Spring Time

This morning at Peaceful Forest Homestead

Since the winter looks like it is really fading away, though slowly, I am glad to see the end. I am so ready to start my spring cleaning and seed starting. Depending on where you live, you probably already are enjoying springtime. Here we still have large piles of snow and cold temperatures.

Choose one chore to work on this week if it is a big one. For me, it going to be organizing my books that I am selling on Bonanza. I had them organized already and then I did a stupid thing. I took a whole box of them and listed them in my Paperbackswap club. What happened to me by doing that was something I never considered before because it never happened before. As I listed them, they got taken immediately by being books that were on someone else's wish list. Before I finished I was supposed to send out over a dozen books. I had to contact them and tell them to cancel about six of them. Usually, I don't think it happens that way.

Springtime brings change through our lives as it is time for new life in the natural world. It is also the time of year when everyone makes plans and gets started on their goals for the year. So get going and start doing!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

Work On Your Goals One By One

Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan

Have you been working on your goals list? I have. Sometimes, I think I have too many goals. Then I read the motivational books and they say, "list a lot of goals." So I do. I have so many things I am working on that at times it can be overwhelming. But then again, it is better than sitting on a couch watching television! Do you ever put goals down and never look at them again? Maybe come across them months or years later, then think to yourself, "now if I had done that look where I'd be today."? Many times! More times than I like to remember!

One of my goals lately has been to reorganize my upstairs area. It is a place where I store my books on bookshelves, my good clothing, photo albums and our inventory of guitar strings that I sell online. I also had boxes of paper......yes, boxes! Some of that paper is needed and has to be filed. Other, or rather, most of it is junk mail and stuff saved for no real purpose. So in the wood stove that will go! You can not hold onto stuff because you think you one day might need or use it. Out it goes.

I have held onto many books. Books I have read. Books I might one day read. If I haven't read it by now, out it goes. I am reading some books and when I finish them will list them in my Bonanza booth and hope they sell. If they don't sell after a certain period of time, I will take them to my thrift store. My goal is to empty this area out by spring.

So working on this one goal isn't really that hard. I am committing myself to spending at least 30 minutes to one hour upstairs every morning working on emptying out something. Maybe one box of paper. Maybe arranging my photos in an album. Maybe going through my clothing. Maybe finding more books to list in Bonanza. But something. At least do something toward that goal every single day till it is finished. I will always be further along since the day before.

What about you? What goals have you been working on? Have you been doing something daily toward achieving your goal?

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Creating Those Goals And Following Them

My husband and I are reading the books by Robert G. Allen, Creating Wealth and Multiple Streams Of Income. I have to say  I have read many books and visited many websites on these same subjects, and no one else even comes close to this author. He explains everything in clear details so you can try to do many of his ideas yourself. So many other financial authors tell you things to do but never give you a clear idea of how to do it, unless you buy their program. Robert Allen does have programs he sells but his books are giving us absolutely clear instructions and I really like that. How can someone who can't afford those programs follow someone's advice if it is hidden in some expensive program? Sometimes it is all you can do to afford the books! And what a disappoint the book is if you buy it hoping the advice is in there but find it is not. That is a rip off in my mind!

Anyway, we are working on implementing the "ten streams of income" into our life. I had written before in a previous post, Welcome To Little Steps, which was my very first post on this blog. I mentioned eight streams of income, but now that I am reading this book my ideas have changed. One of the most important things I have learned from Mr. Allen is that you have to concentrate on one thing as much as possible to get it going, before going on to the next. In my own case, I have an  online retail store which is already producing an income. It needs more work, but it is already working. I also have three eBooks, and my husband's music cd, Classic Fantasy, which are already producing some income, but need more work there too. I am updating one of my eBooks, and  as soon as I am finished with that one will be updating another one.

So those are two streams of income I am working on at the moment. It helps when your spouse is really into doing this also, that way you can work with him or her. We read these books at night together. I read them aloud and since we do not have a television it has become our focus in the evenings. We look forward to it.

If you have ideas of what you want to do the first thing would be to write them down. Make a map of where you want to be in 10 years from now. It does not matter how old or young you are..........you can do this at any age! So re-read some of posts on here where I touch on the subject of goals. Robert Allen agrees that your goals need to be written down and you need to read them daily. So that is a good place to start if you haven't done it already. Good luck and hope you come back and are ready to move on with me!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Make Plans For This Week

Photo Credit: Sam Mugraby

What are your plans for this week? A new week, a new time. My plans for this week will definitely be to open my business bank account. That is what I need for my business. The credit union I was using was a bad choice and now I will be going to a regular bank. Living in a rural area limits your choices but we will figure it out.

This week too, I have to do more preparation of food for our supplies. That takes time but I don't mind as that is the best part of this  homesteading lifestyle. The weather is changing and that is a reminder that it is time to stock up food, supplies, kindling and firewood. So we will take care of that this next month. I expect it to be a busy month.

The next thing to work on for me is to Make A List To Get Ahead With and really get it completed so I can start another list. I will keep this one in focus this week. I tend to get off track doing something else and then don't remember what I originally wanted to do. Focus, focus, focus! I will stick to my plan and see what a difference that will make. 

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Making Lists And Following Them

Running Errands........not my favorite thing to do!

I have not been able to open my  business bank account as I said I would in an earlier post. Why? Because I am not organized enough yet. I have been uncluttering certain areas of my home. Getting rid of anything I have not used in the last year or so. If it doesn't fit it is out of here! If I read it then it goes too, unless it is a book I use for reference. You know you keep those books you loved thinking you'll reread them. But do you? Rarely. I have read my Gone With The Wind book at least ten times, but not in the last 20 years now. Maybe I'll take a peek at it again..........so I will keep that one. LOL

Today I have errands to run, laundry to wash, zucchini bread to bake, groceries to pick up, horse feed to buy, go to my father's and pick up my son. He is coming home after spending a week with his 91 year old grandfather. Then he will be staying with us until he can find an apartment in Greene, NY, the small town near us.  So no time to do those jobs like going through my papers and filing them. But I KNOW those are the very jobs I should be doing as they hold me back. That has even cost me some money. Twice I was late filing a paper for NY state sales tax and it cost me $50. each time! Only because I forgot about it and lost the paper in the mounds of paper that needs to be gone through and filed or thrown out.

So AFTER, I get home and have done my errands, I will be going through one of those boxes. Then I will update my goal list and my to-do list. That is my starting point for the new month that is coming up. The roladex needs updating as well as the calendar on the wall.............one in the kitchen and one in here above our computers. So we can see it all the time. My brand new address book that I bought two years ago is waiting to be used. I normally carry one in my purse, in case I need an address or phone number when I am out. I have missed that and I used to always carry one.

One thing I have actually done..............I keep our credit card accounts in a check book register for each card. I carry them in my purse so that I can always check how much is available before I use the card. That way I have avoided over-the-limit fees. I have always gotten in trouble with the cards that have a yearly fee and they sneak in when I am not aware or remember it. Because we are paperless, my husband has one card that has a fee and I don't get the email or see the statement when it is due. It seems to not be due at the same time every year. Sneaky!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

The Path To Freedom

Photo Source

Everyone is looking for money. Everyone is looking for an easy way to riches. Everyone is searching for a way to eliminate debt. People are struggling financially the world over. If you are not rich you are suffering from no freedom. Freedom is only available to people with the means to pay their own way. To pay for their own health care. To pay for their own food, housing, transportation, etc. What to do?

Not only do you have make a plan but you have to make the time. The time to educate yourself. Wisdom is the key to life. Remember when Solomon prayed to God for wisdom? The Lord liked that. So he rewarded him with a long life and much riches. God rewarded Abraham for persevering and traveling in the desert and  living in tents and just having the faith that God would bless him eventually. Which he did. 

I have the faith that if I believe...........then it will come to be. I believe that in all areas of my life. From financial to my health. So I know that one day I will be prospering and I want to share my wisdom with anyone who wants to prosper too. So please join me in this unbelievable journey.......you will be glad you did!

If I can accomplish my goals to financial freedom from here..........then you can too! Yes, you can. The first thing you need is a game plan or a map. As everyone is writing all over the internet, is that you can not travel anywhere without a map. You have to figure out where you want to go as well as how you want to go.

Dare to dream and dream BIG! Make a list of your dreams. If you have them written down you will remember them. You will see them every day if you put your list somewhere prominent........near your computer, on your refrigerator...........anywhere where you will see it and read it daily.

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole

Goal #3 Is Preparation - Be Prepared!

Know where you are going........and how you are getting there!

Yesterday my husband and I were talking with my brother-in-law (BIL), and he was talking about buying a single family house to rent out. He hadn't even thought about what he would do if he could not get it rented for a few months or what he would do if the tenant moved out. There was so much he hadn't even thought of. It makes me see how many people start doing something like that and then give up because it seems daunting to them.

