Earnings Sept 2010

Things are looking up this month, mainly due to some repeat custom for cassette to CD conversions and continued opportunities from payU2blog.
I am also just a few weeks away from reaching payout threshold for Google Adsense again by my estimation. I am also slowly closing in on payout for the two remaining survey services that I am signed up with.
Not all I have earned has gone on eBay, but I confess to having bought a few early Christmas presents... I gave not been very disciplined in frugal living lately, and will have to take some drastic action if I really want to clear off all my debts. There is plenty to be getting on with including house improvements leaving very little time for personal project developments. Nevertheless, I can't help but be happy with this months income. I also have a growing pile of stuff that I need to flog on eBay - it won't be considered 'income', but it will mean more paypal funds, which means more eBay purchases!!

The total for this month is probably as much as I have ever earned in a month at £240, which is around $380. No major purchases this month other than costs associated with CD conversions, so most of this months earnings have been pure profit.

Fashion

Fashion is an elusive idea that by it's very nature changes rapidly, not just in the ways that trends come and go, but in the way which it affects groups of people. This stems from the 1960's and the emergence of young people as a commercially influential group. Through the 80's and 90's, this group became younger as fashions started to encompass goods such as mobile phones and games consoles.

As someone who grew up in the 70's and 80's, it is interesting to see how my generation are confused about appropriate clothing. Our parents wore the uniform of middle age, cardigans, suits and the like, our peers seem happiest wearing hoodies and urban clothing instead. Nevertheless some conform to the archetypal middle-age dressing habits, and some who feel the Peter Pan urge still think that jeans and a T-shirt do not look incongruous on a fifty-year old....

Life Insurance

Even when times are hard financially, it does not do to skimp on insurance. Insurance may be a cost that we are often unwilling to contemplate, yet being under-insured may add to your woes, or in the case of life insurance, the woes of your family. A term life insurance quote is worth considering if you are concerned about costs that will befall your family on your death. Someone told me recently that you could get a plan with a funeral home where you can pay for your funeral now, and even if costs go up many-fold in the intervening period, your funeral can be covered at today's rates. If you don't have a similar plan, then your life insurance needs to take into account not only your family's needs, but the costs of a funeral and 'winding up' your estate.
Nobody likes to contemplate their demise, but 'burying your head in the sand' [no pun intended!] when it comes to insurance might mean some real problems for the family you leave behind.

Male pattern baldness

There comes a time in every mans life when he has to face up to hair-loss, and make a decision as to what he will do about it. I decided to go the frugal route and bought myself a hair trimmer - Every month or so I sit out in the garden and shave off my flowing locks - it saves me a fortune in barbers fees, and keeps my hair from looking unkempt or uneven. I would not really consider having 'something done about it' as I consider male-pattern baldness to be entirely natural for males, hence it is called 'male pattern baldness'! For those who are particularly traumatised by this natural consequence of being male... there are all sorts of 'treatments' one can embark on. The least intrusive of those is hair loss shampoo, at least it doesn't involve the use of a scalpel and the loss of significant amounts of hard-earned cash...
Of course, baldness is not always male-pattern and may come before it's proper time, in which case it may indeed be quite distressing. Recent trends accept baldness far more readily than a few decades ago, nevertheless not everyone is prepared to get the trimmer out...

Addicted to eBay...

I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on eBay lately, I guess I just can't resist a bargain! Yet if I didn't keep going back to it, I could save myself a fortune!

This is the perpetual trouble with 'bargains' - you have to spend in order to make the savings, I have a whole host of bargain purchases, but my Paypal account has been completely empty for weeks, not only that, but the latest purchase had me transferring funds from my credit card!!

I am breaking all my own rules on frugal living lately and my credit card balance is ballooning as a result.

I must resolve to actually ensure that some funds trickle from my Paypal account into my 'real' bank account rather than the other way around. Generally I am pretty good at ensuring that my internet purchases do not impact on my 'real' money, but lately I have found myself drawn into a bit of a spending spree.

I have some stuff I need to sell, but have not yet got around to - I even have some small bids on things now, even though my Paypal fund is at zero (fortunately I have some pay-days coming up). Even though I am fairly well practised in the art of frugal living, it is still very easy to revert to bad habits. Every so often I remind myself of how hard things have been and I hope that is enough to make me see that if I don't keep things under control, that hardship will have been in vain.

I promise myself that in the few remaining months of the year, I am determined to make an impact on my small but growing debt...

Getting the tasks done

There is little that is more satisfying than having a list of tasks and being able to tick them off one by one. I find that DIY tasks hang over me like a burden on my shoulders, being able to reduce the list of tasks lightens the load considerably.

For the last few weeks I have been working on preparing the walls to have the hall and landing of our home newly plastered. The house is getting on for 100 years old, so there is a considerable amount of preparation to be done. We had considered wall-papering the existing surface, but have decided to take everything back to the plaster and start again... Having just replaced one of the door surrounds upstairs (one of the critical tasks before the plasterer can come in), there are just a couple more preparation tasks to be done.

The great thing about having this done is that he will be in and out in a matter of 1 or maybe 2 days after which the whole house will feel like it has been transformed.

However, when one task is completed, there is always another to do, and the bathroom is the next major project in my sights. I have yet to price up baths, showers and pedestal sinks, but I am quite sure we can't afford to make an headway on this particular project as yet...

