My first post of the new year already!
I updated all my spreadsheets for the new year. I have a "home life" spreadsheet where I have all of our bills lined out for the year. They're all separated out by Johnny's pay periods. So every week he gets paid, I pay the bills after his checks hit (at least the bills that aren't set up on autopay). I plan them out so that the last paycheck of each month just makes the mortgage payment and the rest of the bills are paid during the earlier pay period(s). That way it kind of balances out his checks a little more. I also printed out a copy for Johnny...because he's always asking me which bills are being paid each payday. Of course...he'll probably still ask me. ;)
I also updated my CandiMaker spreadsheets (I have SO many!) and closed out the year. Each day I update my Order Count and Daily Revenue calendar spreadsheets. I also record all my orders in a spreadsheet with all the order information and the fees/postage for each order. I also have a "receipt" spreadsheet that records all expenses separated by category for the Schedule C tax form...so all I have to do is input the numbers from my spreadsheet when I'm doing my taxes. And I have an annual Profit/Loss spreadsheet that I update each month. P&L records are mainly used for anything where you have to provide income information for things like financing. Then there's the "Sales" spreadsheet that I update each month. It tracks my "sales" (number of listings/variations sold in every order) for each separate Etsy shop. I record monthly, annual, and grand total sales based on my "Order Items" data download from Etsy. I also measure how many days between every 50 sales. September was the first month where I had 50 sales in 7 days...but in December I reached 50 sales in 5 days during the first week of December and then had accumulated another 50 sales 4 days later. December was my most successful month ever. My previous record for orders in one week was 45 orders in the last week of November...and I passed that in the the first week of December with 57 orders. My previous record for most orders in one month was 137 in July...and I had 175 orders in December. December was also the month with highest revenue and highest profit...which has grown exponentially since 2023. In my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop alone...my revenue is up 316% YOY. Number of orders in that shop is up 205% with 1082 orders this year versus 355 orders last year. I hope I can keep the same momentum in 2025! My goal for 2025 is to reach 3500 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop.
There's a lot of CandiMaker stuff I want to work on in 2025. I wasn't super pleased with my magnetic bookmark cardstock and laminate...so I want to work on finding the best combination of materials. So hopefully this year I'll have some magnetic bookmarks listed before November. I want to work on regular bookmarks and planner covers at some point, too. I also still have over 30 pages of quotes for sticker design ideas that I want to work on. I haven't listed new sticker designs for awhile. The last half of 2024 I spent more time working on new products than new stickers, so I haven't listed new designs for awhile. Right now I'm still focused on custom name stickers, though...so I want to finish those listings first. I also need to get my website up and running. I let my previous domain expire because I hadn't done anything with it since I bought the domain (which was awhile ago). So I got a new domain (registered for 5 years) and I want to get it up and running this month...even if it's just a landing/redirect page for now. I also need to upload more of my existing designs to eBay and Faire. I've been so busy with my Etsy sticker shop the last couple months that I didn't devote much time to anything else. My planner Etsy shop is pretty quiet too. I need to make more sticker sheet designs...but with my die-cut stickers and magnets doing so well, I don't really focus on sticker sheets. Maybe one of these days...I want to get to the other stuff first. :)
Still working on getting Milo to go to the bathroom in the Litter Robot. :P I still have their old litterbox in the cat room...and even had to remove the hood because that suddenly made him nervous. He's still jumpy going into the cat room...so I've been going down there everyday to give treats, sprinkle some catnip, and coax him in the room for a little while. I also turned the Litter Robot off and just turn it on every day or two so it'll run a clean cycle and then turn it back off. I did see on the camera I put down there that Milo slowly walked up to the Litter Robot and was smelling it. He hasn't gone inside again yet, but it's progress. :) Angel still loves the Litter Robot and goes in there at least 4 times a day. She likes to run in and watch it do the clean cycle, too...which makes it stop mid-cycle. LOL. She's been spending a lot of time in the cat room since I put a new litter mat in there. She'll take her mouse toy in there and throw it around...sometimes into the Litter Robot and she'll jump in and grab it. ;)
We're supposed to get winter weather this weekend. So far it's just been rain/ice but it's supposed to snow tomorrow. We let the dogs out one at a time after dinner (they get dirty wrestling around with each other when we let them out together)...and Boz seems to think ice is the same thing as snow and he has to flop around like a fish in it. LOL. He came in all dirty and wet. Thank goodness they go to the groomer on the 30th! But Johnny might have to give them one more bath before they go. :P
I made a new dish for dinner in our new pots and pans! I generally prefer to use the pressure cooker or air fryer, but it's not so bad cooking with the new pans that are really non-stick...so they're easy to clean. I have another new recipe that I'm planning to make in a couple days, too. Now I'm going to post tonight's recipe...