​Goats

​Both goats are doing great. Adi is growing a shiny new coat of hair, presumably for winter already. She is currently giving about 1 1/3 cups of milk per milking; just over one pint per day. I am going to continue milking through the month of August, and then start milking once a day for the first 1-2 weeks in September. After that I'll dry her off until breeding in early/mid October.

​Chickens

I have good news and bad news from the chicken department. The good news is that none of the hens or roosters died. Another good point is that my broody hen finally hatched out her chick. The bad news is that the chick died a few days later. :( We never did figure it out, as the chick didn't drown and wasn't attacked by a predator. Our best guess is that it died of heat or got stepped on by the goat. That was kind of sad, because I thought the broody hen would take better care of her chick without my assistance.

​The chickens are laying between 6-9 eggs per day, and I am feeding the the same $0.66/day in feed. If I weren't selling any of the eggs, my cost per dozen would be $1.06. This month, egg sales paid for feed costs with an additional $7.00 profit. So all of the eggs we ate were free.


Ducks

​I finally got around to butchering my two remaining male ducks. Hubs helped. This was a huge burden off my shoulders! I had forgotten a few key points on how to do it, so the processing took a LOT longer than it should have. I did freeze the body and drumsticks separately because they are best cooked at different temperatures (something I learned from my first duck). I still have two roosters to go, but those are easy enough to do on my own.

My one remaining female duck is recovering from some kind of foot infection (it's not bumble foot/staph) and is currently not laying eggs.


Strawberries

For those who don't know, I put in a 300-plant strawberry patch this spring in order to sell strawberries at a roadside stand next year. This income will hopefully replace the need for farmers markets. Not much is going on with the strawberry patch. We set up a sprinkler system earlier in the month that can be easily moved around to wherever it's needed. Ideally I'd have put in drip irrigation, but for the amount of plants we have I don't think it would make sense financially. Plus the patch is not established yet, and it would be a pain to till/weed around the hoses.

Besides watering once a week or so, I've also been tilling between the rows and weeding between individual plants. Actually, Hubs has been tilling and I have been weeding. We till once every 3-4 weeks (it takes about 30 minutes) and I weed after everything has been tilled. The first weeding sessions didn't take all too long because the plants were smaller. I could use a hoe for most of the weeds, and then just hand weed right up close to the strawberry plants. Now that the plants are bigger and sending out runners, the hoe is counter-productive and almost everything must be done by hand. After the last tilling, it took me between 5-10 hours (a week's worth of afternoons) to weed the whole patch.

​There are a few empty spots in the patch where plants died. I am going to fill in these spots with strawberry plants from my old garden patch, which I'll probably till and reseed with a cover crop this fall.


Other Garden-Related Items

This year I tried to use some of my garden space to save money on hobby farm expenses. I grew a patch of mangel beets for animal fodder, and also grew some new herbs to use in soaps and other products to sell. As far as I can tell, both the herbs and beets were a success. The seed packets (all of which were from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds) only cost a few dollars and paid for themselves in the first year. I am saving seed from the calendula so I won't have to buy it again.


Book of the Month: The Bio-Integrated Farm

I read one farm-related book this month on permaculture; The Bio-Integrated Farm (affiliate link) by Shawn Jadrnicek. I was almost surprised to see it available through the interloan system already, since it was just published in March of last year. Borrowing from the library was a good frugal move because the book costs $25.00- used- on Amazon. Unfortunately I had to return the information-packed book before I finished it, but nonetheless I picked up a few great ideas for my chickens in particular. A lot of the information on ponds and greenhouses was fascinating to read about, but far beyond my budget and mechanical ability to implement.
​

Summer Goals

There are a few more things on my hobby farm to-do list before the summer is over. I'd like to use up all of my freezer fat to make soap and also butcher those two roosters. In the garden department, I'd like to till my old strawberry patch and move some of my old herbs (sage, 2016 lavender plant and thyme) into raised beds. Lastly, I'd like to make some revisions to my farmers market book (affiliate link) and re-release it.


Profit & Loss

Expenses:
Shelled corn- $22.00
Layer mash- $22.00
Total expenses: $44.00

Income: 
Books- $10.80
Eggs- $27.00 
Babysitting- $25.00
Total income: $62.80

Net profit: $18.80
Year-to-date net profit: $137.69

So, I cheated on income this month. Instead of doing a farmers market, I just threw in some babysitting money and pretended that was "farm" income. It was a lot easier than actually doing a farmers market. 

My original plan this year was to do one day of market per month in order to support the hobby farm. Ideally, I would net $40.00 each time and this would more than pay for farm expenses. However, my June market was a complete bust, and I actually lost money after working 10+ hours. It was very discouraging and made me re-think doing any more markets this year. In addition, there are some big changes coming for us in October and I decided it would be wise to spend my free time preparing for those instead of earning a few more dollars for the homestead.

I thought I would be drastically behind this month without the babysitting subsidy, but before the month was over I sold several dozen more eggs than anticipated. In addition, I received some royalties from my farmers market book (which is the one I count toward "farm income"). So in the end, I would have *almost* broke even without the babysitting money. But I left it in there because an $18.00 net profit looks good on the books. :)

That's about it for this month! Hope you guys had a great July.
-Bethany

Today is Part 2 of my series on supplemental income. Last week we discussed some short term ideas for earning extra cash as a homemaker. Today we'll talk about a long term solution: micro businesses.

Long-term Cash (3-5 years)

My best strategy for long-term supplemental income is starting a little micro business using skills unique to you. This could actually go along with a lot of the previous ideas in Part 1. However, it's one thing to have a garage sale, and another thing to have multiple garage sales and actually run a little business hosting garage sales. I like using the word "micro business" because running a small business (my husband has a small business... it's a full-time job) is probably too much for those of us who are working wives, mothers of small children, homesteaders or homemakers.

The difference between a business and odd jobs is that a business requires focus and record keeping. A business needs to scale, and it needs to be sustainable. If you are selling a service, that means you can't spend five hours on a job and get $20.00. If you are selling products, you can't put $20.00 into supplies and sell an item for $25.00. You won't make enough money that way. If that's your idea of "business", you'd be better off just working a "real" part-time job.

Another difference between a business and a short-term odd job is that your business will be unique to YOU. Anyone can sell stuff at a farmers market or teach a 5-year-old how to play piano. Your business will be most profitable if you are the BEST at what you do and everyone knows you for that one thing that you do. As homemakers we need to be generalists and Jills-of-all-trades, but as business women we need to specialize in order to make the most money.


