May Goals

May....really?

It's May already! May? Yes, I can't believe it either.

So far this year I have done the following:

• Drug my feet in the dirt. 
• Acted like a 4 year old who didn't get there way.
• Took a CNA clas. (huh? yeah, I know.)
• Screamed nasty, angry, words at my computer and eBay.
• Not listed for an entire month (or two).
• Listed my entire stock on Amazon.
• And discussed with no end what "I" should do with the future. (Knowing full well I have no control over anything I list on eBay. I think that's the hardest part.)

Conclusions? Well, yes, I do have a few. Guess what! I am back to where I was at the beginning of the year.

I want to write! Writing makes me happy!

But in order to continue living in this house, provide food and contribute to a substantial life for 4 little monkeys, I need to make some money everyday.

I do not want to work 12 hour night shifts at a hospital. Yes, it would be rewarding and a good way to be with other adults, plus many good story ideas. But, I would have to be away from home and get much less sleep. Much, much, much less sleep. I have not ruled it out completely.

So the new game plans stands as:

• Go through everything I have left. Get rid of the stuff I can't or do not want to sell.
• Go through my closet and hubby's closet, immediately.
• List clothes. Especially men's shirts and lots of jeans. (yuck!)
• Devise a new plan for the plush I am selling.

I am also toying with starting a new blog to publish my writing on while I write. I read about publishing your book as a blog. Then when it's finished self-publishing on amazon. Sounds like an interesting idea. It was geared toward non-fiction writing, but why couldn't it work for fiction.

I have raved about another series by Chautona Havig "Past Forward" . She published the series every Wednesday on Amazon and offered it Free for a day! It helped her get additional readers for all of her books and help her to be in the top 100 on Amazon. It was an amazing idea!

And better yet, if I used this similar idea, it would get me writing everyday. Hopefully I would be motivated to write again. Even if it's complete 'Crup!' it will at least give me an idea of what others think, hopefully with feedback.

I will keep this blog posted.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.

Rebecca Rae

Dear Life,

Dear life,

2013 is a pivotal year.
This year will change the game of our life.
This year everything will change.

Keep the house or sell it.
Keeping means we still need to downsize the clutter.
Selling means we need to downsize the clutter on the fly.

Quit selling on ebay or scale down until everything is gone.
Scaling down means ebay is still a big distraction.....still!
Quitting means I have to believe I can write and sell a novel.
      Really Believe!
      Believe I am a writer.
      I can provide entertainment and inspiration to others through my words.
     Wow! my own little words.

I was privy to a discussion on an ebay facebook group which I am a member of last night.
Can you make $100 a day on ebay? Hmmmm...
Most people can. Some of the people do it part time, some full time. Most make $100 a day.
Some of these people have almost 1000 items listed and some of there items are listed for around $100.

Currently I have close to 600 items listed and I am happy to be making $700 a month. So you are telling me that some people make that in 7 days!? I have a difficult time managing $700 worth of sales a month, 4 kids, this house and on top of that trying to find time to do what I really want to do.....write.

So, do I ramp up my ebay listings and try to sell $100 a day which would be equivalent to $30,000 a year & repeat & repeat? Or do I sit down and write and finish the first novel, the second, third, and sixth? Do I give it my all & try to make a living selling my words and hopefully find a contract and an agent?

I really can't seem to do both and be a happy attention giving mother......No Matter how very hard I try.
But....can we do without my small ebay income? I'm not sure.

I just know that when I am writing I am happy. When I am not writing everyday I am a big crab.

R.R.Dice

Man wanted to watch cat videos and make 6 figure income

Man wanted to watch cat videos and make 6 figure income

I love the article I just read on Yahoo news! Yes, an IT guy really outsourced his entire job so that he could watch cat videos, surf Reddit, and buy stuff on Ebay! I love it! He actually went to work everyday, but was intelligent enough to find someone else to do the actual work!

I think he should definitely get a raise!

My 8 year old daughter, T has begun offering to do jobs around the house in order to make extra "fake" money. My kids do chores for "fake" money that they are then allowed to buy things with said "fake" money from my ebay stash. It has worked out fairly well.

