Going well so far.

[glenatron]

Got the lorry back from the garage. That was £3000 I didn't have and I really don't know I'll find. Damn it damn it damn it damn it.

Currently looks like we'll use it for the rest of the summer and have to sell after that unless I can pull some kind of miraculous money-making endeavour out of the hat between now and then. All ideas welcome, but be aware this is something I'm actually fairly bothered about so my responses may be less playful than usual.

Also, when we were leaving the yard I noticed that the zip has gone on my right boot. Another expensive thing that I can't afford but will need to be fixed. Brilliant.

Comments

[tempusxfugit.livejournal.com]

story of my life. hang in there. :\

[spirithorse21.livejournal.com]

why will you have to sell it? too much upkeep or not enough money?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Not enough money- I've covered all of that on credit and although I'm going to do some coping stuff, like moving it all onto a 0% for the first year credit card, it's still likely to work out expensive. Unfortunately we've been really financially unstable this year between me changing jobs and sleepsy_mouse being ill ( which because she was a temp she didn't get sick pay for ) and then losing her job so that although I'm better paid than I have been before it's going to take quite a while to get back on an even keel, assuming we can even do that.

[spirithorse21.livejournal.com]

hmm...well, take heart. It may take a while, but you will even back out. We've been there. In fact, we've been there all summer and we're still there at the moment. But we're coping and we've made good decisions so that we'll be back on track this fall.

As for your lorry, could you loan it out to someone for a fee? Or would that be totally unkosher?

I don't know if you feel comfortable enough with your skills or the lorry to haul other peoples' horses for a fee, but that might also be an option. Surely there is some way to make this thing earn its keep, so to speak.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Making it pay it's keep is something we did think about doing. Unfortunately it would be another £500 for the operator's licence to allow one of us to drive it commercially and then you have to have all the associated insurance which again would cost. Unfortunately at that point we would have to do so much driving to pay that part back that I doubt that we'd be able to get far into paying for the lorry. We're still going to look into it a little more though, just in case.

I don't really mind to sell it except that it's really great to have our own transport.

[http://users.livejournal.com/blitzen_/]

if you or sleepsy_mouse have any sort of university degree (that's somewhat useful) and you can tolerate children, maybe get a police clearance (or the equivalent in the UK) and do some tutoring.

big untapped money maker over here! $30 an hour (minimum - can go right up to $50 an hour) & it's for shit stuff like helping kids to do homework or assignments, not necessarily teaching them to read or do algebra. you can do saturday mornings, or visit a couple after work & it's some srs money. register with a company or go on your own. cash in hand. obviously, that's just australia but i'm sure education has SOME importance over there???

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Edjercayshon? Never heard of it gov...

Actually I have done a bit of that in the past. Hmmm...

[ownedbyhorses.livejournal.com]

UGH on the bills. It seems to me that it's not the Cost of Living that gets you but all the little incidentals - such as car repairs!

I second the idea of moonlighting or freelancing. Tutoring someone, either formally through the schools or government, or even just advertising on a billboard, might give you some extra income.

I don't know if Sleepy Mouse would want to be involved (and summer is almost over) but when I taught my own horse summer camps that was a huge amount of money (and why it was so tempting - it paid for my horses' hay and shots for the year). Most of the time if you just assist you don't get paid much but it might be worth a try to check out.

If either of you have typing/computer skills, and live near a college, there used to some income from typing in papers. Hubby has a enough college education that he qualified as an online instructor which has really helped us. He did have to jump through a lot of hoops but he makes about $1,000 (USD) for a 5 week class that he teaches all online.

JMO from living tight for many years and working jobs to keep the head above water - don't take just anything. Often you will spend more working then what comes in. And in an economy where it's hard to find full-time work, often part-time work is more available as people don't want to pay benefits (that's how it works over here anyway).

I really feel for you --- we have found out that we need a new roof - and the AC just quit on us so the repairman is coming Friday. UGH!!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Well I am working better paid in my full time job than I ever have and I was freelance for a while a year or two back so my current Plan A is to look around for a bit of contract work I could do in the evenings although I have a couple of other things I need to clear off the board before I can really get going on that. Either that or think up a useful piece of software I could sell in my own right that isn't too expensive to produce. I have a few ideas for that actually, but there are usually setup and hosting costs that one needs to work around and then you have the risk of customers, who never do things the way you expect...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

No good ideas to offer unfortunately...I've run into 2 people in the past two weeks that are managing to make ends meet solely by having a person with disabilities live with them. The state pays about $60k a year in both cases and you 'work' entirely from home because your 'job' is taking care of them.

Very stressful work, although one woman and her retired husband seem to be making it work because they take turns caring for their special person.

Other than that, the universe has offered me no inspired money-making schemes lately...

Good luck with the costs, sounds like you're being smart about it.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

One of my friends used to do that kind of work, but lately I think he's back doing soul-destroying customer support. Ridiculous situation as well- he's one of the best and brightest, definitely should have achieved fame, fortune and unimaginable riches by now...