My Micro Business

I enjoy doing odd jobs and selling stuff on the side, but my real micro business is writing books. Being an author is something that can scale (more books under your belt = more money) and it's sustainable for me because I'll never get tired of it. But in order to start a business writing, I had to learn new skills that most people don't have. I had to specialize. Anyone can type out a blog post or put their thoughts in a Word document. But I also had to learn how to format those documents for ebooks AND print books. I had to learn how to use different publishing platforms. I also had to learn how to SELL books, which is way different than just producing them. In order to sell, you need to have a marketing plan and have customers.

Not everyone was born to write and not everyone who writes a book can make money at it. If your personality and interests are just like mine, then maybe book-selling is for you. But if you are an extrovert or don't like to write, I know there is some other micro business out there waiting for you.


Multi-level Marketing

When talking about home businesses, the subject of multi-level marketing/ direct sales/ network marketing is bound to come up. If you are going to get involved in one of these "businesses", keep records like you would for any other business. Keep track of all of your expenses, time spent, and gross profit on a monthly basis. Subtract your expenses from your gross profit, and that is your net profit. But we're not done! Divide your net profit by the time you've put into it, and that's your hourly wage.

One pitfall I see with network marketing is people not calculating their hourly wage or subtracting actual costs. For example, they might say "I made $500.00 this month!" That might be the number on their commission check, but what about expenses? Most consultants have to pay membership or have in-home parties or drive to potential customers' homes in order to do presentations. If you subtract the cost of gas and/or party supplies, plus membership (or required product purchases), your $500.00 might be down to $400.00. If you're spending 10 hours per week on your business, you're earning just $10.00 per hour.

Again, $10.00 per hour isn't BAD, but is it the best? Are there other things you could be doing with your time to earn more money?

I'm sure network marketing is a good micro business for some people. However, if you took the time you spent in network marketing and started a business giving piano lessons, that 10 hours per week would earn, at a minimum, $200.00 per week ($800.00 per month). By hosting the lessons at your home and having students purchase their own supplies (standard practice among teachers), you could eliminate gas and other costs. If  you put $50.00 per month back into your business, your net profit would be $750.00 and hourly wage would be $18.75.

Multi-level marketing needs to be treated like any other business. And like any other business idea, you need to ask yourself if it's truly a right fit for you, long-term. Do you have the skills? Do you have the right personality? Recruiters like to say that anyone can succeed in network marketing if they do the right things and put in enough hours. If that's true, then it's true for ANY home-based business including private tutoring, writing books or doing wedding photography.

Any good network marketer has put hours and hours in with little or no pay, in order to build their business. Are you willing to stay in the same company for several years, hosting parties and making phone calls for free? If you love the products, parties and phone calls enough to do it for free, then network marketing is probably for you. 


Finding a Business for You

If phone calls and parties aren't for you, then what is? What kind of work are you willing to do for free? When I first started selling ebooks, I was happy to sell one or two copies per month. Most months I didn't sell any copies. This went on for over a year until I wrote my second book. After that book was published, I sold at least one book per month, and three on a fabulous month. That means I was lucky to make $4.00 per month. Almost two years after publishing my first book, I published my third book. This time I put the past two years' worth of accumulated marketing knowledge to work and the book earned $500.00 in the first three months. Wow! That's an average of $167.00 per month!

Unfortunately, nine months after the launch I'm not making that kind of money any more. However, I AM making a lot more than $5.00 per month (with almost no work at this point). A business is something that needs to be built and it needs to be built on something you really enjoy. Because you might not make any money for the first year or so.


Long-term vs. Short-term Extra Income

The difference between short-term and long-term supplemental income is your hourly wage. When I first got married, I was happy to earn $4.00 per hour after costs, because that's what I would have earned as a married secretary (thanks, Uncle Sam). But I didn't want to be 25, 30 or 50 years old and still earning $4.00 per hour. As we mature and add skills and knowledge to our repertoire, our income should increase as well.

If you are paying off debt or saving for something that you needed YESTERDAY, then short-term income is the way to go. You don't really have time to develop skills or find customers. Get all of the financial fires put out (i.e. debt) before you start trying to build a business. 

Here are some (free) steps you can take in the meantime:

1. While you're listing Furbies and old American Girl stuff on Ebay, think about what you'd like to be doing in five to ten years from now. And no, lying on a beach in the Caribbean doesn't count. That gets old after about a week (ask me how I know). As human beings, we were created to work. So think about what your skills, passions and personality are. Think about what you enjoyed doing as an elementary school kid; that is often a very good clue of what would work as a business for you. I spent hours and hours using my grandma's typewriter (remember those?) to make books and poems and newsletters. I did the same thing on my dad's typewriter in the basement, and later on our computer. What activities did you enjoy as a child?

2. Borrow some business books from the library and read them before going to bed. Some of my favorites are The E-Myth (or The E-Myth Revisited), Good to Great and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. While most business books are not geared toward the homemaker, we can still learn from them and use what applies to us. 

3. Find ways to acquire skills or hands-on training for free. For example, you can help someone else in their business or find someone whose tools you can borrow. Volunteer work is a good way to gain experience, though it might require a babysitter. If you are going to make and sell quilts, don't buy a bunch of fabric to practice on. Instead, find some old ladies' church quilting group and help them make quilts for charity. You will learn a LOT more by working with experienced hands then by fumbling through everything on your own. Plus you won't have to fund the whole project by yourself. 

Next summer I plan on selling strawberries on a roadside stand. Instead of paying for a $500.00 "strawberry business ecourse", I just talked to a lady who is already doing it. In addition, I spent a week being one of her berry pickers. At first I wondered how much I'd learn (because how hard is it to pick a strawberry?), but after 13 hours of picking I had a grasp on the best and fastest way to pick. More importantly, realized how I need to have BIG berries and weed-free plants that are easy to look through. The bigger I can make my berries, the less time I'll spend picking for more profit. As a bonus, my "training" was paid! It was enough to pay for the 300 plants I bought in April.


If you are past the debt-free journey and have some money to invest in your business, here are some more steps you can take:

1. Invest in tools. Knowledge is easy to get for free, but you'll probably have to pay for tools. Why invest in tools before business cards, courses and memberships? Because if you decide you don't want to do your business, the tools can always be sold. No harm done.

2. Buy supplies and make some products to sell. Not too many though, in case you change your mind about what you want to sell. 

3. Find some customers and start making money. If you are in a services business, you can skip step #2 and just start making money. It doesn't have to be a lot at first. Even one job per month is a start, and it will help you earn some capital to grow your business. Remember my $0.00 - $4.00/mo. book sales? It was still better than nothing, and I gained a lot of experience during that time.

4. Reinvest 10-50% of your earnings back into your business. If you are in a services business, you can start paying for more/better training or buy books that will help you learn your trade. If you're in a product-based business, you can invest more money into tools or acquiring customers (selling at different shows, through different online platforms, etc.).

When you are reinvesting into the business, do it in a smart way. Ask yourself "What training would make me more valuable to my customers?" "What tools will help me earn more money per hour?" Don't just buy MORE stuff or MORE training. Don't just buy better advertising material or things that won't give you a return. Look for ways to make your business more efficient and profitable. If there's no financial gain from a purchase, it's not an investment.


Why a Micro Business?

Half of home economy is saving money and cutting costs. But you can only cut costs so far. The other half of home economy is bringing in an income via cottage industry to pay the costs that remain. Economics is about money in, money out. Most of us have the "money out" part down pat; it's the money coming in that could use a little help. Having a successful micro business (or lifestyle business, as some would call it) will create a steady, dependable source of income for many homemakers and stay-at-home moms.

Do you have a micro business? What are some of your favorite books or things you've learned from hands-on experience?

A while back, I put up a reader survey on my blog to see what you guys are interested in. Topics like sewing, gardening and animals were hit or miss, but you all wanted more ways to 1) save money, and 2) earn money from home. Today I'm going to share some ways that I earn extra cash without having a "real" job.

Note: First I will talk about short term ways to earn extra cash. Then we'll talk about a long term approach to extra income.

​
Short-term Cash (1 week - 3 years)

1. Sell stuff on Ebay or Amazon. Ebay is more accessible to the cash-strapped homemaker because it has lower fees and you don't have to be any kind of monthly "member" to sell. You can also sell on Amazon without being a member, but fees have become so high for non-members that it's very hard to make a dollar. You are better off having a garage sale than selling stuff on Amazon.

2. Return recyclable cans. I know this won't apply to everyone, but those of you who do live in a bottle deposit state should take advantage of it. Whenever I go on walks or bike rides, I look for recyclable cans and bottles on the side of the road. I keep a big cardboard box in our mudroom, and when that is full we take it to the store and return it. Depending on how often I walk or ride my bike, I can make between $40.00 and $80.00 per year at this. It's not a lot of money, but it's not a lot of work either.

3. Sell homemade/vintage items on Etsy. To be honest I've had more success selling vintage garage sale items on Etsy than homemade products. However, the fees are low enough that anyone can try it. 

4. Sell homemade products at farmers markets or craft shows. I've had some success selling homestead products (baked goods, soap, produce, eggs) at a weekly farmers market. If done right, I can make between $30.00- $80.00 per day after costs. The good news is that you can turn a consistent profit this way. The bad news (from my experience) is that you have to work at least one whole day out of the week (about six hours producing and another six hours selling) so your pay varies between $2.00 and $7.00 per hour.

5. Sell homemade products directly out of your house. I've had the best success doing this with eggs. Next year we are going to try a roadside strawberry stand. While we won't be selling right at our property, the stand will only be five minutes away and the cost to sell there will be free. My plan is to also take along other products (produce, eggs, etc.) and sell those at the stand as well. Without travel and booth costs of a farmers market, the profit margin and hourly pay should be MUCH higher.

6. Give private lessons. It's relatively easy to make money teaching beginning piano (or art, etc.) if you have the patience for little kids. Your skill level will have to be a little higher if you want to teach teens or adults, but I'm sure it can still be done. Hourly wage for this kind of work is often $20.00-$40.00.

7. Take on odd jobs. Some ideas include garden work, babysitting, sewing alterations, pet-sitting or anything else that folks need done. Odd jobs often pay more per hour than selling homemade products, but probably less than giving private lessons.

*****

Next week we'll talk about long term strategies for earning a supplemental income. With short term income, you're just worried about dollars in the bank. If there are more dollars in the bank, you've succeeded. With long term supplemental income, you want your hourly wage to INCREASE steadily as the years go by. "Dollars in the bank" is no longer good enough. Next week we'll talk about increasing long term supplemental income with your own home-based micro business.

​May was a great month on our little hobby farm. 

Chickens & Ducks

Ducks: All of my ducks here are doing fine. Right now we have two females and two males. I intend to butcher the male ducks this month (like I say every month...). I think one of the female ducks may have gone broody, so I've set four duck eggs under her to see if they hatch. If not... I'm out four duck eggs.

Speaking of broody... the duck eggs I gave to my brother last month have now hatched!! Our fall hatching experiment was a total bust (half of the 20 eggs were fertilized, and only two eggs hatched out of those). This spring I gave him 22 eggs to hatch. ALL of the eggs were fertilized, and 16 of them hatched!! Two died after hatching, but the rest are still growing and being happy little ducklings. They are the cutest things EVER!!!

​So, moral of the story is to always hatch duck eggs in the spring and not in the fall. Also, I think having a duck pond for my birds to mate in was a factor in getting more fertilized eggs. What I LOVE about this is that the 20 fertilized eggs were produced by only three ducks- my two females and one male. Theoretically, my brother could raise the 14 ducks, sell 11 and keep one male/two females over the winter. Unlike chickens, Pekin ducks are a truly dual-purpose bird. The females are consistent egg layers and both sexes produce a good amount of meat. Ducklings, duck eggs and duck meat are worth more than chicken (if you can find a market for them). So the success of this hatching experiment was a BIG win for both my brother and I!

Chickens: We had one chicken die this month of natural causes, and one rooster died of natural consequences. About a week ago, one of our barred rock roosters started chasing me around. Last Tuesday, while I was milking my goat, he flew up onto my back and launched a full-on attack. I decided that was going to be his last attack. That very afternoon I boiled some water in a big pot, got out my boning knife and made him supper. No rooster attacks since.

