So I'm minding my own business.... :)

Life in the fast lane has been pretty slow lately....last week was Spring Break, so not much was going on...I took the kids to the park on Thursday and was minding my own business (and on hold as I was calling in to the local talk radio station) when I saw I was getting another call...well, I didn't recognize the number, plus I knew I was one of the next callers for the show, so I didn't take the call and let it go to voice mail.

I was quite surprised to find out that it was a call from one of my probate mailings from back in January....very pleasant and polite....a nice surprise!

I've realized that tomorrow is Thursday and I haven't called him back. Yikes! Not a good thing. To be honest, I have a hard time finding any sort of quiet to make phone calls - either a child is trying to talk to me, or a dog is barking or a cat is meowing....so I guess what I will do is go sit in my car in the driveway tomorrow and return this gentleman's phone call and see what's up.

Also as an aside, nothing from the realtor on Facebook (the one who is part of my local REIA Women's group)....perhaps she forgot....I guess I'll send her another message and hopefully she'll respond.

Where do we go now?

Hello folks!

The title of this blog post comes from the lyrics of a GNR tune. I actually went to see GNR with Metallica way back when...betcha didn't think I was into groups like that, huh? LOL

Anyway, here's what's going on with me and the direction I sense I'm supposed to be going on.

First, I remembered an article I read in a Billy Graham magazine called Decision. One of the key themes of the article was "Do the task at hand". It's been almost 10 years since I first read that article and that phrase has been with me since...but it just started to sink in, in regards to my present situation.

For me to "do the task at hand", it involves cleaning and organizing the house. There is no sense of peace in this house right now - it's all topsy turvy, scattered, haphazard....so that needs to change once and for all.

Second, the other topic is tithing. This is a huge leap of faith for us right now, with our budget being so tight, but it is the right thing to do, for us. So starting with the next paycheck, we will be giving 10% of our gross paycheck to our church for church missions.

Third, I've started the baby steps for getting back into the REI game....I've emailed an agent from our local REIA Women's group to see if she, or if she knows someone, who has MLS access for my county so I can look at the sold listings and get an idea of what's going on in the area.

And as an aside, do you remember that I emailed the agent who sold us our house about working with me? Remember how I speculated that he would probably take us off his mailing list? Well, I'm pretty sure he did because I haven't received A THING from him since I emailed him. So much for "I'm never to busy for your referrals..." (a sticker he would put on the back of every envelope). HA!

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. Hope the weather is great where you are! I think Spring has definitely come to the Great State of SC. :)

Long time, no blogging...

Well, I'm sorry to be MIA these past couple of weeks....I have been doing my best in being silent and trying to listen to the Lord, and I feel as if I am tuning in much better to His direction. More on this in a little bit...

On a more personal level, my mom officially moved in to her new apartment this past weekend. It has been a wonder to witness God's hand in all of this - from the apartment manager not giving up on contacting me, even when I thought it was a lost cause because Mom didn't qualify income-wise, to our having our tax refund and DH's bonus in hand to cover her rental deposit and moving costs, it really has been the perfect storm of circumstances for all of this to fall into place.

There is a lot to do for Mom to get her settled in. She managed to pack up nearly all of her belongings herself at the ripe young age of 75 (!!) these past couple of weeks, so I will be more than happy going over there on a daily basis to at least help her unpack. Plus I need to help her get set up with new medical doctors, a new bank, getting her car registered and tags transferred, etc., so I figure I'll be pretty busy for at least the next 2 weeks or even more. Mom has her own car, but really doesn't like to drive, so I told her I would be happy to take her grocery shopping and to the doctor, and do all the long distance driving for her on a regular basis for stuff that's not in town (like her Dr. specialists).