He brought up the fact that their aunt and uncle had owned a rental property in the past. They complained about the tenants not paying the rent or destroying the apartments. BIL was wondering about what you would do about those types of cases. I had just been talking about this to my husband the day before. I told him I plan on buying property that is not in an area of cheap homes or apartment buildings. Then I can charge rent that is in line with the rents in that area. That means that people who can afford those types of rents are usually the type of people who have pride in their homes or how they lead their lives. If you care about your credit rating you are not the type to not pay your rent.

Real estate investment is something I AM going to accomplish. I read about it daily. I research. I research more and more every day. I read books. I study real estate forums, articles and listings in my area almost daily. My BIL has no computer. He says he doesn't want one and he hates the fact that the library now has computerized the card catalog! Here is a perfect example of someone who has a little money in cds (certificates of desposit) and a money market account and will be getting a very small social security check in the near future. He will need to do something to live. But what?

I am not as prepared as I need and want to be. But at least I am working on it. And I know that you need a computer to be able to do it. If I had to go to a library to use a computer or did not know how to use a computer I would not be able to do it.  The computer is your tool, to teach everything you need to know. Otherwise, you'd have to take a class somewhere or go to a library to do research. It is amazing what you can learn online!

The Boy Scouts' motto of being prepared carries over to your financial life too. Prepare yourself so your finances are in order. You need to have a computer with internet access and know how to use it. Know how to find real estate forums in the search engines. Study the listings. Learn, learn, learn! You are never too old to learn. I like being self-taught, it seems that you know more that way.

Goal #3 Is Preparation - Be Prepared!

Little Step #1 - Make sure your computer skills are up to date.

Little Step #2 - Find good quality real estate forums and become a member and post.

Little Step #3 - Find a good source of online real estate articles.

Little Step #4 - Visit real estate listings in your area. Study them!

Little Step # 5 - Read books!

These steps I have accomplished. But I still keep striving for more preparation. I feel I am prepared on the real estate itself. Now I have to think about the financing part.

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole

Think Big!

Freedom to do what I want when I want!

Goal #1 - Freedom to do what I want when and how I want. 


That is a big goal to try to reach. I know that. Donald Trump tells in his book to think big. I am struggling at this moment in time to do that. Have to keep that in my mind all the time. I think I will make a big sign to put on my wall that says 

T H I N K   B I G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Now that might work since I can see it all day long. I am also realistic enough to know I can't do something that would cost me thousands or millions of dollars if I don't have that much money. My "little steps" will lead to those types of deals or situations in the future. Just prod along till I get there. In my case though, I am going to be prodding along a little faster than most due to my age. But what I have come to realize in writing this is that my main objective in life should be Freedom to do what I want, when, and how I want. It should not be goal #1. The goals should be leading up to that. Just like the "little steps" should lead up to accomplishing each goal. 

So my list now looks like this:

Main Objective: Freedom to do what I want when and how I want.

Goal #1 - Educate myself to be able to do my first investment.
                Little Step #1 - Read Cashflow Quadrant.
                Little Step #2 - Study the real estate forums (for investors) that I belong to.

                Little Step #3 - Put up a sign that says: Think Big on the wall next to me.

                Little Step #4 - Find a way to generate at least $400. extra a month for next steps. 

                Little Step #5 - Put extra money on debts.

                Little Step #6 - Put extra money in savings toward first investment.

Okay, now I at least have a plan. It can be changed. It is not set in stone. It is my plan. But it gives me something to work for. Finding the extra money is my biggest hurdle. I need to work on my affiliate links that I have on my blogs. Have good ones that people will be interested in. Work on my new network marketing business, Global Domain International. Work on listing more books and other items on Bonanzle. Bonanzle is like eBay but better and friendlier. I have been listing books on there for the last couple of weeks. Put out more advertisements for my two websites on which I sell guitar strings. Had real good sales the last month. Hope it keeps going that well. 

Another way I am able to get more cash is by growing my own food in my garden. If the groceries cost me less than that is money in my pocket too. So those are things I am working on today and will write more about some of them in my next posts. In many ways, your present lifestyle can free up some cash to use for your investment fund or debt load. Then you can go back to living the way you want after you have your investments giving you that passive cashflow. 

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole

Little Step #2 Is Education

Are you living by the clock? Someone else's clock? Or your own?

