Interesting .. I like it. Why is this successful - are people posting things cheaply on eBay to get rid, and you're just being more patient and pricing it up?

I have decided that I'm going to squirrel any "extra" money that I make into an ISA so that it doesn't get sucked into our daily account and feel meaningless. Then see how it stacks up in 6-12 months.

This week I've made:
$5 on Spare5
!!!8364;16.25 on TextBroker
$30 on Upwork (just formed an ongoing client relationship for many more of these!)

Evening guys, so quiet on here lately.

Great idea Bmth, I've been thinking of doing something similar as all my savings goes into the same pot that gets used for car insurance and hoildays etc...thinking a side pot where I just put a little bit here and their that would be for investing later on down line and not dip in money so to speak...doesn't really feel like savings when it's getting spent...just on bigger stuff.

Me and Hubbie have come up with a business idea that we're both really keen on, no more online crap it would be based in a trailer and would cost less then 5k to set up. I reckon we'd need about 8k though as the plan would be to have at least 3 months bills covered so if it didn't work out we could pack up and Hubbie could go back full-time.

Would be great though as hours would be 7-2, would get busy around 9-1pm which would work around school hours with me helping out and he'd be able to pick kids up everyday and spend the afternoon/evening with us.

Unf youngest isn't full time till Sept 2018, prob won't look to be opening until Sept 2017 due to funds and time but if we can make this work....plus the idea is to move into bricks and mortar if it takes off and then work our way up to something bigger...the dream of owning a pub by the beach somewhere.

It's a bit scary but the profit margins are so good, the business is really viable idea. Without doing all the proper costing, I've estimated it to be around 2/3 of the selling price would be profit compared to the 20% I make now on my eBay....

Unf it's a bit of a pipe dream ATM due to time and money, but I really do think this is where we want to be going and now that the idea has happened we just need to focus on pulling everything together to make it work.

I haven't posted for a while but I have been reading. Everyone seems to be doing well, despite some challenging times.

I will have around 9k in savings when I get paid this week, although I am planning on going away somewhere in November time so they will get depleted a little.

I checked my pensions today and I have close to 43k over the two pots, so my NAV, as it stands is 145k. I am therefore 1/7th of the way to magic million!

just realised I never replied!

Generally car bits are too big and heavy to post easily, so when they're collection only they're in a smaller pool of potential buyers and if no one around owns that car/needs that part you can pick it up for £0.99.

there are plenty of groups like "mk3 golf buying and selling" on facebook where you can shift that mk3 gti rear door you got for £2.50 to someone who needs it for £20

Love the challenge. No point setting low goals. At least if you don't achieve the million, you may get close.

I'm new to MSE but have been reading for years. I finally decided to join as learned so much and thought I'd try give back where I can. I've learned quite a few good tricks for both saving money as well as earning money online. I'm now almost at the point of giving up my day job. Next goal will be to reach 1 million.

Good luck everyone
Mike

Welcome to the new joiners

Over the moon this morning! A freelance site I used to use isn't quite as good as it used to be; plenty of work, but always about !!!8364;5 for 3-400 words. However, I managed to swoop in and grab a rare article: !!!8364;105 for 6000 words. I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Good morning fellow millionaires in waiting.

How nice to see some new faces - no disrespect to our long timers of course.

Well I have not done much recently but I do seem to have been very busy, but mainly on "hidden" stuff where you don't see immediate results.

Both insurance claims i.e. Car accident and burglary now settled, the money is now sat safely in our bank accounts. DS2 will gradually replace his photography equipment as and when but as he collects vintage lenses he js prepared to take his time. He's not bother d about replacing his iPad, he managed to fix my old lap top and we still have the desk top in the study, plus I stilll have my iPad so we are making do.

All our tech stuff Is getting a bit long in the tooth and isn't exactl state of the art now but it all works ok we don't actually need to upgrade at this stage. No point wasting money on new gizmos,

I have still not spent my car money, I am managing to go car free. DS2 and I car share quite happily, for the rest I just get the odd taxi .........one of these days I might even venture onto a bus.

TBH the reason I haven't is that I still haven't fully recovered from my injuries, especially my neck and I don't want to risk being jolted too much. I had a very rough taxi driver the other day. He threw me about and managed to hit every single pot hole or speed bump.....that car journey was agony.

