My Vision Board

If you follow me – or my blog – you would know that I “dabble” in a lot of different things. This goes beyond my career of being a teacher. That and being a mom are the two greatest jobs I could have and I love both of them but even with a full time job , (I work summers too,) and part time photography gigs, there isn’t much “fun money” for the extra things we like to do.  With DJ in college and me in grad school those extras don’t happen as often as we’d like.

In January of last year, I became an independent consultant for chloe and isabel jewelry. Their jewelry is really pretty and I love wearing it and selling it. Some months were definitely better than others and I wish I could find more of a demand for it because I know that I could sell a lot more. I found it hard to get hostesses and I know that I am not aggressive enough – and that is something I need to work on this year. It is great “fun money” though and it let me do things like dinners out , manicures, pedicures and that sort of thing that I’d have otherwise felt guilty spending money on.

A friend of mine sells Jamberry nail wraps and recently, we did a small vendor event together. She and the other vendor were pretty successful but mine had only one sale. We talked about it a bit and realized that “consumables” are the reason why. If you like the nail wraps, you will want to order more. With the jewelry, no matter how beautiful it is, there is only so much a person will order. I am not giving up chloe and isabel. I plan to keep working the business but decided to also venture into the Jamberry world and become a rep for them too.  They go along well side by side actually – pretty rings on a well manicure hand!!

One of the first things I was asked to do by my lead consultant with Jamberry was to create a vision board. I didn’t know what that was but it is not much more than making a list of things I hope to get or accomplish in the future. Right now, I am keeping my vision to one year. My vision board includes:

• Paying for grad school
• DJ’s tuition
• A vacation
• Girls’ Nights Out
• Date Nights
• More charity work

So my first step – to hold some parties! They can be in person or online. Hostesses can live close by or across the country (and with Jamberry – around the world!) The hostess rewards for both companies are amazing and I would love to help people earn free stuff – because getting stuff for free is one of my favorite things!

Check out both my sites and let me know what you think! Let me know in the comments. I look forward to hearing from you!

https://clairesinclair.jamberry.com

https://www.chloeandisabel.com/boutique/clairesinclair

You can also follow my facebook pages to find out about big sales and specials. Just give it a like!!

https://www.facebook.com/Chloe-and-Isabel-with-Claire-Sinclair-818706738175643/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/clairesinclairjamberry/?fref=ts

52 Week Money Challenge

I have a hard time keeping resolutions but this year, I was able to keep TWO!!  All year!!  I even surprised myself.  The first was my blog.  I said that I would write every day for one year and I am less than a week from meeting that goal!!

The second was one that I kept a secret until Christmas.  At the beginning of the year, I read about something called, “The 52 Week Money Challenge.”  It seemed rather simple, put away a dollar the first week, $2 the second week, $3 the third and so on and so on until this week, the 52nd, which was $52.  SEEMED simple I say again because in the beginning it really was.  Then, came the summer.  My school pays its teachers on a 10 month cycle.  We don’t get paid in the summer and although I work during the summer, the salary is nowhere near what I make teaching.  Those weeks, (around 30 weeks into the year,) were tough to save.  With only one salary coming in, and trying to keep it a secret from the rest of the family, it was difficult.  I fell behind a few times and would catch up when I could.  This month was tough too, because by the last week of December, I had to put away $200 just in this month alone.

I did it though!  At the end of the challenge, there is over $1,300 saved up!  I wrapped it all up in a fancy box and put it under the tree with a note inside that said, “SPRING BREAK.”  We have not been able to take a trip in awhile and this will be able to cover a big chunk of it!  Dave and the boys opened it up and were totally impressed – not just that I did it but that I kept it a secret the whole time.  Now we are trying to decide where to go.  My dad has a time share in Hilton Head, that is a possibility but we have been there a few times and might try something new.  We’d love to visit our cousins in Nevada, or maybe go to Boston where we’ve never been before.  I guess there are a lot of possibilities.  It is not a ton of money, but enough that gives us an opportunity to do something.  Now the fun part starts as we try to choose where!

We are coming up with our new money challenge for next year.  We can do the same one, and add the money to our Spring Break trip, but the first few weeks of the year don’t amount to a lot of money.  DJ suggested we do it in reverse.  That’s a possibility.  We also thought we could just put away $25 a week.  That’s another $1300 by the end of the year.  Now that I have done it once, I want it to be something we try to do from now on.  Fun money I guess we could call it.  Money that will give us a chance to do something we might not have otherwise had the chance to do.

If you are able to, I suggest you try it!  It is such a nice reward in the end!!