Getting ready for tax season

Those of us who are working from home on at least a part time basis will need to get our tax papers in order very soon. The end of the year is very close!

I've got my PayPal records downloaded except for this month. That will be downloaded in the first week of January because that's the earliest it will be available for the whole month of December. My next step is to look over those records along with my bank records, which are downloaded, and put all business related income and expenses on new spreadsheets.

I've got some receipts gathered already that may help offset any taxes due this coming year. I really think I didn't spend enough on business, though, and that I'll probably wind up owing money. My tax preparer will be able to tell me that. Still, there are a few days left and I might be able to make a purchase that will help.

For instance, peripherals that I use in my business can be written off, but adjustable beds for sleeping on cannot, even though the rest I get from them helps me work more efficiently.

The places online where I earn money will send me 1099 forms, so I'll know how much I actually made with them.

Why work from home?

Different people have different reasons for wanting to work from home. My personal reasons are so that I can be home and return to my favorite lifestyle - that of a stay at home mom, even though my kids are grown. The stress and pressure of working outside my home and the lack of time here to really do the things I love are my driving force.

Others have other reasons for wanting to work from home, though. Maybe they want to be able to raise and homeschool their children while they generate some extra income. Maybe there are health issues that prevent them from working an outside job. Things like severe arthritis, fibromyalgia, or injuries can make an outside job impossible. Or maybe they just like the idea of being their own boss and setting their own hours for work, being in control of their own destiny.

I'd love to know your reasons for wanting to work from home!

Computing equipment

Where I work, we have two larger servers that backup our system daily and that have to be programmed anytime there are price or menu changes. I haven't ever reprogrammed them myself, but the managers who have access to that area are very talented in this task. I don't know if they have used cisco or what, but they certainly seem to get everything done and in working order pretty rapidly.

Sometimes I wonder if I should maybe be training toward that area instead of the restaurant operations.

Last minute gift ideas

Yes, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but I'll just bet there are some of you who are still shopping for gifts. Either you put it off till now or someone who wasn't previously on your list has come to light. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Scented candles
  
• Bath oils
  
• Pretty stationary
• Took kit
  
• Swiss Army knife
• Unique kitchen gadget
• Gift certificate for a massage
• Tin of cookies
• Movies
• Music CDs
• Lotions
• Shaving or grooming kit
• Travel size items
• Unique Christmas ornament

I'm sure you can think of more items yourself. What did you come up with?

Christmas shopping update

Monday or Tuesday, I'll go to my bank and get MasterCard debit cards for my grandchildren in the amount of $10 each. Just last night, one of my grandsons commented that he had accumulated over $200 worth of cash and debit cards so far and was saving them for a musical instrument he wants. This kind of self-control in spending is rare in a 13 year old boy, so I admire him for that.

I could probably shop around town for gifts for girls to give to granddaughters, but I might never find exactly what they want. I'm not sure what the "now" thing is for them so they'll get the debit cards. I do know girls love to spend money when they have it, and they can get things they truly want this way.

I've pretty well got everything I want to get for my younger daughter. I still need to figure out something for my son Brandon. For the grown and on their own children, I'll give them MasterCard debit cards, too, though in higher amounts.

Bank offering points

I was delighted to learn that my bank now offers points based on debit card use. I have two bank accounts, which means two debit cards. I've already earned a few thousand points with those cards without even trying. See, I was automatically signed up for this when they began offering the points awhile back. And that's OK with me!

The point redemption tiers are as follows:

1. 2,000 points = $10
2. 5,000 points = $25
3. 10,000 points = $60
4. 20,000 points = $125

To get the points, I have to choose "credit" instead of "debit" when making purchases in order to earn the most points. But, I can still earn some points for using it as "debit". The money all comes from the same accounts, so it makes little difference which I choose.

To receive the cash bonus from the points, I'll need to fill out a form at the bank. I think I'll let them accumulate for awhile longer before I redeem them, though. I'd like to get a large lump sum sometime after the first of the year.

Flowers for feasts

Your church, youth group, or homeschool group, or maybe even your business, may be planning special events during this time of the year. If so, you may want to consider buying wholesale flowers from FiftyFlowers.com for the table and hall decorations.

While they specialize in wedding arrangements, they are not limited to them. These flowers, from growers in Ecuador, Colombia, and other exotic locations, are cut fresh and delivered to you within two or three days of cutting. You might want only flowers and make your own arrangements from them. Or, you may want to create arrangements with their help and have those shipped to you instead, saving you both time and money.

Whichever route you choose, you can rest assured the flowers are guaranteed fresh and were purchased at the lowest price around.

Car Angel videos

I'm going to be posting a number of Car Angel videos to this blog so you can get a sample of the kind of videos they give to kids and teens to help them. These videos are inspirational and motivating, seeking to engender in children a more soulful look at themselves and ways to make better choices in their lives.

Car Angel is a ministry that accepts donated cars, boats, RVs, and ATVs, sells them, then uses the proceeds to produce videos and printed materials for teens, children, and even prison inmates. Your donation is tax deductible and they arrange for all the towing and title transfers, so they make it very easy for you to make this kind of charitable contribution.

Be sure and look for videos from them in upcoming posts.

AGLOCO news

Well, it looks like AGLOCO is biting the dust. If you are a part of this program, then you probably already got the email about it. If not, then don't bother signing up for it.

I'll be taking down the AGLOCO badges from my blogs. They say the marketing premise is sound but they aren't generating the revenues they had hoped to. In fact, the development team has actually been using their own money to try and keep this program going, but they just can't do this any longer.

It's a shame, really. I had hoped advertisers would jump on this very useful toolbar advertising concept. I suppose their advertising dollars are simply being spent elsewhere. Maybe in the future, this will actually take off again. I'm sorry to see them go.

Investing in gold

Without a doubt, investing in gold is one of the best ways to ensure you have solid financial footing in the years ahead. Buying gold takes some expertise and good strategy, though. You really need expert advice from a gold brokerage firm. You might also want to consider where you can purchase gold in smaller amounts and for the best possible price.

With recent price hikes in crude oil, it is even more important that your investment dollars go as far as possible. Knowing that oil resources and other fossil fuels are on the decline ensures that they will rise in price on the consumer end. Gold is similar, in that the stockpiles are dwindling worldwide and there really aren't new sources for this precious metal. Buying now can mean all the difference in whether you see an increase in your investment that will amount to enough to retire on.

I love free stuff

I have entered a recipe contest and if I win, this will be a great gift for my younger daughter. See, the giveaway is a gift certificate for $10 to Amazon.com and a great cookbook. My younger daughter loves to cook and really loves new recipes. She watches the Food Network every spare minute! So, please, go vote for me, Ann, at the Christmas cookie recipe contest.

Merry Christmas!

Serious bookkeeping

Besides doing the regular and the Christmas shopping in December, this is also the time of year when I begin to gather receipts and download income records in preparation for the upcoming tax season.

This past year has seen not nearly enough expenditures on business related items, I'm sad to say. I may need to purchase something related in order to not have to pay taxes or at least reduce my tax bill for the year. If I had the proper education and a chunk of money, I might try to invest in a real estate franchise to help offset my tax bill, and possibly generate some income with it. Alas, I really know but very little about real estate, although it does seem to be fairly lucrative even these days when I've read that home sales are down.

Are any of you in the real estate business? How are you faring?

Assessing the income

In the previous post, I gave you a little glimpse of what has happened so far in my attempts to generate some income through affiliate marketing. It's fun to do, but so far I don't seem to be making a dime from it, which makes me think it could be a total waste of my time even fooling with it.

I update the ads fairly frequently. I also remove older ones and place new ones on my blogs. Still, none of them seem to attract much interest. I might as well be trying to sell Wilmington NC real estate from my hilltop home in Arkansas as to be trying to make money from affiliate marketing.

Some people have made a lot doing that, so maybe I just don't have the right ads on the blogs. I'm going to have to keep digging around and see what else I need to do.

Affiliate update

I am using an affiliate account for two different places. One is for Commission Junction (which I keep wanting to call "Conjunction Junction"). The other is for LinkShare.

So far, CJ has generated absolutely no income for any blogs where I have their ads posted. In fact, I've only gotten a total of two clicks, and since I don't get paid unless someone actually buys the advertised product, those netted me 0 in commissions.

I've been trying to login to LinkShare, but keep getting an error page and an apology for being inconvenienced, so as of this moment I can't give you any information about that one. Maybe they're updating the site or something. I really don't know, but as soon as I learn anything, I'll post it here.

