My first kids consignment event

My friend and i decided to put together a kids consignment event just about a month ago.  The journey from the day we had happy hour Sunday and marked the date which is exactly a month and 2 days after that for the big day was easy.. making it happen was a different story.

We put the word out there and marked the date, without consignors, no location, no idea where to start. it was refreshing, and definitely nerve wracking, but it was what we needed to push us to really do it.  We called fellow moms and encourage them the plan which half of them dont even know what consignment was, all they thought was to clear their closets and underbeds with junk and give it to us, which exactly what happened., after giving them the "consignment agreement, rules and tagging instructions", which thanks to the internet, a very helpful source, we knew how to sound professional.

So here we are, offering moms the percentage of the sales we make by doing literally nothing. We ended up doing everything, including re-washing the used clothes. It was hardwork. Looking for the location was hard, we didnt want to spend a lot on it, so i called friends around, and eventually landed on a friends unused office and jumped to it right away. Why not, its only $100 whenever whatever, exactly what we needed.

So the day finally came, and with 10 consignors signed up, we have inventory full of assorted kids clothes, toys and kids accessories. We went to the location for the first time (HUGE MISTAKE) and found out we are doomed... it's on the second floor of a no window building, where the front door is closed on the weekends, and the garage door only opens up with a key. No one will find us, and if they do, they cant get in. FUN.

So after spending much time in trying to make us visible to the public, flyers, balloons leading up to the second floor, sticking a folded floor mat to the garage door to leave it opened, we ended up with friends, friends of friends and consignors buying each others stuff. if not because they have our phone number, they will never find us.

Because we were a cheapskate, we lost a huge potential of getting passers by for our event. it wasnt really a disastrous one i can say, coz we still made money, made moms happy getting great deals, and we lost $68 in profit. not too bad for a first timer i think.

After today, i felt great. i feel i have achieve something great with investing time, effort and about $100, i will definitely do this again, with an awesome location this time.

Ending the month with an Over Budget ...

so im staring at my spreadsheet and as always, im over budget on a few locations especially food.
yesterday i tried walking around Target with a number in mind, and for every item i pick, i plug in the price on my phone calculator., i needed to only spend $25 on kids food and i made it in to $20.05 since i get 5% off if i use my Target card. I swear i felt good about it! So starting next month, i will stick to my budget and hold a calculator buying groceries. Let's see how this works.

I have noticed when i know how much i can only spend, and i keep track of it, i carefully choose the ones i can only get, when i used to just look at what's on sale, and what's another $1.99 right? but guess what, it adds up! and my biggest surprise is at the check out counter when my bill is over $100!

so i will try to stay on budget, and keep at it, budgets dont work if you dont work hard to keep it too.

Setting up Investments

I have started to set up small automatic investing mutual funds with www.USAA.com. It automatically takes the funds out of your account so you have no control of it. There's accounts that have good history of returns and only $20 or $50 to start.

I also have started investing with www.mylendingclub.com. It's a peer to peer lending site where you put in money to let others borrow, term of the loans are either 36 or 60 months and depending on the risk which you can choose, you earn interest as high as 5% - 11%. I have just opened this account so I will talk more as I go along.

There's lots of investing options out there but with small startups, so far, I like the www.usaa.com.

Bills need to bring up to current

In the next 3 months, by December 31, 2012, I will have all these below be current:
Truck - 1 month behind
Car - 2 months behind
Power bill - 2 months behind
Cellphone - 1 month behind
Cable - 1 month behind

As I go along, I will go back to this page to update.

Setting up your backup

After opening this blog, I realize that I just don't need to pay off my debts and set up my dream business, but I also have to set up our funds in case of emergency. Where do I put that? How much do I need? Is a balance free credit card good enough?

This is a journey from zero, I hope with this blog, it will motivate me to make,this happen and keep it there.

So far, I have 2 ongoing business that are doing well, but not well enough to make money for me.. I have found the product I want to sell online, but that is  a different world and I'm taking it slow. One thing I want to be sure is anything I will be setting up will all be automatic, online, less legwork and paperfree.

2012 Financial Goals:

1. Pay off all credit cards by December 31, 2012 - $2200
2. Fund travel spending money by December 31, 2012 - $4,000
3. Fund Gift money for holidays by November 30,  2012 - $900
4. Contribute/save one paycheck to financial freedom - about $2500 - ongoing
5. Invest $1000 - by December 31, 2012

inspired by: http://www.nomorespending.net/p/2012-financial-goals.html

My promise to myself

Today starts the mark of a life changing moment for me. Trying to live a debt free life. Life has taken us into a lot off rollercoaster rides and this time, we are back in the hole, and i will dig us out permanently and move forward spending money not just to pay bills and debts but to travel, build businesses around and be forever debt free.