I have cancelled the 4 weeks in Cyprus for February - I decided I would be bored out of my skull stuck in one place for 4 weeks. The travel company very kindly let me switch what I had paid onto another holiday, so that will be a cruise round the med next October, taking in Cannes, Rome, and Florence......again all my "must see" destinations.

As you can see I am working on my bucket list.

Still househunting. Still haven't found the one, I am not sure whether to up my budget and go for a bigger project. I have some investments maturing in November so I'll wait and see what kind of figures I'm looking at.

I am also off to Barcelona in November so although I am regularly scouring Right Move I might just keep my powder dry until after I get back.

Given that some of the investment rates are going down in October on some of my accounts I also need to rejig all my finances again.

Other than that not much news here. I've had a nice summer off - apart from the traumas of the burglary and the car crash. I am ready to get cracking again - albeit between travelling and having adventures.......

This week I shall be finalising the planting in DS2s garden and then I need to get a joiner in to do a few little outstanding bits and pieces and then my work here is done.

I reckon we have added about £50k to the value of this house, less the renovation budget of £25k so roughly £25k profit. not too bad for the first one but we need to get quicker if I'm to make that magic £1m.

Hope you are all keeping well and are on track........

I never thought if he had stolen anything, I assumed you spooked him and that was that! Hope the insurance claim worked out in your favour.

Great news on the cruise, I do understand where you're coming from 4 weeks feels like you'd be living their rather then a hoilday, I'm actually starting to see the benefit in long weekends rather then a week away as it means we can afford to go different places....but then it can be quite limiting in other ways as you tend to do the simple stuff rather then the big things due to time restraints.

I know I come out with quite a few ideas but Hubbie and me are really focused on this, I have a few worries but we just need a few grand behind us and will be ready to rumble, unf time is getting the better of me ATM and I'm really struggling with the weddings to edit, brides wanting pre-wedding attention, my best friend has asked me to be MOH which comes with it's own set of time requirments & now booked in for dress shopping and venue sight seeing lol...and my degree is putting presure on me now tutorials are opening up/tutor wants to call me and also got a parents evening and 'homework' being as eldest is being seen my the speech thepist now they've given the school lots of extra games and things to do which he brings home with him... lol (oo yes and don't forget our faithful income from eBay and Royal mail on my back about opening a business account...can't wait as it will save sooo much money over Xmas!)

As you can see, I have a lot on...but never fear, I work well under pressure lol. I'm still managing to watch Netflix whilst working so I'm happy

En route to book my first £400 wedding and a second one in the pipe line who I'm 99% sure they are booking with me but awaiting them to get paid to pay the booking fee, the first one is in process of everything going through so fingers crossed...raising prices to £600 in the new year for 2018 onwards. Had a few enquiries for 2018 already but I've quoted them on the new pricing and not heard anything back - which is fine as I'm sure I'll still get bookings nearer the time, my work has really come on but I need the professional business feel to back it up. Not even got the website set up anymore.

Also, not really money related but weight loss has started and is going well for now, must have lost a few pounds as jeans are annoying me as they are falling down. Really fed up of being 'frumpy' and I just want to get this weight lost...being as I'm so busy it really helps.

4/4 weddings shot, 3/4 edited, starting my next one tomorrow. Think I've got two full weekends off till my next one now. Done my first draft for my two essays due at end of Oct to, so going to crack on.

Onwards and upwards.

(P.s for the amount of work I seem to do, why aren't I earning a full time wage yet?! lol)

LL, I too did not realize they'd made off with anything, the pure cheek. Sorry to hear that but good you're always so positive. I hope that you enjoy your Barcelona break, lovely time to escape the British decline into autumn (though personally it's my favourite time of year!).

Kaya, your wedding photography sounds like it is really taking off. I was telling my wife, who isn't keen on her job, that I wished she could do some kind of business like yours and used you as an example! Though I know it's no easy task.

This week has been great for me. My initial article for a client at £20 was approved. I've now, as a result, been given a whole batch worth £350, which should be about a week's worth of evening work, and I'm on a regular writer basis to receive more each month now! This is going to really boost the coffers.

Good morning everyone.