T offered to watch her 2 year old sister, K while I cleaned and decluttered one Saturday afternoon.
Fabulous! Sounds great! How much "fake" money is this worth to you?
"How about $10?" Sure, you have a deal.

They proceeded to T's room, finding colors and paper. Our 2 year old is enthralled when receiving the attention of the older 2 sisters.
I happened to be near their room when this conversation took place.
"Hey P, (5 year old sister), would you like to watch K (2 year old) for 2 hours while Mom is cleaning?"
"Well..." was P's reply.
"I will let you play in my room with her! Won't that be great?"
"Hmmmm......" was P's reply.
"And I will even give you 2 "fake" dollars! Then you will only have to make 8 more "fake" dollars to buy something from Mom's Ebay room!"
"YES!" I heard P shout! "I will do it! Thanks T! I am so excited!"

And what do you think the 8 year old did? She got the ipad and watched Cat videos!!

Later in the day I requested the audience of the 8 year old alone in my room. I asked her where she had come up with the idea to have P watch K for less "fake" money?
"You heard that?"
Yes, so even at 8, she knew this may not have been the right thing to do.
"That's what they do at school?"
Huh? Who does this at school?
"The principal. She gets paid a LOT of money and then makes the teacher "watch" all the kids. All she does is sit in her office all day."
Who told you that? I questioned, astonished.
"My teacher. I asked him if he made more money than the principal and he said 'No, the principal is in charge.' So, he does all the work and she has all the money."
"Do you think that is fare Mommy?"
So, which job would you like to have, I asked T.
"I want to be in charge....am I in trouble?"
No, not at all. I think that as long as everyone is happy, you are not in trouble. Here are your 10 "fake" dollars. She proceeded to pay her sister, and everyone was happy.

Moral of the story:
My daughter will one day use her college education to hire others to do her 6 figure job.
Who am I kidding, my daughter is going to use her 2nd grade education to do the same thing this "IT specialist" did! I am sure T already has a fake Linkedin account I am unaware exists and is applying for "in charge" jobs as we speak!
She also has a Youtube account, posting Cat videos for guys like this to watch!

Thanks for reading!
R.R.Dice

Advice to Writers

I love the blog "Advice to Writers".
Every morning when I awake, I check my email and read what tid bit of advice this blog has to offer. I never think that it really is a blog, I imagine it to be an esteemed writer offering me there advice for the day.
Today's advice:

Try to Develop Actual Work Habits

Hmm, yes, that would be a good thing to do. Write everyday. Yes, I would like to take that bit of advice to heart.

But, that would be actual work and I already have too much of that ( ;

Let me give you a little insight into where I am in life right now. I want to write. I want to write all day, every day. I do Not want to sell on ebay anymore.

So, you are saying "So do it, quit talking about it. I am sick of hearing you B*tch about it."

Ok, Well, here's the situation......"My parents went away on a week's vacation...."

We have a huge house payment and 6,000 square feet of home on 10 acres. Yes, you read that information correctly. When we bought this house we were running a small business, 120+ hours a week and bringing in around $20,000 a month. Yes, you read all of that correctly. And, I still sold on ebay on the side and my hubby had another job on the weekend.

We bought a very nice house and had our 4th child. We have been living here for 3 years and were working nicely from our home the first year. Then one child was diagnosed with a learning disability and Mommy decided that working 120+ hours a week, raising 4 kids, and cleaning a really big giant house now filled with Cr*p, was not for her! Because, when you get a bigger house, you just don't enjoy the new found space. You fill it with more Cr*p! Yes, no one told me that one......I had to figure it out for myself.

And do you know what I did in our last house. The house that was 1700 square feet? I wrote. I wrote all the time. I stayed up nights and sat on my couch and listened to all the noise in our house, but I wrote. We wanted more space so we couldn't always hear all the noise. My hubby wanted it too; we wanted to sit with our thoughts and not have to hear all the screaming, crying, breathing, tickling, giggling, laughing, smiling.

