Combining The Homestead & Business Lifestyle

 Georgie Girl, the boss mare

We had a frost last night so it is a good thing I did not try to get my plants in the ground yet. Our days have been cool but sunny. We have our big wood stove going, but keep it pretty much banked back during the day. I hate to use the kerosene heater since that fuel costs us money. This type of weather is tricky because it is not freezing cold during the day and at night it is cold enough to wear warm clothing and use warm snuggly blankets. So you have to have some kind of heat. So our big wood stove can be overkill at times but banked back has been doing a good job. I hate it when the house is cold and everything you touch is cold.

We have a variety of jobs that need to be done on a regular basis out here. Working on my business takes up a good share of my time. I am trying to develop some sort of a schedule. But I get up and there is always something else needs to be done than what I had written on my list to done first. I try to organize myself better but things get in the way. I have been really trying to get rid of all my clutter. I have things I have not used or even looked at in years. So these things need to go!

Since I need to work on the computer for my business daily, I have to take breaks from my household chores and sit down and work a little here. Then I go back to the household jobs. Today I am working on organizing cookbooks in my kitchen. My husband finished the shelf he had made for my cookbooks by adding molding and varnishing it yesterday. So today I am able to put the cookbooks back where they belong. While I do that, I will weed out any that I do not use anymore.

A sample of strings I have for sale

I sell guitar strings online on two websites. One is String Baby and the other one is my original site Larry Gene Music that I put up in 2002. Boy, we have come along way from there! This morning we got up to an international sale on our website. I am so happy to be getting more international sales. A couple of weeks ago we got one from a repeat customer from Paris and today a new customer from Japan. There is a whole international market out there for anyone with an online business. You just have to learn how to handle these sales so they are profitable to your business, but affordable for your international customers. The shipping is what stops most sellers from selling to them. And it also stops the foreign would be customers from buying if your shipping costs are too high. We worked on it to come up with a happy medium so that the shipping cost are not out of sight for the customers.

If you are trying to live independently, the most important part of it is to be able to do all the chores involved. It is pretty hard to do all the gardening and food preserving and fence fixing while having to work on your business or at a job. I get behind all the time, yet I am here at home all day. When I worked out at a regular job it was a nightmare. Could not get anything done here. What I am trying to do in my quest for organizing and automating my home, life and business is to make everything much easier. Automatic!

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole