My money making challenge kind of went out the window last year with so much happening I ended up using some of the money for necessary life expenses. I did still have some invested in various things and one of those projects was recently completed, how much I made from it is yet to be determined, but I feel positive about it.

So originally I started with money I found on the street, bought some clothing and resold it, I bought books and resold them, I did my eBook – Blog To Book, (which I have taken down for now.) I have earned interest on my savings account, but the bulk of my money came from buying and reselling.

It has not all been perfect and easy though. One thing I was going to do I had to back out of at the last minute and I lost $1157 because of it. Most recently I lost $584 on a project I was going to invest in, then backed out. I may or may not get that money back, but I am not holding my breath.

My life got crazy for a while so I just didn’t do anything with this challenge. I was just focused on getting life right for my daughters and I.

In my last update my current value from this challenge was $4,182.14 all tied up in projects, none of it in cash.

Of that, $1,714 has been lost, taking me down to $2468.14. $2,368 of that is still tied up but will be freed up in the next few weeks.

The project I mentioned costing me $200 and netting $600 ended up only costing $100, but it is a once off thing, with details I can’t really share. I netted $657 from it so definitely worth it, although it took me much longer than I originally anticipated.

$500 of this challenge has gone to some marketing/joining fees for a program I expect to make a decent income from in the coming months and make a return on my investment.

So, as it stands I found $25.65 to start the challenge.
I have lost $1,714.
I have $2468.14 tied up in projects.
Another $500 outlaid for marketing for a separate project which is starting to generate an income now, and hopefully in the next few months will earn me back what I have paid.
$157 is sitting here, twiddling it’s thumbs. Ok, not completely true. My sister and I are working on something and I am thinking I will throw this cash at it to get it all happening. We are both pretty confident it’ll work. I’ll share more closer to our ‘launch’ for this.

So as it stands, I am not doing the greatest, in fact I have taken a step back from step 18 down to 17,  but it is all good. I have lost money, but that happens when investing – you win some, you lose some. The coming months will see some of my projects end and a couple be launched so it will be interesting to see how it all goes.

Are you doing the challenge at all?

I joined the 8 week Athlete Course. They are in week 2, but I couldn’t officially start last week, so am a little behind. I want to do obstacle courses and tone up, so naturally this course is perfect for me. I want to be clear, I am happy with my overall size, I am happy with the amount of weight I have lost and am pretty happy with myself. I do want to increase my fitness and toning, which is my aim for this course.

I took my before pictures (which make me cringe) and because they were taken in the mirror they look pretty bad.

I couldn’t post the full bikini shot, I had to put boardies on.  This is me, no make up, no spray tan and hair not done. My stomach and toning my body is where my focus is.

I weighed myself (72kgs, I was down to 70.5kg and want to keep below 73kgs. 72kgs is 158 pounds)

I took my measurements
Height: 170cm (5ft5″, almost 5ft6″)
Bicep: 28.5cm (11.2 inches)
Tricep: 26.5cm (10.4 inches)
Overbust: 92.5cm (36.4 inches)
Bust: 99cm (39 inches)
Underbust: 85cm (33.5 inches)
Waist: 81cm (31.9 inches)
Bellybutton: 91.5cm (36 inches)
Hips: 93.5cm (36.8 inches)
Thigh (under buttock): 64.5cm (25.4 inches)
Mid thigh: 60.6cm (23.9 inches)
Calf: 39.5cm (15.6 inches)

And I tested myself with a few things, such as push ups, sit ups and burpees. I can do 10 push ups in a row, 20 sit ups and 20 burpees, but not a whole lot more. I am working up to being able to do 100 push ups in a row. I’ll get there.

I want to do a stack of obstacle courses and fun runs, eventually competing in a marathon, so this course is my kick start to a new training regime for me.

How is your fitness coming along?

On Thursday I attended a launch for My Wealth. Before your eyes glaze over, this is not a sponsored post. I was invited to check it out, as were writers from Money Magazine, Your Property, BigPond, Sold and more. I was skeptical about it actually being able to simplify investing, make things easier and essentially be everything I need in one place. I mean, seriously, having information on property, equities, shares, my own investments, values of everything and being able to search for things I want to invest in, all in one place in a language I can actually understand sounded way too good to be true.