KAy & Bmth. How lovely to hear of your progress, I am so pleased for you both. Sounds like your ventures are really taking off now.

Well I feel as if I've had an epiphany of some sort or maybe it's just that the "widows brain fog" has finally lifted.

I will always miss my husband - he was the love of my life and I will never meet his like again but I now feel that I am finally ready to lay down the "widow of mantlehood" and move forward to the next stage of my life.

So here's last weeks progress....

The landscaping on DS2 house is now complete and I shall just spend the next couple of days tidying up and putting the garden To bed for the winter.

I had a brief fling with trying to raise extra cash by doing surveys etc but have completely given up on that - just too time consuming for the rewards. I have unsubscribed to all my surveys, emails and Facebook stuff. I will be rationing my time on MSE. I am ready to reduce my "virtual existence" and get back into RL.

DIL has had to cancel the Barcelona trip due to the pressures of work. This actually suits me well. I have no holidays booked now until May so I have a straight run to lose 2 stones and get fitter.

After dithering about I have decided I do want a car so that's next on my hit list. I can manage without but it does severely curtail my activities so I shall try and get that organised in the next couple of weeks.

I have put an offer on a bungalow, a fixer upper. Just waiting to hear if my offer is accepted. I won't be too concerned if not. It's not my "dream house" - it's purely a flipper. IF I don't get it then i have drawn up a short list of possibles.

As you can see I have suddenly become a lot more focussed.

I freely admit I have been drifting for a while, undecided what to do.

I blame it on "widows brain" .

However, I think I definitely needed time to just take time out and deal properly with my loss. I had two deaths in quick succession, my husband and then 7 months later my mother. I think I tried to rush the grieving process and as a consequence my health and well being suffered.

The car crash and the burglary didn't help either.

However, I have had a good rest over the summer and now feel much better. Refreshed, re-energised and raring to go. Still attending Physio but am now down to once a week. Still a bit sore and stiff at times but definitely making progress.

It's a lovely day here so going to spend a couple of hours in the garden and then Physio this afternoon.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. .

Good morning fellow would be millionaires.....

Quick update......

Found a nice car for DS2' a VW Passat estate. and I now have his little Fiesta which was originally my dad's. Neither car is anything posh but as we park on the street we don't want to risk expensive motors iyswim. .

The Mercedes (for me) and the POrsche (for him) can wait until we have suitable off road or garage parking. Anyway as per all the best money saving principles both cars are owned outright, so no loans etc.

Still waiting to hear about the bungalow. First offer was refused so I put in a revised one, but As I have not had a reply I shall assume it's a "no". I'm not unduly concerned, I'll carry on looking.

Other than that not much news.......except to say.......

We had a chat about Christmas and have decided to have a £10 limit on gifts. None of us feel we need or want anything and we are all busy decluttering and simplifying so we just don't feel the need for more "stuff". We will of course indulge in a few foodie treats but we will just be happy spending quality downtime for a few days.

Hope you are all well. It's quiet on here, does this mean you are all busy counting your money.

Stay well. Talk to you soon.

Hi all,
Popping in for a catch up.

Glad to see lots of positives amongst the adversities.

Kay- you mentioned a little while ago about opening up another separate account, I would seriously recommend doing it if you haven't.
We did this when we started to save for our house deposit, then when we had the house we did it for our 1st business and then again now.
It was always there as a back up in case TSHTF, so we obviously knew it was there.
But we never counted it towards our available spends, and if we were short one month we readjusted our budget and did not dip into it, we also had a smaller account which we saved into for unexpected spends.
It was also really motivating to see the money add up, and spurred us on to think about spends etc.

We were speaking to a friend who came into some money, kept it in their current account and spent the whole amount on this and that, it was 10's of thousands.
They had marked it for a deposit towards their 1st home. They were talking about how easy and quickly it went.

Things progressing well with the product, sometimes it feels like things are going so slowly, but then I look back at what we have done and considering it was all new areas, I have done ok!
Still no where near even thinking about a launch date, no where near even having samples made up, but it will all happen eventually.
Just got to keep plodding away!
Starting to think about branding now, and sourcing factories.

We still need to make a decision about our next step for our next business.
It was originally the plan to have x 2 of the same in different areas and then open the different business.
But we have been looking for a location for the 2nd for over a year and the right location and premises to date have not come up.