I love coffee

One of my worst habits is the amount of coffee I drink. And I drink all kinds of coffee including the iced coffees we have at work. Just now, I made myself a little afternoon treat that's as good as anything you'd get from a coffee house. I just used a packet of hot cocoa mix and poured hot coffee over that. I topped it off with canned whipped cream. Yum! A coffee like this would undoubtedly be $3 or $4 at a coffee shop and I didn't need a capresso machine to make it.

So, how do you save money on decadent treats like this?

Christmas shopping

Last year, I was pleased to be able to buy gifts for those I love without a lot of concern about the price. No, I wasn't rolling in dough, but I did have a lot more freedom. This year, with gas prices being what they are, Christmas shopping will be a bit more frugal. The cost of consumer goods has increased right along with fuel prices, which is to be expected.

So, I'll be making a much more humble list for shopping this year, and will be keeping an eye open for drastic cuts and good bargains. I'm sure electronics will enter into the picture for some gifts. But I'll also be scouring the bookstores and some discount stores for more unique gifts. For instance, I saw a calendar at Hastings the other day that had a sort of Scherenschnitte project for each month. Scherenschnitte is a style of paper cutting that produces intricate designs that are works of art.

December arrives

December arrives, and with it comes the Christmas season. For most, this will be a happy time. Family get-togethers, parties, gift exchanges, and a feeling that everyone is especially friendly now.

For others, though, this is a season of depression. Perhaps, someone has lost a loved one and they can barely face this holiday without them. Perhaps, someone has been alone far too long and the loneliness weighs heavy on them.

Even the shortened daylight hours of winter can bring on depression in a condition known as SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. This mixed with the depressing affect of a holiday spent alone can drive some people to alcohol, drugs, or worse. Sometimes, only drug rehab can bring a person back to the real world and knowing that others really do care.

Take notice of those around you. Acknowledge their value to you. Reach out to them.

Can you make money from home?

I'm pretty sure by now we've all decided we actually can make some money from home. We can do this through a variety of means including selling on eBay or other online auction sites, letting advertisers pay for links to them, offering online services, and having AdSense or other ads on our sites.

Some of us will be more successful in these ventures than others, of course. It all depends on the individual drive and just how badly you want to make money from home. It also depends on whether you are trying to generate a full time income from home or just wanting to supplement the income from your job.

You will find "make money from home" blogs and articles all over the internet. To read them, you'd think that it's what everyone should be doing. While I personally believe that Moms should be seeking this kind of job, so she can remain close to her family and not be under the control of an employer, we have to remember that our society as a whole would actually fail if everyone worked from home.

Where would you shop for groceries, go out to eat, or buy your clothes?

I currently work full time at McDonald's and supplement my income pretty nicely through online enterprises. I haven't yet reached a point where I can afford to completely quit my job, though I am striving to do so. I'm a homebody and prefer to be here than going to a j.o.b. every day. But I also understand that without employees, businesses actually die. Employment is nothing to be ashamed of, for sure!

Very cold weather

Right now, it's only 33 degrees here, which is very cold when you're used to more moderate temperatures. I've got a heater running, but it doesn't seem to really be heating much beyond a few feet away from it. Predictions are for rain mixed with some wintry stuff and, although it probably won't stick, it makes me think that if our road gets icy I may have to park my car at the bottom of the hill and walk up and down it.

My footing isn't always that steady, so I also might need some cleated Adidas golf shoes to keep me from slipping down. Another back injury is just not what I need!

Recovering from Thanksgiving

I did pretty good today and didn't eat my overfill on turkey and trimmings. I waited a reasonable time before I had dessert, too. So, although I'm tired tonight, I'm not in misery as I have been in past years.

Before, I'd eat so much that I thought maybe I should have gotten a life insurance quote beforehand, because surely I was going to die of overeating. This year, I promised myself that I wouldn't make me miserable from too much rich food. I took smaller portions on my plate and didn't go back for seconds. I have to admit, that was hard for me. The food was all so delicious!

How did your Thanksgiving go?

Affiliate marketing experiment

You may have noticed that lately, more of this blog's real estate contains some ad badges. This is an experiment to see if affiliate marketing can really work for me. I've selected companies I'm familiar with, and with which I've actually done business in the past. That way I know they are who they say they are, and will do what they say they'll do.

Probably the only downside is that I can't click them myself for the deals they offer. Still, if my readers find great deals on them, then I'm happy I was able to help.

Keeping utilities low

Besides generating income from various sources, I have a goal to keep my utilities as low as possible through the use of alternative energy sources. I haven't taken the step into full solar usage yet, but I've entered it a little at a time.

For instance, instead of turning on a regular light inside at night, I use solar LED spotlights strategically placed inside the house. They aren't bright enough to read by, but I can certainly make coffee or do other simple tasks using only these lights.

I've also won an auction on eBay for a 12 volt solar charger. I'll get an inverter locally, maybe at Radio Shack or one of the auto parts places, to use with the inverter. Then, I can use the solar panel to charge my cell phone and maybe even my laptop battery.

I'm very conservative with energy usage anyway. I have compact fluorescent bulbs all through my house. They are bright, but are low wattage and cool. I only run my dishwasher and washing machine when they are full.

Anytime we save on utilities, shopping, and just spending in general, we are essentially paying ourselves a little extra money.

Clothing tactics

Since the weather is beginning to turn off a bit cooler, I want to be able to dress warmly and comfortably. Because I only wear dresses and skirts, this means that I need more substantial undergarments. This is why I shop for things like leggings, heavy tights, and chemises to wear under my regular clothes to keep me warmer.

Not only do I add extra layers when going outside, I wear extra layers inside as well, so I can keep the house cooler and save some money on heating. Of course, I don't keep it chilly in here at all. I tend to get chilled pretty easily. However, in an effort to keep my utility bills as low as possible, I do keep the heat turned down.

Where does your money go? - series

Awhile back, I wrote a series of posts entitled "Where does your money go?". Because we are heading into the biggest shopping season of the year, I thought it might be appropriate to include them again now.

Where does your money go? - 1

Where does your money go? - 2

Where does your money go? - 3

Where does your money go? - 4

Where does your money go? - 5

Where does your money go? - 6

While I know we all want to shop for those we love, and get them the best gifts possible, be sure that you aren't neglecting the ordinary bills and necessities of life and that you don't allow your shopping trips to overshadow your business sense as well.

Christmas giving

While you're out shopping for the people on your list, remember those who aren't as fortunate as you. You can get some good gift ideas for them from places like Heifer International, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Second Harvest. Giving to these organizations helps them to provide support, food, and even livelihoods to persons and families who are needing a hand up in their lives.

Pick up a few extra cans of vegetables to donate to your local Food Bank or church pantry ministry. Buy a few new toys for the Toys for Tots campaign. Pick an angel of the Angel Tree at your church or local business. None of this will cut into your regular shopping budget as much as you might think it will, and you will know that by giving, someone who wouldn't have had a very merry Christmas will have a brighter day instead.

Daily small business funding

With gas prices on the rise (they are near $3 a gallon here now), and the resultant price increases of items small businesses need to operate on a daily basis, it almost goes without saying that a small business needs a Small Business Credit Card. Finding the right card with the lowest rates and from the best financial institutions can be daunting unless you have someone like CreditCardSearchEngine.com on your side.

They do all the searching, and find the best available credit cards from sources such as Chase, Bank of America, Visa, and MasterCard. They present you with comparisons so you can make a decision that's right for your small business. Using a small business credit card could free up the daily cash flow and make it possible to pay all your business related expenses from one source. That would even benefit you at tax time, since you would have a good read-out of what you've spent and for what to give your tax preparer.

Taking care to pay off your balance each month can save you many dollars in interest, too, so that your expenses for having the card are kept very low.

Are you a Starbucks fan?

Some of you probably invest a little here and there in the stock market. Whether you are investing through a broker, investing in your workplace through payroll deductions, or are part of a Money Market, you might be interested in reading about the recent drop in the Starbucks stock price.

Part of their problem seems to be oversaturation of the local markets. Here, in Big Town, there are at least three Starbucks stores that I can think of off the top of my head. This is a town of 50,000, so maybe they haven't overloaded the market here, but I tend to think they probably have.

I have been to Starbucks a few times. Yes, the beverages are tasty but they are also very expensive. McDonald's and now Sonic both feature premium flavored iced coffees. Sonic also has latte and expresso, and a variety of flavors for both iced and hot coffees. The taste is comparable to Starbucks' offerings, and about half the price.