Safety Gear

Everything in the modern day, has an element of Health & Safety and carries a risk of varying severity. This risk extends to the hobbies, sports and pastimes that we all get involved in as well as the more obvious risky working environments.

Headgear is about the most important piece of safety gear that you can invest in, whether it be a hard-hat for use on a building site, or equestrian helmets for horse-riding. it is important that that headgear is appropriate and provides the proper degree of protection, it is also essential that it fits correctly. Of all the kit you purchase for the task ahead, don't skimp on the headgear, or you may not live to regret it...

Busy September

Along with the restart of the school year (end of the summer break) and the general busy-ness of life, our family has a multitude of birthdays in September. This week sees birthdays for both of my parents and my wife - September is often an expensive month for me and extra earnings are more than welcome!
The good news is that I have been doing a large batch of cassette tape to CD conversions over the last few weeks, but the bad news is that the last batch has been completed, so the extra earnings from this is about to end. This should spur me on to work on other pending projects in order to keep the revenue flowing, but whether I will have enough time is a very real concern.
I have some DIY work to do around the house, but I really need to find some time to get stuck into Wordpress and get some sites up and running. I have loads of plans including buying about three more domains to supplement my current domain holdings... These plans have been rumbling on for some months, hopefully the coming month will allow me to spend some time developing things that should bring income for the future. Hopefully by the time I come to do my end of September report, I will be in a position to report that I have got somewhere with my wordpress projects - being able to knock out WP sites without too much effort is key to the next stage of my earnings plan.

Making Legal History

The face of the legal profession has changed a lot in the last few decades. Until a few years ago, lawyers were not even allowed to advertise on TV in the UK. Nowadays, adverts for personal injury claims are commonplace.

The legal profession has proved adaptable to the degree where you can now have specialist law companies that not only specialise in injury claims, but work in very specific niches including Texas truck accident lawyers . Such is the size of the accident claim industry, that companies can make a good living from unlikely-sounding niche markets.

Economic Recovery Uncertain

Although some statistics seemed to be indicating an 'easing off' of the economic crisis that has gripped us for so long, recent reports have given rise to concerns over a 'double-dip' recession.

The situation in the UK seems to be steadily improving, but the rate of recovery in the US is now falling behind initial hopes. This does not mean that the US alone will be affected because whenever the US sneezes (financially), the rest of the Western economies are bound to catch a cold.

There are a few key indicators of recovery including house prices (but don't forget house pricing, and miss-sold mortgages was what got us in this mess originally...!), and job statistics - decline in construction jobs and manufacturing jobs indicates a decline that cannot easily be reversed.

Manufacturing jobs are often permanent losses, construction work tends to fluctuate, but the amount of construction taking place is a good indication of how healthy an economy is.

Good at teaching..

A truism struck me today as I was browsing 'Yahoo answers' - I often browse through and distribute my 'wisdom'... ha ha

What struck me was this - an answer might be technically perfect, but the way in which you put the answer over is just as important as knowing your subject. In the same way as a research Professor might know it all, but be useless as a teacher because he cannot adequately convey his meaning to a pupil. Knowledge is imperative, but it does not automatically qualify you to teach the subject to a third party, because teaching is a skill.

I have often thought the same about managership - just because you are good at your job does not mean that you will be a good manager in your department, because management of people is a skill that needs to be developed and honed.

I have a friend who is a policemen, he never wanted to take his sergeant exams because he loved his job. He knew that promotion would mean he would be distanced from the hands-on tasks he enjoyed and turn him into a man-manager. It is only recently, now he is thinking about a final-salary pension, that he has given in to thinking about climbing the ladder of promotion.

Well, that's my thought for today.... hope you enjoyed it.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 7

Finally (seven step to feeling good about yourself should be enough).. one last thing you might consider, is your financial well-being. We have looked at exercise and diet, then pampering and treats along with smatterings of how your confidence can be boosted by the way you look or feel. We have even thought about the merits of tidying up those little jobs around the house that need doing, and how that can positively affect your life.

My last step in this series is going to be about encouraging you to be financially astute, with all the comparison websites around it would be relatively simple to save money on your utilities or broadband charges.

My philosophy is that the quickest way to make money is to save money - take a look around you and see how you might be financially better off, again this is long-term so consider all options...

Feel Good about yourself - Day 6

Whilst you are checking the mirror and rubbing in the olay regenerist, you might want to consider how else you can feel good about yourself. Here are a few more suggestions:

If you have a niggling physical or medical problem, why not get it checked out?

Something needs doing at home, some wallpaper peeling off, a lock that needs fixing - set yourself a list and work through it - it's surprising how these things preying on our mind can drag you down.

However don't forget the basics, keep exercising and eating/drinking well - plenty of fruit and plenty of fluids. Keep rewarding yourself even if only in a small way. Most importantly, don't forget this is for the long-haul - if you fall off the wagon, get right on it again and come back better and stronger..

Earnings August 2010

August has been a good month for blogging and for converting cassettes to CD's, turnover being over £160, outgoings mounting up to about £30 (much of that spent on buying blank CDR's). I have just completed a decent amount of cassettes that I should get paid for soon, and may well have more on the way. I am still working on several projects in the back-ground, I have been delayed a little by the fact that I have discovered how easy it is to set up Wordpress sites on my new hosting service - many of my latest projects (and a few of the older ones) will be done in WP rather than Dreamweaver. The learning curve has started, hopefully I will have something to show for the hard work soon...