Online Grocery Shopping: Saving a Packet, or A Total Racket?

Posted by NessWorld on Jan 18, 2010 in Lifestyle, WAHM | 5 comments

This week I decided to try online shopping. For groceries rather than the kind of items that one would usually shop for online, i.e. dvd’s cd’s etc.

With both kids home during the school holidays, the idea of loading up the car with all assorted paraphernalia simply to pop to the shops for groceries, having to wrangle them both into a trolley and then having no space left to actually put stuff, *really* didn’t appeal to me.

You know what I mean right?

So I thought I would give one of our local stores the benefit of trying out their online shopping facility.

The website in question was easy to use, and fast to figure out the navigation, and I was able to get my shopping fairly quickly.

The whole process really opened my eyes to the possibilities and pitfalls of the concept and I thought that sharing my experience might help others avoid the potholes on the virtual  super highway.

Whether or not you choose to shop for groceries and basic necessities online, boils down to what you find more valuable to you.

Time vs Money

This is the question you should ask yourself:

If you are able to save an hour by shopping online, is that one hour more valuable to you, in terms of using the time to earn money by working on a project (if you’re a WAHM), than if you were to down tools, and go directly to the store to save money by finding bargains and specials that are not online. Consider everything right down to the gas/petrol required to get to the store, the distance travelled, the energy expended etc.

Here are some other pointers that can help you to improve your time management and cost saving ratio as well as some other interesting facts about doing grocery shopping online.

• Make a Menu Plan: Do not deviate from that plan. Download our handy meal planner to help you plan out a weeks meals in advance. It can be used in both Excel or Open Office, and is fully customizable and free.
• Shops with a List: From now on that is your Indian name. Make a list for groceries, based solely on your meal planner (did you download it yet?) and on any additional cleaning materials, other household items you may need. Ladies, chocolate is not a necessary household item, nor can it be categorized under ‘cleaning materials’, no matter how much you’d like it to.
• Do not browse: Browsing unnecessarily leads to spending unnecessarily. Yes the boxes are pretty. Yes the pictures are colourful, but IGNORE them. You have a list. You are “Shops with a List” remember?
• Environmentally Friendly:  Consider that if 20 people shop online, that would otherwise have driven cars to the store, you are actually saving some bad emissions from being released into the air. Yes, the delivery guy still has to drive to your house, but take one car versus twenty? Basic math says you’re helping the environment.
• Temptation Not:  You won’t be tempted by the freshly baked cinnamon rolls and coffee if you can’t smell them right?

The Down Side: There is also a down side of course, and by shopping online, you will not be able to see any specials that are only available in store. Items that might have been marked down are not listed on online grocery store sites, so where you could save quite a bit by buying bananas that are ripe right now, and needing to be sold immediately at rock bottom prices.

• Premium Only:  Sometimes when you shop online at a big online retailer for groceries, all orders are received at a centralized depot, and very often they will only carry the premium brand version of the product that you are looking for. So where at your local store you may have as many as three to four different brands of nappies available to choose from, they may only carry the most expensive premium brand. Ditto Olive Oil. Ditto Chocolate. But chocolate wasn’t on your list though right?
• Expiry Dates: My online retailer has a feature which allows me to send a note to the ‘personal shopper’ who will be picking out the products for me. I use this to instruct them to please select the item that has the expiry date as far in the future as possible i.e. milk/bread/meat.  Failure to do that, results in the products I’m ordering to be expiring within a day or two of them being delivered. Fact.
• Package Sizes: This again, is probably not the same at each retailer, but watch the package sizes carefully. You may be buzzing to discover this amazing bargan! Then when you receive it, you realise that it’s because you ordered the 100g bag instead of the 250g bag. If you aren’t there in person, at least read the fine print.
• Bulk Bargains: Be aware of the bulk bargain trap. Buying the larger item in order to save money, isn’t always cheaper! Make sure you work out the difference in price per pound/kilo/gram before selecting the bulk option. Fact.
• Local Products: This is a thorny issue as we all have it drummed into us that we should buy local products. I understand why. But I do not endorse this when the premium foreign brand is double the quality of the local one, and half the price. Fact. Yes, I’m talking about Tate & Lyle Demerara Sugar Cubes (ZAR 17.99) vs Hulettes Brown Sugar Cubes (R34.99). There is JUST no excuse for this sort of pricing, carbon foot print or not. If local brands want to compete, they’d better do so on equal footing. Charging double the price and hoping to guilt us into buying it will NOT fly with me or any of the other consumers I know.

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WAHMs: You Need a Website, and here’s why…

Posted by NessWorld on Jan 11, 2010 in Tech, WAHM | 3 comments

If you are planning on starting a business, then chances are you will need a website, and the sooner the better.

