Miss Bennett's and the other little shops in the '30s, '40s and '50s

In my blog about being an entrepreneur at the age of 6 I mentioned a Miss Bennett's shop. To me this was an Alladin's Cave of treasures. There were children's books, notebooks, pens, inks in every colour under the sun, businesslike rectangular erasers, not just for pencil but also for ink. Then there wer paper clips, wrapping paper, string, writing pads and envelopes, birthday, Christmas, Easter cards and postcards. Scrapbooks, stamp albums and packets of stamps to collect.You name or imagine any sort of novelty, toy, gift or small collectable and Miss Bennett would have it somewhere. She also had a library in the back room where you could borrow one book at a time for 1d (a penny) a week. Miss Bennett was slightly stooped, wore glasses and was very quietly spoken.
Next door was Miss Everett's haberdashers offering everything you needed for any sort of sewing, knitting, crochet and loads of dressmaking patterns. Miss Everett was jolly, dark haired and wore make up and would chatter away quite happily about everything under the sun.
These little shops on the outskirts of Liverpool were a pleasure to visit and were part of my childhood. They were called after the people who owned and served in them. Mr. and Mrs.Eaton had the sweet shop, Mrs. Jones was the greengrocer and  Frost's was the newsagent. Mr.Fairburn had the chemist and Mr.Parry was the butcher. He gave us a chicken for the first Christmas dinner after my father was killed in the RAF in 1944. I can't remember the name of the fishmonger but he taught me to gut, fillet and skin fish when I was about 8 years old. An accomplishment of which I was inordinately proud. I would promote the consumption of herrings so I could show off.
Will today'schildren remember Tesco, Waitrose, Boots and all the other big  multistores with the same affection that I have for all those men and women who weren't just shopkeepers. They were friends.

To find out more about my on line shop click on the link  http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/ and if you would like to start your own business click on ‘Earn Money’ to give you an idea of the fantastic opportunities available from just making some pocket money to achieving a high earner income.

An Invitation

An invitation to join my FacebookGroup ‘Shopping with TheodoraC’ and also keep up with my blog ‘Theodora’s Thoughts’
This Group isn’t just linked to my on line shops (which I hope you’ll visit often because there are loads of really good bargains and things which you probably won’t find anywhere else. It also is a sort of meeting place like the old style village shops were. It’s also a place where you can get suggestions for ways to make money from home. Of course the main suggestion is to sign up as a Kleeneze distributor. To find out more click on the link to my main shop at http://www.kleeneze.com/distributo…/…/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE… and visit ‘Earn Money’ to give you an idea of the fantastic opportunities available from just making some pocket money to achieving a high earner income.

Old Money

Old Money

Yesterday I said I’d explain the old pounds, shillings and pence I grew up with in the late 1934 to the introduction of decimalisation. First of all in common currency there were £1 notes which were 20/- (twenty shillings), 2x10/- notes, 10 florins (2/- coins), 8xhalf crowns (2/6 or two shillings and six pence coins), 240 pennies, 480 ha’pennies or halfpennies and 960farthings or quarters of a penny. A shilling was worth 12 pence and you can work out how many halfpennies or farthings. There was also a crown worth 5/- but I never knew of them actually being used as currency. Likewise with guineas worth £1 and 1/-. There were also silver sixpenny pieces which were popular for putting in Christmas puddings, and two different threepenny pieces. Pre-decimal currency was a lot of fun and the subject of quite a few Maths lessons.

Mind you all those coins had a value then. You could get quite a few sweets for a penny and even lemon sherbets were two for a penny. Even as late as 1954 when I started in my first job as a teacher my monthly salary was £28 and my digs cost £1/10 (thirty shillings) per week for bed, breakfast, evening meal and my washing done.

I’ll explain about Miss Bennett’s where I got my book tomorrow.

Don’t forget to have a look at the catalogues in my shop at  http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/

My First Business Venture – Age 6

My first business venture was in 1940 when I was six years old. I learned to read when I was 4 and spent all my 6d per week pocket money on books from Miss Bennett’s. (Explanation of the pre-decimalisation money and Miss Bennett tomorrow.) All was well until when I was totally spent up and spotted one copy of a book I really wanted – price 1/11. It would take me 4 weeks to save up. So I devised a plan. I had seen my mother buying brushes, polish and things from men carrying big suitcases. I had an old Grandpa’s old Gladstone bag to play with. I filled it with old crayons, sticks of chalk, marbles and any other bits and pieces I could find. Looking as ingenuous as possible I explained that I wanted to show the bag to my teacher and took it to school with me. There I did a roaring trade selling my bits and pieces for farthings, ha’pennies (halfpennies) and pennies at break time. By the end of the day I had my 1/11 – and an invitation to the headmistress’s room.

She pointed out that she didn’t think it was a good idea to sell things to my friends and she was sure my Mummy and Daddy would agree with her. If I didn’t do it again we wouldn’t say any more about it. I didn’t and she kept her word. My parents never heard of my crime. But there were repercussions! More tomorrow.

Interested in making some extra money? Go to http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/ and visit ‘Earn Money’ .

Get Rid of Your Mortgage

The experience of one person who took the plunge and started her own business.

"Having a home in desperate need of renovation and a large mortgage gave Maidenhead woman, Debbie Gee, the motivation to earn some extra money. Five years on, she is mortgage free and is developing a second property.

Finding herself financially stretched, single mum Debbie set an ambitious 5 year goal to pay off her mortgage by the age of 40 without really knowing how to. With advice from friends, and as a way of earning extra money, she became a Kleeneze distributor, delivering catalogues to houses in the area and building a large team. Debbie achieved her goal and much more; she is currently developing a £300,000 house which she paid for with cash.

Debbie outlines the secrets to her success “Kleeneze has given me a stable income which has been increasing over the years to more than I could ever have earned in employment. It has been so exciting and so much fun that it has been easy to stick with it. I am in total control of how much I earn and have been growing a residual pot. I saw many of my friends in the business invest in property and I followed in their footsteps and invested wisely."

You can do the same. Go to http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/ and visit ‘Earn Money’ .

  Now read on:-

“My drive and determination have come from meeting so many positive people who have been a major influence and have helped me along my success path. I left school with no qualifications and had very little self-esteem - I later realised I had a form of dyslexia. Through the excellent support network at Kleeneze, my self-confidence has grown so much and now there is no looking back.”

Debbie is a Natural Therapist by profession, qualified in reflexology, massage, hypnotherapy and beauty therapy. She worked with children with special needs where she discovered she had great communication skills which have really helped Debbie in her business venture. She is now financially stable and enjoys a great life with her daughter. She has also been on luxury trips to Sydney and Rio with Kleeneze as a reward for her sales success. Having had a taste of luxury, I don’t think she will be giving up on it in too much of a hurry!"

You can do the same. Go to http://www.kleeneze.com/distributors/2449/MRS-THEODORA-COCHRANE?returnUrl=/ and visit ‘Earn Money’ .