Little Steps

Monday, May 23, 2011

I have been working on building another website. It is called Lupe Shop and I will be selling various other items. Not guitar strings, music CDs or my eBooks. But new items that are needed for home and garden. I have enjoyed working with my husband on this project. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time now. The ultimate store with good quality products. All name brands which is good because they come with warranties.

Still my uncluttering project has been taking a lot of my time also. But.......it is coming along! Making so much progress. I found it hard in the beginning to get rid of things I kept for sentimental reasons. But now, I am just doing it. I have carried around some things from my childhood for way too many years now. Time to rid myself of these items. Besides if I rehome these items now, then they will be in a safer place rather then when nobody wants them. That is when they get taken to the dump.

It is easy to hold onto things, like books, so you can sell them. But they do not sell instantly and you are stuck with them taking up space. You can put them in a garage sale or do what I am, give them to someone who really wants them. I am looking forward to taking the books to this lady's house this week! Ten boxes of good quality books! I can't believe I had that many boxes.

We want to make our house basically, clutter free. I want to use the computer for movies and music. No piles of stuff! What about you? Do you have a way of dealing with all your stuff? How do you manage it? Does it ever get the better of you?

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Organization IS The Key To Your Success!

My Forsythia bush

I have sadly neglected this blog. I didn't mean to. But I have been so busy doing so many other things this year. I tried to sell my books on eBay and did it mostly as an experiment. I lost money. Due to Paypal and eBay fees, shipping costs, printing costs and shipping envelopes. No, it was not worth it or my time. So I am giving my books away instead.

As we all know, the key to success is organization and if you are not organized, you will never be successful. So that is my biggest goal right now. Not only in my business but in our house, and our life too. I have started so many projects and then start another one without finishing the first one. Going to stop that right now! I am going back to all those half finished jobs I was doing and get them all finished and done with for good.

I have been doing very well on my uncluttering project. But still working on it. With the price of gas so high, it is not that easy to fill the truck up with my unwanted stuff and drive to the thrift store. The closest one I cannot go to any longer because it is upstairs and I just cannot make it up any stairs alone any more. So I will get this job done as soon as I can.

That is another area to get organized on is to buy enough supplies to cook from scratch every day. Now I usually cook from scratch anyway, but I am talking about going another step. Making my salad dressing, all my breads, crackers, everything I possibly can. It is not easy, but it is good for you health wise and financially too. A loaf of bread can go from costing three something at the store to costing about thirty-three cents a loaf baked at home. And you know the best part? It is better tasting than the ones we purchase in the stores! Wow! Your house will smell great too!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Switching Phone Service To Save Money

Clip Art Source: Free Clip Art Now

Cutting back on some of my bills means that I am going to be changing over our telephone service to Tracfones only. I already have one that I have been really lax about learning how to use it. So I am concentrating on familiarizing myself with it. My husband is researching which one he wants to buy. He is leaning toward the Tracfone with internet access. As he is into the programming and design of our sites, as well as some others, and feels he needs it for the mobile work he has to do.

For us to have two of these phones is a lot less than what we pay our telephone company monthly. Since we have the satellite for internet there is no sense in keeping the land line any longer. We have been using the email addresses from our dial-up account and paying for that even though we are not using the dial-up. I am kind of excited about this change in our life.

Neither my husband nor I are telephone people. We hardly ever talk to anyone outside of our families. My father is 91 and I call him but not really often. He is usually outside when I call during the day. I find it easier to visit him if he is home. My husband's father is also 91 and he cannot talk on the telephone because he is very hard of hearing. He can hear if you are there in person, but that is with his hearing aid in. So neither one of us spend much time on a telephone anyway.

The big thing was to change our email addresses. I made a list and I know that I am missing some of the places I need to change my address at. If I can get it through the biggies I will be glad. Biggies like Paypal - that was the MOST important one, and it is done already with no problem that I can see! And Amazon is second, along with Google. I figure if I can get them done, the rest will not be so bad. Trouble is........there are soooo many!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

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!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Providing Food For Your Family

Photo Source: Library Of Congress

Saving money is a big thing on everyone's minds lately. Though I guess it has always been on everyone's minds. It just seems to be on my mind more than usual lately. Everything has gone up so much that I want to scream, "That is enough! The Social Security administration said that the cost of living has not gone up in two years now. So must be it hasn't if they said so." Right???????????

Photo Source: Library Of Congress

I know I talk about this all the time but it is important for everyone to start a garden this year. If you have even a tiny patio, you can grow some plants. Skip the flowers and house plants and plant some food. And something you like. Visit your local farms and get produce there. It should be cheaper right from the farm.

Photo Source: National Archives

Buy in bulk and get good deals on meats, produce, whatever you use. Can as much as you can. That way it is not using electricity while it is stored. Tastes better and is quicker to prepare. Think about food and fuel. Two areas of our lives that we have been totally dependent on the system. Time to find ways to wean ourselves off that system in case it is not there or able to provide for everyone.

Do you have some ideas besides providing your many streams of income? Even taking a job on a farm or at a farmer's market can be a big help if you can get some produce in exchange for work. Let me know your ideas or ways you find to save money on food. I am really interested in how others do this too.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Presently For Sale On Bonanza - Wordless Wedneday

The Last Waltz CD

Me And My Big Mouth!

Statue Of Liberty Guide

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

The Bodyguard

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Now I Have Two - Yes, Two Bonanza Booths!

katlupe's Booth

I am really excited about my Bonanza booths! The last few days I have been so busy listing products there that I can't seem to get anything else done. Everything in my house is definitely in danger of being sold on Bonanza. And now that I have added a second booth, called String Baby for my guitar strings, well that has doubled my work. But I don't care. I love it!

So I figure people like Free Shipping. That is why in my booth for used books and CDs I am selling them with the price included for shipping. Now you don't think people expect me to pay their shipping cost out of the few bucks I make on the book or CD do you? I hope not. My Paypal fee is usually about .50 and the fee for Bonanza is about the same. Then add the $3.00+ for the shipping, the ink and paper for printing and the bubble mailer that I send them in............how much profit does that give me? Not enough to get rich on. Not enough to pay for groceries.

If I can make more sales though, and add up all those little profits, then maybe I will make some bigger profits in the long run. Another thing I am really excited about is that some of my blogging friends have opened booths on Bonanza too! Here are two of my very good friends who have opened booths there:

Teresa's Odds And Ends - Here is an absolutely gorgeous Antique Flue Cover that she is selling.

Deb's Booth - She has a good selection of books. And also has some books about Scrapbooking. The Ultimate Guide To Scrapbooking looks pretty good for anyone learning or already into it. Deb knows about these things!

If you decide to open a booth there, one of the first things you need to do is to write a profile. You need to let people know who you are and that you are a real person. Let them know your shipping rates. Nobody will buy from you unless you are upfront with your shipping fees. That is a fact. Then get to know the other sellers by visiting the message boards. They are the people who are your potential buyers. Good luck! And if you do open a booth, let me know and I will include it in a future post.

I am an affiliate marketer, as well, as a blogger. This means that I receive payments or gifts from a company for writing about a product or service on this blog. Or for having a banner or button displayed along the side, such as the Amazon ones for my eBooks. If you go to those links, I receive a commission for anything you buy on Amazon by using my link. I will not endorse anything I do not think is a good product or service. Many of my affilate links are to products I use myself. My readers will always come first.

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