My grandmother did quite a few things like this to get by. My grandfather died at the age of 52, leaving my gram to raise the remaining 3 children with no pension or money of any kind. Now mind you I was little only 6 when he passed and my gram never worked a full time job?!? She sold Avon. She went to bingo.... The woman was so very lucky... she also played the lotto 49... there to she was lucky... .Not big lucky but enough to cover expenses. She use to take the boys out on the back road to look for bottles in the ditches to get the return money. I use to sit with my grandmother and we would cut out any and all coupons we could find. She would use quite a bit as she still had 3 of the 6 children still living at home. She use to go to yard sales and find great items that she was able to re-sell or barter for things she needed. She would host several yard sales a year. It wasn't uncommon to have an antique dealer come by the house to see what she had to offer. One of her most valued finds were the Royal Daltons (mind you this was before they lost their quality). One of the things that use to amaze me was she was always on the look out for books. When we would go north on our summer trips, she would take these books and sell them up there. The reason this was neat was that is what paid for the trip. There was no Amazon or any other direct shipper. She was the one of the main suppliers of reading material for that area. The property that gram lived on was almost 2 acres. She leased out the back part of the land to one of the area farmers. I think she made enough to cover the taxes. Great deal for both of them.... She also got to glean what ever was left out in the field.
The reason for all this talking my gram up is she was able to make it without very much. Honestly, I didn't realize that money was ever tight for her. She always had food, heat, & her and I always went on trips together. It hit me today, I don't want to walk in her shoes.... but it wouldn't hurt to start taking some plays out of her book. I'm tired of always paying for this or that. Always being accountable to someone else, just because I have bills to pay. Being at the whim of taxes, gas stations, grocery stores, natural gas companies, & the list goes on.
Years ago I started on a path to a more sustainable life. Somewhere along the way I fell off the path. I'm not saying that I started buy diamonds and furs... LOL! But I seem to have lost sight of the end goal. You know where we want to be 5, 10 years done the line... Because to be honest we are at that point.... 5 - 10 years ago we had goal and dreams that should be in place right now and they aren't. Time to evaluate what is really important and figure out how to get there before another decade slips by. As I do things I will be posting them.
The first thing that needs to happen is that I need to sell the little car. Its only just over a year old and its costing us way to much. We thought when we bought it that it would be good on gas, cheaper payment. Well, that's true, what we didn't know was how much the insurance was going to be for the little car. Lets just say it is almost as much for it as I pay for full coverage on my suv and no-fault on the truck. Not a good thing. Once that's sold then I can use that money towards the next goal. But this one has to be done first. So I'm off to advertise it in the paper! Wish me luck!!!
Yart