As much as I hate butchering chickens five or six at a time, doing one wasn't too bad. It took about 45 minutes from start to finish (yes, I'm really slow at it). Plus, I felt better knowing that I wouldn't be bothered at milking the next day. By butchering the non-productive rooster, I not only saved on feed, but also extracted an extra $5.00 worth of meat from my farm. This could technically go in the "income" line of my P&L (because it's money I saved on groceries) but I'm going to leave it off for now (see below about my "value" spreadsheet I'm making!).

As for egg production, the chickens are laying an average of 10 eggs per day. I'm giving them $0.66 worth of feed every day, which means my cost for a dozen eggs is $0.79. In order for the poultry to be self-supporting, I need to be selling 11 dozen eggs per month, or just over three dozen per week. In May, the chickens more than paid for themselves because I was able to sell some eggs at the farmers market. In months that I DON'T sell at market, though, I will need to bring in more out-the-door sales.  


Goats

As of May 31st, all of the goat kids are sold and happy with their new owners. I did the castration all by myself (first time ever) and it went great. CDT booster shots went great. The only complaint I have about my goat kids this year is that some of the horns grew back a little. I thought I burned them with the disbudding iron pretty hard, but apparently not hard enough. Next year I am going to do it sooner and maybe hold the iron on just a touch longer.

​Adi and Barry, the mama and papa goats, are doing great. Their pastures are almost getting TOO tall with grass, which is better than not having enough, I suppose. Now that the kids are gone, I've been milking twice a day and getting over a quart of milk per day. Because the goats are self-supporting (thanks to goat kid sales), those two gallons of milk per week are FREE to us, for however long they last.

Right now I'm making a spreadsheet to determine how many dollars worth of food I'm getting from different hobby farm items (eggs, milk, meat, produce, etc.). It's neat because I can punch in my morning "haul" and see exactly how many dollars I saved. I can also punch in how much time I spent, and then see what my hourly wage was. This is helpful because it will show me which products are most worth my time to produce, and which ones aren't.


Profit & Loss

Expenses:
Shelled corn- $20.00

Income:
Eggs- $33.00
Milk products- $25.00
Goat kid sales- $170.00
Baked goods (market)- $13.36
Fiber- $7.00
Total income: $248.36

Net profit: $228.36
Year-to-date profit: $147.85

Yay, we have actually cleared a profit for the year! I have a feeling that the rest of 2017 will not have so much income, so I am working hard to cut costs down to the bare minimum. For June, my goals are to make more goat's milk soap and also butcher the male ducks and two more roosters. I still aim to do one farmers market per month, weather and schedule permitting, and that will give a boost to the income. 


New Sources of Hobby Farm Income

Slowly, I am hoping to shift hobby farm income from farmers market to other things:

1. Soap sales (online and off)- Soap is something I enjoy doing, doesn't cost very much, and I can do a majority of the work when I have extra time. I also believe in the product and know there is a market for it. I will probably try Etsy again, and might do some Christmas or other craft shows, just to see if it's worth my time.

2. Roadside vegetable/fruit sales- for those of you who don't know, I put in 300 strawberry plants this year and next year hope to sell them at a roadside stand. Even though this venture is a lot of work, a majority is work that I can do whenever I want to. It's also family/baby friendly and there is the potential to make several thousand dollars per year doing it, which would MORE than pay for my little hobby farm. Plus, it is outdoor, physical work that will keep me in shape.

3. Online book sales. I know from experience that a well-written, interesting book can bring in at least $10.00/month in royalties, and twice that if you do a little marketing. And that's AFTER the initial launch (my launch months have brought in anywhere from $40.00 to $200.00+). I really enjoy writing/researching/projects, and again, this is something I can do in my spare time. The residual income every month is really nice, because all I have to do after the book is published is watch money come into my bank account. $10.00 per month doesn't sound like a lot, but over the lifetime of the book it really adds up. If you have several books making $10.00 or more per month, it can be a fantastic little side gig. Plus, did I mention that I love writing?

Hopefully these other pursuits will bring in more money per hour than the farmers market. I've more or less enjoyed doing markets thus far, and they are a good backup plan, but at this point I am trying to do some of the prep work and shift gears a little for 2017. I'll do one more market in June, and then after that I am going to change markets and only go weather/schedule permitting. 

Til next time,

-Bethany

​Several months ago I gave an honest review on two "all natural" sugar scrubs; one from Lemongrass Spa (an MLM company) and one from Walmart (Burt's Bees). My conclusion was that I liked both scrubs, but the Lemongrass Spa one was superior.

At this point it has been six months since I bought both products. After several weeks of NOT using either scrub, I opened the Lemongrass jar and noticed that the top was crusty with sugar, and it had also started to discolor in some places.

I went to the Lemongrass website to see if the product had an expiration date (none listed on the jar). I couldn't find one, but I did find a 60-day guarantee on all of their products. Unfortunately, at this point it had been almost six months since I bought the scrub, so the guarantee was no longer valid.


My Fault, or the Company's?

One factor that may have played into its demise was a slow leak in the jar. In my original review, I noted that the "seal" on the Lemongrass jar had been broken, and it leaked oil into the bag. Now I realize that there is probably a tiny leak in the jar that is causing the oil to slowly drip out (VERY slowly... we're talking six months to notice a difference in texture). The oil and scent are what I loved about the scrub in the first place, so without it the quality is diminished. Looking back, I should have asked for a replacement as soon as I noticed oil around the unopened jar. 

Regardless of my faux pas with the leaky jar, I'm still not sure why the scrub is discoloring. It's not only discolored on top where it's crusty, but also underneath where there is still plenty of oil. This is pretty disappointing to me, because I had hoped the jar would last a very long time, as it cost $22.00.

The $13.00 Walmart/Burt's Bees scrub, on the other had, has not changed in color or consistency since the day I bought it. So at this point, I have to declare Burt's Bees the winner. If you are going to cycle through a whole $22.00 jar of scrub within two months, then Lemongrass is still the way to go. But if you're not, Walmart will give you a longer-lasting, more consistent product for less money.


Looking Forward

In my heart of hearts, I was hoping to purchase Lemongrass products (at least the scrub) again. But because of the all-natural ingredients (more "natural" than Burt's Bees), I'm guessing that their products will not last as long, and I don't want to cycle through luxury products that quickly.