As I told you in a previous post, I am working on my goals. My main goal is to have enough money to have FREEDOM to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. Words like Freedom, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education all come to mind. They are all words that mean you know enough to have it all. When I speak of education I am not necessarily telling you to go back to school. Not at all. I am telling you to read books. Take classes or seminars that teach you what you need to know. How many people who are self taught become very wealthy? More than you know.

So my "little steps" will be to read books for education. Presently, I am reading aloud the Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Quadrant - Rich Dad's Guide To Financial Freedom. I am getting a lot of information out of this book. I have read the first book, Rich Dad Poor Dad - What The Rich Teaches Their Kids About Money That The Poor Don't. I am learning the fact that having a job or being self-employed will not put me in the rich status I want. It will only help me if I educate myself to get out of this side of the quadrant (you have to read the book to understand the quadrant)  while I work that job or run my small business. I am self-employed running a small home based business.

What I am learning is that I need to make extra money somehow and put a percentage of that money on my debts and another percentage of that money in an account for investments. Then when I have enough money saved I can use that toward my first investment. Because of my age, 57, I need to do this as quickly as possible. I feel that time is not on my side in this. If you are younger you can take more time than I am, but it is best to do it as quickly as you can. Why waste time no matter what your age is?

So many people will say that they don't care about money. Money is not everything. Money is not important. Or how about this one "the root of all evil is money." Maybe so. But money is what we all need to live in this world  today. Money is what pays our bills. Money is what buys our food, pays for our medicine, pays for our dentist or vet bills. Money is what pays for our children's education or pays for the house we raise them in. We NEED it no matter what you or anyone else says about it. You can put money down all you want but you still need it. If not, then why do you give so many hours up of your life to do what someone else tells you to do for it? Be honest with yourself about it.

My list today is like this:

Goal #1 - Freedom to do what I want when and how I want.
                Little Step #1 - Read Cashflow Quadrant.
                Little Step #2 - Study the 2 real estate forums (for investors) that I belong to.

You can do that for today too. Then follow your little steps. I will elaborate more on those in my next post.

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole

Little Steps #1 - Goals

Freedom comes with planning and hard work!

Your first step should be listing your goals.What is it that you want? Do you want to own a big fancy house? Drive a fancy sports car? Or are you happy with a modest home and vehicle and look forward to seeing the world? Traveling is the goal of many people. Paying for your children's education is another good goal. List every single thing you can think of. All your wants. Maybe you just want to pay off all your debt. For me, I'd have to say my number one goal is the freedom I mentioned in my last post. Freedom will give me any or all of those things if I so choose.

Freedom will give me the choices I want in life. The choices to do what I want when I want. Not having to do something because it is all I can afford. Not having to buy a certain kind of car because it is the cheapest or in my price range. I want to be comfortable in my life. But not to have to work nonstop because I want freedom. Then that would not be freedom. That would chain me to a computer or whatever I am doing to make money.

Having many different streams of income also gives me the freedom of not being dependent on one business or one form of income generation. I enjoy working on my computer so that is where I find my source of income. Establishing my business of selling guitar strings has been a focus of mine for some time now. I am building this business up little by little. I see an increase in my sales and the hard work is beginning to pay off. I also write two other blogs that I have had up for more than a year. I write about my lifestyle on Homesteading On The Internet and on Solar Baby I write about our small affordable solar system. I have affiliate links on both of those and will have some on this site as well. Affiliate links help to keep my sites up and running. Maybe some day they will generate more income. I have to learn how to hit the right mix of affiliate links and non-affiliate links to generate the trust of my readers. Many of my links are not paid hits just links of sites that I like.

Another form of income for me is my eBook, My Homesteading Journey. It is a book I wrote about my lifestyle about three years ago. I was surprised with that book when I had a VERY famous celebrity buy it. Here I was thinking that a poor person living in Los Angeles was buying my book to learn how to escape from the city. I put the person's name in the search engine and who should come up but a VERY famous father and his address and telephone number! I could not believe it. I did it over again. Then I checked the address and telephone number and sure enough..............a rich person, living in Hollywood bought my book. It was on their computer! I was so psyched!! So working on the internet brings your products to the worldwide market.

So take a few minutes today and write your wants and goals down. They are two different things. Your wants are your dreams of the future. What it is that you want from life. Money does not matter. Whatever it is. As Donald Trump says, "Dream Big." Your goals are your list of what you must do to make your dreams come true.

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole

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