, so if (for example) dresses were selling poorly but toasters were flying of the shelves, we would have to rearrange the floor to give toasters more room and dresses less so that our square foot target was reached. Similarly you could look at your house in that way perhaps? So give yourself more room to work around the computer if that gives you a better yield per square foot than for eg the kitchen. I used the concept (briefly) to help me decide what bulk items I should stock up on. If I had a choice between bargain toilet rolls and bargain tins of toms, I would try to look at which would save me more if I filled the space under my bed with them. Now I have a bit more room and just stock up on everything...

But look at dead space aroung your place that could be used to store bargains, bulk buys etc. I like buying mispriced stuff or loss leaders and selling on (local free-ads, ebay etc. - but wait a month or so until everyone else has sold theirs!). Perhaps you could designate a cupboard, or under a particular sofa for items like that? Got a sunny windowsill you could grow plants from seed to sell? Tomato plants always do well at car boots in the spring/summer, chilli plants are fairly easy from kitchen leftovers (seeds from a chilli in egg carton portions - plant the whole thing if it takes off).

If you are good at cooking/baking you could offer a "meals for the freezer service" - great gift for expectant parents or ill person.

Dog washing service in your bathroom? I wouldn't, but it's a thought!

Take in washing/ironing? Or dye faded charity shop clothes in your washing machine and re-sell at car boot etc? Or tie-dying in a bucket of dilute bleach? Do you sew/mend?

Your bookshelves are maybe either a resource library or carefully arranged stock for sale on amazon/gm?

Gizmos in your kitchen are similarly either income-generating/money-saving resources, or stock for sale? Be brutal!

What do you have (space/resource-wise) in your home? Maybe we could all come up with ideas if we had some specific areas to think on? Love the idea though and I will be walking about the place with a critical eye today.

tru

Square footage - I like that idea

I keep an eye on space already, but I will spend tomorrow going round the house to see if I can improve.

So far, I make/save money from the garden, my office (it's actually more of a cupboard lol) and half the lounge. The bedrooms and bathroom have just enough room to serve their purpose so I can't make money from those rooms.

The kitchen is lovely but badly arranged (for multi-use, it's fine as just a kitchen), also the window and doors are in silly places - we're planning on ripping the lot out, swapping the locations of the window and back door, also blocking off my office door and having a doorway into it from the hall. This'll give us a lot more room for cupboards.

I can easily use the kitchen to make lots of lovely OS things to sell, the problem is storage. Hopefully, this time next year I'll have the room.

I'll definitely be growing herbs and toms to sell though.

D&DD

tru wrote: »

I've been thinking about rabbit and guinea pig boarding

I will need more hutches (I'm thinking 4 at the mo) and a huge run. I can build them myself, using hinges on the run so I can fold it down when it's not needed. Also I'll need to contact the vet to register myself and find out that if there's a problem, is it easy to get hold the animal's usual vet to find out any history. Or maybe just use the animal's usual vet? Not sure on this :think:

I've kept rabbits and pigs for years, so feel like I've already got a head start on this one

D&DD, I have some book tokens so will look out for Self Reliance when I'm in town :T

:eek: Now you're not thinking Rabbit Pie are you ...
Thats a good idea boarding animals people are always looking for sitters while they're away.Have you got any livestock at the moment,do you have room for any??

tru

Noooooooooooooo I could never eat a bunny :eek:

I've got a rabbit and 3 guinea pigs at the moment, they live in the house

If I go ahead with this, I couldn't bring myself to keep the lodgers in the garden in winter, I think it's mean :sad: So I'd either get rid of mr tru's rubbish from the shed and build in there, or not take animals in during winter. The shed has a water and electricity supply, so I could do it all year round.

brila

Breed stick insects to sell (in an old fish tank)? Esp if you are nervous about bumping the bunnies off!

Re lack of cupboards, I have a friend who has put a little shelf above her doorways and who has shunted all her books forwards in the bookcase and stashes tins and stuff behind the books. As a young flatmate I used to hide my booze in a rucksack or strong carrier bag hanging off a hanger in my wardrobe to stop other people drinking it when I was out. I would love a "wacky storage idea" thread. Esp with pictures! I love to cram and hide stuff. But I digress.

Did you say you had a garage? Might have hallucinated it... Good for storage or rent it out to people who are decluttering while trying to sell - leave your number with a friendly estate agent?

Use the lounge for those tupperware/cosmetic party type things? Either run it yourself, or invite an organiser to yours (you get free stuff as the host, don't you?).

Or find something you can do while watching tv in the lounge (if you have one), like other people's ironing, stuffing other people's/company christmas cards (but not an envelope scam thing), knitting/patchwork, cold calling/appointment booking (with handsfree on phone and subtitles on when someone actually answers).

COOLTRIKERCHICK

brila wrote: »

Dog washing service in your bathroom? I wouldn't, but it's a thought!

i was a dog beautician for over 20 years...... and believe me you do not want to offer this service using your own bath :eek:

plus dog grooming/bathng is a very competative market... even though you would be offering a service in good faith .. if something happened the owner would be the first to complain..... so this is the type of work you WOULD need insurance for..... plus they would expect the dog to be groomed... and dried...... not as easy as it sounds..... my driers cost me over £400 each... plus good quality brushes and combs..... plus a grooming table with a non-slip surface.... with a holding arm......


after i sold the shop.. we build a purpose build building.... purely for the dog grooming.......dont get me wrong there is money to be made... but it is VERY hard work...... and you MUST know what you are doing.....