Just wanted to make myself a note here that I did my first Kiva loan a few Saturdays back as a community service project (my loans there will likely all go to widows or single Moms) and am currently investigating putting some money out to loan over at Prosper.com. I'm researching now but will likely not loan any $$'s out at Prosper until after vacation time when my head's clearer. Right now it's all bottled up w/figuring out where to kennel my dogs while I'm gone.

http://www.kiva.org

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I went last week and got on the list to be contacted when a booth space opens up in the antique mall in the next town north of me (about a 15 minute drive). And I made contact yesterday about taking over my Mom's space in the mall in her town about an hour and a half south of me. I can stock/clean/straighten it once a month when I go down for a visit.

Wanting to expand my operations AND get the basement cleared out as well.

Having a 'junque' booth generally takes little time for me as I have a bunch of stock already and all that is required is to sit and inventory it & price it while watching tv a night or two a week. A nice little side stream of income. Whenever I run out of STUFF (maybe a year or two away as I've got a big basement stuffed w/FIL's goods) I do enjoy going to auctions, yard-sales and thrift stores and believe I have a decent eye for what sells and am fair at making my displays sell for me. I've been wanting to get up a photo of my current booth but camera is all gum-up-i-fied. Meaning it's internal memory is full and I've got to hunt up the book as to how to empty it first before any more pics can be taken!

After the upcoming garage sale and when I can get these other two booths up and running then there should be enough room in the basement to set up one of the rooms as an occasional sales area. A lady in our town used to do this before she retired and moved away. She'd run an ad for 'junqtiques' about three times or four times a year, open up on a Friday and Saturday and then be closed again. No muss, no fuss.

As long as I can have someone else at home with me then I wouldn't mind doing it this way. I have lots of off-street parking and an easy to find address so I think I could do this w/ease. Only additional expense I believe would likely be necessary would be a rider on our homeowner's insurance if someone were to trip and fall or some such. I am also outside of the city limits in a semi-rural area, so unless there is some county permit needed, I think I'd be okay there.

Your Thoughts?