Sunday, December 27, 2015

Outlet Sale Coming!

Who doesn't love an awesome sale?  Here's the link: OUTLET SALE.  Be sure to go on right away, as sale items are while supplies last!  Thank you so much for supporting my Direct Sales business!

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Support Your Own Direct Sales Business For the Holidays!

This idea actually came to me several years ago, when my relatives started giving our Christmas gifts away to charity in our name (although they get the tax write-off).  Don't get me wrong, that sounds super warm and fuzzy and honorable to do, if we had everything in the world, and have not needs or wants.  But that's not the case for our family. 

Each year when we got the card from the charity organization, I would comment that it would be nice if they gave to the Charity of Us.  (Painfully, we have 5 kids on one income, and one of those Christmases, my husband had been out of work for 6 months.  We were starving and had no gifts for our kids, but some 3rd world family got our Christmas gift of food that year!  Sorry for my lack of excitement!)

It occurred to me then that I actually can do the same, but give my own family back that gift.  I started to purchase their gifts from my own direct sales business through out the year.  Each month, when there are extra specials available for my parties, I try to purchase at least 1 or 2 of them for my Christmas gifts. 

Here's how it helps my business:
1. I get the commission - not Walmart, Amazon, etc.  This isn't selfish at all!  Trust me, the owner of the dealership my hubby works at, would never by a vehicle from another place of business.  Why would I buy gifts from another gift store?
2. I get advertisement. My family hopefully uses my items, and their friends see them. In theory,  they in turn pass my information on.
3. I get my gifts at a portion of the perceived value - saving a ton of money!  I only buy it when it's on special, usually at least 50% off, plus my 25% commission.  They get more, and I spend less!  Win- win!
4.  I get the credit for the purchase.  My ds company gives incentive periods to earn more free products, so knowing that, I make my purchases for gifts during those incentive times.  So in addition to my discount, I earn extra incentives and get sales credit for them.
5. Job security!  If you and your family get their gift needs from you instead of the box stores, it's job security!  Giving them that for Christmas and birthdays, gets them thinking about other options for their own gift giving needs, too!
6.  I'm done shopping for my extended family, way before the Christmas season even begins!
7.  My holiday spending is spread throughout the year, making it less painful on the wallet.
8.  My Direct Sales business is paying for Christmas gifts!  This makes Mr. Right happy that he doesn't have to find gift money at Christmas.
9.  My Direct Sales is not just a hobby, it's actually paying a bill.
10.  Who doesn't love to get a special, personalized gift for Christmas?

As finish up the holidays and begin a new year, set a new goal to support your own direct sales business for the holidays next year!  Do you buy from yourself?

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

How to Get Laundry Done Quicker

With five very active kids, I find myself doing about 20 loads of laundry a week, just in clothes.  That doesn't include towels, sheets, and other extras that come along.  As I verge on my 20th year of being a stay-at-home-mom, I thought I'd share some of my tips for getting laundry done quicker. 