$22.00 x 4 = $88.00 per year. And that is only for one product. This only confirms my view that MLM products (or any overpriced/expensive products bought on a subscription/regular basis) will suck money out of your pocket very, very quickly. It's not frugal. I was hoping to MAKE this product frugal by making it last a long time, but even that was not possible. Network marketing products are a luxury, however you look at it.

In the future, I will probably try making my own sugar scrub. I bought some phthalate-free pomegranate fragrance from Bulk Apothecary several months ago, and while not identical, it is very similar to the Lemongrass scent. The homemade scrub will probably last no longer than the Lemongrass scrub, but at least I'll be able to make it in smaller batches so the quality doesn't decline before I'm done using it. Plus it will probably be cheaper than Lemongrass AND Burt's Bees.

Have you used a multi-level marketing/direct sales/network marketing product before? Did it live up to your expectations (and the price tag)? 

So, I have a confession to make. 

I went to an MLM party. I know, I know- bad frugal move. But it was with you- my readers- in mind! I thought I would buy a real MLM product, and then compare it with a similar (half the price) Walmart product and share my findings.


Which Company to Chose?

Wow. Did I want candles, or essential oils, or handbags, or lotions, or nutritional supplements or cleaning products? Memberships or recurring monthly purchases were out of the question, so I decided to go to a friend's Lemongrass Spa party. Lemongrass Spa offers natural personal care products like lotions, shampoos, makeup, etc. 

The party was fun, of course, because a lot of my friends were there. Plus there were nice snacks. Also, I had chosen to buy a product before I went, so that decision was already made. We all enjoyed ourselves, sniffing and trying all that Lemongrass had to offer.

I decided to buy a jar of sugar scrub because I really liked the pomegranate scent. I'd never used sugar scrubs before, so I thought it would be a great product to compare. Total cost for the 8 oz. jar, with $4.00 shipping, was about $22.00.


Buying the Competition

For the competing product, I had to chose something all-natural otherwise it wouldn't be a fair comparison. So I found the natural beauty section at Walmart and looked for some sugar scrubs. Burt's Bees had an 8 oz. container, and it was even labeled "Cranberry & Pomegranate". That would be perfect, because I could compare the scent as well as ingredients and feel, etc.

As soon as we got home, I opened the Burt's Bees scrub. It smelled so wonderful. At $13.00, it was a steal compared to the Lemongrass stuff. I loved how it made my face feel fresh after a shower, and the oil rehydrated my skin so it didn't flake off after so much hot water. 

​
The Final Comparison

It took several weeks, but finally I got my Lemongrass scrub. It came in a little green bag that I thought was so cute. Somehow, though, a bit of oil had leaked through the seal and got on the inside of the bag. But at least it smelled good.

The moment of truth had come. I opened the jar and took a big whiff. Oh my- it was just as lovely as I had remembered! I splashed some water on my face to try it out. This scrub was a little more oily than Burt's Bees, but it made my face feel all satiny smooth. Like a baby's butt, but it smelled a whole lot better. ;)

Then I got out the Burt's Bees and put the two products side by side. I sniffed each one. First the Lemongrass, then the Burt's. I had my heart set on proclaiming Burt's the winner (because it was cheaper), but my heart sank a little when I realized that I liked the Lemongrass scent better. They were both nice-smelling, but I preferred the Lemongrass. Then I had Hubs close his eyes, and then waved both jars under his nose.

"Which one do you like better?" I asked. He sniffed. Then he asked to smell each one again. I was getting a little nervous.

"It's hard to decide," he said, "because they both smell good. But I think I like the second one better." So, Lemongrass had won in the scent department.

But what about functionality?

Still determined to declare Burt's the winner, I compared the consistency and feel of each scrub. Again, Lemongrass was superior. Burt's Bees felt more sticky than smooth. This prompted me to check the ingredients on the back of each jar. I had expected to see almost identical ingredients, but the Burt's jar contained more cheap oils like soybean (first ingredient after sugar), olive and sunflower oils. The Lemongrass jar, on the other hand, listed finer oils like sweet almond oil (second ingredient after sugar), apricot kernel oil, and mango butter.

So despite my initial hypothesis, I had to declare Lemongrass Spa the winner, and Burt's Bees the lower priced (but lower quality) honorable mention.


Does This Mean Bethany Will Start Buying MLM Products?

No. Unless maybe you give me a steep discount!! All kidding aside, I still think MLMs are not a good idea for most people trying to save money. It's important to realize that network marketing products- like subscription boxes, new name brand clothing, and organic food- are very much luxuries. My sister receives a subscription box every month, and she calls it "a present to herself". That is what luxury items are. They are NOT needs.*

Let's be clear- I love my Lemongrass Spa sugar scrub. I think it is wonderful and I will enjoy every last dab of it. It was rather costly, but it was a one-time purchase. If the jar lasts five years, I might buy it again from Lemongrass. If it lasts one year, I will probably just make my own sugar scrub.

It's very important to distinguish between long-term MLM habits and short-term splurges. For nutritional supplements, it is easy to pay $100.00 per month or MORE for daily nutrition bars, shakes, and pills- and that is just for one person. That is $1200.00 per year for ONE ITEM on your budget. It's so important to evaluate purchases like these before signing up. There is a huge, huge difference between $1200.00 for a subscription "daily use" item and $22.00 for a single luxury item.


Does This Mean Bethany Will Start Selling MLM Products?

"But Bethany," someone says, "You can get X product for just $50.00 per month if you become a consultant! Plus the commission you make can offset the cost of X product. That would be frugal!" Never say never, but I don't see network marketing in my future. I still think the "sell to all of your friends" model is a little scammy and weird. I still think network marketing products are overpriced. 

One thing I would consider doing, however, is affiliate marketing. It is kind of like network marketing because you get a percentage of the sales. Unlike network marketing, though, you are selling stuff to people who are actually interested. There are no pushy person-to-person "appointments" or constant Facebook parties. Oftentimes affiliate marketing can be as simple as an ad on your blog sidebar, or links to Amazon products. I don't think there is anything scammy about that. If people are going to buy a product anyway, why not make a few pennies from the company (not from your friend!) by recommending that product?


Conflicts of Interest in Network (and Affiliate) Marketing


Several months ago, I looked into taking an online course about herbs. The class cost about $200.00 at full price. I'm frugal, so I started looking around for discounts and realized that they had an affiliate program for bloggers. Affiliates not only received a 50% commission for every class sold through their link, but they'd also receive a 35% discount on any classes they chose to take personally. On top of that, all students were eligible for a discount on herbs purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs. How could I say no to that? As an affiliate, my $200.00 course would only cost $130.00, and if I sold two classes through an affiliate link, my whole class would be paid for. Plus, as a student, I would be saving money on herbs that I *might* have bought anyway.

