MFi7 - My Crafty Diary

intheblackfinally

My hubby & I were seriously in debt (£45k) in Oct '06 & worked really hard between us to clear it all off by Oct '07. :j

After a few months enjoying all our spare cash which used to be used paying off our debts we then decided that we would tackle our mortgage and try to be mortgage free by the time I was 40 (that gives us about 7 years).

We now make a monthly overpayment of £200 and have paid off a lump sum of £5000 with another £5000 going to be made in June this year. We have also just set up an investment ISA paying £300 a month to hopefully give us a nice lump sum in about 7 years time to help clear the mortgage.

However most of this money comes from my husband as I am a stay at home mum of two and so my earnings are very limited (i do work 4 hours a week at my little girl's school as a dinner lady earning approx £60 per month) but thats really all I can do at the moment as have no family nearby to look after the children.

I make odd amounts here and there viq quidco, ebay, pigsback, mystery shopping, grocery budgeting etc but am not getting huge amounts to help the overpayments.

I am however addicted to craft and spend an absolute fortune on bits and pieces which sit around for several months (or in some cases years!) before I have the time to do anything with them.

So I am setting myself two targets -

(1) to only spend a maximum of £300 on craft materials from now until May '09 (I'm hoping it will be a lot less but am taking into account my lack of will power!).

(2) To try and make £1500 in this time selling my crafting creations (handmade soaps, jewellery, cards etc) to family & friends, at craft fairs, mums & toddlers, school etc.

So here starts my diary...... wish me luck!!!! :rolleyes:

SuiDreams

Good Luck, I'm trying to get into paying off my mortgage as well, but haven't got much spare income at the moment as I'm trying to get a nice little savings pot before I start.

evab_2

Good luck with your plans, hope you succeed!

abouttimetoo

Hi Finallyintheblack:hello:

Welcome and good luck

Millie2008_2

Good luck hun!!

I am v crafty too and trying to cut down on stash spending! If you want to do a bead/cardy bits swap, let me know..

setmefree2

Tons of good Luck from me:j:j:j:j Looking forward to hearing about your progress.:D

intheblackfinally

Hi all,

Thanks for all your words of encouragement and I hope you enjoy reading my updates on this thread.

I think I made a big step yesterday - I actually tidyed up my craft room and found loads of goodies I had forgotten about so inspiration hit me last night after the kids went to bed and I made 25 cards ready to sell - yippee! Can't wait to do some more today - children dependant!!

I also found 50 odd cards, approx 30 bars of soap, 6 glass painted suncatchers and a few pieces of jewellery which are all ready to sell (which is handy 'cos I've booked a stall at my daughters school fete for May 17th) so just need to keep plodding along making stuff from my new found stash so that it can be sold.

Whilst tidying I also came across about 20 lots which I have decided to sell on Ebay to raise a bit of extra cash (including some storage cases which seem to sell well) so hopefully that should raise me a few quid to get me up and running! However the idea of starting a swap seems fantastic as well - if anyone wants to do this please PM me and I'll see if we can set one up on a forum somewhere.

I also thought I'd test myself yesterday and spent an hour watching the Create & Craft channel on tele whilst I was crafting - success - whereas before I would have been tempted by at least three of the items shown (totalling over £50) I did'nt buy a thing - it just goes to show thats theres a first time for everything!!

Right I'm off to do some more crafting with my kids - update you all tomorrow!

cazmanian_minx

Good luck - will watch your journey with interest.

Caz

intheblackfinally

Good morning all,

Well did'nt have a very productive day yesterday. As the sun was shining the kids wanted to play outside so I decided that I had better cut the grass (my front garden looked like a jungle - a cat went in last monday and was still trying to find its way out!!!) which took ages and tired me out so did'nt have the energy to get anything new made.

Did manage to look through a few old copies of craft magazines though to keep the creative juices flowing so hopefully today should get a few more bits made.

I also got a free local newsletter through the post with dates for a few fairs, fundraisers and a farmers market so going to contact organisers today and see if I can have a stall at them. No harm in trying - hey?.

My little girl has a friend over to play today so hopefully I might get a few items done whilst she is playing and my 1 year old boy is having a power nap - fingers crossed.

On the plus side at least I've still not spent anything - its amazing - I can't believe that I have managed to resist for two whole days - things must be good.

Well better go for now.

evab_2

Hope you have a good day, well done with not spending anything - I think anything in the garden is productive, my dd and I planted 3 tomato plants yesterday just the potatoes to do now!

intheblackfinally

OK here I am again...

The good news is that I have managed to make another 15 cards and also found the time to do 3 scrapbook pages of my kids which look great.

I have also phoned 4 organisers of events in my area and am waiting for them to send me booking forms for stalls so that I can start selling my wares so thats good.

The bad news is that whilst in town yesterday I strayed into a craft shop (I just can't resist!!!) and spent some money - however it was only 79p on a template for a baby grow which I can use for both cardmaking and scrapbooking so that has given me my craft fix for a while.

However I notice that QVC has a craft day tomorrow so all my willpower is going to be needed - I don't hold out much hope that I won't be able to resist the TSV but I can try!!!

Right got to go & pick little one up from school.

Ta ta for now.