What is the difference between a website and a blog? Nothing really. A blog is simply a particular type of website, and here are a couple of great reasons why you should have one.

1. Blogs are relatively easy to set up.
2. Blogs can be maintained by the owner (that’s you!), removing the need for going to a technical person to babysit it for you, or everytime you need to change something.
3. Blogs that are updated regularly (it’s basically a series of chronological entries, kind of like an online diary) with good quality content, get better search engine traffic (more feet in the door) than websites which are made once, and then left there to languish for all eternity.
4. Using WordPress as your content management system (you will hear people talking about CMS) is the easiest way to have complete control over your websites content, and changing things on your website is about as difficult as composing and typing an email. (i.e. not difficult at all!)
5. Using the blog format, allows customers/clients/people to interact with you and leave comments/contact you for more information, and it encourages conversation and community, these are all things you want in a successful business.
6. Word of mouth is still one of the best promotional tools there is, and a blog can be set up so that your users/visitors/clients can easily promote or send your information to their family, friends and network of contacts.

I started this website with one thing in mind. Helping people. I know that people often feel afraid to ask for help, particularly with things of a technical nature, and that’s okay.  I understand how technology scares people who are afraid of messing things up.

You need not worry that you can’t do this, can’t have your own website, because I am going to help you along every single step of the way. If you need a website (if you’re starting a business or have a business, then this means you), then I am going to help you get one, set it up for you, and teach you how to use it.

I am a Work at Home Mom too, so I understand your concerns, the pressures you face (believe me, just typing out this post I had to deal with about 1.7 billion interruptions, including making about twenty pieces of toast “No, don’t cut it like that momy, I want triangles!!”) but aside from all that, I also understand what it is like to be a woman facing a technical challenge, and if I can share with you, the knowledge I have learned, and help you achieve your goals then I am going to do just that.

So What’s Next?

There are two essential ingredients in setting up your web presence.

1.  You Need a Domain Name (your very own .com, .net  etc).

2.  You Need a Hosting Package (a place to put your website up).

So Here’s the Deal

I use StartLogic for most of my webhosting. I have been with them for over 3 years, and have had only compliments for their service.

If you decide that today is the day that you take yourself and your business seriously and you sign up for a StartLogic Pro-Logic Package, then I will install and set up WordPress for you for free.

Here is Why StartLogic Pro-Logic is my host of choice:

• Disk Space: Unlimited (you can store as much information/photos/videos/text as you need to)
• Your Domain Name: Free* (free if you sign up for a year or two in advance, otherwise there is an $8.95 domain name registration charge).
• Email Accounts: Unlimited (everyone in your family can get a you@yourbusiness.com email address)
• Control Panel: Vdeck v 3.0
• Bandwidth: Unlimited (this means that they do not limit the amount of visitors to your site (very important for when you hit the big time!!)
• Money Back Guarantee: 30 Days (excl the domain reg fee, once registered it is yours for a year regardless of whether you use it or not)
• Domains you can host: Unlimited. This means that you can purchase additional domains and add them to your one hosting package – so you can have as many websites as you want all on the same hosting package.

What does it cost?

• 2 Year Plan: US$5.95/month + Free Setup + Free Domain Name (Total Upfront cost = $142.80 – roughly ZAR1035.89 for two years worth of hosting that’s just R43.16 a month!)
• 1 Year Plan: US$6.95/month + Free Setup + Free Domain Name (Total Upfront cost = $ 83.40 – roughly ZAR605.48 for one whole years hosting, that’s just R50.45 a month!)
• Monthly Plan: US $6.95/month + $30 Setup Fee + $8.95 Domain Name (Total Upfront cost $45.90/ZAR 328.28 then $6.95/ZAR 43.77 a month thereafter)

These are great options, because if you have the start up capital to pay upfront then it reduces your costs over the long run. When I started 3 years ago, I chose the third option, because I did not have the extra cash to ‘go big’ at the start. It just goes to show that having a business online does NOT have to cost an arm and a leg to get going. In fact the costs of starting a business online is far far less than if you were to physical premises and stock shelves.

So What Will I do For You, For Free?

• Install and configure WordPress software on your hosting package (i.e. set up the initial website/blog for you)

• Upload 5 themes for you to choose from to start off with (a ‘theme’ is your blogs ‘look and feel’) there are many out there to choose from.

• Install plugins that will give you better visibility with search engines, set up your rss feeds allowing people to subscribe, and another to prevent spam.

• Tell you how and where to login to your wordpress panel,  and get you started creating your online presence.

Why am I doing this for free?

• Firstly, if you sign up with StartLogic for a Prologic Package, they pay me a commission. This enables me to offer you my initial help to you for free. (If you already have a domain and hosting and want help then see my services page for how I can help you)
• I believe in empowering woman to achieve their dreams, this is just a small way that I can help you get started. Being a work at home mom is very close to my heart and by helping other women, and particularly moms, I get to help whole families ! Or at least that would be my beauty pageant speech!

What technical services do I offer that are not free?

Please check out my services page (will open in new window) for more information, so that we can be clear as to what is free, and what is not.

My services include things like importing other blogs into a wordpress installation, personal tutoring via Skype on how to edit your websites content, create posts and make it look awesome, change the themes etc.

As well as graphic design services for designing all the bells and whistles that will make your blog look and feel amazing, and more importantly promote your business brand and identity.

These services are available as individual items, as and when required, but there is also an option for a monthly membership in the works, where I will also perform any upgrades necessary on the wordpress installation (they’re always improving it!) and on the plug-ins that we mentioned earlier as well as sending you monthly graphics to use on your site, tips on improving your blogs SEO (search engine optimization), and ideas for Social Media Marketing so that you can get more visitors and improve your business in every way possible, members also get my monthly newsletter which includes a lot of information about making money online using your website.

More details on this coming soon!

Do you have any reason NOT to take up this offer?

Get your business online host your web site with StartLogic! and start getting customers!

WAHMs: Pop Quiz Hotshot, What do You Do?

Posted by NessWorld on Jan 7, 2010 in WAHM | 2 comments

Oh holy smokes! Your business has started, it’s going rather well. Going SO WELL in fact, that you need to dedicate more time to it.

What if that little bit of extra, uninterrupted time, could mean a BIG difference to your income?  (I can hear WAHMs around the world laughing at my use of the word uninterrupted)

What if just having a few extra hours a week of uninterrupted time was all you needed to really break into the next gear, finish that awesome well paying project?

The fact is, that at some point you may need to consider a hiring someone for a few hours of help so that you can complete your major project or assignment.

Some of us are blessed with extended families that are only to happy to take the children for a morning a week, or an afternoon here or there, but there will be that one situation where you absolutely HAVE to get things done, and murphy’s law, that will be the one day, that all your family are busy, or out of town, or ill.

It *will* happen.

So what do you do?

What about those of you who don’t have extended family nearby, or even in the same country?

What do *you* do?

Sooner or later you may need the help of a friendly nanny, baby-sitter, or if you’re really lucky an au-pair.

Moms are notorious stalwarts, and many are taken aback, or even offended at the idea of having to hire someone.

Hello? We are all HUMAN. (Ok, as women we know we’re really super human, but still, we’re not perfect). Why not hire someone, who’s job it is to care for and entertain your kids for a few hours?

I learned a valuable lesson from my youngest son, when I made the difficult, heart wrenching decision to let him go to a playgroup for a few hours for the first time.

I was torn apart.

Completely, feeling like I was a failure simply because I could not do it all, all the time, twenty-four hours a day. Until I realized just how ridiculous that sounded.

At what point did I feel like I HAD to be this perfect person, who did everything?

It really dawned on me how silly it was, when I was packing his little back-pack to go to the playgroup again and he saw what I was doing, and he started clapping his little hands together and shouting, “Yay, Yay, Yay!!” I realised that the person who ran the playgroup, chose this as a career.

She chose it because she loves children.

She chooses to spend her time with 5 little youngsters and making their day as fun, as entertaining, as educational, and as routine as possible. Her absolute mission was to make sure that the kids were looked after as well as if she were their real mother, ha ha, their well rested, imaginative, that never-runs-out-of-patience mother.

Being a mother is something I chose, but reality insists that I also earn an income. My chosen form of income bringing activity is graphic design and photography. It is not child care. Though some aspects of childcare come naturally to mothers, I must admit, that I am absolutely terrible at thinking up fun and games all the time, and certainly not when I’m trying to finish that huge project that demands so much of my attention.

So in the same way that I take my child to the doctor when they are sick, I also choose to take them to a childcare expert when I need time to do what I am good at, and that which allows my children the lifestyle that they enjoy.

So if you find yourself in the position where you are needing childcare, I implore you, do not feel like a failure, think of your strengths and the many advantages that YOU and your strengths bring your family, then make your decision.

If you choose as I did, then this resource below may be of use to you.

Extreme Career Makeover: Become an Interior Designer

Posted by NessWorld on Jan 7, 2010 in WAHM | 0 comments

Are you a mom who is returning to the workforce? Or are you wanting to leave your day job and pursue something that is more meaningful to you?

Would you like to start your own business, and work your own hours?  Start by ignoring all the sales pitches for get rich quick schemes and focus on getting a real education, while working from home at the same time.

The internet has brought education to the masses more than any other medium in history, and thankfully these days it is a perfectly acceptable form of learning.

There are hundreds of options to choose from, when it comes to your chosen career. In fact, there are so many, that sometimes doing a simple Google search can turn up so many options, that you have no idea where to even begin looking.

