Exciting News

Ihave just picked up some work which should be worth $1000. It has arrived at a bad time because I am holiday until Tuesday because the children are on half term holiday and my husband is having time off too and we have lots of days out organised. However, I have managed to squeeze in some work and there is no deadline. However, I want to get it done as quickly as I can because last time I had a big assignment, I delivered some of it and they ran out of funds before I finished. This seems like a much more professional company, but I do not want to take any chances as that is a great deal of money and will be very useful coming up to Christmas.

Planning a Holiday

My husband has decided that he would like to take the children abroad on holiday next year. He is going to be 40 and he would like to have a memorable birthday and thought that this would be a nice way to do it. I think that it is a good idea. We are having trouble deciding where to go though. He was wondering whether a short journey might be best and that we just go to France or somewhere liketrhat, however, it wold p[ropbably be more memorable if we had a orlando vacations or went to see my family in Australia. I think how much money will have, will be a big factor in the decision and so we may just have to wait until after Christmas when we will have our new bathroom and see what our finances look like then.

Getting Good Value for Money

Since losing weight, I feel much better about myself and I have started treating myself to a few beauty products. I have tried all sorts of things but have found that the cheapest things such as eye creams and face wash are just as good as the branded items and so I have been saving money by buying thse. This is not true for all of the products though and as I am always keen to get good value for money, then I make sure that I spend my money really wisely.

Saving Money and Reducing Clutter

I think that I have at last managed to achieve a huge feat! I think that my husband is spending les smoney. Since he has decluttered he has made several discoveries. Firstly, that he had a lot more things than he thought he had so there is no need for him to keep buying stuff. Also that it is hard work tidying up a lot of clutter and he doesn't want to have to do it again. He no longer comes homes with cable ties, electrical bits, DVD's, books and things like that. Just the occasional magazine and book that he needs for his job. It is fantastic as it is not only saving us money but helping to keep the house free of clutter as well.

A Good Attitude

I have been feeling really good lately, as I am eating better and exercising more. I find it interesting that when I am in better physical shape I seem to be better mentally and more able to concentrate on my work which has been going well. I have been using healthy food as fat burners and exercising too and I can really feel I am in shape, not just because my muscles are more toned but because I am able to think more clearly which is fantastic.

A Proper Job

I have been thinking about my old job lately. I used to enjoy working as a project manager and having that responsibility and working in an office with filing, computers and the odd cad drawing and in a way I do miss it. However, I do not think that anything can beat working for yourself, especially when you have children. Having that flexibility is so fantastic, it means that I can look after them if they are unwell, on holiday from school or just need hugs. It does pay me less money and there is always a concern that there might not be much work, but as I am lucky enough to have my husband earning enough to cover our bills then I can be pretty relaxed about it really.

Health Insurance

One way that people in the UK make big savings is by not having to pay health insurance.. Some choose to pay for private treatment but most people rely on the National Health Service which is very good and usually suitable for most peoples care as long as they are prepared to wait a little while. IN other countries there is not this option and so most people are always looking around for low cost health insurance. This can be hard becase you want to make sure that you will get the care you need but you do not want to end up having to pay too much money for it, it can be quite a gamble and I feel very lucky not to have to worry about it.

My New Ebook

One thing that I should really start to focus on is finishing my new ebbok. I was hoping to sell it on clickbank and I have made a good start. It is all about healthy eating and how to ignore the diet pill revolution and try to stay healthy forlife. Not that I am totally against diet pills but I think that they should not be used all of teh time and people need a long term solution. Whilst they can be a great short term solution, especially for people with serious health problems, I do not think they are the magic wand solution that some people think they are,

Ideas.....

I am trying again to think of new ways to make money. The thing is that I am not really a good ideas person but much better at actually carrying out other peoples ideas. This means that once I find something things are great but while I am looking for new opportunities they are notso good. I guess Ishould try asking my husband as he is a fantastic ideas person but not so good at carrying things out. He is likely to come up with lots of surreal ideas such as investing in steel buildings or something but I know that I need to step outside of my comfort zone and so it might be good for me to think hard about these ideas that I think are odd and see what comes of them.

Doubling Progress

I found a penny this morning. This means that my doubling stake is now 7p in total. Not exactly a quick start but hopefully I will be able to keep going with it. Obviously I need to do something abit more than collecting lost coins as there do not seem to be that many to find but I cannot think of anything else to do at the moment. I am sure I will come up with something soon.

Concerns

After investing a lot of money in books to sell, I am now very worried as I have only sold two of them. I know it is early days but I need that money to come back to me before Christmas and I have to sell about 25 out of the 30 before I break even. I was hoping that the profits would help me out buying Christmas gifts but now it seems like I may be in more trouble than I was to start with. I know I should be thinking positively about it all but at the moment that is not proving to be very easy....

Saving Money on Home Insurance

I am always thinking of ways to save money and I have even been thinking about buying one of those home alarm systems in order to save money on my home insurance. I will have to investigate in order to find out whether I will make significant savings or not as I think that they are a bit of a pain really. We live in a good neighbourhood and I feel there is no need to have one form a security point of view but if I can save money elsewhere then it coudl be worthwhile.

Update

Work has been really slow lately. I have made no progress with the doubling either. I have now received my new book stock and so I am obviously hoping that I can make some money from those and I have now got them listed on my Chalet School website. I have them on Amazon and may try them on eBay as well to see whether they will do well or not. The writing work is still very quiet, despite signing up with a new company and a new client. I have a feeling that I may need to get thinking about doing something different again, but I am not sure what!

Selling Books Again

I have decided to have a go at selling books again. It is the right time of the year and I am just buying a small amount, hoping that I can make some profit out of them. I have been thinking about doing it again and after a customer asked me about it. I decided to have a go and see. Hopefully itw ill pay off as it is rather an expesive gamble.

Retirement Planning

I amaze even myself sometimes! I am always really well prepared for everything unyet I have nothing saved towards my retirement at all. I was put off pensions because I thought that an annuity was too restricting. However, I understand that they are better these days and that should not be an excuse for not saving anything at all. I have become obsessed by paying off the mortgage and although, that is obviously a great thing, it is not going to help me unless I use the money that I save by paying it off early, to invest in something decent for my retirement.

I feel guilty about cashing in investments to pay for the new bathroom but it is a job that needs doing and we have waited too long already. We will just have to hope that the interest rates stay long for a long while.

Ideas Brainstorming.....

I have been trying to think of ways of making money. I am not interested in working for money as I do enough of that already and it is not how the wealthy get their money. I want the money to work for me. I have therefore decided to brainstorm a list which is below. I am also inviting guest bloggers to put their views forward as well so if you have any ideas please feel free to get in touch.

1. swap money with someone - give them a coin and ask for higher value on in exchange
2. buy shares
3. buy premium bonds
4. find money on the street
5. buy things and sell them for more than you bought them for
6. buy things, add value and sell them on
7. invest in a business
8. savings account/ISA/bond or similar
9. buy equipment which can produce something that you can sell
10.encourage people to buy links on your blog website

September Earnings

Pay to Blog - £54.45
PayU2Blog - £16.50
Private Reviews - £37.95
Writing - £86.91
Article Writing - £86.91
Other - £0.79
Link Sales - £0.69
Quidco - £0.10
Making a grand total of £142.14

I am pretty disappointed iwth this but am notgoing to dwell on it. I have already found some new writing work and with the children doing some full days at school now, I have no excuses for not getting my head down and working. There do seem to be the opportunities out there now so hopefully I can make a vast improvement on this figure next month.