Part of the problem with Starbucks, other than saturation, is the rising cost of ingredients which tends to increase the price at the consumer end. They continually introduce new flavors and each time it's really a shot in the dark whether those flavors will be a hit. It might serve them better to promote the tried and true flavors, offer specials on them from time to time, and find ways to reduce costs rather than finding new street corners where they can build yet another store.

Still, as far as investing goes, this could also be a good time to buy shares in Starbucks, while the price is down. Once they improve their strategies, the price will likely go up again.

What's your drug of choice?

I've discovered that one of the managers at work takes Prozac on a regular basis to maintain some kind of level thinking. Another one drinks tons of highly caffeinated beverages, to which she add several packets of sugar.

I've noticed that some workers eat a ton of food on their break. Others eat a lot of sweets.

None of these people would probably be considered as needing drug treatment, but it's obvious that although they aren't taking illegal drugs, their personal "drug of choice" is either legal or it's food. We all probably overindulge from time to time. However, even using food to somehow dull the senses still doesn't seem right. Certainly, it can lead to health issues.

The better way would be to step back and take some deep breaths. Maybe meditate on Scripture verses or think peaceful thoughts. Doing something other than putting too much food, too much caffeine, or too much Prozac into your body would be more beneficial in the long run.

What's your "drug of choice"?

Business ideas needed

If you look at the sidebar, you'll see the feed widget for Business Idea of the Day. I contributed one that was fed on November 8. You can scroll down to see it.

I strongly encourage you to put on your thinking caps and come up with a business idea you can donate to this organization. When it's accepted, a funding group loans money to a third world individual to help them get started as entrepreneurs. Helping people this way reduces the poverty in those countries and makes it possible for people to support themselves and even acquire more education.

Whether your business idea is as local as weaving or farming, or as advanced and working with fiber cable, there are people who can take your ideas and run with them for their own betterment and for the betterment of their family and community.

It cost you nothing but a few minutes of your time. What are you waiting for?

Wise shopping

Whether you'll be shopping on Black Friday or not, you should have a game plan in place before hitting the mall for your Christmas shopping. Begin with a list of names of individuals you'll be buying gifts for. Set a limit how much you'll spend for each, and promise yourself you won't go beyond that limit.

Assess how much you will really need to spend for Christmas gifts. Don't be concerned about spending more for one person than you do for another. The gifts for individuals shouldn't be based on some kind of equilateral spending goal. It's really OK to spend more on one person than you do on another, as long as the gift is well-chosen.

While your son may want a playstation 3, your daughter might want luscious bath accessories. There will be a price difference, but the items will fit the recipients' wishes.

Are you working toward your dreams?

The Bible says "Faith without works is dead". Well, I also say "Dreams without action are dead". Having dreams you wish to attain is great. Everyone should have dreams for their own future. You should also be able to decide what progress you will make toward those dreams on a daily basis.

If you aren't working toward fulfilling your own dreams, who will?

Ask yourself, "Where will I be in attaining my dreams in 6 months? In 1 year? In 5 years?" Then make a commitment to put things into motion that will move you into making your dreams into reality. Decide what you need to do day-by-day and week-by-week.

Maybe you need to take some courses at a local college or junior college. Maybe you need to open a savings account and commit to paying yourself something each pay period. If you are working for yourself already, you may need to commit to paying your savings account as if it's an employee.

Write down your dreams and the steps you will need to take to fulfill them. Keep it posted where you can review it daily. Take an index card with you in your purse or billfold with the steps on it, so you can review it at other times. Every time you make a purchase, ask yourself if it will help you attain your goals or if it will actually set you back.

Exhibit self-control when it comes to purchasing things purely for entertainment. I'm not saying never have any entertainment in your life, but there are times when you may be making purchases purely out of boredom. Reviewing your goals might help you realize that those times can be filled productively. Yes, do have some entertainment, but don't let it rob you of your dreams.

Assess your possessions to make sure you aren't replacing things that still have a lot of usefulness in them. Don't go round in rags for clothes. Just be sure you aren't succumbing to the latest fashion fad. Buy clothes that don't become "old hat" with the very next season change.

I'm sure you can also think of ways to keep outside influences from robbing you of your own dreams. Feel free to share them here. We can all learn from each other.

Fit for the battles

You would think that with a job like mine, I'd be more physically fit for taking on all the challenges life throws at me. Things like longer working hours or dealing with bills. However, I'm beginning to wonder if all the steps I take at work count for nothing, now that I've been there over a year. I'm sure I walks several miles a day in my job, but I probably need to add additional walking and exercise, or even get home gym equipment like my sister has.

She walks on her treadmill every single day. She also is part of a swim exercise group that meets a few times a week at the college indoor pool. Exercise doesn't just tone the muscles, it's good for women my age because it helps strengthen bones that could be weakened due to osteoporosis.

Declining PayPayl Money Market

The PayPal Money Market just keeps on dropping. Today, it's down to 4.76%. It's making me wonder if I should just pull out or hang in there, hoping for a rise. This still beats savings accounts at local banking institutions, but I'm not real pleased with this continued decline.

I'll watch this a little while longer and if it drops to near savings account interest rates, I'll probably drop it. The idea is to earn money, not lose it. Since Money Market isn't FDIC insured, I actually could stand to lose a lot on deep declines.

I'll sit it out a little longer before I make a final decision, though.

Temporary storage option

Unless you are independently wealthy, you may want to explore some options for temporary storage of items you plan to list on eBay or sell locally. Later on, you can invest in some sort of storage building or even may want to rent a storage unit close to you. Until then, if you have a garage or carport, you could set cases of goods on pallets, then use car covers to protect them from dust, dirt, and moisture. These could possibly even be used outside, in your backyard.

They would make it possible for you to get the items you want out easily, then cover it all back up again when you're finished. When you aren't using them, they can be neatly packed away until the next time.

Car insurance increase

I renewed my car insurance policy today and learned it's been increased. According to the agent on duty, it wasn't just mine. Everyone's went up - some more than others. Mine increased by about $6 a month, which isn't so bad, I suppose, compared to some others that had gone up about $25 a month.

The agent assured me this was just a general price increase having nothing to do with my driving record. I didn't figure it related to my driving record since I've never had a moving violation in my life. I am a defensive driver and take care to obey traffic laws at all times so that I don't get a ticket.

A traffic ticket is a pure waste of money, in my opinion. It's expensive enough to own and maintain a vehicle these days. I sure don't want to waste money on tickets!

Work and payments

It seems that very little of my regular income can be saved after making payments and paying bills. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, though. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes, it's not even that good.

Regardless, I am glad I have enough money to pay bills with and stay afloat. What worries me most, probably, is what if I got sick and couldn't work for a time? I think I'm going to check into some kind of insurance that will cover payments and bills, if nothing else, if I couldn't make enough due to illness to cover them.

Any suggestions?

Need an answering service?

When you're involved in a home business, incoming phone calls can be very important to you. However, too many of them can leave you drained from fielding them and getting little else done.

Not only that, but there are times you will be away from your phone and no one's there to answer it. This might be a good time to employ Map Communications Answering Service. Right now, they are offering a free trial period of seven days so potential customers can try this service for themselves.

This isn't limited to mere Answering Services, of course. MapCommunications.com offers call screening, emergency call services, a nationwide 800 number for your business, voicemail, online messaging through email or the web, and other important services.

How much of these services you want to use is up to you. A small business may only need them for answering calls. Larger businesses may want to incorporate many more of the options available. MAP can not only answer calls, but they can facilitate order taking and payments through their services. Their voicemail offers you storage space for up to 100 messages.

You aren't obligated to a long term contract, either. This is a month-to-month service. They use time-based billing, which means you only pay for the service you use and not for the service you thought you might use.

PayPal Money Market

I gave you my results for my debit card Cash Back Bonus. It's too bad the Money Market isn't paying out as well as I'd hoped it would. This last time, I only received $1.51 from that.

I realize that low amount is due to a couple of factors. One is that the interest rate has dropped to 4.88%. If it goes up, I'll fare a little better.

Another factor is that my PayPal balance isn't as high as I'd like it to be so I can see a better return. I leave all I can in there, but I do want to use the money from time to time. Otherwise, what's the point in having it and having the debit card?

It looks like using the money with the debit card actually pays better than saving it for Money Market. It's really something to think about.

Bad credit loans

I won't go into all the sordid details of why, but I do have bad credit. I've been striving to put that behind me, but it's not an easy road. In the meantime, I'm denied a loan to buy a house and land because I'm perceived as a bad risk. I can understand that. If I were a financial institution, I'd see me as a bad risk, too.