As you can see, I haven’t actually filled anything in yet, but this is what you can track.

I was absolutely blown away and am in love! I love property and am right now looking around at the areas I want to invest in. Now with My Wealth I can check everything I want to know, learn about areas etc. Put properties in my watch list and as I purchase properties I will be able to see how much they are worth, how they are performing and basically track everything. I had so much fun the other night researching areas I want to buy and finding new areas to invest in. Yes, I love property that much that I find researching them fun.

I love the different options for searching, being able to see growth potential and rental yield etc.

All the data comes from RP Data and My Wealth is like using realestate.com.au (because they are partnered) but with better information for investment purposes.

For my personal situation, I am also investing more in shares. CBA were actually the very first shares I ever bought and I plan on buying more shares. Now I will be able to check them all out with ease, in my own time, from my laptop.

If I were a Commonwealth customer I would be able to track it even better. I would be able to see my savings, exactly as they are, my property value vs my mortgage etc. There is heaps non CBA customers can di and use and it is still worth it, but as a CBA customer there are a few things that make it even more worthwhile.

On Thursday, I was sitting next to Clive van Hoden who deals with home loans for CBA and he asked me what I thought. I said “It is so good it makes me want to switch and that is huge because I have been with and loved my current bank for years!”

Now, as much as I love it, I would still do diligent research and make sure I get the best mortgage for me, which may not be with Commonwealth Bank. I would make sure that with all my banking and investments I am getting the best deal, so the right savings accounts and things, not just switch to CBA to have it all show in My Wealth. While it would be easier to have it all in the one place, the difference in interest rates and fees etc could mean it costs me a few thousand a year for convenience.

That said, I have been researching mortgages and the difference between lenders was pretty negligible. There was a 0.01% difference between CBA and the best deal RAMS or Aussie could get me. For a 0.01% on my tiny mortgage to be, I’d switch to CBA to use My Wealth. I encourage you all to do your own research though and you should be checking your mortgage and other investments regularly to make sure you are getting the best deal for you.

A few other things I like about My Wealth are the news stories. They have their own journalists for them and have relevant news to each section, latest news, hot topics and so on. There is a forum where you can chat to other people anonymously (you create a screen name for the forum) about all things investing such as property, companies, shares and so on.

It is pretty much a one stop shop to track your investments in property, shares, cash and super; find more investments and do research. I already know I will be using it a lot.

What are your thoughts? Have you checked it out? Would you use it?

How would you like to get paid to travel? I have a real passion for travelling and while I don’t get to do it as often as I like it is something I love. If the main thing putting you off planning your holiday is money, here are some ways to actually make money from travelling and ways to save money on travel.

1.)  Write about it – You can approach travel magazines, websites, newspapers and other places about writing an article on where you want to go.  It will need to be a unique or intriguing angle and you will need to have researched it well beforehand but people do get paid to travel and if you are really passionate about travelling somewhere, this might just pay for it.

2.)  Reward points – there are loads of reward programs out there and if you are traveling make sure you maximize your points. Don’t cash in your points for little trips, instead research the best way to use them. Check all the ways you can collect points too, as it’s not just with flying. But never spend money for the sake of collecting points.

3.)  Buy stuff to resell – Whenever I go to the States I buy things like clothes, make-up, hair care, Lego etc and resell when I come home. Sometimes I have orders before I even go. Things are so much cheaper there and I can sell them easily on eBay or Facebook. Check things at the location you want to go to see if there are things you might be able to buy and resell when you come home to help negate some of your expenses.

4.)  Couch surfing or air bnb are two great ways to reduce accommodation costs. You can put your own place up for offer to make money for your holiday, then take advantage of other people’s budget accommodation when you travel. Couch surfer offers free accommodation whereas AirBNB is paid.

5.)  Sponsorship for conferences – if you are a blogger, you can pitch to companies for sponsorship to attend conferences. Depending on how much they pay, where you are going and how much time you have either side, you might be able to turn it into a bit of a holiday too.