Here is where the conflict of interest comes in: even though it would be frugal for me, a $200.00 course (without the affiliate discount) would not be frugal for many of my readers; especially those paying off debt or just trying to make ends meet. I think that distinction is not made clear enough in a world where "frugal" bloggers are peddling all sorts of luxury MLM products and other subscription services.

I'm not 100% against affiliate marketing or selling stuff. I sell books on Amazon.

But as a consumer and blog reader, sometimes it can be difficult for me to untangle which products (DoTerra, Young Living, HelloFresh, Grove Collaborative, Dollar Shave Club) featured on my favorite frugal blogs are actually frugal. I've determined that most of them aren't. Not for me, anyway.


Conclusion

So, that was Burt's Bees (Walmart) vs. an MLM company (Lemongrass Spa). The MLM company won, but let's not forget that almost every MLM or subscription service is a luxury purchase; not an need, and certainly not a frugal choice.

-Bethany

*I know there are exceptions to the rule. But I'm talking about MLM products in general.

**For those of you DIY types, I did find the wonderful phthalate-free pomegranate fragrance for sale at several online retailers. I can't guarantee it is what Lemongrass uses, but it's out there for under $10.00 with shipping. :)

August was a good month for my little hobby farm.

Goats
WE FINALLY SOLD THE BABY GOATS!!!

We had been trying to sell the baby goats since the beginning of June, and at last our herd is down to two goats. And I'm totally okay with that. Chores only take half as long because I don't have to hide the chicken feed and keep the kids distracted while I open and close gates.

I ended up selling the kids for less than half of what I thought they were worth to begin with. In talking to different potential buyers, I learned that they are more interested in shots, disbudding and price than they are about the goats being registered. I did not plan on doing shots because the goats were not in a dirty, confined environment with a ton of other goats, but potential buyers cared less about how the goats were raised and more that they had been given shots to be "healthy".

When all was said and done, the goats sold for only $25-$50 more than comparative non-registered goats. Registration is still a good investment if you keep in mind that it only costs $10.00 for each kid. However, my start up costs for being registered (membership $50.00, tattooing kit $38.50, transfer fees for Barry & Adi $12.00) were a little over $100.00 before I ever sold the kids. So if you are a farm on a shoestring budget, save registration for a couple years down the road. People told me that I would get $100.00 more for an animal with papers, but they didn't tell me when to sell, which was obviously more important.

I think I will keep on registering any does that Adi has in the future. Membership renewal is $25.00 per year, but ADGA does provide a lot of information, networking etc. that I think might be worth the money. Plus, if we get any does next year, I will sell them at the proper time (with proper disbudding/shots/etc.) and see if they are really worth $100.00 more than non-registered goats. 

Adi and Barry are doing well. At the beginning of August, I decided to try out a weekly herbal wormer with Adi. I bought this one from Amazon. At first I tried just mixing it in her feed, but she didn't really like it that way. Then I followed the instructions to make dosage balls, which are 1) herbal wormer, 2) oat flour, and 3) peanut butter. After mixing it all together, you can store the balls in an airtight container in the fridge. One batch makes six balls, which will last me six weeks. When I gave one to Adi for the first time, she gobbled it up like candy. I know the peanut butter adds cost, but it is so much fun to watch her inhale her weekly treat.

Chickens... and Ducks!
Likewise, the chickens are doing well, especially now that the kid goats are not stealing feed anymore. We have only had one (non-violent) chicken loss since we built the coop.

At the beginning of August, we came home from the local 4-H livestock sale with three ducks; two male and one female. The female was an egg layer! When they learned that I was interested in keeping the ducks for egg production, the 4-H family offered us another laying duck. All we had to do was go and pick it up! So we now have four ducks. The only big difference between ducks and chickens is that ducks MUST have water to splash around in. I get a kick out of watching them play and clean themselves every morning.

At the end of August, egg production was down to 5-10 eggs per day, depending on the weather. We had an exceptionally hot summer, and after July raccoon attacks we were left with only 26 birds (not including the ducks). Out of the 26, there were 3-4 roosters, one "mystery layer" (it's a mystery where she will lay her eggs) and one or two hens that like to go broody (and thus, are not laying any eggs).

In addition to acquiring the ducks, I also bought/traded some Barred Rock chickens from my brother. A month ago I gave him some eggs to incubate in his new incubator, and he offered me three chicks (a certain percentage of those that hatched) in exchange. In addition to the three, I also purchased two more chicks from him. The chicks were about a month old when I got them. I really like the Barred Rocks because they are a good laying hen, but also have some meat on them if you intend to butcher.

My plan with the new chicks is to put leg bands on them, to keep track of how old they are in the coming years. When they get to be older and not laying as much, we will use them for stew hens. Right now with my mixed flock, I can't tell who is laying eggs and who isn't. I'm a little bit afraid to butcher any of them, lest I cut my egg production by 10-20%!

Profit & Loss

Expenses:
Chick Grower- $6.30 (I used a 10% off coupon!)
Herbal Wormer- $28.17
New chicks- $11.00
Total expenses: $45.47

Income:
Milk products: $24.00
Eggs: $22.00
Goat kids: $325.00
Total income: $371.00

Total net profit: $325.53

Year-to-date net profit: $382.45

I am excited about the future of our little hobby farm. At the end of August I saved my best duck eggs (and got some from the neighbor!) for my brother to incubate. If all works out, we should have some little ducklings hatching in September. I am going to see if I can butcher, and possibly sell them as Christmas ducks.

With three weeks of farmers market in September, I am pretty sure that we will have nearly $500.00 in the hobby farm pot in another month or so. This money will be needed to keep feeding the poultry and goats through the winter, when they will not be earning or even saving any money. I figure the chickens/ducks will eat about $50.00/mo. worth of feed starting in November, and the goats will be eating probably $20.00 worth of hay and grain during that time as well.

Five non-productive months x $70.00 = $350.00. 