Still, I'd like to prove myself worthy of a loan, and it looks like I might be able to do that by looking into bad credit loans that are now available. I'm just one among many Americans who face this dilemma - I need to borrow money to get a house and land or a cabin and land, but I can't do that from local lenders.

So, I'm going to be looking into getting a home loan from another source, such as Lending Tree. Of course, I won't just jump into it. I still want to be a smart consumer and a smart borrower, which means looking at all the details very closely.

I found Lending Tree at BadCreditOffers.com, which is a free service. They research the credit industry to find these kinds of offers so consumers with bad credit can consolidate bills, repair their credit, or find the loans they need.

Have any of you had any experience with Lending Tree or another bad credit loan source? I'd love to read your input.

PayPal Cash Back bonus

In the last 30 days, I've received $3.72 in Cash Back Bonus funds from my PayPal debit card. Is it worth it? I think so. That's not a lot back, but keep in mind I haven't used the debit card exclusively. I have also used my bank cards from time to time, and I get nothing back from them.

Learning how much your PayPal debit card is paying you back is fairly simple. Go to your complete history. In the drop-down menu for Search/Show, select your debit card choosing either simple or advanced. They both will give you the amounts of Cash Back Bonuses you've received and you don't have to search through every transaction for the month.

I searched from October 8 to November 7 so I could just see what one month's worth of Cash Back Bonus would be. The more I use my debit card, and select "credit", the more money I'll get back. This tempts me to upload more funds from my bank account so I will use the debit card more.

Dishwashers

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've got my dishwasher running. I'll have a second load to wash in it, once it's finished. I've been remiss in seeing to that duty.

I got this dishwasher for free and it's served me very well the past four or 5 years. However, now the place where you put detergent is broken. Well, the "gate" that keeps the detergent in place until it's time to release it, anyway. So I just put the stuff in that place and turn it on anyway. The problem is that it's using the detergent on the first part of the cycle instead of rinsing the dishes and getting rid of soil first, then washing them. I do pre-rinse to prevent the soft food disposer from getting too much gunk in it. An older, used dishwasher really needs to be babied a bit.

When I move, I'm leaving that one here, though, and will be shopping for another one. In the meantime, I can be doing some research about brands such as Bosch Dishwashers over on Krillion.com. I can learn the various cycles and functions, their energy rating, and places where I can buy them locally. That will save me a lot of time when I'm ready to buy.

As they say, "time is money", and in this case, using my time beforehand for research should pay off in a good, local deal.

Home keeping

Because I don't have to be at work until 7 PM, I'm getting a few things done here at home.

The dishwasher is running. I've got a pot of pinto beans cooking. I'll get floors swept and trash dealt with, too.

Later today, I need to get to Big Town and pay my car payment as well as renew my auto insurance. That won't take long, though, and I don't have any other "town" plans beyond that.

Also, Elizabeth's boyfriend will come by and get a propane bottle to get it filled for me. Not having a truck to drive limits my ability to get propane for myself, though I hate to ask him to do this. However, he's a very nice guy and readily agreed to get it for me. I might let him take two bottles with him so I have plenty on hand.

I use it for heating and it was 36 degrees this morning! Brrrr!

Of course, I'll see if I can gain a little income from online sources. I have enough time to do that and I hate to go a day with nothing coming in money-wise.

Trade shows

As an entrepreneur, you may be interested in attending trade shows, products conventions, and trade fairs so you can get your business in front of the public eye and also in front of other business owners. Making a good first impression is important at such events. The ones I've attended have had some great trade show exhibits, trade show displays & trade show booths set up, and some not so great. It's easy to understand that your booth, properly set up with attractive displays, will gain more notice from passers-by.

You will want to present a professional face to those who attend the trade shows, and yet you want your booth to be inviting. Offering brochures, having the wall behind you boldly display your business, a floor covering, and table covers and easels with coordinating colors and succinct information are very important. You may only have one chance to get the attention of the hundreds of people who will stroll by your booth. Make your display an attention getter.

Best Buy rewards programs

A number of places offer rewards programs for shopping with them. If you shop with Best Buy, you earn points that convert into money off coupons for just about anything in their store, either local or online. Their rewards programs also lets you choose what kind of rewards you can get for this upcoming holiday season.

1. If you spend $500, you can earn $15 (750 points) in bonus points.
2. If you shop before 11 AM any day except Black Friday, you can earn double points.
3. If you buy certain brands, you can earn triple points.
4. You can get a 6 month free trial of their online data backup service
5. You can donate the value of all your points to Toys For Teens.

That last one, Toys For Teens, is the one that really caught my eye. This is a program created by Best Buy in partnership with the US Marines Toys For Tots campaign. While the local Best Buy stores do not handle the actual collection of items geared for older children, this campaign could easily net the Marines' charity a good sum they can use to help needy teens in your community.

If you know teens in need of assistance, or perhaps your family needs this program this year, do contact Toys For Tots to learn the details.

Shipping and receiving

I've experienced mis-directed shipments for things I've ordered. Have you? Not too long ago, a shipment was dropped at the wrong house, just up the road from me. However, the neighbor never did bring the package to me and I'm not even sure which house got it. The carrier insisted it was left at the correct house, so I didn't even have any recourse for a refund of either the items or the shipping fees.

One reason for the mis-directed shipment was because my house marker is quite faded now and really needs to be replaced. It's important not only for receiving shipments that address plaques, markers and Residential Mailboxes be clearly written, but it's vital if you ever need emergency services at your house.

The decor on the exterior of your home isn't only for beauty and aesthetics, although that's important, it's also to let others recognize your residence and know they're at the right place. Clearly visible address numbers on your house or mailbox, incorporating your unique style, are the easiest and loveliest ways to ensure that your house can be located.

Success through helping others

This post will not be about how to make money from home. There will be other posts for that subject. What I want to know is -

What are you doing to help others?

Everyone is given a talent or a gift that can be used to help someone else. When you remain turned inward, only seeking your own success either in your career or in your home business, you actually begin to fail. Until you begin reaching outside of yourself, moving outside of your "comfort zone", and extending a hand toward another person who needs it, you will never truly be a success.

We all know that big names such as Bill Gates, Susan Sarandon, Peter Belisi, Oprah, and Nicole Kidman all reach beyond themselves to give something back to the world. "Oh", you say, "it's easy for them. Look how wealthy they are." Yet, there's more to it than gaining wealth before you help others. You must have an internal mindset that steers you in that direction first, and that's not something that magically appears when the money rolls in.

You can develop that mindset - the mindset of giving - now, before you have reached the goals of income you have set for yourself. You can begin by giving to local food banks, women's shelters, orphanages, or soup kitchens. Give your time. Give your money. Give food or clothing or personal items like soaps and toothbrushes. Give generously.

Giving never winds up with you having less. I have found over the years that the more I give, the more I have to give.

Be a real success. Help someone.

Writing

I am currently looking into a site that accepts freelance writers, web designers, website developers, programmers, and others so that businesses can outsource those things that they do not have the skills for. Naturally, I'm leaning toward the writing end of it, and am looking into it further.

I think this could be a good way to generate some income - freelance writing. I'm already writing every day anyway. This could also be a good place for businesses to find those persons with special skills to do some work for them.

Is there some special skill or training you have that is currently untapped at your job? You might want to go give this site a look and see if they have a spot for you. This could be the very answer you are seeking to how to come home again.

Invest a little

I am really wanting to find ways to reduce my bills while not sacrificing every comfort I have now. One way I'm doing this is by investing a little in some solar devices. I can use these on an everyday basis, and they'll be especially handy during any power outages we might have.

Now, I have to tell you, going solar or using any other alternative energy source isn't cheap. It should, however, pay off over the course of time. I'm entering the movement in small steps, beginning with some solar lighting devices. I have more to say and show you about that on my Forward Thinking blog.

Reducing the amount of my income that leaves my hands is one way to improve my lifestyle. I am also looking into ways to increase my income without having to work more hours at McDonald's. This, of course, it the push of this blog. Finding ways to generate income that really work.

Children and allowances

Everyone likes to be rewarded for a job well done. Children are especially keen on rewards. They enjoy anything from a sticker to a small allowance for helping out around the house. I never had any problem giving my own children a small allowance when they went above and beyond in their chores, while I did expect some chores to be done purely for the benefit of the whole family.

With PAYjr, you can assign an allowance to a Target gift card for your child, based on his performance with his chores. You can print out a Chore Chart from the PAYjr.com site. You can also add funds to the card automatically, electronically, and directly. The card is free, by the way.