How to Get Laundry Done Quicker

  • Pick one day a week to devote to laundry!  I shoot for Mondays for my laundry day, and I'll be honest, I can't usually get it all done that day, but I'm usually close at the end of the day.  If you work during the week, you might have to choose Saturdays.
  • Everyone must submit their laundry to get it done and then pick it up after it's finished.  If you don't put your laundry in the laundry room, you don't get laundry services for the week.  (Sounds tough, but it works for the youngest to the oldest member of our family.)
  • All stains should be removed by the person who makes the stain prior to going to the laundry room.  If I don't know about the stain, I can't fix it.
  • Start a load of laundry the night before, and change the load first thing in the morning.  My laundry is in my bathroom, so this is easy for me.  It gives me a head start on Monday, to have a load ready to go to the dryer in the morning.
  • Never take clothes out of dryer without folding them.  I don't like to touch things twice, so I fold clothes, standing next to the dryer and put them right into piles in my bathroom.  My bathroom is long and narrow, so that long counter is on the right and the machines are on the left.  I've lived in a house with no folding space and literally line the piles on top of the washer and dryer and put them away as I go.  I also line baskets on the floor down the hallway if need be.
  • Sort clothes as you go.  If you can have a basket for each person to sort clothes into as you fold, you don't have to touch the clothes again.
  • On laundry day, I go to the laundry room every 20-30 minutes no matter what!  I change loads  in the middle of homeschool, while I'm on the phone, before and after I run errands, etc.
  • Everyone over the age of 10 get's to turn their clothes right side out for themselves.  I would love to have the time to turn clothes right side out for everyone, but I don't.  So, anyone who is capable of turning their clothes right side out, get their clothes just how they come out of the dryer.  If they are half and half turned right, I turn them the right way before folding them.  This probably saves me the most time.
  • Socks are the most time consuming to match up, so I try to do them as I go. Trust me, whites take the longest to fold, but once it's done, I don't have a huge pile of unmatched socks.
  • Have a basket of unmatched socks handy.  When the next child needs an extra chore for bad behavior, this is the first job I dole out to naughty kids!  It's a huge undertaking and they don't want be naughty again!
  • Have a box of too small clothes handy.   I usually have 2 boxes, one to sell, and one to give away.  I sort them as I go.  That way, clothes that need to be sorted out, never goes out to the kids' drawers.
  • Each person in my family has to put their clothes away themselves.  I call them to come get them, and they are responsible for putting them away.  I've been known to take them away if they are still out the next day.  I teach them that I go through the work of washing and folding, the least they can do is show respect by putting them away!
  • I also have been known to charge a quarter (or a chore) per item that is either clean or doesn't belong in the dirty clothes. (I'm sure you don't have those kids that clean their rooms by way of putting it into the laundry basket instead of putting it away!
  • I put towels from the bathrooms and kitchen in the child's basket that is responsible for that room. Then I don't have to put them away!
  • Sports clothes, work clothes, sheets and towels are done 2-3 days after laundry day (Even I need a break!).  At most, those take 4-5 loads, so it's not hard to get them done on another day.  Four loads doesn't seem like much compared to 20 on Monday! lol  I know, perspective is everything!
  • I might have to do the sports uniforms 2-3 times a week, so I always try to get the work clothes into the same load.  I sneak those loads in when I can!
I know this may seem like a lot of rules, but it works for me.  I find if I can transfer some of the work load over to the rest of the family, I'm not caught in the business of getting clothes found and delivered throughout the house.  I only focus on getting the clothes cleaned and folded.  If I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the clothes, I try to pray for the person I'm folding clothes for at that moment.  This gives me something to focus on instead of my own laundry frustrations.  It also gives me a great chance to pray for my household, while I'm getting the mundane chores finished!
 



Friday, December 11, 2015

Burlap Christmas Tree Skirt

 My very sweet 17 year old daughter saw a ruffled tree skirt at a friend's house and decided that she had to make me one for a Christmas gift this week.  A little background on this first.  My daughter was a reluctant participant in sewing in 4-H for 6 long years!  She is not very detail oriented, so it was a struggle for both of us to get projects done right for the fair each year.  She was more than happy to be finished with that project, and hasn't had an interest in sewing since.

Well, this project was quite the project.  She found all the material herself, and even tried to find ruffles she could sew onto this skirt all over town.  When she came up with a dead end on ruffles (she knew she couldn't make her own ruffles), she found bias tape instead!  I personally think that she's a genius!  I've seen these ruffled skirts and love them, but this actually makes my skirt special!
Mr. Right even got involved and tried to print the lettering out on the computer, but couldn't figure it out.  On Tuesday night, while I was working at a home party, she sewed like crazy while the boys tried to figure the computer out.  My daughter finally decided to have her boyfriend do the printing for her.  He did a fabulous job of printing the "S" and established date on the tree skirt free hand!  Beautiful work on both of their parts!

When she pulled out the sewing machine, they couldn't find the cord, so Mr. Right made a new one from some cords laying around!  I'm pretty impressed that she thought to trace my other tree skirt to make it.  I know I've contemplated how to make a perfect circle for a skirt!


 So here's a glimpse of it under my tree.  It's off the ground, because I tried something different this year, by putting my tree in an old washtub.  I have to say, the burlap skirt is much more beautiful!  What do you think?  I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of my girl that even though she's not a fan of sewing, she was able to pull this off all by herself for a very special gift that I will truly treasure!  It gives me hope that I may have made the right decision to teach my kids homemaking skills.