A family business

Being a single mum its great for me to have sources of income that fit in around my family. Obviously blogging is a perfect one as my children enjoy reviewing products and days out so I can write about them! The other thing I do is act as an Independent Usborne Re-seller. I started up doing this back in 2008 as I just loved the books and wanted a way to both boost my income and get cheaper books!

I haven't done too much of it this year so far as my car is almost too small to carry both my stock and my children... However now the Christmas fair season is upon us my children and I have swung into team action again. We kicked off by having a stall at our church Advent fair this Saturday. A very early start for a Saturday had us ready to set-up at 8:30 and within less than an hour we had got our stall all ready:

As a reward for an early start my daughter nipped down to get us all a take away McDonald's breakfast... My son decided the best place to eat his was underneath our stall whilst playing on the iPad:

The good thing about doing a Christmas fair is there is plenty to distract the children and I just had to eek out their spending money and ensure regular feeding! They are very good at drumming up entries for Find the Duck. At the end of the day they were each rewarded with a book as wages:

Can you tell who chose which?

We have more events this week and I hope that they are as helpful at them as they were on Saturday:

iamtired.com

Sometimes you really know you have been overdoing things when you want to go to bed before your children! Its been an incredible couple of weeks but think I am approaching burn out..

We have enjoyed some fantastic days out as a family: Kendal Festival of Food, a trip to Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, walking more as a family and on my own in all weathers.  These have all been fabulous but they all take out a lot of energy. An almost full day out and about on Mother's Day (as part of our 5 miles that day) was fun but knackering too:

On top of that I am increasing my training runs for the Star Walk 10 k run which I am really enjoying but its stretching my endurance and stamina. Having that 30 minutes or so of being out on my own on the roads (albeit with friendly faces to wave at en route) is a lovely break in my day though!

This week my back up childcare plan and football class takers have been away so I have been doing everything with both children in tow. Its been rushing everywhere as the walking has reduced the gaps between events. 

Today I started a 3 day first aid course for work which is a full day instead of my usual half day. So we are all having to leave the house 15 minutes earlier than normal so that my children can be dropped off to be taken to school. 

Housework is being kept to a minimum due to lack of time and energy but of course its not being done by anyone else so I need to catch up soon! I am glad I did the charity walk but next time I need to do it when the rest of my life is a lot less manic... Right now I am only still up as I've only been able to out the washing machine on at about 8:30 so I have to wait for it to finish to hang it up to dry!

I am so looking forward to my Saturday lie in and I am not doing anything outside the home but I will have to catch up on all that housework.... Do you ever feel like you have taken on too much?

The Dilemma of the Single Working Parent

I was very relieved earlier this to get a term time only part time job. It was great no longer being almost fully reliant on the state. Not receiving maintenance from my ex for the children had meant that we had very little money. The income from my blog was negligible as its mostly in form of review items and days out. I also hadn't reestablished my Usborne book business after moving north.

The job is only 20 hours a week and even though I have to put my children in after school club it is well worth doing both financially and mentally! It left me a couple of hours each morning to get all the chores done and carry on blogging.

Back in September I was offered extra work at another school on a temporary basis to cover staff absence. This seemed like a great idea as it would mean more money. It did mean that I lost 3 mornings in which everything else got done.

Now I'm not sure it's a good thing to be doing. It doesn't really equate to more much more money as of course I'm quite rightly entitled to smaller benefit payments. Unfortunately the way they work these out is confusing and I don't really know what's happening with them. Because my payments from the extra work vary my benefit is different every month and I have to keep visiting the benefits office to prove every change!

The rest of my life seems to be always on the rush. Things aren't getting done and I know that right now my kids need more time with me rather than me getting stressed and being busy. Because the difference in pay isn't really enough to make a huge difference to our lives I am debating axing the extra work. I don't want to be a burden to tax payers but something is going to give if I carry on this way and its probably my sanity!

With my children being my responsibility 7 days a week I do have to put them first.