Sustainability of Doing a Farmers Market

So far, this year's farmers market experience has been 100% better than last (literally). My average net profit per week has been about $56.00. There is less work involved, and the work I do is more enjoyable. As I move along in my second year, I am still tweaking things to make them better. Next year my plan is to spend the month of May and possibly September at my expensive market ($20.00/wk), and work a more local, cheaper market ($5.00/wk) at least once a month during June, July, August, and possibly October (if the weather is nice). 

May: $200.00 net profit
September: $200.00 net profit
Other months: $200.00 net profit

This $600.00 should easily cover the cost of my goats and poultry, especially now that I have bought all of the expensive kidding supplies. Therefore, I deem farmers markets a sustainable way to support a hobby farm. If your hobby farm is fully supported, it means that your family can eat the surplus completely for free. Which is pretty awesome.

Other Forms of Income

Out-the-door customers: are a lot less work than market customers. Some day I would love to have the customers coming to me instead of doing markets. However, at this point in time my OTD sales provide less than half of the funds needed to support the farm.

Craigslist baby animals: my baby goats brought in $325.00, which is enough to support mama and daddy goat for a whole year, plus some. I hope to sell more baby animals in the future, especially now that I have access to an incubator.

Writing books: This year I am starting to see some money trickle in each month from my Amazon books. In the future I would like to write a series about frugal/sustainable hobby farming and put the proceeds right back into my own hobby farm.

Etsy store: So far my Etsy store hasn't sold anything farm-related. But it is something I'd like to put a little more effort into before I call it quits. As mentioned before, I would love to move away from the market model so I have fewer customers to deal with.

Til next time,
Bethany

*Oh yes- I did not count the cost of the ducks in this month's P&L because Hubs' business bought them. A 4-H auction is not really a place to find bargain animals. Our ducks cost over $100.00 each. The going rate for non-4-H full grown ducks is about $10.00-$20.00 each, but you can also buy ducklings during the spring for $5.00 or so each.

Good morning everyone! Today I thought I'd share a few things I've learned in the past year giving piano lessons. You can apply the concepts to any music lesson, really.

Why Give Piano Lessons?

For those of you who have children, the reason to give your child piano lessons is quite obvious. To better their future, of course! While music may not be a lucrative career for everyone, it will provide more opportunities  to make friends. It will give your teenagers something to do in their free time. Music can also be used more creatively. When I was 15 or 16, my sister and I got into writing parodies. She would write the words, and I would provide the music. We used parodies for everything from memorizing information to selling 4-H cattle to giving reports in college. Later on, I played in several bands and doors opened in that way. I actually met my husband through a music group I was involved in. !!!

Free pianos are everywhere, if you are willing to move them. This is a good deal, financially speaking, except that acoustic pianos (the kind you don't plug in) will require tuning once a year, more or less, for a cost of $75.00-$150.00 depending on your area. It might be more frugal to buy a $50.00 used keyboard for your beginning students, and maybe upgrade to the real thing if they still show interest in a few years. 

For those of you who don't have children, but still have some musical ability, giving lessons will allow you to pass on your love for music, and make a few bucks on the side. To be honest, giving beginner lessons is quite easy for the money you make. In our area, you could make $20.00-$30.00 per hour giving beginner lessons, without any sort of degree or training. If you don't have a nice piano at home, you can always do lessons at the student's home, using their instrument.

Understand What Motivates Students (and Parents)

When you are giving piano lessons, it's important to realize that you are in the motivation business, not necessarily the teaching business. Of course you will do some teaching sometimes, but the lesson book will do most of the actual teaching. You are there to reinforce the teaching, answer questions, and provide motivation and encouragement for the student. Different aged students require different forms of motivation:

1. Young Beginners (ages 3-8): teaching young beginners will be a slow process. Unless you are working with a prodigy, this is the hardest age group to teach. You will spend the lesson trying to 1) keep their attention, 2) entertain them, and 3) reinforce whatever you taught them last week. I try to keep lessons very short for this age group- 10-20 minutes- because they have a short attention span. If the parent insists on more time, you can fill it up with games or fun things. It is really useless to try and have a five-year-old sight read for 20 minutes straight. 

Most children are coming to lessons because their parent made them or convinced them to. This makes it harder because you have to please the child by making the lesson fun, but you also have to please the parent with decent progress in learning. Sometimes parents don't understand that you can't force a child to learn, but even if your student is not learning as much as Mom would like, she will probably not make him quit (or change teachers) if he enjoys coming to see you every week. So you need to focus on pleasing the child first.

2. Older Beginners (ages 8-13): this age group is easier to teach because they will pick up musical concepts quicker and be more apt to practice. However, like the younger group, their motivation is not necessarily to get better at their instrument. Some good motivators for this group are 1) competition and 2) prizes. Though a 10-year-old may feel good after completing a piece, adding a real tangible reward will help reinforce that feeling of accomplishment.

3. Teenagers: I would say that teenagers are the easiest group of beginner students. They understand rhythm, harmony, melody, and note reading very easy. Oftentimes they have their own motivations for taking the lesson (especially if they are paying for it themselves) which include 1) learning a new skill, 2) being able to play with their peers, or 3) impressing the opposite sex. Number three is a real motivator for boys, especially. A teenager should not really need a prize after finishing the piece, because that will be reward enough in itself. It is a good idea to let teenagers pick their own song. If they need help deciding, suggest a piece from their favorite movie. What is cooler than playing a song that all of your friends can recognize?

Tips & Resources

Below are some things I have been using to help motivate my students, and some things I've done to keep them on track. 

1. Play a new piece every week. Sometimes a student doesn't practice at all and really needs to do the piece two weeks in a row, but try hard to get them on a new piece every week. I can remember as a student being very bored and discouraged playing the same piece week after week. 

If the piece is too big for your student to play well in one week, you can 1) break the piece into lines or pages, or 2) lower your standards of completion. Try to focus on one element of a song (rhythm, correct notes, dynamics, etc.) instead of insisting that everything be perfect. Remember, the five-year-old can't even comprehend what a perfect piece is, let alone perform one.

If you want your students to learn how to sight read well, it is very important that they play a new piece every week, regardless of how well they played it. The point is quantity, not quality. 

2. Have a game at the end of the lesson. There are a million gazillion music games out there for free on the internet. Sometimes I feel cheated because, as a student, I NEVER had games during my lessons. Some of the games I've picked for my students are "the high/low game" (i.e. aural training) where they close their eyes and guess if a note I played is higher or lower than the first; flash cards; matching printed keyboard sections to the piano keys, sight-reading crossword puzzles, and note-matching games. Like I said, there are a million out there. Find an area your student needs to work on, and then find a game that fits.

