storyteller

  storyteller — Today.com

This is how you turn something useless into something useful, You let your mind look at the item and imagine what you would do to change it.  I do this all the time and have found out that I am quite good at it.  I can take something someone else would throw away and make it into something useful.  I told you all that I work in a Tobacco store well my manager has these displays that are cardboard, and sturdy.  They come in all kinds of sizes, and some are quite colorful.  She gave me one that was a pretty sturdy Tops Tobacco  display.  It is just a 2 shelf one large tall shelf and one narrow.  It did not go with anything in my home, so I took it home and decided where I could use it. 

Ha..Ha..not where you would think, I hung it on a wall in my newly painted kitchen.  I have been saving these grid like plastic inserts from our air filters for the AC intake they are sturdy.  I cut one   to be inserted inside the fold-able display for the backing to make sure they will hang on the wall without collapsing.  Put that inside first to fit it snug. Then paint  the cardboard display whatever color you want and let it dry totally overnight preferably.  Then I measure where the studs are on the wall I am hanging it on to see how far apart they are.

Now you put the measurement on the backside of the display you are going to hang, poke a hole into the cardboard to put pull ties you know the ones they use for automotive, or electric wiring the ones that when you pull them they lock.  They come in white and black all lengths. I run the end into the hole and wrap it under the griding and back out the hole.  So the tie is actually holding on to the griding through the cardboard.  It will make a loop which hangs out the back do not pull it tight yet. 

You get a second tie and run it through the loop of the first tie, and pull that one to make a loop about the size of a nickle. Now on the first loop that is holding on to the griding pull it tighter till there is almost nothing left and cut the excess off of it.  You now have something that looks like a paper chain the kind we made as kids except it is made of the ties.  Cut the excess off the loop you are going to use to hang it up with. The loop should still be about the size of a nickle or dime.

You are now ready to hang your shelving made of cardboard on your wall.  I put two nails into the studs I am going to use and hang the shelf…..It is handy.  I am using this one for paper plates, cups,napkins,  Baggies, and sandwich bags.  Keep in mind that these displays are not for heavy items or glass although I have one in my craft area that houses a variety of items I turned it on its side and hung it on the wall.  It is very useful.  I keep craft foam, unfinished ceramics Small pieces, Ribbons, Lace and wicker baskets  in the cub-by holes and I even put some lightweight finished flower baskets and a small portable stereo on the top.

Just a quick  and nifty idea if you are looking for cubby’s’ for a child’s room they would work instead of buying them just ask your local stores if you can have them when they are done with them.  Recycle and Reuse.

Hope this is helpful

People need a hobby, just something to distract from the real and true problems of everyday life.  I find that most of my friends and associates even my former co-workers all have one thing in common……the need for MONEY.  That is all it is about in their lives…..the $$$$that they need just to get by, or to give away when paying their bills.  Don’t get me wrong I know that everyone right now is extremely stressed about the current chain of events in our economy.  And yes it is the forerunner in most peoples lives, but really all the stress it is causing isn’t doing you or your family any good at all.  There is a time that you must leave it in the hands of the greater powers that be……and find a way to un-stress.

Most men have a hobby carried from boyhood to adulthood, or have developed some kind of hobby  along the way.  Such as Fishing, Hunting, Model Building , Stamp Collecting, Coin Collecting and so on.  But most women leave their Hobby from childhood somewhere in their adolescence.  Once they marry,  the  Hobby is thrown out with the bathwater of their new-found  position as a wife and mommy.  That Hobby they had takes a real backseat to all the needs of everyone else in their life.  The collection of Dolls, Music-boxes, Barbies,  Sewing and even Jewelry Making is pushed aside for another day.  Those Hobbies could be providing you with a way to escape and un-stress, and also could be making real money for your secret stash. 

There was a time while I was married to my former husband that the hobby I had turned into a real money maker.  That was over 14 years ago, when we had children at home and needed the money for incidentals.  I did not work and was a stay at home mom, daycare was outrageous where we lived and I couldn’t stand being away from my kids for any length of time.  NO ONE COULD DO THE JOB BETTER THAN ME  anyway.

So I went back to the things that interested me when I was a kid.  And found that I had a knack for looking at something and seeing it as a finished product.  I would buy bits, and pieces that would not be related to anything and put all the components together  and make some really beautiful things.  Lace, Flowers, Silk ribbon, Plaster Hearts, Wooden Baskets, Bamboo Woven fans, Poly-Resin items, themed pieces and somehow I ended up with a in-home craft business.  It was great!   It earned money above the expense, and I would only invest a small part of the money back into it to keep the supply of items I needed.  

The business took off and the exposure was through PTA, Schools, Church, And various clubs and organizations that we belonged to.  My husband would come home with orders from women he worked with that had seen some of my creations at a friends home. I would offer a large item to be raffled off at some events locally and make sure my phone number was available for orders. I even had an open house when I had enough samples of the items I would keep on hand.   Or a teacher would take delivery of an item, and another teacher would see that item and want one too. 

It came at a time that my family was so strapped, and that Christmas  was the best one that my family ever had due to the abundance of the profit made from a hobby.  Explore the idea, and you might just find a way to make extra money from something that you love doing.  If you need help in getting ideas there are a lot of books out there on the subject.

I can recommend one that I have personally read, and that inspired me to give it a second chance now that I am in a different environment and a different state.  Work your job and do your business as a side line until you see if you can grow the business.  There is no need to start with all kinds of overhead, and to start off extravagantly…..that is not how businesses were built way back when.  They were started in the basements, or kitchen tables, or spare rooms all over the country.  And we all need to get back to that right now, build a reputation, and a name on your honesty, and hard work, and service to the customer and who knows you may have  something to leave to your children, or grandchildren.

Have a good day!

Book recommendation:  ADAMS- Businesses you can start Almanac—-it has over 500 business ideas and all the details on the start-up, and potential earnings you can make.