Do you know what I miss the most? Besides writing because I wasn't busy 23 hours of the day? I miss the noise! I miss hearing my daughter cry, laugh, smile.... because her room was not up the stairs down the hall and around a short corridor; it was right beside mine. I could hear the little ones breathing at night! I want to hear that again! Our house is huge and I don't feel as safe any longer, it is too big! It is so big that my two oldest daughters are scared to sleep in their own rooms; instead they sleep on a king size mattress together. At night they know they are safe because they are close to someone else breathing the same air.

And that is where we are at in our life.

I want to write and only write, but I have to keep selling on ebay to buy food at this point in time.

So I will try to get up in the middle of the night and write.

And we will try to sell our house and downsize. Oh the lessons I have already learned in life ( :

Thank you for reading about my crazy life. Please check out one of my favorite blogs: Advice to writers!

R.R.Dice 

Fearing the Shades of Gray!

Adult Fears

Recently I have begun a new scary period in my life. I am SCARED!!
I am Scared of lots of things, mice, spiders, that the shower will trickle because I forgot to pay the water bill. That the kids will not wear pants to school or that my son may take off all his clothes when he goes potty and run around naked at school causing us to have to move to a new small town with people who don't know my son is related to his 2nd grade sister.

But mostly, I fear the GRAY!!
Oh your one of those Christians who jumped on the Anti- 50 Shades Bandwagon.

Well, Yes and no....Yes, if the 50 Shades of Grey you are referring to is my new Hair Color!!

Who Knew there really were "50 Shades" of Hair or Gray for that matter!

Last night while on a listing spree....15 Ebay listings up, 75 Amazon listings.....I indulged in my dirty dark little secret.....watching many many old reruns of Sex & the City!

Around 1 am, entered Carrie Bradshaw with the shorter curly-haired ohhh so cute doo!
Love It!!
I have envied thick curly blondish brown hair. I like to compare it to that of Sarah Jessica Parker, except for the less fabulous ponytailed style I am currently wearing at this moment.
I have always loved my hair. Well, after I figured out how to style it when I was about 16 years of age.

Recently I have been contemplating a much shorter style like the one worn in the later Sex and the City series after Aiden and before the return of Mr. Big.
There is only one HUGE problem I see.......My hair is quickly relinquishing any color it felt it needed to the Grey god's with the 50 shades!
The Less color, the more kinkier and curlier.
When they started appearing, I began a new morning and nightly ritual of plucking them out.
(Don't all 30 somethings experience this...please say Yes!)
Until hubby came looking for me one night after I had been missing for what seemed like hours.
"Just go get your hair colored again" he reminded.

But, the $200 cut and color necessary to cover up all 50 shades that my Gray hair is right at this moment is really not in the budget.

And if I dare to cut it off, turning my long locks into a much shorter bob.....will ALL the new hair grow in GRAY??? (Releasing a blood curtailing scream out of my lungs heard two towns away....)

I need Help!! Anyone? Opinions? What will people think of a Gray haired woman with 4 kids under the age of 8?
Got to run.....The police are banging at my door wondering what that screaming was about......


Hope you enjoy your day spending it coloring, cutting, photographing, or listing items.
Thank you for spending a moment with my fears.
R.R. Dice

The to Do List

To Do and to Don't

Everyday I find myself making a to do list. Usually on paper, sometimes I start them in my head in the middle of the night; those get me in the most trouble in the falling to sleep department.
I try to write them in the morning. But, once I write them, I will lose it or end up doing something else entirely. Today is a cleaning house day and the kids get out of school early, so here is my to do list of the day.

1. Blog, short and sweet.
2. Clean bathrooms; sinks, toilets, floors. Kitty litter box.
3. Clean basement before Piano.
4. List 5 on Ebay & Amazon.
5. Fold all laudry and put away. (yikes!)
6. Write for 1 hour. Work on Organizing writing calendar and deciding what to work on daily, 30 minutes.
7. Focus on "One thing" with daughter and sewing project.
8. Declutter 15 min. (Junk drawers, kitchen.)
9. Donate or toss 20 things today.
10. Hug all children.

