I don't want to live a "normal" life

I really don't, I am horrible with routines and I hate commitments held to others outside of my family.  I don't want to work forty hours a week, fifty weeks a year, until I reach the ripe old age of seventy so that I can "enjoy" life.

If there were such a disorder, where people were the opposite of OCD - I would probably have it.  I like change, routine is my nightmare.

Unfortunately, I am not talented.  If anything, I am a bit below the norm when it comes to others.  So, living such a life would prove to be difficult.  But, where there is a will there is a way.  I don't need a big home, nor a brand new car, I don't need expensive clothes or the best of foods, I don't need expensive vacations nor do I need to outdo my neighbors.

The thing is, I am not swayed by status.  I don't feel the urge, to be valued by strangers.  I don't need to feel that I am better than other people, by my material possessions.  My inexpensive 1200 square foot home is plenty large enough for my family.  My 23 foot long sailboat, built in the 80s, is huge to me.. my $10,000 SUV is more than I need.

And that was the conclusion I came to when I quit my last job,  I would rather be able to sleep at night than bully the elderly into buying magazines, so I could have nicer things.  Today I went to a place called labor ready, it is a temp agency that puts people to work for brief periods of time.  I like that, it is honest work where no commitments are held.  I get to choose when I want to work, and when I want to take a break.  The pay is horrible, but I don't have much that I need to spend it on, so it will do.

We make sacrifices in my household, but we are free.  That is what matters most to me, being free..  You only get one life, enjoy it.

I'm a horrible salesman

I had finally gotten a job, it was selling magazines over the phone, all the calls were inbound, the pay would have averaged about ten dollars an hour, but I couldn't do it.  The thing is, the people calling in received a letter telling them they could win a million dollars, and all they had to do is call in a number and place an entry.

My job, was to try to sell them magazines.  Four attempts at selling magazines had to be made, with each attempt you had to read off a script of several magazines, then nearly demand them buy them.  It felt like bullying, really.  The worst part is, at the beginning of the call you would try to be as friendly as possible with them, then after you gained their trust you pushed your pitch.  It felt so manipulating, grimy, and went against my morals.

The clientele almost exclusively was the elder, people in their 80's who wanted the money to give to charity or their family, most were ill, in poverty, and just couldn't afford the $60 a year commitment, for  four years, many didn't even feel they would live that long.

I would rather be digging ditches, knocking down concrete, or any other physically demanding jobs than be the sort of person that bullies around the elderly.  I gave it my best for three days, and it made me sick to my stomach.  I felt like such a scumbag, and had to detach myself entirely to get through the calls.  At the end of the work day, I would feel like a sleaze bag.

I couldn't see myself doing this seven to eight hours a day, five days a week.  So, it is back to surveys, and perhaps labor ready.. and continuing college.  

I've got to wonder, is this all life has to offer a high school graduate anymore?  I can't work in an environment  where the objective is to scam people out of their money, I can't work at a place where I am not allowed to be myself.  I'm not the sort of person, that likes to take advantage of anyone.  I am the sort of person, that loves to help other people, without expecting them to purchase my product.  For example, fixing things such as computers.  I wouldn't want to sell people computers, just fix them at a reasonable rate.

I'm really missing my old job, working in IT.  If only there were more demand for it now.  For now, I'll just work for my self.  The pay is lousy, but at the very least I can sleep at night.

Finally have a good vehicle and my daughter is 7!

Not only do I have a great vehicle, I have a great vehicle I can tow with! A 2005 Dodge Durango, which can handle up to 5,900 lbs for towing. This truck is great, for the family and for the boat.  It comes with all kinds of neat features, and a class three hitch connected to the frame along with all of the connectors.  On the inside, it is full of creature comforts.  Plus it was incredibly affordable, on the downside it has 91,000 miles on it.

We also celebrated Carleigh's Birthday with my parents, they came down and made her a cake.  I can't believe she is 7 already, it seems like such a short time ago that she was born.  What a cutie pie she is.  Here she is playing around with some play dough that my parents bought for her.

Here is the cake my dad made for Carleigh, included are a couple of feathers from their eclectus "Balloo".  My father often makes the cake for my daughters, earlier this month he created a spider man cake for my daughter Cailyn.

Poor Saoirse is getting dirty, being on the side of my yard.  I hate neglecting her like this, but standing on top of her I can peer right into my neighbors windows and I really don't want to make them feel uncomfortable.  Thankfully, I now have a truck to tow her with.  She will be moving in my back yard soon, where I will then be able to start fixing her up.  The day is ever coming closer till she is ready.

On the side of our yard, she looks lonely.