We have been happy to plod along and not be too worried about not opening the 2nd, as there has been family issues going on which have taken MrMinx away from home for about 50% of 2016, all will be sorted the next few weeks, and I know he has serious ants in his pants and wants to now be cracking on with the next thing!

Thank you Bmth, lovely to hear I'm being spoken about in a postive mannar, people in the 'real' world don't take me serouisly, I think my eBay has always been a bit of a joke and whilst my photography is a bit more soild, people still don't really understand what goes into it so they don't really see it as a 'job', in fact this degree only one person seems to think of it in a postive way and when people have found out (I've barely told anyone but since Hubbie is doing one to it's got round that way) people usaually come out with 'why bother?'

Not that the above really does bother me, it's nice to have support but I know it's more they don't understand being as most people get a job and are happy to scoot along, my Mum has even asked me 'When am I going to get a job'.....

I appreciate she means well, but MIL offered to help us buy my youngest some shoes last week.....I think because we are not trying to keep up with the latest trends people just assume we're not well off, but even though we have quite a lot of excess income a month their is always something to save for.

I'm struggling a bit with time atm, I'm coping but I'm fully aware November is only weeks away when my eBay goes crazy, but I can't bring myself to turn it off or put my prices up as I don't want to do anything that could have a backwards effect on my profits.

Not sure what to do for the best I guess that is a decision I can only make though, as much as I would love to get rid of it so I can focus on my degree/photography, it's nice to have the soild income and whilst the photography is starting to bring in money now, it still isn't stable enough to rely on it, plus all of my 2016 Bride's have paid up (bar one that is in process of booking) so my only income from now on is not coming till 2017 / new bookings.

Perhaps I can get Hubbie on board to help me out more with housework and eBay ... lol

On plus side, I've paid off our hoilday we were paying monthly, we've gone down from a 2 car family to 1 car (and Hubbie is going to work with a collegue who has fuel paid by the company, although it's a bit touch and go so it won't be everyday) but means we are saving on petorl and car tax each month, Hubbie's phone loan is finally paid off and our mortage went down by another £10....it's all drips and drabs but it's saved us £70 a month + whatever we save on our £150 a month petrol bill & going to keep a tight rein on credit card bill this month now (which we only use for food and petrol then pay it off each month)

Glad things sound like they are going well LL, totally agree those surverys are a waste of time - whilst people do generate some income for the sake of how much time to a fiver it's really not worth it, but then a fiver can mean the difference between food on the table or not for some people.

Minxy I have a small seperate account for paying off my mortage fund now, but mostly it's all in one savings pot but I then have spread sheets which says what the money is for, unf I have 3 weddings next year (one of which I need to pay £240 for accomdation, then hen party and engagment/wedding present on top which is another £200) car insurance, our own main hoilday spending money.....so works out at 2-3k in total, although I've already made a good start on this + Christmas is already sorted and that in itself was £500-600....honestly we don't spend a lot per person, but with so many spilt familes we just have that many people...

We should have thousands in savings but unf it's constantly took a beating thanks to me and my business ideas .... . The business idea I mentioned above posts I'm starting to think it would just make so much sense to wait till both children are in full-time school....plus it means we aren't AGAIN spending money on another business idea, at least not right now anyway (although just to be clear, whilst I'd have a hand in this it would be more for my Husband to run) ...think we just need some time now to save up and concentrate on what we have going on now.

ETA: When I say 3 weddings, I mean 3 friend weddings, 2 of which I'm MOH and the other Bridesmaid for, so it's not exactly going to be cheap when you take hen parties and gifts etc into consideration...

Well, damn. My contract at work just ended abruptly; a sort of mutual "there's no work actually left for you" sort of thing. Paid up until end of the month with a reference, but now job hunting.

Luckily, this has been coincided with enough freelance work until Christmas to pretty much make the same income if I do the writing from 9-5.

Could this be the start of full time work from home as a freelancer ... I can dream whilst I job hunt haha.

It takes work to be a millionaire, that much is true! Keep thinking of your plans, what will suit you and what will work.