As for my sense of direction, I'm getting a good sense that the best thing to do right now for me to get a steady income coming in is to offer bookkeeping services for local real estate investors. The startup costs are pretty low - basically just getting a copy of Quickbooks and a good guide for Quickbooks for real estate investors (like John Hyre's KISS bookkeeping system), and I can advertise on the local REIA's Yahoo group page. The best thing is that in a worst case scenario, if I absolutely do not get any clients, I can always use Quickbooks myself, and there are no other ongoing costs.

The other avenue which I'm still not settled on is the probate marketing....not sure if I should pursue the leads myself or offer them for sale to other investors....so I guess I'm going to fine tune my listening skills to get a better handle on how to proceed with that.

Anyway, the next challenge is coming up with the extra money for getting the Quickbooks and John Hyre's guide. I guess I'm going to have to fine tune the budget and see what I can come up with.

Will update as more develops. :)

Back in the saddle

Ok, it didn't take two weeks....the major life changing event did not come to pass, so we are back to our regularly scheduled life programming....

So I am back in the saddle! (Which IMHO, is one of the really great Aerorsmith tunes.)

I find myself in yet another quandary of life. A lot of our tax refund that I had originally set aside to use for a RE licensing course, had to go to pay my mom's deposit for her rental at the senior apartments in town and will need to be used to get the moving truck to get my mom and her stuff up here, so I'll have to put off the RE licensing course for now. I'm also trying to figure out what to do to bring a regular income into the household. I've applied for jobs and nothing materialized, I'm not currently selling on Ebay or Amazon.....so, I'm kind of stuck.

Then, while at church on Sunday, we had a wonderful message....the sermon series has been based on the life of Abraham, and is entitled Life:Interrupted. The theme of Sunday's message was Encounter and talked about Abraham's encounter with God. One of the main points that really stuck with me was "Is there something you are attempting to do in your own strength that is not working so you can rely solely, exclusively on God to provide?" So, it got me thinking....I have done what I can do to establish a regular income - but have I relied on God? Truth be told, I think not.

So right now, my objective is to stop and listen.....

Oh, btw, the life changing event was the possibility that I was pregnant.... :)

On Hiatus

Sorry to be so silent these past couple of weeks....nothing is going on real estate wise, however, we have the possibility of a major life changing event coming in two weeks or so, so everything is on hold until we get a "final reading" shall we say......

So no updates until that time.....but rest assured, I will let you know what my status is in two weeks....:)

Back to square one

Well, all three leads are officially dead in the water, so I am back to square one.

One thing have learned - if the heirs or PR have starting work on the property, they are not really that motivated, IMHO. I don't know why I just got that, but anyway....

Moving on!

It has been a hectic week because my poor mother has been in the hospital again. :( So I've been trying to keep up with her status and I've also been looking for places that she can move to up here where I am. I found out she doesn't qualify for senior housing in my county because she's over the income limit, but she is under the limit for the next county over, so that's where I am concentrating my search.

At this point, I'm not sure if I will be able to take my real estate course as planned. I really need to figure out what the monthly costs would be to hold my license and if I can cover them out of our household budget until I get some income coming in.

Anyway, the plan is to keep sending out probate letters for now, and to really sit down, once and for all and get a game plan out on paper.....I am really kind of stuck on this, and feel as if I am just spinning my wheels.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Amazon Prime 3 Month Trial

Some of you may not know, but I have a hobby of couponing and being on the lookout for frugal ideas. Sometimes my passion for both REI and frugal living cross paths and light bulbs will come on above my head. LOL

Scott over at The Struggling Investor posted an entry about how his book that he ordered from Amazon for Steph's Book of the Month Club had not arrived yet, and it was going on 2 weeks. This got me thinking of a post I read about getting a 3 month trial for Amazon Prime for as little as $1. With Amazon Prime, 2-day shipping is free, and overnight shipping is $3.99. I think this might come in handy for Steph's Book Club so you might want to look into it. :)

Rather than me try to explain it, let me direct you to the post with all the details HERE at Common Sense with Money.

Hope this helps someone!