u/jennywawa

Yayyyy!! Just wanted to pop on here and share this milestone. It’s been 28 years since I’ve been anywhere close.
Started at 282lb 2 years ago.
I’m a very slow loser. About 1.3lb per week but I’m still going. These Facebook memories are great motivators. I don’t even remember looking like this but it’s really shocking to see these older pictures now.
165 was when I felt my best (1997?) so I’m gonna shoot for that. I’ll update you guys in about a year when I get there 😆 Thanks for all your tips!

Just want to give a little shout out to the Jar Store. They’ve got a pickup location near my home about 40 mins south of Chicago. The people that work back in the warehouse are so extremely nice.

This is the 3rd time they’ve had something extra and gave it to me for free. I got like 8 jars. I’ve been eyeing these big guys for a while. 26.8oz of wax. I’m just testing today. How fun is that?
I hope they always offer pickup here. I encourage you to check it out if you’re close enough. The $4 pickup fee beats the hell out of shipping.

*definitely not an ad. I’m not paid to promote. Just a happy customer

It’s finally caught up with me. I usually review COG quarterly and they’ve remained more or less the same for years.
I hadn’t really looked at it yet this year. I’ve been just kind of blindly ordering the things I’ve always ordered but now that I’m costing out a new jar, I thought I’d go ahead and look into everything again.

Good God. I’ve got a cart on CS ready to order after a market tomorrow. 4 - 16oz bottles at a $35 average and $19.99 shipping. We usually do a mix of lower/higher priced FO. My average per oz has been $1.87 for years. Now, $2.37.
CS used to be one of the lower ones…. What the hell happened? Who do they think they are? Doop or Little Bees? lol like what? I’d love to abandon CS altogether but I can’t completely.

Cost of everything has gone up and my margin is no longer where I need it to be. I’m not trying to price myself out of the market but I’m gonna price myself out of business if I don’t do something.

How are you guys handling this? I might have to make some big moves here but I’m nervous. Part of me wants to just hike them up and never talk about it.
I am trying out a few lower-cost companies and am loving Virginia Candle Supply so far.

*not trying to get into some big thing about how you cost out your goods. We’ve all seen how hot of a topic that is the past few days 👀.

*Pic just for attention.

Trying out a new layout for the first market of the season and I thought I’d share the results.

We’ve got a front facing space with vendors on either side but we’ve got about 2’ of space on either side. For years we’ve done sort of an inside L. I like the L but the space tends to get cramped with people so I’m looking for a change.

Originally everything was contained inside the canopy but once it was set up, there was barely room for our chairs. We ended up pulling that front wax melt table out about 4” from the front of the canopy. This may not work if you absolutely must stay inside your space.

Verdict: I LOVE THIS LAYOUT. Traffic flow was magical to watch.

- The front table caught a ton of interest and I think was especially nice for those that don’t love coming in, making small talk and feeling trapped (like me).

- No one was confused about where to go or what to do. They came in the front, some looked at candles, checked out at the checkout counter and left from the side.

- We will definitely be keeping this layout.

Happy market season!

**Edit: to add that we don’t use sidewalls. Only pulled back curtains. If it rains, the whole layout will have to change to a U shape, I’m sure.