As a single mom, 9 years out of 10, I'd get a tax refund. While I didn't like using the IRS as an interest-free savings account, better that than having to scrounge up money to pay taxes.
We got married on April 13, almost 2 years ago. I'm on disability. VHTS is too. Hubby works hard but can't move up in his company.
Last year, we owed money for taxes. This year, we'll owe more than double what we paid last year. And we can't sell this stupid house. We can't raise chickens here. The town's code enforcements studies our property regularly to look for violations. My health is worsening. My migraines and carpal tunnel are preventing me from writing more books to add to our store. My stash of sleeping pills are dwindling. My weight is ballooning. My patience is waining. This TV conversion thing is a joke and costly. Debts are piling up. We have no savings. No backup. But we have 9 bags of rice, 5 gallons of honey, 6 gallons of vinegar, 10 bags of rice pasta, and 4 bags of salt! (Among the beans, oats, cornmeal, dried fruit and veggies, etc.) Who-hoo!
We can't plant a garden until we move which means there's a real possibility we won't have fresh veggies or fruits this year. Which means spending more money at the grocery for possibly tainted food. Or going without.
Hubby is tired when he comes home from work. I don't have the physical strength to pack, or to prep the house to sell/move. Don't have the money to hire anyone. Weekends are busy catching up on home-stuff, laundry, family time, errands, seeing Hubby's mom, trying to sleep.
The other night I had a dream that I was in a polling center or business office, working on a computer, when Obama and his entourage came through. Three times I asked him (1st time): what are you going to do about this financial crisis? (2nd time): people are suffering so what can you really do about this financial crisis? and (3rd time): people are relying on junk food because it's cheaper, living on the streets or in their vehicles, and suffering is getting worse, so I really need to know what do you really and honestly think you can do about this financial situation? He was quite angry by the last time I asked. I had to, um, leave. When I awoke, I realized that this topic is very much concerning me. I've been homeless twice in my life. The last time was with my kid in tow. I do NOT want to experience that again, especially with a Hubby and dog now.
It's hard to continue coming up with information about storing, and survival and disaster prep when we don't know where we'll be living in two months. But we'll keep going.
So... will the Obama administration really help our situation? I'm beginning to have my doubts.
Sorry... had to rant.
Major Frustration.
2 comments:
I can't make the economy any better on my own (wish I could!), but here are a few ideas that might help you out.
Voice Recognition Software:
I don't know that VRS will help with your migraines, but you could use it to avoid carpal tunnel problems. Doing a quick search, I came up with this page: http://www.consumersearch.com/voice-recognition-software. There are a couple of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 options listed, along with IBM ViaVoice 10, MacSpeech Dictate, and Windows Speech Recognition. It sounds like the latter comes with Windows Vista. If you already have Vista on your machine, that would make it least expensive (as in free!). I don't have any personal experience using VRS, but knew people who were happy with Dragon back in the days before Vista. If you want to hold down expenses, you could probably find an older version of Dragon for little or nothing.
TV:
I haven't watched TV, per se, for close to ten years. I read online newspapers, or read and watch the news on a local TV station's website. Many TV shows (both current shows and reruns) are available via websites like Hulu and YouTube. If you do a search, you'll find many sites online where you can watch old movies and TV shows for free.
Fresh Fruit and Vegetables:
You can grow fresh veggies in pots on your deck, porch, and/windowsills. I have 17 bok choi seedlings growing in an 8" x 8" pot that I've been growing under (and close to) a fluorescent light to keep them from getting too leggy while young. In my one south-facing window, I have a two-year-old kumquat that I grew from seed (and which I hope will produce fruit in a year or two), a spearmint start that I'm growing for a friend, and a small pot of oats, just for the heck of it. I'll be adding the bok choi to the sill when it's a little bigger, and planting something else to grow under the fluorescent.
On my north-facing deck I have some overwintered spearmint, peppermint, sage, oregano, rosemary, lemon thyme, two kale plants, a passion flower I was given (but where it grows, maypops should grow--same family), chives, and an onion that I planted after it sprouted in the fridge. I'll be planting more veggies out there when it gets a little warmer.
Obviously, I can't grow large amounts of food in this manner, but it helps psychologically to grow some portion of my food. It also helps financially--you'll notice the high proportion of herbs on my deck. They taste better freshly picked, and would be more expensive than most vegetables to buy in a grocery store. I used to buy kale by the bunch, then only ended up using half of the bunch before it went bad. This past fall, when I found the kale plants on sale for $1.50 each (less than I'd pay for a cut bunch of leaves), I snapped them up. It's wonderful to be able to step outside and pick a leaf or four, and enjoy looking at the very decorative plant, knowing it's growing more leaves for me to use next time I need them.
Be sure to check out any farmer's markets near you. I've bought wilted greens--not too far gone--for very little money. If you lay them between a couple of damp cloths for a while, they'll revive. Most of the markets I've been to sell expensive organic produce, but a few farmers had vegetables that were not, and were much cheaper. Since the farmer--or at least a family member who knows how the plants were grown--is there, you can ask him what was used, and decide whether it's something you want to eat.
Its never fun, but I can understand your need to rant. That is frustrating situation. I wish you the best of luck.
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