As some of you know, we left the area for what was supposed to be a job for a while. The job turned out to be a nightmare. The good news out of all of that is, the baby boy got his on place and is doing very well. I got back in June I think it was. Came home to a disaster and have been working on getting it all squared away. Moral of that story is when your gut says DO NOT DO SOMETHING, DO NOT DO IT!
I came back to a massive roach infestation. Fogged the house twice. The second time I used 2x the recommended amount of bombs, did the attic and under the house in the crawl space. You could not tell it was done a week later. We have a honey suckle bush out side. I found out that roaches make their nest in the roots. Guess what is going to get tore out?
We came to the conclusion that they were getting under the wood work and behind the cabinets and going out side when we sprayed and bombed. In pure retaliation, I've spent the last month going through the entire house and caulking each and every nook and cranny that exist. All of the wood work and trim is getting caulked. If I can slip a paper into it, it gets caulked. If I think any form of life, including a germ, can squeeze it's way into the slightest crack, it is getting caulked. I am seeing a dramatic improvement. A large reduction in the number of beasties is now the daily norm. I'm still seeing a few and on some days more them others . The over all numbers are dropping. I called the place I used to get my concentrated bug killer from. They don't sell it any more. Seems the feds have decided that regular people can't possibly use a product safe enough to be trusted with it. That really stinks as it was some really good stuff. That's OK, where there is a will there is a way and I found a different supplier. It's a different brand and a lot more expensive but it should work.
Have been working on the little boat off and on. I finally broke down and bought another sander. The plan is to order repair kits, extra brushes etc, this month. Have the bottom and one side done on the first rough sanding. It's looking pretty good. I Need to order more disk but that's just part of it.
Mainly the "boat orientated work" has been exploring how I'm going to earn a living while living on board full time. I've come to the conclusion none of my ideas is going to make me rich. If however, I put a bunch of small things together, they could add up to a useable amount of cash. They say if your going to write, write what you know about. I know about honey do's on the cheap, raising a multiply challenged son as a single mom and living on subsistence income level. This is marketable, especially in the present economy. There are a few other aspects I'm reasonably well versed in that ties into the part of raising a multiply challenged son, so that will fit in as well. It won't make me rich but it will all help.
One thing I have had to admit. Social networking for the self publisher is a have to. Face book I was already on. Today I did what I thought I would never do. I joined Twitter, as well as a writing hub.
There are some very interesting post on the hub. I looked up to see what I could find on sailing and was very pleasantly surprised. Add that to doing the Amazon Kindle thing, the Nook Book thing on B&N, the affiliate thing and who knows I could actually make a dollar or two. The hard part is learning how to use all these resources and keeping them straight in my mind. Just looking at all that makes me feel like I'm back in school cramming for finals!
Then there is the HAM thing. I have had getting my Ham license on my mind for years. Sailing and Ham, in my opinion just go together. Can you imagine the distance you can get on the water? I know Hams talking all over the planet to each other is no big thing. It is done all the time. It is still awe inspiring to me just thinking about it. Then there is the part about being able to send emails over HAM, not to mention the other aspects of being in touch with others while out in the middle of the big blue.
Put it all together; Yes, I have been working on my goal of living aboard and sailing all week. The part that really BITES IS I have not gotten one silly thing one on any of the boats except for a bit of sanding.
It's all good. One day at a time and when that gets to weird one thing at a time. It will all get done.
Sail safe but sail!
Showing posts with label cost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cost. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Options, Revenues and Providers
In the course of being part of several sailing and boat forums I've picked up a lot of learning these past couple of years. A lot of insurance info has been on the boards lately. Since eventually this is something I am gong to check out for my self I decided to put a page dedicated to just marine insurance. It occurred to me to open this up for others to post providers they know for all to have handy in one place by using comments. As I was posting that page it occurred to me adding a page for other products those who have already been there and done that have used satisfactorily. I decided to open up the page of products I have used to others to post their favorite BOAT RELATED items, using the comments section.
Revenues. We all need to eat. I am opening this site up to advertising. If this offends please forgive. I figure it is not going to put a huge amount of money into the sailing kitty, but every little bit helps.
PLEASE DO NOT just start clicking thu thinking your helping me if you have no interest in a product. It hurts the site marketability. If however you are interested in a particular product, please do so. The site only pays if you actually buy something from a link. Also please be advised that google does collect information when you click thru.
Revenues. We all need to eat. I am opening this site up to advertising. If this offends please forgive. I figure it is not going to put a huge amount of money into the sailing kitty, but every little bit helps.
PLEASE DO NOT just start clicking thu thinking your helping me if you have no interest in a product. It hurts the site marketability. If however you are interested in a particular product, please do so. The site only pays if you actually buy something from a link. Also please be advised that google does collect information when you click thru.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Logic of a group
I posted a question about cells and providers on one of my groups. It has a rather lively discussion going on. That's the god thing about yahoo groups . You ask a question and learn more then you ever thought you would know. Some really good ideas came out of it for sailing and getting things done on the cheap. This is one of those make it work type of ideas that make me glad I found this group. Thanks Andrew
"LMAO you reminded me about the log. On my last sharpie i had rigged a copper toilet float with an eye screw and i could pull a string and drop it at the bow and time when it passed the stern to calculate my speed. Crude but it worked well. Especially Nice if you have a boat of even length like 25 or 30 feet."