6.)  Mystery shopping – You have to start off doing small things like grocery shops, but once you have shown you are reputable and reliable, you can get free flights, accommodation, passes to attractions and more as a mystery shopper.

7.)  Combine it with work – While not always ideal, you can try to combine holidays with work. Set up a meeting in the location you want to go and you might be able to get your employer to foot some of the bill or if you are self employed you can claim some of the travel expenses on tax.

8.)  Rent your house out – If you are going away you could rent your place out whilst you are gone. It depends on your landlord if you are renting, how long you plan to be gone for and so on, but you might find renting out your place covers some of your expenses making the travel much easier.

What are your tips for cheap travel or making money with travel?

Ever have the OH NO!!!! moment? The WHERE DID THAT TIME GO feeling?

How about the WHY DID I COMMIT TO SHARING PUBLICLY?

All of the above hit me like a freight train approximately ten minutes ago when I realised today is a fortnight since I commenced work on my $100,000 by December 31^st goal.

Wow that went blindingly fast!

Having taken a deep breath I’m reminded of the value of public accountability – yep, it’s great to have. Thanks so much for keeping me honest!

So how was my financial progress over the last fortnight:

• I’ve taken on extra hours at my day job with additional income of approximately $2,412.00 after tax over the next 28 weeks.
• Better Business Better Life has been contracted to deliver training and develop flyer content resulting in revenue of $2,390.00.
• Ebook revenue of $28.13.
• An old super fund cheque received of $80.00.

Total revenue contracted and/or received: $4,910.13

Actions I’ve taken to progress towards my goal include listing more surplus home items for sale, creating my Blogging For Beginners teleseminar and networking with potential clients at two events.  I’ve also brainstormed my membership offering and am currently building it within the Better Business Better Life website.

The Blogging For Beginners teleseminar will be FREE and cover:

• how to avoid blank page syndrome
• how much to write per post
• how to attract readers other than your mum
• how to schedule posts
• lots, lots more.

You can register for it here.

Now if you’re thinking ‘has she gone mad offering the teleseminar for free’ you are probably partially correct. I’m sure plenty of people think I’m mad but not in relation to the teleseminar.

My aim with the teleseminar is to build trust and strengthen my relationship with participants. By offering them great value perhaps they will purchase a product or service from me in the future and if not I’ve still created good vibes.

How I’m feeling about my progress:

So I’ve not exactly earned the $7,142.86 required if you were to divide the $100,000 equally over the remaining fortnights in 2013 but I think a good result for the first fortnight. I fully expect that as I build momentum and introduce new products and services through Better Business Better Life that the results will increase.

Plans for next fortnight:

Ok, there’s to be no resting on my laurels. Key focuses for the next fortnight are:

• To promote my Blogging For Beginners teleseminar like a crazy girl. Can you help too?
• To create a marketing plan for the membership launch.
• To approach ALL of the business owners I connected with at the networking events to see if I can assist them in working towards their goals or link them up with someone who can.
• To write seven guest posts in preparation for my upcoming Blogging For Growth blog tour.

Your Turn:

How was your progress last fortnight? How will you increase momentum this fortnight? Is there a challenge you’d like support on or a success you’d like to celebrate with us? Tell me in the comments.

A question I get asked a fair bit is what to do with jewellery when a relationship has ended. It depends on the relationship really, but I do have some suggestions and have looked into options for myself.

As a side note, in Australia the spelling for jewellery is jewellery, but jewelery and jewelry are acceptable elsewhere. For this post, as I am Australian, I have spelt it our way. 

My wedding and engagement ring plus black opal ring

I used to have a decent jewellery collection, now I only have a few items of jewellery left. Last year when I was robbed everything got stolen that I was not wearing except my wedding ring, engagement ring and a black opal ring. These 3 rings were from my ex husband and I had taken them with me to discuss options with my sister in law (a jeweller). I think what you do with jewellery once a relationship has ended does depend on if you were boyfriend/girlfriend or engaged or married plus how it ends.