Feeling slightly demotivated yet strangly more motivated, demotivated because I see photographers charging more with less of a portfolio. Speaking to one earlier (trying to find a decent one for my friend) and she wanted £650 for a full day but from looks of things had shot about 5-6 weddings and not to be big headed but as nice as it was, my portfolio is a lot more varied and hers was more point and shoot (but the techinal skills were their and my friend has a low-mid range budget)

Motivated as I've got the most important wedding of the year on Sat, they are all important ofc but this one is my golden egg for my portfolio so wish me luck...12 hours...when I can barely manage 8 normally...but I'll power through. I'm missing night shots from my portfolio so hoping this will fill that gap. Hoping if I get some 'wow' shots then I can draw more customers in, my work is good but it's missing the wow factor, it's a very natuarl style creating images of the couple that say they really love each other - but perhaps ones you'd not stop and go "wow how did they do that, that's amazing?!" ...and that's sort of my next target.

As much as I hate to say it, I need to improve the business side of things, i.e marketing....before was easy as I was charging quite low prices but now I'm more £400-500 for a full day the diary is not looking good for next year, a fair few but not enough.

Just to add, degree is going well I think. Put my first two essays in this week. Bit scared of the next two I have to do, as I've got 1300 words to write on one...but I'm powering through.

Hope everything is going well £1,400 to pay off the paypal loan and counting, as I'll be shuting down my eBay shortly after it's paid off.

Good morning fellow millionaires in waiting.

How are we all doing.

Well first the good news........one of my investments has just matured, so that's another £17k to the pot, plus I have a few irons in the fire which should net me an extra £1k this month, so all in all the finances are looking quite healthy.

The bad news.......still struggling with leg pain and shoulder pain.

I had to cancel a few appts and have upset a few people in the process. I'm sure my sister thinks I'm faking...... hey ho, there's not much I can do about that. If I was in plaster people would be able to see there was something wrong but with damaged muscles etc there is nothing to see.

I have decided to clear my diary and just focus on trying to sort myself out. So regular Physio sessions and then doing all the "homework exercise". It does take it out of me though hence the cleared diary, allowing me time to rest and exercise and concentrate on healthy eating etc.

I'm certainly glad I decided to buy a car again. At least I can get out and about and still get a few things done.

I have bought some posters and frames online so today I shall be putting those together and just generally pottering about, cooking a nice dinner.

Tomorrow I shall haul myself off to the hairdressers.......have to keep up the beauty routines ha ha......

I didn't get the bungalow.......went to a higher bidder. I'm viewing a property on Friday.

Kay ..sounds like things are going in the right direction. I'm sure you will feel less stressed when you can lose the EBay business and can focus on your college work and the weddings. How did the big one go.

Bmth. Sorry to hear about your contract finishing but good that you've got some freelance work to keep you ticking over. Yes it would be nice if you,could go completely freelance. I'm sure you will one of these days.

Hope you are all well and making lots of money.

Oh no. It's a shame your sister is not being more understanding but all you can do is do whats best for you.

How did it go? I think really really well overall, apart from being given the wrong address for the church (luckily I'd left 40min early, put my foot down sped back to the venue and managed to pick up a random guest and get them to show me where the church is, all I can say is always trust your instints!) and the Bride got to drunk in the evening to do the night shoot - bit gutted for my sake, but she really enjoyed her day and everything worked out. I'm really suprized but the 12 hours didn't even bother me, I was so tired Sunday and Monday but on the day I was fine!

To be fair, I'm fitter then I was 3 months ago and also lost half a stone recently. Have a lot more energry and determinded to stick to my diet this time round.

Hope everyone is ok, it's pretty quiet on here lately.

Definitely a good idea to get yourself sorted, LL, and I'm sorry your sister isn't being sympathetic

I'm still spending money like water on the house, but I think we're more than halfway through now - the exterior is finished and inside we're insulated upstairs, the framing is mostly complete downstairs, so it's nearly time for plasterboarding and then the underfloor heating can go down.

I've found a fabulous next project, but the price has just been dropped and I expect someone will snap it up before we're ready. Classic case of worst house in best street, but needs a LOT of work and I suspect some issue with ownership/maintenance of common parts, as the house has been split. I'm not even going to let myself go and look until we've got the money for a deposit, but £115,000 for two flats in a beautiful period house (not listed) with stained glass windows is very tempting...