3. Have a "prize box". This is just a small plastic crate full of odds and ends that I picked up at the Dollar Tree or garage sales. Fake jewelry, stickers, notebooks, candy, or whatever else I think will be interesting to my students. At first, I would randomly have "prize box day" every other month or so. On prize box day, the students got a prize for how many songs they could play me, how many flashcards they could memorize, etc. Now I have a sticker chart, and when they reach a certain amount of stickers, they get a prize. This works better because it keeps them motivated every week (getting to put a sticker on their chart after every task) and still keeps the prize box idea going.

Getting prizes and stickers and a new song every week will help keep your student interested, which is really the most important thing when you are teaching someone under 10 years old. If you are looking to make money, young beginner students are the easiest to get because every parent wants little Johny or Sally to take music lessons. Therefore, knowing how to motivate young children is essential. A slow, but excited learner is better than an overwhelmed learner who quits altogether.

Starting a Music Studio

If you are thinking about giving lessons to earn money, there are some things you need to decide. I am not a "kid person", so I have chosen to keep my student number relatively low. I don't give lessons to kids that I know will misbehave or be difficult. Life is too short to dread giving a music lesson every week, even for $30.00 an hour. So...

1. Select your students carefully. Don't forget that when you select a student, you are also selecting a parent. Your student may be brilliant, but if they are late every week or don't pay, that can become an issue. And the issue is probably with the parent, not the child.

2. Set a price. As a student, I remember paying between $12.00 and $15.00 for a half hour lesson. As a teacher, I would decide a price based on what people are willing to pay and how bad you want the client. I would rather give a $5.00 lesson to a good student than a $15.00 lesson to a bad one.

3. Decide if you host lessons at your home or do house calls. I figure that if someone wants lessons bad enough, they will be able to come to my house. It is less time and gas money for me that way. Plus the students will be less distracted and better behaved. 

4. Invest back into your students. I like to take a portion of my earnings and buy nice things for the prize box and/or make up birthday gifts. If you see a piece of music that you think your student would like, buy that as a gift. $60.00 per month for one or two students is a lot of money. Don't you think $5.00 spent on prizes every month would be worth keeping your clientele? I certainly think so.

Resources:

Most of the information I shared today was gleaned or pilfered from other fantastic resources. Isn't it a beautiful thing that work has been done for you? Here are some ideas:

​Teach Piano Today Podcast
Color In My Piano (fun worksheets and games) colorinmypiano.com/printables/?dl_cat=4
Hoffman Academy (free online piano lessons)

Good luck and happy teaching!
-Bethany

Whew! I feel like April was one big learning curve/ spending spree. We spent about $200 in one-time purchases (fencing, tools, etc.) and almost another $100 on our first-ever vet visit.

The Goats
In April, we had three goat kids born. Adi had two baby girls (does) and Alex had a little boy (buckling). Though the weather was cold for Adi's birth, all went well. You can read about Adi's birth here.

Alex kidded about a week or so later. She had her baby in the middle of the night, so I came out at 2 am to find her licking off the cutest brown buckling ever. It was warm that night, so with few interventions I let her do her thing and went back to sleep.

May will bring it's own learning curve. On my to-do list in a few weeks is "fixing" my buckling, and finishing up registration paperwork for each doeling. The girls will also have to be tattooed (like an ear piercing, for identification).

One of our last things to do is separate Barry the buck before we put Adi and Alex back in with the other goats. We've chosen to put Barry and another wether out back, and stake or tether them on pasture. We only have three paddocks right now, so it will be helpful if two of the goats are eating brush out back. I still have research to do on safe staking and tethering, but we did find a little goat shed for the Barry & friend to sleep in at night.

Believe it or not, Hubs got this cute little goat shed for free! It's a little worn down, but perfect for our purposes. The previous owners were getting a new shed, so they had Hubs haul this one away. So technically, we got paid to have this little shed. :) Now that's what I call frugal hobby farming.

The Chickens
Once again, the chickens are pulling their own weight, plus some. Spring has brought an abundance of eggs. In April I sold 22 dozen, and we kept more than enough small pullet eggs for ourselves. I have yet to clean out the rooster collection (if you know what I mean...). And again, no deaths this month. I couldn't be happier with my chickens!

We didn't buy any feed in April, for chickens or goats. I did find myself scraping the bottom of the barrel though, and for the last few days I resorted to shelling corn that I gleaned last year. May will definitely have some feed costs.

Bottom Line

Income: 
Eggs- $44.00
Total income: $44.00

Expenses:
ADGA Registration (farm name & membership)- $50.00
Tattoo kit & dehorner- $122.90 ($32 for the tattoo kit, $79 for the dehorner, plus shipping)
Cattle panels- $60.07
Vet visit- $94.88
Bottle nipples- $10.90 (These were out of stock EVERYWHERE, so we just ordered them online. I'd highly recommend buying them out of season so you don't have to pay the shipping charge.)
The Goatkeeper's Veterinary Book- $4.71
Total expenses: $343.46

Net profit: ($299.46)

Honestly, I don't expect our expenses to ever be this high again. The book, bottle nipples, cattle panels, dehorner and tattoo gun were all one-time purchases, as was part of my ADGA costs. The vet visit was kind of random (genetic disorder... seriously?), plus in the future I will probably take the goats IN to the vets, thus cutting any vet bills in half. 

I will have to factor in a $20 ADGA membership renewal for next year, as well as $10 each for any doelings born that I want to register. If I have one $50 vet visit per kidding season (unlikely, but just to be safe), I'll still come out ahead by selling the kids.

Goats About to Break Even
This month I'll start advertising my little doelings. The going rate for registered Nigerian Dwarf doelings seems to be anywhere from $250 to $500 each. I will probably sell mine for around $350 each. I'll also put Buffy (the boy) up for sale for $50-$100. If all goes well, selling the kids will cover ALL goat costs for the entire year ($224 feed, $300 April one-time costs, plus $226-$276 wiggle room). This means FREE milk for me, and no pressure to sell fiber or soaps right away.

Ultimately, this is what my little hobby farm is all about: free food, plus a little extra money to play around with. I am loving my goat/chicken/garden/orchard mix, and don't have plans to buy more animals... for the time being. ;)

-Bethany