USMB Coffee Shop IV

True story. I noticed a lady obviously in distress in the grocery store parking lot. I asked if I could help and she said, did I have a phone? She left hers locked in the car and she couldn't unlock it because the battery in her key fob was dead. She needed to call her dealership. I told her to use the key fob in the keyhole on the door, unlock it, and drive to her dealership to get a new battery for the key fob. She was amazed that she could do that.
 
Years ago I got a piece of advice which has served me well: If you have a hobby, turn it into a business and take advantage of the tax benefits. I've been sewing my own clothes since I was a teenager.

I started making costumes because my daughter was into skating, dancing and gymnastics. The outfits are expensive, and on top of ice time, skates, and coaches, sewing was the one thing I could do to keep costs down. Besides which you spend 10 hours a week at the rink, and if you don't find your own thing to do, you can go crazy sitting on the bench with the other mothers with nothing to do. Think Dance Moms, for real.

When other parents saw my daughter's outfits, they started asking me to make outfits for their kids. I wanted to buy a serger and they're expensive so I walked into the rink and said "OK. You got me. I'll sew for your kids, and walked out of the rink with 5 orders.

This enabled me to write off my daughter's figure skating expenses and competition costs because she was the lead model on the website. I didn't start attending live events until her coach told me to start taking her to big events so she could see what it was like. After she was injured and quit skating, I continued to make costumes and started a website, thinking it would be a good source of income when I retired. I started posting online to promote the website.

So my tickets to Skate Canada are tax deductible - I'll be networking with skaters and coaches who are running kids programs at their rinks. Ditto meals and transportation. 1/3 of my rent and utilities are tax deductible on account of my sewing studio. The income from the website, and the tax deductions for expenses, increase my income by 25%. I don't do a lot of dancewear but I am adding a line of ballet leotards, giving me a potential tax deduction for attending the ballet. I try to to push the "extras" too much, but I do deduct for fabric for things other than website clothing. As a seamstress, the clothes I sew for myself are promotional.
This is a great way to turn things around. Skating costumes are usually quite costly, and designing and sewing them requires some technical skill. However, there are only a few websites that offer ice skating dresses online. Check out these websites for updates on skating costume trends. Follow skatingboutique.com for inspiration in sewing. One of the tricks here is not to loan your dresses. It means that you have to keep those dresses for some time period. For example, if you want to turn your hobby into business then you have to keep some dresses with you throughout the season and you can sell some pieces in the off season to make some extra cash. Anyway, this is a great initiative, keep going!
 
This is a great way to turn things around. Skating costumes are usually quite costly, and designing and sewing them requires some technical skill. However, there are only a few websites that offer ice skating dresses online. Check out these websites for updates on skating costume trends. Follow skatingboutique.com for inspiration in sewing. One of the tricks here is not to loan your dresses. It means that you have to keep those dresses for some time period. For example, if you want to turn your hobby into business then you have to keep some dresses with you throughout the season and you can sell some pieces in the off season to make some extra cash. Anyway, this is a great initiative, keep going!
Welcome to the Coffee Shop Traviscw. We're happy you checked us out. Please read over the OP to see what we're all about in here and then keep right on joining in.

First timers to the Coffee Shop receive a complimentary beverage and since it is bedtime or getting close to bedtime in most of the country, we'll make yours a great nightcap:
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The Facebook ads are so true too. I can do a simple search for pretty much anything and I'll see ads for that on Facebook and elsewhere for days and days.
You can fix that.....Clear your cookies from Facebook, then install this little tool....

 
The ups and downs of the Blue Jays pennant run is making me crazy. We have a big series coming up with the Yankees. Judge may very well break the record in Toronto. Boo hiss! I know Judge is very talented, and its apparent that he is both very talented and hardworking, but I hate the guy. I similarly hated Ricky Henderson, and even when he played for the Blue Jays it felt weird to cheer for him.

My daughter is working night shifts and I've been helping out with overnight visits by the grandkids. She works 7 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. at a steel plant a few miles from the town where I live. My daughter brings the kids after school and we all have dinner together. She makes the kids' lunches, before she goes to work. They sleep at my place and I get them up, feed them breakfast, and get them ready for school. She gets here at 7:45, and they head for school, and she goes home to sleep. She says that the kids love coming here, and cheer when they find out they're coming to Grandma's. It may have something to do with my cooking.

Sewing is coming along. Never as quickly as I'd like but I'm getting there. Back to the grind.
 
The Facebook ads are so true too. I can do a simple search for pretty much anything and I'll see ads for that on Facebook and elsewhere for days and days.

I hate FaceBook ads. I bought a 12 X 15 living room rug on the internet, and for the next two months, every time I opened my FaceBook page, that rug was in my ad feed. How many of those rugs did they think I'd be buying?
 
I hate FaceBook ads. I bought a 12 X 15 living room rug on the internet, and for the next two months, every time I opened my FaceBook page, that rug was in my ad feed. How many of those rugs did they think I'd be buying?
Agree. I only need so many toaster ovens or surge protectors or a gift for Aunt Betty or whatever. Oddball gave us a link to use to kill the ads but I probably won't as, for all its faults, I appreciate a free forum that allows us to stay close to friends and family scattered across the country, a few across the globe. Without the ads they couldn't do that for us.
 

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