from a purely practical standpoint at this juncture the gardens have been a bit of a failure - true all harvested food is more food than we had before - BUT considering so far there's been about $1000 worth of plantings and less than $100 worth of return. Not a good investment. However, the grapes have another 2 years before they should be producing (and they were by and large the largest investment) and the asparagus, currants, gooseberry, blackberry and rhubarb should all start producing next spring ... I remind myself *patience*. Odd hobby for a Leo to take up .... this gardening, patience thing. I think I'm deliberately driven these days to things that teach me the things I don't have. (I've also been indulging in a bit of vinta-culture)
it's not so much the cost of the mower belt which is only about $25
It's the couple of thousand it's gonna take to get the past due bills put to rights ... we ran out of money about 3 months ago and since then it's been pretty much - hand to mouth. Sell an odd item here and there on kijiji - enough to keep gas in the car and feeding the dogs and us, and pay the life insurance (I know that's an odd priority - but if it's not paid within the 30 days it's due, it all gets cancelled and we'd have to go through the entire application and medicals and nonsense again - at our age not an appealling prospect)
So it's not that $25 is a lot, it's the $5000 worth of priorities ahead of it. The property in Newfoundland hasn't sold - despite being on the market for 5 yrs now. The listing just expired this week and I can't relist it at the moment because I have no fax access right now, we bought a wood stove last year with the intention of having it installed before winter as two years worth of wood heating was basically cheaper and more comfortable than oil heat - but we were never able to afford the install cost - so it's still sitting on the showroom floor at the dealer's he had had some interest in it - so as it's still new it could be sold for what it cost us to buy - and we could repurchase it at any time finances get a bit better for the same price. However June/July is not the best time to try and sell a $6000 wood stove. And now the shop will have difficulty reaching us now that we no longer have access to a phone...... might need to make an arrangement with the neighbour about leaving a phone message for us..
Job hunting has become an exercise in frustration. Even those jobs I'm more than well qualified for, where I've interviewed really really well - end up going to someone else because there's just that many people looking for work that there's always an 'internal reference'. We need to send a message to James's parents about the current circumstances - because it's better they hear it from us, but considering how upset they already are with us over our financial straits - it's not a pleasant chore, and not even sure how best to manage it.
*sigh* Yeah not a good week. Take Sunday off, put another set of chicken legs in the crock pot and start trudging along again tomorrow
I am far too familiar with living hand to mouth - we're still doing it, to some degree, because just when it seems we have a reasonably regular setup going, my husband breaks a tooth, or the car's catalytic converter fails, or the air conditioner in the bedroom (the weather's still a bit warm down here) starts putting out toxic smoke.
And in this third millennium, why don't you set up a Kickstarter for one or another of your enterprises - or even just to buy you the woodstove? There's no shame in that any more... think of it as busking on a busy street, with a cigar box on the ground next to you for "contributions". I've already considered doing just that, several times, but in each case something happened that just barely pulled us back from the edge.
Monday night is the Equinox - how about harvesting something other than fruits and vegetables?
the thing of it is with a kickstarter, or a 'gofundme' or those sorts of things - we've always seen them as product / project development tools...
we have the product .... it's really just about getting the word out and the product seen and the business will eventually be there. Like 'contract guy' on Saturday, his order may be $1000-$1200 over the next 6 months, not gonna pay the bills but definitely the sorts of jobs we're looking for - but even more importantly will be his connections and recommendations and long term support - he's gonna be a very good guy to have on our side. The Pet Memorials are another thing - we know we've got them priced right, we know they're a *good* item, if we sold 100 of them a year - we'd be in a decent place. Right now, we launched the product 2 months ago and we haven't actually sold one yet (we did donate one to a charity auction - and she is enormously pleased). They will sell, and they're an item we make a fairly decent return on, - it's just going to take time, it's all about the time.
Certainly if there were a project development - kickstarter would be the first place we'd start - but what project ideas are on the burner, just don't lend themselves to that sort of idea.
Yes, there are 'gofundme' sites that are a bit more going 'cap in hand' as it were - as bad as things are, as practical a solution as that might be - for the woodstove or just ... I really don't think either one of us could do that. Yes, I suppose it's a great thing for something like the animal charities I've worked for, or even for some more specific goal (like my hot dog cart and/or ice cream cart for next spring's market days) .. but in the general 'help me pay my electric bill' sort of way, I know I couldn't, and if I couldn't, you can be sure he couldn't.
I *know*, I *know* you can't eat pride, but otoh we can't change the people that we are.
For the moment.... there's a week's worth of food in the fridge, a week's worth of gas in the car - and we still have an internet connection to the outside world. Stuff gets done, too slowly, but it gets done.... one foot in front of the other.