I really like the fact that you can also assign only a certain amount for spending and the rest for savings, so your child can't spend every dime he earns. This helps establish a habit of saving and helps the child learn the real value of money. You can even set up reminders on the site. It's all in your control.



Foster an entrepreneurial spirit in your child through this system. I wish I'd had access to something like this when my children were young.

Scrap book kits

A friend of mine sells scrapbook kits on eBay. She has tools and die cutters for making various alphabets as well as tags and other small items people place on scrapbook pages. Now, I have to tell you, scrapbooking is highly popular and has been for several years. It seems to be holding its own pretty well as far as crafts go.

If you are an avid scrapbooker, you might want to consider creating and selling themed scrapbook sets so that people can simplify their projects. Including things like papers, die cut items, buttons, lace, or slide frames you've already painted or covered in a themed kit might help spark someone's imagination enough for them to become involved in the craft.

Of course, be sure your items are all acid free, but a kit that has enough items to make 3 or 4 pages could easily sell for $15 and higher, depending on the amount of embellishments you include. People who don't have the tools will gladly pay for everything to be done by someone else. Even making embellishments from your own scraps would be acceptable, since scrapbooking in a thrifty and frugal way would include these sorts of things.

You also might be able to take orders for special themes and colors, for a bit higher price, of course, so people's scrapbook pages are more personalized.

Hobby shops will have clear packaging to place the themed kits in. You can print package tops to staple onto the finished kits with your own self-designed logo and other information. I suggest using card stock for these since it's a bit tougher and will hold up to shipping better. Shipping should be done in padded envelopes to protect the kits from bad handling by the Post Office or your favorite ground shipping company. Some cardboard inserted in the package or the envelope will help prevent bending, as well.

Craft supplies

If you have an eBay seller's account or a flea market booth, you may want to sell craft supplies. This covers a wide variety of supplies from ribbons to papers to wedding flowers. Of course, to remain focused you might want to hone in on one segment of crafting. In that case, you'll want to find out what the current, popular crafts are so you can offer things that appeal to that crafting audience.

You will need to find a reliable supplier where you can get craft supplies at a low enough cost to be able to mark them up and have a little profit. Your mark up will need to cover not only the basic cost of the craft supplies, but also any shipping, fees, and overhead, plus the profit margin that is yours to keep.

You might also need to consider either bags or packaging if selling locally, or shipping supplies if selling online at auction sites. Shipping supplies costs can be covered in what you charge to ship the items to your customers.

If you are selling from your home in some way (not necessarily that customers stop by), then you may also need storage space unless you hook up with a company that offers drop-shipping.

No free rides

Unless you are a special case, then you can expect there will be no free rides when it comes to setting up and operating your own home business. Any product that you think is worth the time to sell to friends, relatives, and others will cost you something to get started with.

Honestly, that's the way it should be. See, it's human nature, I think, to place more value on the things we purchase than on the things we get for free. Therefore, if we have to step up and provide some money to get a business started, we have a vested interest to see to it that it succeeds. Anything that's handed to us for free just doesn't have that kind of incentive behind it.

You should be careful, of course, that you aren't getting into something that costs a lot with little or no chance of success. If a business takes more money to operate in the first year, with little return, then you might as well stay at your job. At least there, you know you'll get a paycheck. You can't live off nothing.

Study whatever business you are interested in. Look it up on the internet to find reviews. You want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about something you plan to connect your good name to. It's unlikely that you'll get a clear view from whatever website sponsors the business. After all, they are intending to also make money from it so they won't give you totally honest reviews. Find forums where people are discussing home business plans to see if they really are solid plans or just schemes.

See if they are listed in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. If there's something shady about the deal, run away as quickly as you can! A real business opportunity will be glad to share their BBB rating with you.

If the company always has a "but first", this may indicate it's not what you need to be involved with. You should be able to learn everything about the business without investing a dime first. That way, you can make an informed decision. Any company that wants money first, then gives information later is up to something no good.

Cartridge Finder

Anyone in business these days, whether it's a home business or a business down town, needs a computer and printer. The problem with a printer is that it will run out of ink eventually. So, to keep your overhead down as low as possible, you need to find ink cartridges to fit your printer at the lowest possible price.

One place to do a search for ink cartridges is Cartridge Finder. They list over 10,000 different ink cartridges so you're very likely to find yours listed there as well. To help you in your search for the best price, the site also checks PriceGrabber.com. Couldn't get much better than that, could it?

Business Idea of the Day

I've just finished donating a business idea for consideration at Business Idea of the Day. These ideas are then passed along to persons in underdeveloped countries to help them make a better life for themselves and their families.

Donating an idea is the primary thing they ask for. They aren't soliciting money, although if you want to go that route, you can. The form for the idea is very easy to use. In just a few minutes I had filled it in, given my idea for a business, and submitted it.

When the idea is published (remember, it's an idea a day), Myvesta will donate the money needed to fund the business through Kiva.

Have an idea for a business? Donate it and help someone!

Christian Homekeeper

Too often, I focus on generating income and forget those things in life that make it worth living. I do read a daily devotional, so my days get started in the right direction. But, I am not diligent enough in reading devotions and Scripture throughout the rest of the day. Those days when I engage in these activities, I find more peace and direction in my decisions. Otherwise, I'm operating on spiritual fumes if I don't "refuel" during the day.

I've run across a site worthy of reading. Christian Homekeeper has devotionals for women along with encouragement, tips, and even some humor. A merry heart is good for you, like medicine, you know!

Where do your dreams reside?

My dreams used to reside sitting on a shelf, gathering dust. Now, I've dusted them off and I'm keeping a close eye on them. I'm actively pursuing them, too. I believe God gives us our heart's desires, as He promised, though it may not be at the time we want them. Sometimes there's a delay. Sometimes it seems like our prayers for our dreams to come true wind up hitting the Stratosphere and lingering there for a very long time.

But lately, I've felt the pull of my dreams grow stronger and I believe some are about to come true.

It's up to us to keep our dreams and hopes alive, even when they are deferred for a time. It's also up to us to move forward toward finalizing those dreams - to act, and believe that we'll reach them.

Millionaire Secrets new domain

I've posted about The Millionaire Secrets a few times before, but now I wanted to let you know that Shawn has his own domain! I know I was excited when I set up my own domains for other blogs. I'm keeping this one because I've got a lot invested in it from my heart and because I have live links here that I have generated income from. I encourage you to check out Shawn's new domain blog, though.

He does a great job of writing such encouraging posts and giving us tips about not only generating income but thinking in such a way that we reduce our stress over it all.

Increase your productivity

I've just finished reading a very worthwhile post about how to Increase productivity while working from home. The tips and ideas this post has should really be implemented by all of us who are currently working from home in some capacity, even if it's only part time right now.

This author also points you to other blog articles that are very helpful in this endeavor. I suggest you go read this and other articles on this blog. I know they'll help me, and I think they'll help you, too.

Memories

When I was a teen, I owned horses. In fact, I owned them for awhile after I got married. As with all things from my youth, though, I gave them up in favor of raising children. Still, we wound up with horses again for awhile when the children were young.

Horses can be fun and can open up your child to opportunities for competitions where they can earn trophies, plaques, and even a few dollars. Naturally, your expense will come from purchasing the horse, tack, and horse riding apparel to begin with, but the rewards of horse ownership cannot be questioned if you have the right animal.

The responsibilities of horse ownership for your child can develop in him or her a responsible outlook later in life. A horse is entirely dependent upon the owner for food, water, shelter, and even protection. As large as they are, they need these things from the owner or they don't do well. In return, they give you friendship and entertainment. The investment in time is paid off well when your horse perks up upon seeing you coming.

Blogging for money

Most of you already know that I do some blogging for money. This gives me a little extra to add to my PayPal account each month, and it helps me pay my car payments and a few other things.

Blogging for money isn't difficult, and there are a lot of places that will pay you. Some will send you assignments while others will let you select which assignments to write about. Blogging for money isn't always about writing ads for products, though. Often, it's simply a well-placed link in content you would write anyway.

Those of you who have your own domains will fare better in this field because most blog for money entities prefer them. However, that doesn't mean you should give up trying because you are on a free host. Use the free host to be your bridge to a domain name all your own. In time, you can make money from both blogging bases - free and your hosted domain.

How much you earn from blogging is merely dependent on how much work you are willing to put into it.

A product you can stand by

If you are planning to operate a home business that sells a product, you have to find a product you can stand by. This means a product that you are convinced is worth the money, is manufactured well, and one which you would use yourself. The actual product you're selling isn't nearly as important as your firm belief that it's the best that can be found for the price. Which product? It doesn't matter if it's cosmetics, apparel, jewelry, home products, or home theater popcorn machines, as long as it's something that excites you.

