Demotivated

I am really demotivated at the moment. there does not seem to be much work about and pay is getting dismally low which does not help. I think that the fact that we have been spending a lot of money and are not paying money off the mortgage is giving me nothing to work towards. Perhaps once we have paid the deposit for the windows and I know better where we stand financially I may be more motivated to pay off the mortgage again. I am finding myself just hoping we win the premium bonds to make up for my lack of work, which is not good! I have even found myself playing games a lot which is something that I have not done for years, I had better watch out or else I will be considering buying an XBox next!

Trying Hubpages

I have decided to start trying to make money with Hubpages again. I noticed that a writer that I know if often publishing articles on there and so I asked her about it. She said that she makes about $100 a month on Adsense with it and I looked at my adsense and have made £0.50 in the last 2 months on Hubpages and the articles I have on there have been there over 5 years and there are only two of them. If I can get a few more up there then maybe I will see a better income from it. It may seem like a risk and a bit slow but it means that potential employers have a great portfolio of my work to look at and I have something to do in between jobs, which are getting less and less at the moment. I will put up a few and see whether I think that it is worthwhile. The great thing is that you can now advertise them on Facebook and Twitter which might help me too. Anyway my first article is here : http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Lose-Weight-For-Life?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=newsfeed so please take a look!

Justifying the Cost of a Home Theatre

I think that it is probably a man thing, to want a huge television and lots of surround sound speakers everywhere. I know that my husband would jump at the chance of a home theater if I let him have one. Personally a small TV is perfectly fine for me. I do not know how anyone could justify the cost of such a system unless they have loads of money. I suppose that I only watch a few things regularly and I could probably easily do without a TV altogether, in fact I have done in the past. I do enjoy a film at the cinema on occasions and I am impressed with the sound and screen there but I think however good your home system is you can never recreate the cinema because there is something about being away form the distractions of home and being with other people that makes it a unique experience.

Cutting Business Costs

If you are running your own business, like I am, you are likely to be trying to cut costs in every way that you can. I have stopped buying stock and stationery at the moment and so my expenses have come right down. It is lucky really because my income is down too and so my profits would otherwise be very low. It is worth spending a little time looking for cheaper industrial equipment supplies as well as cheaper suppliers in every area. It may seem like you can only make small savings but all of these things add up and can make a big difference to the bottom line.

Lack of Reporting

Things has been busy, although not that much money has come in. I have decided to wait and do a report at the end of the week as I have no time for a daily one at the moment.

Tuesdays Earnings

Article Writing - $14
Amazon Sales - £10.18

brbr Hmmm.....$34....not impressive!

Earnings 20th July

Article Writing - $55
Vegan Recipe Book Sale - £1.72

TOTAL - $57.50

A little disappointing as I am busy tomorrow afternoon and Thursday so I was hoping to build up some extra money to help my weekly average. However, I made quite a few enquiries and things which may turn something up later in the week.

New Goals

Now my holiday is over, I know that I need to work really hard to get some money coming in. I need to make an average of $100 a day (5 days a week) as a bare minimum as I have lots of expenses at the moment. I am keen to start working hard and earning again. I think it will help me if I track my progress on here and do a report at the end of each day as to how much money I have received and where from.

New Ways To Make Money

I have been brain storming ways of making money and I wondering whether selling something different to books might be good. I already have a good reputation on eBay and Amazon and so I can work on that and I of course know how to use the sites to sell things. I considered that I need stock which is small, something such as jewellery, weight loss supplements or beads. However, I know nothing about any of these areas. The reason that I went in to book selling was because I know about books and the second hand book market. I am unsure as to whether people are really buying very much at all at the moment and so I am considering that maybe I will leave the sales side at the moment and just hope that I can sell advertisinga nd my writing and that will be enough to make some money. At least I will only have to invest time and not money into those projects.

Cheap Car iNsurance

My car insurance is due for renewal in September and I know that I should really start looking around for some auto insurance quotes. I know that it is wise to try to save as much money as I can, especially as my earnings are down at the moment. However, I am wondering whether to just keep all of my insurance with the same company. It save hassle in a way because I do not have to try to remember who I am insured with, which is the problem when you keep chopping and changing all of the time. I will probably call the company I was with last year and also get a quote from the company that my house insurance is with. They are a co operative and the more products of theres you have, the more points you get as a member and you get dividends paid twice a year. This is a great little bonus. I will also look at cashback websites to see whether I can gain even more by signing up with a new company.

Book Sales

I have found that book sales have almost completely dried up now. This was quite a main part of my business and I have noticed that there is only one seller on eBay as well as me selling them. In a way I think that I should keep going and then I will get all of the business to myself but if there is not any business to be had I will be losing money in stock sitting on my shelf and also paying out on eBay fees for nothing. I have left them on Amazon as there is no listing charge and just hops that they will sell eventually. I was going to start selling more again around Christmas but I think that is a big risk as some people start shopping in September and others leave it until December so that is a big time period for listing things over. I think I will just leave it for a while and hope that I can do well with the writing and other money making methods.