If the snow blower sells, if the garden tiller sells, if the lawn tractor sells, if the hoosier cabinet sells. So far we manage to keep going, one way or another.
DO NOT use gofundme for anything! They are controlled by an extreme right-wing, wingnut fundie family (worse than Hobby Lobby or Chik-Fil-A). There are plenty of other websites, run by much more congenial folks, that do similar things.
Could you accept the idea of using crowdfunding to pay for advertising to "get the word out" about your "project", your Pet Memorials, and similar things?
it's not so much the cost of the mower belt
which is only about $25
It's the couple of thousand it's gonna take to get the past due bills put to rights ... we ran out of money about 3 months ago and since then it's been pretty much - hand to mouth. Sell an odd item here and there on kijiji - enough to keep gas in the car and feeding the dogs and us, and pay the life insurance (I know that's an odd priority - but if it's not paid within the 30 days it's due, it all gets cancelled and we'd have to go through the entire application and medicals and nonsense again - at our age not an appealling prospect)
So it's not that $25 is a lot, it's the $5000 worth of priorities ahead of it. The property in Newfoundland hasn't sold - despite being on the market for 5 yrs now. The listing just expired this week and I can't relist it at the moment because I have no fax access right now, we bought a wood stove last year with the intention of having it installed before winter as two years worth of wood heating was basically cheaper and more comfortable than oil heat - but we were never able to afford the install cost - so it's still sitting on the showroom floor at the dealer's he had had some interest in it - so as it's still new it could be sold for what it cost us to buy - and we could repurchase it at any time finances get a bit better for the same price. However June/July is not the best time to try and sell a $6000 wood stove. And now the shop will have difficulty reaching us now that we no longer have access to a phone...... might need to make an arrangement with the neighbour about leaving a phone message for us..
Job hunting has become an exercise in frustration. Even those jobs I'm more than well qualified for, where I've interviewed really really well - end up going to someone else because there's just that many people looking for work that there's always an 'internal reference'. We need to send a message to James's parents about the current circumstances - because it's better they hear it from us, but considering how upset they already are with us over our financial straits - it's not a pleasant chore, and not even sure how best to manage it.
*sigh*
Yeah not a good week. Take Sunday off, put another set of chicken legs in the crock pot and start trudging along again tomorrow
Reply
And in this third millennium, why don't you set up a Kickstarter for one or another of your enterprises - or even just to buy you the woodstove? There's no shame in that any more... think of it as busking on a busy street, with a cigar box on the ground next to you for "contributions". I've already considered doing just that, several times, but in each case something happened that just barely pulled us back from the edge.
Monday night is the Equinox - how about harvesting something other than fruits and vegetables?
Reply
the thing of it is with a kickstarter, or a 'gofundme' or those sorts of things - we've always seen them as product / project development tools...
we have the product .... it's really just about getting the word out and the product seen and the business will eventually be there. Like 'contract guy' on Saturday, his order may be $1000-$1200 over the next 6 months, not gonna pay the bills but definitely the sorts of jobs we're looking for - but even more importantly will be his connections and recommendations and long term support - he's gonna be a very good guy to have on our side. The Pet Memorials are another thing - we know we've got them priced right, we know they're a *good* item, if we sold 100 of them a year - we'd be in a decent place. Right now, we launched the product 2 months ago and we haven't actually sold one yet (we did donate one to a charity auction - and she is enormously pleased). They will sell, and they're an item we make a fairly decent return on, - it's just going to take time, it's all about the time.
Certainly if there were a project development - kickstarter would be the first place we'd start - but what project ideas are on the burner, just don't lend themselves to that sort of idea.
Yes, there are 'gofundme' sites that are a bit more going 'cap in hand' as it were - as bad as things are, as practical a solution as that might be - for the woodstove or just ... I really don't think either one of us could do that. Yes, I suppose it's a great thing for something like the animal charities I've worked for, or even for some more specific goal (like my hot dog cart and/or ice cream cart for next spring's market days) .. but in the general 'help me pay my electric bill' sort of way, I know I couldn't, and if I couldn't, you can be sure he couldn't.
I *know*, I *know* you can't eat pride, but otoh we can't change the people that we are.
For the moment.... there's a week's worth of food in the fridge, a week's worth of gas in the car - and we still have an internet connection to the outside world. Stuff gets done, too slowly, but it gets done.... one foot in front of the other.
If the snow blower sells, if the garden tiller sells, if the lawn tractor sells, if the hoosier cabinet sells. So far we manage to keep going, one way or another.
Reply
Could you accept the idea of using crowdfunding to pay for advertising to "get the word out" about your "project", your Pet Memorials, and similar things?
Reply
Yep, lots of other sites. I think indiegogo(?) is the more commonly used site in Canada anyway.
I don't know honestly ... it's something to think about
Reply
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