Once you're excited about the product, those you encounter will share that excitement and be more interested in it.

Business cards

I am very seriously considering getting some business cards printed up. Since I do some professional blogging and I'm planning to hit eBay again with either a store or just use the auctions, I really need to get the word out to people I encounter. Whether any of them will actually keep my business card, I don't know. Surely some will.

I tend to keep every business card that's handed to me, and I've found later that they really do come in handy. Even if I didn't need that person's service at the moment, sometimes later I did.

Reclaiming my space

For far too long I've sort of let things go into disarray around here. I need to reclaim my space so that I can feel better about it when I look around. I've got the shelving for some of the things that need to be put on shelves. What I don't have are specifically designed audio racks to handle my surround sound system.

As you probably already know, any kind of reorganization takes time and planning to get things just right. I need to consider where things will live so that they are in the most convenient and efficient places. And I need to consider the most effective use of what little space I have here.

All of that can help make me ever more productive because I don't have to be moving things around every time I want to use one thing, that just happens to be on the bottom of a stack of other things!

Blog Action Day: The Environment

It's very late in the day to be posting about this very worthy effort of bloggers to make the general public more aware of environmental issues. Still, it's never too late to make your own choices as to what YOU will do. Blog Action Day was established to educate everyone to ways they can reduce, reuse, and recycle in order to clean up the earth on which we live.

I've posted about this already, earlier today, on my Forward Thinking blog. There, I encouraged the use of solar power. But that's not the only thing we can do.

Consider how many plastics you use and discard. Some of them have the recycle symbol on them which means you should be able to take it to your local plastic recycling center. Recycling plastics will help the environment in a couple of ways. Firstly, manufacturers can use the recycled plastic for containers that would normally be made from new materials. Those new materials are petroleum based. I know you can understand how this would save fossil fuels. Secondly, recycling plastics keeps them out of our nation's growing landfills. Plastics take a very long time to break down in the soil. Our great-grandchildren will still be dealing with them many years from now. Let's recycle them instead and reduce the waste in our land.

Make every day Blog Action Day and help save our earth-ship.

Getting the word out about your business

I've been thinking about how to get the word out about any home based business. Advertising can be very expensive, so you'll need some creative ways to let the world know who you are, what you do, and how to contact you.

• Send out flyers. You can have flyers printed up at a local print shop or print them yourself. It would probably be more cost efficient to hire it done, though, since ink and paper could prove to be fairly expensive.
• Get business cards. This would be a very economical and effective way to let others know about your business. Business cards are fairly inexpensive and are usually well received.
• Have announcements printed up like notecards that you could give away or mail to people you believe would be especially interested in your business.
• Make cold calls. This is probably the most difficult way to promote your business because you must accept the fact that some people will flatly reject you. It takes a lot of cold calls to produce a good business contact.
• Word-of-mouth. Because people tend to trust what their friends tell them, word-of-mouth advertising can be an excellent resource. Of course, this means your customers must be completely delighted with your business. This alone will prompt them to recommend you to their friends.

How do you promote your business?

Upping my efforts for home business

Sometimes, I tend to drift a bit where my goal of staying home to operate a home business full time is concerned. See, working at McDonald's means a steady paycheck and sometime that's hard to think of giving up. I have some benefits working there, as well. This means that quitting could bring an extra financial burden on me if I get sick or need to be hospitalized. That alone is a very serious consideration.

Still, keeping my goals before me to work from home and be more self-sufficient tends to overshadow any benefits I may have from working a stressful job. That's what true entrepreneurism is all about. It's starting from what you know and moving out of your comfort zone into your dreams.

Traveling

I just spent about a week at my Mother's, visiting and enjoying various activities in the town where she lives. It's about a 100 mile trip to her house, but worth every mile of the drive to spend precious days with her. She's a treasure, to be sure.

In fact, when I'm able to go to visit her, I sometimes get in a rush to get there! So far, I haven't needed a radar detector to keep me from getting a speeding ticket on the trip. However, since my Mother is quite elderly, I sometimes think it might be a good idea to have one. I really can't afford a ticket! That would be the ultimate waste of money - paying a fine from driving too fast.

I despise spending money if I don't get something tangible in return.

PayPal Money Market drop

I check my PayPal account every few days to see how I'm doing there. Since I got the PayPal debit card, I've earn a bit just from the 1% cash back deal they have if you use it as a credit card. This isn't always possible since some places I use it, the POS will automatically put it through as a debit card. Other places, I have a choice.

I also check on my Money Market interest and watch the ups and downs of that aspect of my account. Right now, for instance, it's dropped from 5.21% to 5.05%. It's not the end of the world, of course, but since I never have a high enough balance to actually earn a lot of money from this each month, that does drop what little I get down further.

However, as with all things, there are fluctuations and I plan to weather this and ride the roller-coaster for awhile longer. Since I no longer have to download the money to my bank account to access it, I may even see a nice rise in my earnings from both Money Market and from the 1% cash back deal they have there.

Community needs

Last week, we had to travel to another city for a People Day meeting for McDonald's. This is an awareness seminar for managers concerning people who are customers or employees and our policies regarding fair treatment. The best part of the seminar, though, was making welcome boxes for the local Ronald McDonald House. These boxed contained a few items that families of children at Children's Hospital might find helpful while they stayed at Ronald McDonald House.

This kind of feel for community needs is also seen in Orlando real estate agents as they support the "Save Our Homes" movement, which seeks to improve legislation regarding their homestead laws.

What are you doing to improve your community or help your neighbors?

Portable business

Since I've just gotten a wireless connection, I thought I'd let you know a little about it just in case you've been thinking of it for yourself.

With a wireless connection, I can blog or do any online business from anywhere I can get a cell phone signal. Right now, I'm at my Mother's house, 100 miles away from where I live, and I'm posting to my blog in the comfort of her living room. She doesn't have a telephone so no dial-up, and she has cable but is a very low-tech person, so no cable internet.

I'm using a wireless USB air card I got from AT&T wireless. It works the same way as my cell phone and has it's own phone number.

As I go along, I'll let you know more about what I like or dislike about being connected wirelessly.

Health issues - migraines

When you operate your own business, whether at home, in a brick-and-mortar store, or online, your good health is of prime importance since you are in control of everything. Staying healthy isn't always easy because of the stresses of running a business and the time commitment involved.

Something that used to be debilitating for me was migraines. As I've grown older, the frequency of migraines has diminished. However, if you suffer from them and they severely interfere with your life in general and your business, you might want to look into alternative therapies such as Botox for migraines. It's not known exactly how Botox works to relieve migraine headaches, but when you're suffering with the pain, the nausea, and the sensitivity to light from them, sometimes the "how" isn't as important as the fact that something does work.

Do you suffer from migraine headaches? How do you deal with them?

PayPal debit card happy dance

I did it. I finally got my PayPal debit card. As you know, I've wanted one and they had refused to send me one because I use a PO box for my address. However, after communicating with them and appealing it, they decided it would be ok to send me one.

I've talked about my history with PayPal on my Forward Thinking blog, so I won't rehash that here. However, I just wanted to encourage you, if you don't have this purchasing tool, to see about getting one.

Now, I'll be able to leave the bulk of my funds in PayPal and let it accrue interest from the Money Market they offer there. Yet, if I need the money, it's accessible through my debit card.

Maintaining control of your business

Sometimes, those involved in a home based business find the business controlling them, instead of them controlling the business. Their Day Planner becomes their bible and they are upset any time something pops up that wasn't in their plans for the day. Once that other thing gets in the way, it plagues them the rest of the day and they lose productivity because of it.

Stay Flexible in Your Schedule

Your Day Planner is a guide and nothing more. You rule it and you tell it what you'd like to do. You can't be so rigid with it, though, that you don't allow for some flexibility each day. Yes, some things are must-do activities. However, if you look over your personal schedule, you'll find that most things can be delayed if something more important comes up. Don't beat yourself up if your Day Planner winds up having something crossed off.

Be Prepared for Emergencies

Allow some time every day for what I call "down time". Having that included in your schedule means that if an emergency comes along, you've allowed some time for non-business activities. Don't make every task of every day so vital that missing one will damage your business.

Learn to Pace Yourself All Week

Sort needful tasks by using a prioritized list, then insert them into your weekly schedule. Address the urgent immediately, of course, then work everything else into your week long schedule. Cramming it all into one day only serves to make you a wreck at the end of the day if you haven't done it all.