A name for my sailboat

I've owned my sailboat for nearly a year now, and contemplated a bit as to what to call her.  I've had a lot of funny suggestions, but she deserves a proper name.  Earlier in the day, while doodling on a bit of scrap paper  it came to me the symbolism of the sailboat, what it all meant to me.

It comes down to freedom, that is what draws me toward sailing.  While freedom is a fine word, it is a bit over used and not something I would consider labeling my sailboat.  Instead, I will use a foreign word ;p 

"Saoirse"

It is pronounced Seer Sha, and is the Gaelic word for freedom, often given to women.  How fitting of a name for my first sailboat.  It is not entirely original, other boats have borne her name before, however, I don't think anyone will be offended.

Well, I'll be getting a vehicle to tow my beloved Saoirse here shortly.  I've been lookin at Ford Explorer's that are rated to tow 5,000 lbs.  Plenty enough, as the combined weight of my boat and trailer is no more than 3,500 and more likely 3,000.

I'll be sure to post a few pics when it happens, as well as relocating the boat to my backyard.  I don't like it's current location, because it is too close to the neighbor's house and I don't want them thinking I am prying on them while goofing about on my sailboat.

A fine month

It has been a fairly good month, my brother came down from New York and we were able to hang out for a couple of days.  We had a few beers, built a fire, and talked about the past.  It doesn't get much better than having family, a camp fire, and beer to lift your spirits.

I had tons of wood piled up, from trimming the trees in my yard, from pile of fence pickets, and also a couple of logs from a tree that fell in my yard.  The fire burned from 9pm to about 4:30am, and even then we had to hose it down for about fifteen minutes before it completely went out.  Wish I had taken a few more pictures, the steam from putting it out almost covered my entire yard.. it is a good thing that it was foggy that day.



I also have started to brew my own beer, as a way to save money and also keep me busy.  Mind you, I don't drink every day - mostly once every other week, but the costs add up.  I've been drinking the cheap stuff, such as Busch Lite, which isn't all that bad of a beer, but I would rather try to cut my expenses down in half while at the same time producing a better tasting beer.

So, a few weeks ago I thought I would have my hand at producing a cheap wine, using some Welch's grape juice, two cups of sugar and a bunch of baker's yeast.  Mind you, I was not looking to create a fantastic wine, I just wanted to see how it worked out.  Here is a picture of what happened after the first day,  it foamed up quite a bit, and for the next several days it was bubbling like crazy as it fermented.  In order to ensure it wouldn't explode, while at the same time not be contaminated I simply left the cap on top, slightly loose to ensure air could escape.

This is what it looked like after about a week, the color changed from purple to a rusty looking color.  You can't really see the bubbles rising, but there were a ton of them.  There was no smell though, which was interesting.  I thought there would be a massive stench associated with brewing.

Here it is now, I moved it to another bottle as a bunch of yeast and other gunk form at the bottom while fermenting.  The total fermentation time was about two and a half weeks, in temperatures that averaged in the mid 80s.  It looks like wine, smells like wine, and tastes like wine... I don't really like wine to begin with, but my wife, mother, and brother enjoyed it.  No one noticed any off flavors from using baker's yeast, so all in all it isn't so bad.

So, after that experiment, we bought a Mr Beer for less than $30, and I brewed my first beer.  I didn't take any pictures of the brewing part, but it was pretty straight forward.  Toss a can of liquid malt extract in boiling water, and add it to the fermenter along with colder water.  It has been sitting in the jug, under the cabinet for the past ten days doing it's thing.  Again, no nasty smells at all.

Today, I gave it a sample to see how far along my brew has come.  It has a bit of a cider taste to it, and still a bit sweet, probably because I added two cups of cane sugar to it, and also because it was fermenting in 80 degree weather.  It is not too bad though, I think I will bottle it up by the end of the week, give it to new years to carbonate and give it another try.  Hopefully, it has a bit more to ferment out and the flavor will become a bit better.  As you can see it is still cloudy, and I can see bits of yeast suspended in the liquid.


And that is all there really is to it, another month passed.  A hobby picked up, which should be inexpensive.  The way I look at it, is that I can brew up to 21 beers in the fermenter at a cost of about $16.00 if I purchase the liquid malt extract from Mr Beer.  What I am going to do instead, is purchase a few hops, some malt extract, and yeast for much less than that.  From what I have read, I can make almost five gallons of beer, that is fairly good quality, for less than $30.  That is about 53 12 ounce beers, so it works out a lot cheaper than the inexpensive beer, and should taste better.  It should also last me about two months, which is good.

