LETS INCREASE OUR INCOME BY A $1000 A MONTH THAT IS A GRAND A MONTH

If you read my blog you already know hubby and I are semi retired. The semi part is we are always looking for ways to make money on the side to suppliment our income. After all social security and pension plans do not go as far as you would hope. Lesson learned we did not save enough while young so I hope all of you save more and spend less on your journey to retirement.

This morning while reading some of my favorite blogs I saw that Mom's Plans had written a post on making an extra $1,000 a month. After reading further I see that she along with two other bloggers are starting a new site on making a GRAND a month. I look forward to postings to see what others are up to.

Hubby and earn extra money every month buying and selling items on eBay, Amazon and in our booths at the Antique stores. Of course there is the costs to do business this way. Cost of goods , fees at the Internet sites and rental fees at the antique stores. The real test is when hubby does end of the year books so we can file our taxes on this income.

And of course I make a little money with my blogs. Little is the key word but I only do this as a hobby and not full time as others.

My goal is to increase our income by $1,000 a month after all the fees and costs this next year. Time will tell as the months go buy. I hope to share some of this information with you in the months to come.

Antique store #2 is doing better than Antique store #1, but in store #2 I have items out on some shelfs and floor space plus a locked case. Antique store #1 is a locked case only. I do believe this is a important key to success.

We have reopened our eBay store this month. This allows us to put items on eBay for 30 days at only 20 cents a month rather than the 50 cents it was costing us. We no longer get 50 free auctions a month but in the end if we list more it will pay for itself in the difference of fees. The store also allows us extra pictures at no extra costs.

I am hoping all the extra work these last months that our income will continue to increase. I hope that you will continue to vistit my site and watch for postings on our journey buying and selling. My sons say we are pickers and in truth we are.

Thanks for stopping by and lets keep saving together.. Grace

Now Is The Time To Look At Our Finances Past And Future

With the year coming to an end it is a good time to look at our finances. How did we do this year? Did we accomplish our goals and follow our budget? Was it a good year or tough year. For us it was a tough year. We decided to move home to Minnesota.

Good because we are now near the children and grandchildren.
Bad because we lost income and the cost of moving from Texas to Minnesota was costly. Then in September I got sick and ended up in the hospital. I am thankful that we had insurance but we still have hospital/doctor bills to pay off.

Now is also the perfect time to sit down and look at where we want to be this next year. What are our goals and dreams.

This process starts first with looking at our monthly income and monthly expenses.
Our monthly income is fixed with retirement and pensions. Our other income is flexible with our Internet book business. We can only cut our costs so much increasing our income is the only answer.

If you need to increase your income to accomplish your goals there are ways to do this.
You can go to your boss and ask for a raise. Be ready with reasons why you should get this raise.

Maybe you can work over time or get a second job.

Another answer is to find a way to make extra money using a talent or skill you may have. I know some one who is handy with tools and makes bird feeders to sell on the side. We have for years bought and sold books on the Internet. This is where we will have to increase our income this next year.

Another way is to clean and sell the clutter to pay down debt. As debt goes down life gets so much better. I have so much stuff in our home that needs to be sold. Books, vintage paper and just waiting to be sold . Costume jewelry to be sold. I may try and re purpose some of it to sell.

By looking at our expenses we can determine what is important to us. We do not need or want a new car or fancy furniture.

What we would like to do is pay off our used car and my hospital bill. We want to travel and see the beauty around us. We have dreams. What are your dreams? Now is the time to start looking at where we have been and where we want to go next year.

Thanks for stopping by...Grace