Take Care of Emergencies and Surprise Events

Have you ever had your day planned out, then you get a flat tire or a child falls on something and needs stitches in his knee? What does that do to your plans? Yes, it wrecks them and sets your mood, sometimes for the rest of the day. All you can do as a human is address these emergencies when they come along, then re-sort your schedule and perhaps move some things to another day. Fretting and stressing are counterproductive. Let it go, take a breath, and see what you can do to get your schedule back on track at a later time.

John Chow

If you've been blogging for very long at all, you've undoubtedly heard of John Chow. This blog author has really made a name for himself in the field of paid blogging. How? By using solid techniques and posting interesting articles.

He's very transparent about how much he earns from his blog and gives his e-book about making money blogging freely to anyone who subscribes to his feed. I've read only part of the way through the e-book, Make Money Online With John Chow dot Com, and I've already gleaned great information that I'll be acting upon today and in the days to come.

Each tip is worthwhile. His writing manner is easy to read and comfortable, as if he's actually talking to me, personally. While what he teaches is better applied to blogs on your own domain (and I have four), many of the things can also be applied to free hosting such as here at Blogger. However, to maintain complete control of your blog, having your own domain really is the most desirable way to go.

So, why am I still on Blogger with four of my blogs? Because they're already established and you, my readers, know where I am here. I had thought to move them to their own domains, but that's like starting all over again gaining readership and page rank. I even went so far as to buy domains for them, and I may still use those domains in the near future as I wean myself away from free hosting. But for now, these blogs are comfortable to me, like old friends.

Tell me what you think of John Chow.

Beautiful gift

One of the best gifts Danny and I got was a set of wedding bands, given to us by my older daughter. I now wear them both on a gold chain around my neck. A chain Brandon got me last Christmas. These rings symbolize a lifetime of marriage, cut short. They symbolize the circle of life and love Danny and I had together. A ring - a circle without a beginning or an end - is the perfect gift to symbolize a never-ending love and commitment between husband and wife.


Someone you love may cherish a gift like this as well.

Rewarding hard work

Whether you operate a business that has employees, coach a youth ball team, or assist with a homeschool co-op, there are times when you know the people who are working hard ought to have some kind of reward. It's ok to reward them. In fact, rewards and recognition for hard work will keep people motivated to do more - even more than regular pay.

There are a number of ways you can express your appreciation. You can use gift certificates, lapel pins, certificates of recognition, or even trophies. Any of these things will let a person know that you noticed their hard work and appreciate it enough to reward them and let others know how much you appreciate them.

What are some ways you can think of to reward others for their diligent efforts?

Doing business on days off

I probably need a vacation, but to me, days off from my job mean days I can actually do business in other ways. Days I can use fully that won't be wasted or non-productive. Today is such a day. Since tomorrow is Sunday, I may still do some business, but tomorrow my focus will be on family time. My kids and I will all go out to eat together and have some relaxation that way.

See, while it's important to keep your business in sight, it's also important to maintain the family relationships. Without those, we become dull and life becomes nothing more than an exercise in money making with no thought of anything else. That's when life becomes truly sad.

Hannah Montana

If you have children and you have the Disney Channel at home, you probably already know who Hannah Montana is. Well, now she's going on tour. The Hannah Montana tour will be a big attraction for young teens, especially girls, everywhere. I found it extremely interesting that the girl in the show is the real-life daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, who also plays her father in the show. This is an example of a family business that has gone Hollywood, but it's still all in the family.

Filing important papers

Are you a "shoe box filer"? That's a person who puts all their important receipts and papers into shoe boxes and plans to organize them someday. But someday never comes, and when it's time to file your taxes, you have this chaotic mess of papers to go through, which takes hours or even days of your valuable time. Not to mention, the stress of getting it all gathered properly and recorded.

Even if you decide to use shoe boxes for your filing system, you might want to at least organize them by month. I'd suggest no more than two shoe boxes. Why? That's as long as you should go without handling the papers properly and really filing them according to what they represent. Then, at the end of the year, you just have one final sort to do and you're ready to visit your tax preparer or file your own taxes.

For myself, I use manilla envelopes to keep control of my monthly receipts. I only keep the receipts that will have an impact on my taxes. Other receipts, such as personal purchases, regular monthly bills receipts, or household purchases receipts not related to business, are kept only for the length of time necessary to be sure I don't have to pay them again or I can take an item back if it fails to meet my expectations. After that, they are tossed.

Consult your tax preparer or the IRS to determine which receipts will benefit you in your business tax filing.

All work and no play

I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. "All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy." Well, it makes Janie a dull girl, too. I'm as guilty as anyone of having a mindset to work. I work at my job around 40 hours a week, sometimes more. I worn online generating income. Days and days go by before I realize I need a real break.

I'm willing to bet some of you are the same way. Maybe you even feel a little guilty doing something that's just recreational, and your mind churns up all the things you could be doing to be productive instead of wasting your time having fun. Maybe it's time to get out your Callaway golf equipment and just go blow the afternoon with some friends. The truth is, you aren't really wasting your time. Your mind and your body need something fresh to keep functioning at peak levels.

Organizing your space

One of the things that can keep anyone from being productive is if their work space isn't organized very well. When you are constantly having to hunt down pens, pencils, paper clips, sticky note pads, or other small items, then you wasting time that could be spent in promoting your business or serving your customers. This applies in home businesses, too.

The newer office desks can help a great deal with the organization issues. These give you places to stow all the smaller items in a neat and orderly manner so you can find them quicker, thus increasing your productivity.

The end of a long day

Days like this are the reason why I yearn to be able to work from home full time. I've been on my feet for 10 hours. When you're my age, that's not so easy. My legs and feet feel like they've been beaten with baseball bats.

The more I present ideas and links to you, the more determined I am to get to a point where I can work from home all the time. Then, I can at least sit and rest when I need to and not have to worry about the push and stress of an outside job.

Getting your business seen

Even if you consider yourself a small business operator or a person with "only" a home business, you need to find ways to expand your customer base and get the word out about your venture. But who has the time to research your market niche and learn who the potential customers really are? This is where a company like MartinWorldwide.net comes in.

They can generate leads for you based on their extensive research in demographics. With over a decade in this field, they have already proven themselves in the mail marketing field.

Martin Worldwide possesses a database of over 290 million consumers and 14 million U.S. businesses and is one of the only major list providers to guarantee its data integrity in writing.

They have the skills necessary to provide you with the marketing materials you need and do so in a cost effective manner. To learn more, visit their site or give them a phone call at (888)- 267-3545. It's a free call so what do you have to lose?

$30 per week grocery list

When you have a little more leeway with your grocery list, you can try this $30 per week grocery list from Heart4Home.net. Included are menu plans and recipes so that you can make the best use of this low-cost grocery purchase.

Any grocery list of this nature assumes a few things.

• You have some staples such as salt, condiments, seasonings, mayonnaise, and other basics in your pantry already.
• You have time to cook from scratch.
• You have the skills to cook.
• You won't be depending on this limited diet for the long run.
• Prices in your area are comparable to those on the list. (If not, then you will need to adjust the list to stay within the budget limit.)
• You won't be using part of your grocery budget for extras such as potato chips, soda, or candy.

Once you get over the financial hump, you can begin to add back in those things that will provide your family with a well-rounded diet.

These low-budget grocery lists can be made to stretch even further if you watch very carefully for sale items and mark-downs, and if you also apply coupons to the purchases. Stick to buying at one grocery store for these items. You'll use more in gas than a few cents savings is worth by trying to make the grocery store rounds.

Around here, the dollar stores also have inexpensive grocery items. But do be careful. Not everything in the dollar store is a bargain. Be mindful of what your regular grocery store charges for the same or comparable items.

Budget101.com

For so many of us today, making ends meet is getting more and more challenging. Rising gas prices on the rise also affects the cost of consumer goods. In the economy, everything is tied to something else. Budget101.com has some great ideas for trimming your budget and making your finances more manageable. Included in their helps is a $10 Grocery List.

Is it fully nutritionally sound with every food group on your plate every meal? No. But when you are in a pinch for grocery money, this is a good way to fill the tummies of those you love without having to spend so much.

This is a list of 12 very basic items. With them, you can create a variety of meals that will keep your family fed for a week. The site also gives you a menu plan to go by, and recipes to use. I've used this very same list in the past when money was extremely scarce but my family still needed to eat. This really works!

