$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Heading for Sunny Tucson<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
(these are some really great tips from Jean Campbell – a contributing editor with Beading Daily – if you don’t already get their free email newsletter take a minute to follow this link as subscribe <\/span><\/em>http:\/\/www.beadingdaily.com\/<\/span><\/em><\/a>)<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Usually the weather in Minnesota at this time of year makes people cuss and throw things. But I\u2019m happily whistling away as I pack up beading kits and my Bermuda shorts. You see, I get to join 60,000 of my rock, gem, and beading enthusiast buddies and head down to Tucson, Arizona in a couple weeks! <\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
This year I\u2019ll be teaching a class for Swarovski and then heading up to the Glendale Bead Museum to teach a couple more classes. I purposely slated in a couple shopping days to visit some of the 40+ venues involved in this mammoth event, but alas, with our current household finances matching the economy\u2019s, my budget director has given me orders: no deficits on this trip; surpluses only. (Who appointed this guy, anyway?)<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Tracking Every Penny<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
My budget director doesn\u2019t know about the Budget Shortfall Fund (i.e. the Rainy Day Dollars I\u2019ve been squirreling away all year), so those shopping days I booked won\u2019t be spent watching free HBO in my hotel room. I\u2019ll need to be very judicious with my purchases, though, so will keep track of every penny I spend. Here\u2019s the plan:<\/div>\n
\u2022 Make a list of the important materials I need that I won\u2019t be able to get elsewhere. Stones and pearls are the most plentiful in Tucson, so those will be at the top of my list. <\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Pick up a copy of the Tucson Show Guide. It\u2019s a free publication online<\/a> or you can find it in the lobbies of many of the show venues. (If you’re not attending the shows, you can purchase a copy<\/a>. With a directory of thousands of suppliers and products, it’s a handy year-round reference.) The Tucson Show Guide contains maps, contact information, exhibitor information, and even individual show floor plans. The cool thing about the online version<\/a> is it has an interactive show planner, where I can drag and drop the events I want to attend into a single file. I\u2019ll print my show planner out before I go so I don\u2019t do a lot of extra driving around while I\u2019m in Tucson.<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Put several copies of my resale certificate, business license, and business cards in a plastic sleeve. I\u2019ll bring a copy of each to the wholesale shows I attend. This will make getting into the shows a lot quicker. <\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bring a permanent marker, plastic baggies of all shapes and sizes, and a calculator. When I\u2019m finished shopping for the day, I\u2019ll transfer the individual bead strands I purchase into baggies. I\u2019ll label each baggie with the bead type, strand cost, cost per bead, and vendor. It sounds a little anal, but if I do it right away while the information is still fresh, it\u2019ll get done. Then, when I get back to Minnesota to incorporate the beads into a project or kits, it\u2019ll be easy to figure out what my bottom line charge needs to be.<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bring my Budget Shortfall Fund and that\u2019s it. When the fund is depleted, I resort to the free HBO.<\/div>\n
______________________________<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Are you heading to Tucson? How do you stay within your budget at a bead show? Share your tips on the website<\/a>. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heading for Sunny Tucson (these are some really great tips from Jean Campbell – a contributing editor with Beading Daily – if you don’t already get their free email newsletter take a minute to follow this link as subscribe http:\/\/www.beadingdaily.com\/) Usually the weather in Minnesota at this time of year makes people cuss and throw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/tucsongemshow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}