5/16/17 - Moving Forward

[december_solstice]

 This is a good week for us financially. We're bringing in roughly $800 between Wednesday and Friday AND we have about $220 in food stamps - it's only been 5-6 days and we've already spent a great deal in food stamps just restocking our locker. The idea is if we come to a point where we don't have money, and the food in the cafeteria is really bad, we have food here. This a good time to invest in something we'll need for the coming months. 

 

I have to admit, there really is something "freeing" about not having a lot of stuff. Having all of your belongings fit into a gym-size locker makes you super aware of everything you have. And, in a way, it's easy. I used to like the idea of minimalism but never had any real-life motivation to make it happen. Funny how becoming nearly homeless helped me realize how bad it is to hoard shit. Like, even now, I know that I don't have enough underwear, and I really need a new bra, leggings and/or some kind of house shorts/sweatpants, and denim shorts for summer. I could benefit from another top, but it's not a huge priority right now because I have 1 tank-top. I also know where I can get some really good quality, yet cheap (like $3-5) clothes at a thrift-type shop. I also know where I can get everything else for a good price, and probably spend no more than $20-25 bucks on everything. We also need a fan because it's about to get deathly hot up in here. I'm really trying to not wait until the last minute to take care of things, especially when I know we're just not as flexible and able to get around certain problems because we live in a shelter now. 

 

Our biggest investment this week is new phones/new plan/new provider. The provider I've had for a while is no longer the best option (it;s just terrible and the price is going up!) and our phones are both more or less about to hit the bucket (I bought a MEGA CHEAP phone some time ago, maybe 6=8 months, it's not like it was meant to last...) - it would be wise to get a new one BEFORE our current ones die. We also have laundry to do. And, hopefully we can get a better quality one thing time around to last us a bit longer. I've NEVER cared about cell phones. Ever. Like, I always thought they were a huge waste of money, (still do TBH - there is absolutely no point in dropping $500+ every year on a new iPhone for example) but now, it's like my only stable connection to...anyone. Being able to receive calls, and send emails, for example, is a massive deal. 

 

Last week, I did reallllly good getting through my task-list/goals. I have 10 articles up on Hubpages, and get this! They're ALL featured articles! Can you believe that? And, they get pretty decent traffic considering low content, new account, ect. Now, I can fully monetize them through the ad programs. To really make some decent dollars off them, I'm sure I'll have to do SOME work (self-promoting), but I'm really not setting my standards super high - I want to remain realistic. Even if I can get a few hundred bucks a month of passive income, I'd feel like I really succeeded. LMFAO. 

I will figure that out - for now, I'd like to see if I make any money without doing anything. 

 

I also have 2 translations completed. People's generosity knows no bounds. I have to find the time to work on putting that up on Lulu, and making sure I do it right. The only other thing I have in mind for the rest of the week is to write up a generic inquiry email (that is DETAILED ENOUGH but not painfully long) for the different housing vouchers/programs so I can easily get them out to different resources. 

 

I'm also going to start scanning jobs again. I try to look every Monday, but it's been getting increasingly worse in terms of what's actually available out there. I can actually feel the scarcity of jobs becoming worse. Which is not a good thing at all. That is why I have to keep figure out other ways to make a little money. Not to mention, the possibility of going back to school is really lingering. I don't really want anything more than that. 

Comments

[lusentoj]

Did you send me your book file at any point? I have some final exams today and after that I've got final papers to write and stuff but I should be able to get the Esperanto & Swedish translations to you somewhere within all that (it doesn't take all that long to do these final assignments, i just have to DO them...)

that's a good amount of money! sitting here and really looking at how much living in japan costs, you CAN live off $700 a month there. $200-300 crappy, tiny apartment, the rest is food and transportation. i'm just really hitting myself like, why didn't i just take a student loan and go there and figure something out years ago. living in the US and Sweden is way more expensive most of the time.

[december_solstice]

No, I still haven't, sorry. LOL. I keep forgetting to write it down in my planner. I've been meaning to put it in a Text doc. I will definitely do that this weekend. I haven't been going to Starbucks as often - giving it a break, plus, I don't want to irritate the staff :/ Also, no rush on the translations, especially since you're so busy right now and I don't want you to get worn out.

Yeah! That's a really decent amount of cash to bring in every 2 weeks. I overestimated a little bit, we ended up bringing it about $700. Still a lot, but it's unfortunately not a livable wage. $1500 is the MINIMUM anyone would pay for a small apartment with the market how it is these days. On the upside, it's great because it gives us a lot of flexibility and comfort, especially while living in a shelter - not to mention, that;s extra money we can save for when we do get out of here. I don't know realistically how soon that would be, but I will ask my caseworker on Sunday - see if she can give us any kind of ballpark number. We immediately put away $300 in a little pouch and buried it under a bunch of clothes. LOL. We have about $100 on us combined, and we spent about $300 between Wed and today on the phones, the first month of service, and
a big chunk of what I mentioned earlier.

And, I hear that 100%. I actually really regret not taking out more student loans - whatever it took to continue my education and finish. If I continued, I would probably have my Master's Degree this year and still be employed at the school. But, that's life. We shouldn't worry about what happened because it's over. LOL

[lusentoj]

Hey, don't worry about wearing me out! My wife can do the Swedish one all on her own at least ;D

[lusentoj]

i just signed up for hubpages but i don't really get what you do... their "about me" etc is super vague but they keep repeating that you can earn money : /

[december_solstice]

Yeah, it's a little complicated and hard to navigate, but I honestly really like it quite a bit. I'm on my way out the door for now. I'll tell you more later.

[december_solstice]

LOL. Yeah, I mean, you write articles. Hubs are articles. But, just to clarify, there are MORE than articles on Hubpages. Short stories. Poems. Memoirs. Fanfics. And, if you browse the site, you notice it's really a lot more flexible than they make it seem on the front page. I can verify that money can be made. I am sure making a legit passive income, even if it's just a few hundred bucks a month require additional promotion you do on your own, probably writing relevant content, and overall having decent stuff. Right now, I have 10 Hubs, al of them are featured, and 5 of them have been published on other sites. I wouldn't consider them top-quality, but the stuff that are how-to, informal pieces, offer information worth reading, IMO.

[lusentoj]

Okay, I've written for a couple similar sites before (that then totally changed how they worked so that you'd make no money anymore, so I had to stop writing for them) so I want to give this one a shot too!

[december_solstice]

Yeah, you should! And, I mean, if you have some stuff already written, you can upload it here. From what I've learned, once you have 10 well-written articles up, you're at a good place to start making some money.

[lusentoj]

Hmm, I've written a LOT but the problem is I wanted to put most of my stuff into a real book, so I don't want them to own the rights to it or anything like that...

[december_solstice]

When you post something, there will be a part in the settings where you can set your copyright basically meaning you have the rights to whatever you upload and only you can post it elsewhere. .