LifeCircle 2012: Taking Action

Kate has asked to put in a Taking Action plan based upon last week's 2 lowest scores on the Wheel of Life. We need to think of 2 actions to undertake in the next fortnight for each area. In my case my lowest scores were Finance and Romance. So let me see what I can come up with for each of these...

Finance

Well I obviously find ways to increase my income as there isn't much I can do in the way of reducing spending! So what can I do?

1. Follow up on my leads for my Usborne Books business and generate some revenue. 
2. For my Kendal Family History Services and blog businesses I need to up my online presence and keep on marketing.

Hopefully by the end of the fortnight all of this will have resulted in money in the bank...

Romance/Significant Other

This is a tough one to crack! It maybe beyond my control but this is what I can try to do to increase my chances of finding myself a new man:

1. Get time to myself out of the house in places where I can meet people.
2. Er can't think of anything else!

So there you go hope that I can report back with some progress in a fortnight's time... To see everyone else's posts pop over to Kate's Action post and the linky on there.

LifeCircle 2012: Wheel of Life

After breaking us in gently last week Kate wants us to evaluate where we are at the minute. I did this back in September but I'm not going to look at that until I've written this one! What we do is look at this wheel:

and then score each section from 0-10. I haven't got around to actually drawing lines on mine like she has but here is the basic results for me:


Fun and Recreation = 8
I am managing to enjoy a variety of activities in and out of the home and have started to really get into hiking and sewing at the minute. Yes there are things I can't do due to childcare but things are pretty good.


Career = 5
Still not got a regular income from a paid job but I have begun to earn money from my Family History business. The blog continues to provide a trickle of money and good in kind. I need to work on boosting the books though.


Health = 8
Nothing bad about my health but still carrying a bit too much weight! This is definitely going to change this year.


Personal Development = 7
I am challenging myself to re-learn how to sew this is a real rest of my little grey cells. I would love to find courses I can do to work on other aspects of my personal development.


Friends and Family = 9
The reason I moved was to be nearer my family and I love it! My friendships up here are building nicely and I still get to see my old friends from down south a few times a year.

Life Circle: Introductions

This is my second attempt at joining in at Kate's Life Circle as she has re-started for 2012. So time to re-introduce myself!


So I'm Becky and I am now 41 years old (where do all those years vanish!). I live with my 2 children, my daughter who is 8 and my son who is 5, in Kendal, Cumbria. We came up here 18 months ago after my now ex-husband left the country and I wanted to be nearer my family.


Despite graduating with a BA in Geography and an MA in Human Geography I spent 15 years working in IT. I only stopped 2 years ago when balancing a job and raising my children single handed became a bit too much. So I now have various little pots of self employment:

• I sell Usborne children's books as Becky's Books
• My blog earns me money for paid posts
• Kendal Family History Services is my genealogical business

I am trying to find another employed position but so far nothing has come up that I have either managed to get or that is suitable to fit in with the children.

For me LifeCircle is all about continuing me on my journey to be self sufficient again after divorce. I also need encouragement to ditch the excess weight and this time keep it off. So a bit of coaching to get my head in the right place is just what I need.

This is a linky so check out Kate's post to see everyone else.

New term, new....

Tomorrow is the first day of day of the new school term up here in Cumbria. After a long wet summer holiday my daughter will be heading into year 3 and my son starting in Reception. It will be a whole new experience for all of us.


New to Junior School


My daughter may find it a shock to the system moving to the more formal schooling of juniors. We are going to have to get use to the joys of proper homework so guess I need to start as I mean to go with ensuring she gets it done. This is her second year at this school so I hope it goes at lot smoother than last year. I hope that she learns to control her temper and emotions better so she can settle and make stronger friendships.


New to School


My son will be part time at big school for the first 2 weeks. The transition from nursery school to Reception is designed to make it as smooth as possible for the children. He is very excited about going and I'm sure he will be perfectly happy. I think its going to be harder for him to have to wait until the afternoon to go in wearing his new uniform (which I've spent too much time labelling!):

New mummy

I'm going to be on my own for most of the day 5 days a week from the end of the month. This opens to many opportunities for me:

• sorting out the house and getting a proper housework routine (FlyLady here I come!)
• expanding my existing Usborne book business
• getting going with the family history business
• finding a part time paid job to fit into school hours (not an easy thing to do)
• getting into shape with Rosemary Conley (school holidays not good for my weight!)

It will be interesting to see how it goes for all of us so watch this space....

When September comes....

When September comes my little boy starts big school. He will no longer spend most days in my care but will with the big children at primary school. It doesn't seem all that long since he was a baby:

When September comes my son will be having lunch at school so I will be on my own 5 days a week and won't have his company:

When September comes I won't have my little companion to accompany me out and pinch the froth off the top of my cappuccino:

When September comes activities like home baking will be confined to the weekends:

When September comes I will be able to do all the things I've been putting off until my son starts school. Here is hoping that I:

• finally manage to finish to sort the house out and move in properly after a year!
• can start to earn decent money through my self employment as an Usborne Independent Reseller and as Family History Researcher
• can seek some part time paid work

Not holding my breath on any of them and he doesn't actually go full time until the 19th but I can dream of what will happen when September comes.

Competition Time!

As I may have mentioned a couple of times in this blog I am now running 2 little businesses. This year I really need to get them to make me self sufficient and not just supplying a little bit of income, so I have got a competition going for each business!


Becky's Usborne Books


This is my work as an Independent Usborne Reseller selling their lovely children's books. I do home parties, school fetes and any other fair that has outside stalls. The website for this is over at Becky's Books and I have created a Facebook Page to help promote it: 

Becky's Usborne Books

When I get 500 fans I will be giving away either a Make and Do Activity Book or a Sticker Book to a random fan! So please go and Like the page. In the meantime feel free to browse the online catalogue and place an order or book a party. Whilst on my website don't forget to enter the Prize Draw for a chance to win £100 worth of Usborne books. I am also looking for new team members so if you fancy earning some extra money this year please get in touch! 

Becoming self sufficient - update 1

One of my targets for this year is to become financially self sufficient so I can move off from relying on benefits. This post will set out what steps I have taken so far to realise this dream.


1) A second blog


In order to hone my technical skills and work on my professional skills I have created a second blog Lakes Single Mum's Tips. On here I am putting simple IT tips and advice on researching family history. Hopefully I can work on my training techniques on this site.


2) Improving my qualifications


I have been investigating undertaking a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector course. This would enable me to tutor in adult education or be a self employed trainer. I have bought some training manuals and will investigate as to whether I can get financial help to undertake the course. To get some real life experience I have volunteered to help train senior citizens in sheltered accommodation.


3) Getting advice


I have signed up to the Become a Mumpreneur course. This is giving me ideas and a focus as to how I can start building up various incomes from what I have already and others for the future too.