Saving Money on Life Insurance

Many people shop around for their insurance these days. Using a price comparison website is a popular way to do it. However, it is worth noting that not all online life insurance companies appear of comparison websites. Some of them only sell directly. The price comparison websites are paid commission on the sales that they make and so the companies have to charge more to cover that costs. This means that if you find companies that are not on the comparison websites then you may end up saving even more money. It is worth taking a look around to see how low a quote you can find.

Preserving Your Items

If you are buying new things then it is a really good idea to look after them. One thing that upsets me is when people buy new furniture for their garden and then just leave it outside in all weather and they have to replace it again next season because it looks nasty or have rotted. It is a great idea to invest in some patio furniture covers. Although it may seem expensive, at least can protect your items and preserve them for longer meaning that you will save a lot of money in the long run. It is especially good for people who do not have a garden shed or other storage place to put their furniture over the winter months.

Getting Value for Money

I have been noticing how shabby my kitchen is looking lately. It is only about 4 years since it was refurbished and I am thinking that perhaps my choice of cheaper materials was not such a good idea. The flooring is ripped in several places the tiles are dirty in the grouting the worktop has got water in it in the joins and has swollen up and one of the cupboard doors has a chip. I learnt a lot of lessons from that job and when we had the bathroom done we paid for top quality materials and we have had it for about two years now and it looks as good as it did when it was put in. I think that I will have to put up with the kitchen for a lot longer but I will get a better quality worktop which is all one piece so it has no nasty joins in it and a stainless steel backsplash to avoid dirty grouting and the more expensive but superior flooring that we have in our bathroom. It will probably cost as much to tidy up the job as it did to have it done in the first place.

Saving Money on Gym Costs

Many people pay a lot of money for their gym workouts and are afraid to cancel them in case they get out of shape. It can be a huge expense though and if you are trying to cut costs then it could make a massive saving in your monthly outgoings. You do not have to stop exercising altogether. I have a cross trainer in my home which is great for using in front of the TV or you can buy some DVD's such as the Kettlebell workouts which will allow you to have a trainer in your living room showing you exactly how to do the exercises. You do not even need to have a piece of bulky exercise equipment in your house then. You can have different workouts so that you can try a different thing each day and you will be surprised at how easy it is to get used to working out at home.

Saving Money on Pets

Pets can be expensive and it a shame that as this credit crunch hits harder and harder more and more people are abandoning their pets because they cannot afford to feed them. It is a shame, because although I am not a pet lover myself, I d not think that this is fair on the animals. It is a good idea to look around and see if you can find any cheap pet supplies. It may be an area that you have not thought about cutting costs in. It is also worth looking into pet insurance to see whether that can help to reduce your vet bills. The harder you hunt around, the more likely you are to find a good deal.

Cutting Shopping Costs

One of the supermarkets near where I live offer he option of having a barcode scanner so that you can scan your own shopping to save time at the till. I often wonder whether this would be a good way to cut shopping costs. I don't know about you, but I hardly ever look at the prices of the food that I buy, I just pop it in the trolley and then have a shock at the till! I wonder whether getting something like this might help you become more aware of what you were buying and help you to take more notice of how much you are spending in the supermarket.

Cheap Isn't Always Best

Everyone seems to be telling us how to save money these days. I am finding it pretty tiresome getting telephone calls to try to get me to change to a different insurance company for example. I know that I already have the best term life insurance because I took it out 8 years ago and now I am 8 years older it is more expensive so I am going to stick where I am. It may be cheaper to swap if you have not had your life insurance out for so long but it is worth checking the terms of the policy carefully because cheap isn't always best. You need to make sure that you are getting the cover that you are expecting. I learnt that the hard way when I thought I was saving £50 on insurance and when I made a claim I ended up paying out about £300 - not the best saving I ever made but it taught me a lesson I will never forget.

Making Money

Making money is quite tricky at the moment. My profits were down in June and I assumed this was because I was not fully focussed due to decorating and poorly children. I have just sat down today, knowing that I have a whole week to concentrate on working, before the children are on holiday and there does not seem to be very much work around. I hope that it is just because of the 4th July holiday and things will pick up as I really need some work this month! If anyone has any work they need doing or has any ideas of things to do then I will be most grateful if you contact me, thank you.

I Won Again!

I won some premium bond prizes again this month- I won two £25 prizes and my husband won one £25 prize. His money is reinvested but mine will be paid by cheque, which will be useful because I need to raise the window deposit money as quickly as possible.

June Report

Unfortunately I have managed to lose the file with my earning records on and I am hoping my husband can retrieve it for me soon. This means I cannot publish a breakdown or proper figure for June but I know it was between £900 and £1000. It included $390 which had not been paid to me in February and I had written off as lost which is fantastic. Now that my decorating is finished I should have more time to spend working and earning again which is good as I need to get together a deposit to pay for the new windows we have signed up to buy! Once Wimbledon is over I will not be distracted by the television either!