I asked the question on Instagram, Facebook and twitter (click on them to see what people thought) and was interested to see the replies. I even got a stack of emails about it all, which surprised me. I honestly did not think people would be so passionate about what you should do or what is best to do with old jewellery from a relationship.

In my opinion, when it comes to an engagement if the woman breaks it off, she needs to return the ring. If the man breaks it off, she keeps the ring. That is my only hard and fast thoughts on jewellery from a relationship ending. Everything else is up to you, but here are some ideas and a couple of things I have done and am doing.

Give it back: They might ask for it back anyway, depending on what it was that was bought and what the relationship was like, why it was bought, how long you have had the item for etc. There are so many variables for all of these, it is hard to judge. I was honestly going to give my black opal ring back to my ex. (You can read a little bit about black opals here, which are rare and quality black opal is valued higher than diamonds). He bought it for me a few years ago “because he loves me”. I loved it and still do and had it willed to one of my daughters. When we broke up I wanted to give it back, but as I had promised it to our daughter I wanted to keep it for her. A black opal is an investment piece and will continue to increase in value. We discussed it and he was happy for me to keep it for our daughter.

Sell it: You can sell it to one of those gold buyer places and get virtually nothing for it. You could sell the jewellery as is or you could take it apart and sell the gold separate to the stones. You will get more for a solid diamond on it’s own than you would for the whole ring generally because people associate bad things with broken relationships but you can sell a solid diamond to a diamond dealer with better luck and a higher price.

Give it away: Before I got married I had a few boyfriends. One day I collected everything from them and took it to my parents house to see if my step mum wanted them. There was perfume, some jewellery and a few other bits and pieces. She loved it but was unsure at first because “I don’t know how your father would feel about me wearing items bought by another man, for you.” Dad was right next to her. His response “Free perfume? Free jewellery? You like it and I don’t have to pay. It’s GOOD!!” He was more than happy and I was happy because I didn’t want/use these items and now someone else could enjoy them.
That was boyfriend stuff, engagement and marriage items I feel are different and would not do that with my items.

Throw it away: Quite a few people suggested this and found it very freeing. Some of the reasons were because if you hold onto past relationships/items from them, you can’t move on properly. Or any money gained from the items is tainted/has bad karma etc. I can understand that and each to their own. I know throwing away items can be really cleansing. If I were to do it, I’d have to go to the beach and throw them off the cliff. I love the ocean (water in general really) and I always feel rejuvenated and renewed by it. BUT I’d feel terrified that a fish or dolphin or something would choke on my ring, so could never really do it. In my mind I have done it numerous times.

Recreate it: This was suggested by a few people when I actually first separated as well as the other day when I asked everyone. Melt down the goal, removed the stones and create a piece of jewellery you really love. My sister in law has the diamond from her mums engagement ring and it’s beautiful. Her dad (also a jeweller) created the ring, my brother just had to pay for the white gold, but the diamonds came from the old ring. Her parents had been divorced for years. I think it is lovely they have done that. My sister in law and brother have a wonderful marriage and have been married for 13 years, with 3 kids and their 4th on the way.

A few other people mentioned wearing their mothers rings. I was willed rings from my mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Unfortunately they have all been stolen, but I wore them and loved it.

As for what will I do with those rings? I am keeping them for my daughters. They can do whatever they like with them when they are older. If they want to recreate them into their own engagements rings, that’s fine. If they want to sell them, I am fine with that. I always planned to will them to them. Since they were babies they played with my rings. Once they could talk they asked for them and since then I always said they would be theirs when they are older. As such I never really felt my rings were mine because I have always promised them to my daughters.

I checked with my ex about this and he agreed. To me, these rings are symbols of our love and while the marriage did end, we were together 8 years. We did love each other and we love our daughters. It is reasonable amicable between my ex and I now, so I will keep them in their memory/glory boxes (started when they were born).

I have been truly fascinated by everyone’s thoughts, what people have done/think should be done and I would love to hear what you think. Please keep it nice. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and other than the engagement ring being returned which is actually law in most places, opinions are just opinions, not law and not one opinion is 100% right for every situation.

So what are your thoughts? Keep it, sell it, give it away, throw it away? What did you do and why?