Chris Garret New Media blog

I am subscribed to the blog written by Chris Garrett called Chris Garrett on New Media. His posts are intelligent and well written. Mostly, they just make a lot of sense. Today, I received in email his post called Where do you stand on the paid links issue? If you are placing paid links into your blog posts, this is an excellent article to read. While you're there, you can vote in his poll and further express your own opinion about this practice.

By now, you already know where I stand since I do have some posts with paid links in them. This is a way to help boost my income and make things within reach that I would otherwise have to pass over. For instance, later today, I'll be going to Office Depot to buy a new desk chair. The one I have is just worn out and I feel like I'm sitting on a board, the padding is so thin and collapsed. It hurts my back and I need a new chair to be more comfortable in while I'm on my computer.

Without paid links, I would not be able to afford one and would be relegated to buying from a second hand store or yard sale, which probably wouldn't get me the chair I need. I also wouldn't be able to afford a lot of other things, such as the doctor's visit this afternoon or my prescriptions. I've put my own health on hold in the past due to having to make a choice between paying a bill or seeing the doctor.

PayPal updates

First of all, PayPal has a new look for the website. After a few weeks in Beta, they have changed some things on the regular home page. I like the changes. It is cleaner and slicker looking than before.

They have also changed a lot of the PayPal buttons. Some will automatically change for those of you who have them on your website or blog. Some will not. You can also select new designs for the PayPal buttons yourself.

PayPal has put forth a new policy regarding eBay transactions as well. This new policy went into effect on August 23, 2007. They are no longer offering promotional financing for eBay purchases. This means that if you, as an eBay seller, have high ticket items, your buyers cannot have them financed by PayPal. It could be a good thing, but it could also cause a hardship on buyers if they had planned to purchase from you but don't have the full amount you require for your item. I wonder if this will cause a drop in sales for sellers with more expensive items? It's certainly worth watching.

There are a couple of other policy changes, so you might want to login and read them all. They could apply to you.

Millionaire Secrets - talent

I just had to share this with you. Shawn Lim at TheMillionaireSecrets.blogspot.com has been posting his 12 Keys To Success series. The one for today is so true and needs to be applied by all of us. I Am Talented gives us the encouragement to look inside ourselves and realize just how special we all really are. That we all have the potential for doing great things and being successes, if we will only use our inner resources to their fullest extent.

Read more that Shawn has written. There are great thoughts flowing there!

For the homeschoolers

While this blog has turned into one where you can begin to live your dream of returning home instead of working for someone else, I am also aware that homeschoolers are still reading here. Probably so they can find ways to generate extra income from home, and still give their children the tailored education they want to.

Those of you involved in homeschool co-ops and community arts have probably had your children in plays and skits. You might even have done these in your church. One area where the small troupes have problems is with costuming. Many times, they are dependent on donations of clothing, animal costumes, wigs, and other items so the play can look more realistic.

If you are helping with these activities, try searching the local Goodwill or Salvation Army stores for inexpensive but workable costume options. Even yard sales might hold some nice surprises for you.

PayPal Money Market

As I do several times a week, I checked my current balance at PayPal. It's been rising nicely the past few days due to being paid for posts I've written over several of my blogs, for several pay-to-blog companies. But the best thing I saw there was that the Money Market has gone from 5.04% interest to 5.23%. That's a nice jump and it really encourages me to leave a larger balance in my PayPal account than I used to.

It's nice getting a little back from a company I've done business with for nearly 10 years now. If they would send me a debit card to my Post Office box, I'd never download the money again. The PayPal debit card also earns you 1% cash back when you use it. PayPal also offers 100% protection against fraudulent use of your card.

I wonder when they'll ever change the stipulation that you must receive mail at your physical address in order to receive the debit card from them? My bank and all utility companies around here send mail to my PO box!

Dryer lint

I had read in several places that if you wash your lint filter from your clothes dryer, you can save money. How? By removing any built up fabric softeners and lint that may be trapping the hot air which should be flowing through the filter, thus causing your clothes to not dry quickly enough.

Over the past few months, I'd been finding that I was having to run my dryer twice to get our clothes dry. The dryer was tumbling just fine and plenty of hot air was going through it, but the clothes would be damp even after an hour of drying time. So, I took the filter out and washed it in the hottest water I could stand, using dish liquid and a scrub brush to remove any residue and lint. I was amazed at how much gunk came off what appeared to be a clean filter!

Now, my clothes will dry in the normal amount of time. This saves me money on my electric bill, of course, since an electric dryer is a hog when it comes to electrical power.

I'll be washing my lint filter at least once a month from now on to keep the dryer running an drying properly and more economically.

Anyone who is operating a home based business needs to consider little things like this. You have to cut costs where ever it's feasible, and this is certainly one way to do so without depriving yourself of the convenience of using the dryer.

AGLOCO banner

I've had the Agloco banner in my sidebar since about February. But for some reason, it was only today that I realized it wasn't linking to the Agloco site. I apologize for that.

Agloco is another way to generate some income simply by surfing the 'net. You simply download the viewbar they provide, then actively surf. It will log your time surfing and you can get paid for that. Check it out for yourself. I'll let you know in a later post how much I've generated, but you can start earning today!

Organizing

Every home can use some organizing to make the space more usable. If you work from home, this is especially important. Rooms need to be arranged so you get the best use of the available space. Organizing rooms may include adding shelving units or a variety of drawer units so items can be placed where they need to go without consuming valuable floor space or surface space - space you might need when working.

While you will probably want to concentrate on the areas where you actually conduct your business, this can flow over into the rest of the house as well. For instance, to allow more space for children to play, you might want to invest in bunk beds. These would free up space for larger games and toys, make room for a small table for coloring or other activities, and keep the room more tidy and organized overall.

Look around your house. Could the furniture arrangements be optimized? Are there ways you could improve the usability of each room?

Exhausted

I haven't been up for very long after working such long hours last night, but I'm already sleepy again. I've got laundry started, but I think I'm going to have to nap a little while before I can actually jump in and do any housework.

My job is wearing me out, but it's probably partly my own fault. I work harder than I should there. I'm a manager and I wind up doing crew jobs when it looks like they're not getting things done correctly or soon enough. Last night, I spent a lot of time "putting out fires" because two new cashiers repeatedly messed up orders and customers weren't happy. It was a mental strain as well as a physical one. The errors were the same ones over and over, which got to be very frustrating. How many times must one be told about an error before they do things differently?

I wound up giving away food and giving hefty refunds several times during the shift. I've got to take my vacation days soon so I can return to work refreshed instead of dreading it. In the meantime, I'll continue my efforts at home to generate income and hopefully be able to let go of my J.O.B.

Pay the bills

Keeping your credit in good standing means paying your bills in a timely manner. If you are consistently late in paying, it means not only do you have to pay late fees but it knocks points off your credit rating. Keeping your credit score high is important so that when you do decide to approach a financial lending institution for a loan, you stand a better chance of getting it.

Occasionally, due to illness or cutbacks at work, you may not be able to pay a bill as you'd want. In fact, you may even risk losing services if it's not paid soon. It's best to never get in that position, and to have a little savings so that you can pay out of that. However, if you haven't saved anything, you're probably going to be looking at getting a payday loan to pay a bill. Don't use these for frivolous reasons. Use them wisely and pay them back on time. Only get a loan for the minimum amount you need to get you over the hump.

Going fishing?

I've got worms. No, not parasites. I've got red wiggler worms and they're thriving. There was a time I'd hoped to even build a pretty nice worm farm with them and even maybe open a little bait shop. I still might, but I'm thinking I'll wait until retirement for that. However, since I enjoy fishing so much (though I rarely get a chance to go these days), the idea of selling bait, fishing tackle, and other related items is very attractive to me.

I just need a little building, some minnow tanks, and a start with a variety of fishing items - rods and reels, poles, line, sinkers, bobbers, even stink bait and attractants. I know there's more I'd need, but that might get me a little start!

Too many hours at work

It's been a very tiring couple of days at work. I didn't get home until nearly 4 AM Friday morning, after having gone in to work at 5 PM Thursday evening. In total, I wound up with around 10 paid working hours.

Then I went back to work at 1 PM Friday afternoon and wound up not leaving until after 11 PM. I had nearly 10 more hours then.

This would be all well-and-good if it weren't for the fact that those hours have all been mostly on my feet. I'm an old lady and that gets to me pretty easily. Part of my shift Friday was spent in my car.

I went to the bank twice. I also went to "big town" to get a replacement toner cartridge for the office printer. Then I came home to pick Brandon up since he didn't have to be at work until 5 PM. All that running in my car, with no air conditioner, really drained me.

Days like that remind me just why I want to work from home!