Here's the list. I always add easy ideas, like Hug the kids. They always giggle and feel important when they are on the to do list.
Please share what your to do list looks like and how many things you add daily.

No matter what take some time to enjoy the day, a cup of coffee, the rain or sunshine, and don't forget to hug someone today!
Thank you for taking a moment to read my thoughts.
R.R. Dice

Amazon Selling and supporting the significant other

Amazon Selling

I have recently begun selling items on Amazon along with Ebay.

Amazon selling is a very simple process.

Find the item you have to sell in their catalog.
Hit "Sell on Amazon".
Enter short blurb about condition.
Set a price.
Select shipping promises and
Enter!
Your item is listed on Amazon!

Why have I not tried this before 2013? Fear mostly.
Fear of the Scary Big Book Seller Amazon!!!

My Mother-In-Law received an Amazon gift card for Christmas and my naivety can be summed up in her statement:

 "Why in the world (h*ll) would you give me this for Christmas? Do they have a store somewhere? I only buy my books at Walmart."

My Bro-in-law explained that you can buy other things on Amazon, virtually anything, even food.
Then it will be delivered directly to your home. You can download books directly to your computer.

She was not impressed.

I mentioned you can buy anything. I buy dog food on Amazon.
"Dog food? Can you buy horse feed?"
"Yes, I believe you probably could." was my reply. They have horses. Horses cost a lot of money.
My Bro-in-law was not impressed with the idea that his Mom was going to spend his $1000 Amazon Gift Card on Horse Food!!

My thoughts were, "Why am I NOT selling everything I have listed on Ebay on Amazon! You can virtually buy Anything!"
Why am I NOT selling Horse Feed? Something to think about....maybe a good niche?


My point is....if you sell on Ebay, the next step to increase sales would be to sell on more venues.
Amazon has made this completely simple.

The only trick I have found in making sales is to.....are you ready for it....here is my secret insight....
"List everyday."

Yes, that's all I've got for you. List every single day. Something. Anything.

Last April I attempted to start selling items on Amazon. I sat down one Saturday afternoon and listed about 300 items out of my current inventory.
My Amazon Disbursements were in these amounts:
April $34.88 and $14.27
May $24.93 and $0.87 (yes, 87 cents. LOL)
June $37.03
July $5.01
Aug $20.22

In November we started listing every single day. Yes, the holiday's were upon us, but we did not fill the requirements to list in the toy categories. Instead my husband began listing books in the evening. Books we had lying around the house. Books we got free from a family member. And, Books he found for free on Freecycle.
Our Disbursements have continued on in the following:
$152.93.......$105.05.......and $211.46

My husband lists everyday. Every evening while watching television, he lists books instead of playing a video game.

I have started relisting parts of my inventory as I mostly sell toys. Amazon allowed seller's who did not meet the Christmas toy requirements to start selling toys again in January.
So far in 4 days of having toys listed, I have sold 4 toys.
I think this is an ok average.

Every time I list an item on Ebay now, I also see if I can list it on Amazon.

We have not opened an Amazon store.
If anyone had experience in having an Amazon store at any Tier I would love to hear more information.

I have begun supporting my spouse in a new way.

Well, 2 new ways.

1. I ship all of his books.
And....
2. All of the money to ship these books comes directly out of my paypal account!

Yikes! The shipping cost is the part I do not like.
Amazon give it all back, but not until after I spend it.
This is causing my Ebay deposits to go down, down, down!
But, Both Amazon and Ebay deposits are now going into the same account and it is growing quickly!!

I will share the totals at the end of this month. Keeping track of the money we are now making together is the fun part!

He is also supporting me in an new way too.
He has taken more of an interest in my Ebay and Amazon sales.
Especially now since we are working together as a team.
I think working together helps motivate me to work harder and try to do more to allow our business to succeed!

Thank you for reading my take on Selling on the Big Bad Amazon Book Seller.
I hope that it was interesting. Please share any insights you may have learned while selling on Amazon or Ebay.
Thank you.

R.R.Dice