Today I’m going to talk about learning to become an Interior Decorator.

Do you have a flair for furnishings, colour and layout? Do people comment positively on your own home decor? Then this may be the perfect career for you, and it is completely flexible allowing you to work from home.

Everybody, at some time or another has decorated their homes, offices or apartments. That means that everybody is a potential client!

Someone with a little creative flair and skill can make this a career choice, and become successful as they increase their skills. The good news is that learning the skills to successful interior design and decorating is possible for everyone.

Is this something that you would like to see yourself doing?

Do you browse the paint section at your local hardware, and immediately start to imagine all the possibilities as you stand in front of the sample palettes?

Do you wish you could take the sample swatches from fabric and upholstery manufacturers home with you, to touch, feel, and accessorize with?

Do furniture stores send you into raptures of fantastical delight as you plan your ultimate perfect room?

If this describes you, then you could definitely make a career out of being an interior decorator!

You will need to learn about colour, space, layout, theme, mood, how to select measurements, where to source and select furnishings and how to sketch an internal design.

So where can you take a course, that you can complete in your own time, that will not cost a fortune, but will teach you more than enough to feel confident about starting your own interior design business?

Australian College QED is an accredited Australian Educational Institution, and registered with the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (with other numerous other affiliations and registrations).

They offer two options that can be completed via distance learning so you can be anywhere in the world and take this course!

Training materials are mailed out to you, and you can submit your assignments via mail, and in some cases (check for each course) online. They also offer supplemental online training for you. The banner at the end of this article, is clickable and will take you to Australian College QED online for more information.

1. Interior Design and Decorating
2. Advanced Interior Design & Decorating for Professionals

(Certificate INTD05; Diploma INTA16 plus SoA)

Each ACQ course has a tutor overseeing it, so in the case of the interior design course, a professional interior designer/decorator with years of experience is the one marking your assignments and offering very helpful advice and feedback with each assignment that you submit.

The economy is picking up again, and people are more comfortable with spending money, it follows naturally that many people who did not spend money on decorating their homes last year, will be in the market this year, making this the perfect time for you to begin your career as an Interior Designer or to start your own Interior Decorator business.

The banner below will take you to the ACQ website where you can learn about many more courses on offer. They have a wonderful variety, and it is a great idea to do a Small Business Course alongside your interior design course, or perhaps extend your range of services by doing an event management course.

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WAHM: A Great Way to Promote your Business

Posted by NessWorld on Jan 4, 2010 in Tech, WAHM | 0 comments

Being a Work at Home Mom can be one of the most rewarding things that you do.

But we also know how hard it can be all by yourself.

For example, where on earth would you even begin to find investors for your idea? A partner? A service provider?

You’re just starting out and you need to find every possible avenue to market yourself, your product and your idea.  Current Social Networks focus more on YOU the person, as opposed to YOU the business. It can be a veritable zoo of information, and you rarely know which service to use and when to promote yourself.

However, we have found one, thanks to Darren Rowse at Problogger, called You Noodle, which focuses on both. Did we mention it’s free?

YouNoodle harnesses the power of social networking, and showcases start-ups, websites, new businesses and existing ventures.

Giving you an easy to use platform to showcase your ideas whether they are brand new and still in the building phase, or if you are already established and simply wanting to promote your products and services to a unique market of people.

Some of you may wish to keep your ideas to yourself, naturally the fear of being copied or beaten to market is frightening for some, but ask yourself, what guarantee do you have that you keep your ideas to yourself, and someone doesn’t beat you to market anyway? Why not put yourself out there, and put your stamp and your face behind your ‘big idea’ right from the start.

It is about taking ownership of your idea and seeking out like minded entrepeneurs, and more importantly POTENTIAL INVESTORS.  As a WAHM what an amazing opportunity to be able to reach the ears of the people who may be able to help you launch your idea into the stratosphere, all while you are sitting at home.

Don’t forget to connect with NessWorld while you’re there, you can follow NessWorlds’ progress by following this link to my profile and connecting with us there.

Remember if you are going to promote yourself and your business, have your summary, most professional profile photo, and some business graphics ready. If you are in the Cape Town area and need help getting the perfect profile photograph taken, you are welcome to email me to arrange a quick low cost photoshoot (I will offer special rates to NessWorld fans), and of course I can also be of service in getting business graphics designed for you (graphic design services I can offer globally thanks to the wonder of the internet), and optimized for web use, again, please contact me via email with your requirements, naturally I will offer special rates for NessWorld followers and fans.

I started NessWorld as a way of helping other WAHMs (work at home moms) get access to these kinds of professional services at affordable rates (when you have a household to maintain, we know what kind of strain that can put on your marketing budget!) and this is my way of helping out.