Now, I don't want people thinking I am an alcoholic, nor that I waste money partying every night.  I drink once every other week, at most eight beers, usually less, after my children are in bed, and while my sober wife is home in the event of an emergency.  I enjoy the peace of mind it gives me, and quite frankly the break from reality :)  I think this hobby serves two purposes, first, it gives me an interesting hobby to pass the time and keep me entertained, and the second would be a savings on my bi monthly escape.

In other aspects of a great month, I just completed my first semester and earned an A in both of my classes, I'm looking forward to doing 9 credit hours next semester and hopefully keeping up the GPA.  I've also been day dreaming about my sailboat, I can't wait until I finally land a real job instead of doing these surveys, so that I can take her out.

Just a quick update

Since I have nothing going on in life that is exciting, I would like to update my financial progress.  Since I last posted, I have made another $12 on Vindale, and another $16 on Cash Crate.  The other sites are based on a point system, and have not been updating very often.  I took yesterday off, because I had a ton of homework to do, plus classes and taking the kids out.

Otherwise, it has mostly been just a lot of day dreaming about sailing.  Hopefully, 2013 will be the year I have my sailboat on the water.  Right now, my main goal is to get a couple of tarps to put over her, because where I have it located now is under trees and my boat is filthy.  

So, money isn't that great doing surveys.. Maybe $50 a week, for lots of time sitting around and waiting for a survey to pop up so you can grab it before anyone else does.  I'm actively searching for other survey sites though.  It would be nice if I could raise that another $20.

Wish me luck.

It's been a while

Well, I finally have work.  It is not great, but I am my own boss and I make my own hours.  I do surveys online, at around a dollar a pop.  So far, I have made $62.00 using Vindale and another $8.00 on Cash Crate.  I just started a couple of other companies, so haven't progressed that far with them.

I work a little under three hours every day, and have been doing this for about a week.  So, I'm averaging right now about $3.00 an hour - which to be quite frank I am surprised.  The work is easy, so I can't really complain.  In addition to Vindale, and Cash Crate I have started Ipsos, and MySurvey.  I will probably add a few more to that list as time goes by.

The thing is, this is better than nothing.  I made over five times this at my last job, but my last job was nearly four years ago.  I also save money on gas, and child care so it all is not so bad.  

I'm also in college again, doing pretty well.  I'm taking elementary algebra, and enjoy it a lot.  I also am taking Micro Apps, but the teacher hasn't updated anything in the past month.  I will be getting a financial aid check for the next semester, and that along with some tax returns I will purchase a truck so that I can find a job in Tampa, tow my sailboat, and do a lot of necessary yard work.

So, I'm pretty happy about things.  Before to long, I will have my sailboat in the water and enjoying a bit of sailing.  Heck, if I can make enough online I might just stick with doing online work permanently, and just enjoy life on my own terms with no boss dictating to me.

I really wish I had found these sites earlier, I always thought they were just a scam, but it turns out they are legit.  Not exactly enough to support oneself, but definitely enough to have some extra spending money.  If I can make $400 a month doing this, I will have more than enough to get things going.  Of course, that would probably be six to seven hours a day doing surveys, and a job at McDonalds would pay more.. but hey, I sort of enjoy doing this.

My wife and I are incredibly frugal, and have been living off of less than $24,000 a year for the past two years.  We have made it work, by clipping coupons, going to good will, cutting back dramatically on our utilities, cooking our own meals, and performing all maintenance work ourselves.  We haven't missed one mortgage payment yet, which is surprising.  I'm really glad we decided to go with a smaller home.

Regardless, if you are in the same boat, here is my list so far of survey sites that may help you.  The only one that I have made enough money from to cash out is Vindale, and that was $50 check mailed off to me.

http://www.vindale.com

http://www.cashcrate.com

http://www.i-say.com

https://www.mysurvey.com

I know that it seems like a scam, but give it a try.  Research about them online, and find out for yourself.  There are a plethora of survey sites out there, and I am a newbie to the scene, these are just the ones I have been using thus far.  One note here, you gotta actually put work in these sites to get anything out of them, I mean it when I say I average 3 hours in a day so far, it is devoted entirely to answering surveys.

I also am considering selling blood plasma, twice a week.  That could pull in another $60.00 each week, but I am not sure if it is in demand in my area.  I am also worried about any scars it could cause, I don't want to look like a drug abuser.  Got to love the life of poverty, hey it could be worst.  At least I am healthy, have two great kids and a wonderful wife.  

Hopefully, my next post here will deal a bit more with my sailboat.  I'll keep updating the survey sites though, but don't worry.. I'm not going to focus solely on them, just a little something for the people out there that are in tough times.

If I find any other ways to make money, that do not end up costing you money in the long run, I'll post them to the blog.

Best of luck.