REULACA! (The New Beginning)

 Back in 1991 when my "Baby Gir" Caity Baby was just about 9 months old, I ran into a snag at my job. It was always that way. I was constantly running into snags because I was either unable to keep a sitter for Reuben and Laura, or I was fighting with my then husband who was (incredibly young and stupid) constantly finding new and inventive ways to cause havoc for our new family. I just could not keep it all together no matter what I tried.  At one point, and I don't know exactly when, but I remember the baby hadn't turned a year old yet, I started a new company of sorts, working for myself part-time as a housekeeper and more or less make-ready maid so that I could take the kids with me while I worked. If I went into an apartment to make it ready for the next tenant, I could clean out one bedroom and stash the three kids into it with toys so I could clean the rest of the apartment.  I made $50 for a one bedroom and $75 for a two bedroom. I did this about 2 or 3 times a week, and it made things that much better. The business needed a name in order to be incorporated, so I came up with the name REULACA. It stands for my three kids: Reuben, Laura, and Caity. 

    Sometime just after September 11, 2001, maybe 10 years after I had started the company, I was still using the name REULACA for my business, but I was selling insurance at this time, working for the attorney I started working for in 1994, and I was still (from time to time) cleaning apartments, or actually just making them ready for the painters to come in and do their thing. Reulaca had a few branches reaching out from it's tree.  Just after September 11, 2001, I was driving down the road, I may have had my kids with me, I don't know, but I was pulled over by a cop who had seen my personalized tag reading "REULACA".  In his head he pronounced it "Reu-LACA" and not "Ru-La-CAY" as it's actually pronounced. He stopped me to ask me if I was of Arabic descent. Can you imagine if someone did that today? Wow!  I stated I was not, I was in fact of Scottish descent, and he asked me to prove that REULACA was in fact a short name for my three kids; he wanted me to show him pictures of the kids and see if those photos actually had their names written on back of the photos - - they did of course, BACK THEN.  We had actual photographs in our wallets. Can you believe it?

    Just over a year ago, I decided to re-up the name REULACA for my new Etsy store, but I haven't actually gotten the damn thing off the ground. I thought I could sell my books from it, but it doesn't really look like that's taking off too wildly.  I'll see if I can piggy-back on my new venture in selling soaps and candles, and maybe some sweet people will decide to give my books a go as well as purchasing my homewares.  The soaps and candles came about as a friend suggested I try it. Her retired mother was doing it from home and making more money from her Etsy store than she ever did as a teacher.  That made sense to me, and I began to look into it. I wanted to know what I was doing before I just jumped in feet first and started selling things. I wanted to know the ins the outs, the upside downs, and the every which way, because I really hate it when I go all in and get thrown out. That's happened to me OH...a few times. Just a few. Maybe 287.

    Soap making is by far more fun that anyone has a right to have. It's the biggest blast and so very satisfying. You take (I take) seven different oils and combine them over heat and then mix that mess with lye water that's been sitting around cooling for an hour. You pour in a bunch of color and smelly good stuff, and in some cases you pour in powered spices for color, texture, scent, and antioxidant properties, and you have a flowing gloppy goodness that when set makes soap! It's awesome. I can make swirls in it, I can add floral pedals, little beads, glitter, trinkets....or just leave it plain. When you use a really cool sharp cutter with waves or cool edges the soap just really pops and everyone loves it. It does take 21 days to cure before you can use it, but I can sell it at about 14 days if I add a little warning sticker or card that states it shouldn't be used (for best results) for another week or so. After 3 weeks it's good to use, and in most cases 2 weeks, but it's just best to give it all another week to cure. Why not, it will last longer. I can get $8.00 a bar for a 1" x 3" x 3" bar and it may cost me $1.70 to make. That's a heck of a deal. (I charge actual shipping, not adding any extra for handling)

    Candle making is equally fun, no where near the mess that soap can bring, and it's easy peasy - - no, I mean EASY PEASY.  You literally stick a wick into the container using a double-sided sticky pad that you buy in bulk for nothing really, and you heat up soy wax.  Once it's heated you add the color and the scent, let it cool to about 123 degrees F, and you pour it into the container. I'm going to use 8 ounce tin cans when I sell the candles. When I make them for friends and family I use 4, 8, and 16 ounce glass jars. I've been using old cups, the ones that have a chip or just sit in the back of the cabinet. I just decided to repurpose them as candles and give them as gifts. Friends love it. I get rid of an old cup! It's awesome.  The 8 oz candles I pour will sell for $10 (at this time) and ship actual costs. The 8 ounce candles may cost $2.00 to make including the fancy tins and logo stickers, warning stickers, double-sided wick holder, wick, lid, color, and scent. That's an $8.00 profit. I don't charge extra for handling, I figure $8.00 profit is good enough. The candles I make have two things that the candles in the stores don't have - - I use more scent, more than the typical 6-8% load. I usually put in 9-10%. I also use love. There are not many folks out there still using love in their work  - I do. I sing, I praise God, I worship, I talk on the phone to my kids, I enjoy myself while I'm making my crafts and I hope the people who buy them understand that these products are made in a house that is blessed.

    I decided to use the name REULACA for the Etsy store. I'll incorporate again so I can do the tax thing correctly. I'll begin diversifying and saving some of the profit into the business, but trade some of it too. I'll begin my penny stocks and my stable portfolio, both under the REULACA label, and hopefully I can do more with it than just pick up a job here and there. I can make it loveable and useable. My friends who have been kind enough to burn my candles and bathe with my soaps tell me that the products are great, long lasting, and that they seem to be of good healthy quality. I try. I only use 100% soy for the candles, and the soaps contain pure oils. (Did you know it was castor oil that makes soap lather? I didn't know that until I started making soap.)  This is going to be a great adventure for me, as well as a great renewing of the name REULACA. I've designed a very simply logo for the stickers that go on top of the candles and the wrapping of the soap.  It's a white 2" x 2" round sticker with the name REULACA on the top, a Celtic 4-heart pattern in the middle representing myself and the kids, and it says "Homemade with love" on the bottom - - there you go.  Us in a nutshell.

    I'd say wish me luck, but I'm a Christian, so yeah, luck has no place with me. Praise with me instead. I'll be on Etsy soon with the soaps and candles. For now you can see my book "Jude's Almost Daily Blog" being sold there as a placeholder.  Go ahead  - buy it, I double-dog dare you!

Photo Credit: Me.