"LMAO you reminded me about the log. On my last sharpie i had rigged a copper toilet float with an eye screw and i could pull a string and drop it at the bow and time when it passed the stern to calculate my speed. Crude but it worked well. Especially Nice if you have a boat of even length like 25 or 30 feet."
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Living good in bad times
This was posted on one of my yahoo groups, Its some seriously good advice. The only thing I would add is if you can do it use wood heat. You can live on less then 700.00 a month and use these tips as well .
"The last few years with the economy depressed we as a family have lived on less than 30,000 a year. The Government calls us below the poverty line. However due to what I think is just common sense financial management we eat better than a lot of family or friends. Mostly own our home, own a 38 ft sail boat and since we needed a 4 door car with the new baby I went out and bought a used Honda for cash. I also try and keep enough cash in the bank to pay 3 or 4 months of bills.
I know so many people that make more than me that always seem to be strapped for cash and barely making it. But they are financing new cars, very expensive houses, eating out every day, smoking, drinking etc..
If you are living a fairly normal life with steady income these rules will help you live beyond how most people in the same income bracket do and have cash in the bank.
1. don't finance anything. If you can't afford to pay cash then you don't really need it. I have broken this rule a few times in emergency's but then have busted my butt to pay it off as quick as I could by sacrificing any fun till it was paid off.
2. pay a car payment every month to yourself in a savings account. In 3 or 4 years you can go out and buy a car for cash.
3. don't purchase a new car. Buy one used. Take your time and wait till a good deal shows up. I start shopping for the next car 6 months before I actually think I will need it. This allows me to find the best deal and the vehicle I really want.
4. Get as high a gas mileage car as you can. I went from driving a 20 mile to the gallon vehicle to a 35 mile to a gallon vehicle and it put an extra 150 dollars a month into my pocket that I had been spending on gas. I swear by Honda civics. My 2 door that I'm getting ready to sell has gotten 34 to 39 mpg during the time I have owned it. The new 2002 4 door civic I just purchased is getting 35 miles to the gallon. My average annual maintenance on 3 different Honda civics has averaged about 500 a year on cars with between 110,000 to 184,000 miles on them. About 40 dollars a month average. Parts are cheap for them. If I did the work myself it would probably be less than half that. (for those that start foaming at the mouth about buying American.. well my Honda's were built in Ohio.) all three cars were bought for between 1700 and 3000 dollars. Cars eat a huge chunk of our money between financing, gas, purchase price, maintenance, registration and taxes,
and insurance. Be smart about it. New is pretty and rides super smooth :) but cost 4x a older used car.
5. Go over your monthly bills with a microscope. In 2008 when stuff went south for our finances we saved 1200 dollars a year by cancelling the two land lines to my business and home and just using cell phones. We saved 400 dollars a year cancelling cable service and didn't miss it. We kept the Internet and if we want to see something you can stream almost any show over the Internet. We did netflix for a while but cancelled that also as we ended up not using it much after a while. another 130 dollars a year savings. We went to an unlimited plan on the cell phones. This actually averaged out 200 dollars cheaper than the past 2 years cell phone bills. We quit eating out as much, this saved about 2400 a year. We still go out a few times a month but not every other day just because it is convenient. Work on reducing your power bill. Insulate your water heater, find and seal air leaks in the house, turn off lights behind you, don't leave computers running all
the time, turn the thermostat up or down a few more degrees depending if your heating or cooling. For us this saved about 500 a year. We don't economise much on food for the house. We like speciality teas and indulge ourselves. We do shop for good deals between the grocery stores and costco, sams etc.. and save a lot of money. We buy in bulk and have learned how to store stuff so it doesn't go bad. We eat 90% of all left overs before cooking anything else. We cook many things in bulk and freeze meal sized portions for eating later.
roughly for this list it added up to 4830 dollars a year we cut from our budget in 2008. I can't say that we missed the stuff or hurt doing it.
6. When purchasing "things" always shop around for the best deal both for quality and price both locally and online. Price matching is your friend. Coupons or coupon codes online are your friend. I purchase locally if I can get a good deal or the vendor will price match. I think I average about 30% off on retail by working at this.
7. always save save save every last dollar you can for an emergency fund. I have lost most of my income twice in the last 12 years. Both times I survived because I had saved enough money to pay the minimal bills until I could get a job or start a business that replaced that income.
8. if you have to go into debt, never have payments that you couldn't pay if you lost 50% of your normal income. This rule has saved me in both the above referenced instances where I lost major income during the dot com crash and in the recent recession.
By following all this fairly reliably I have been able to put many thousands in the bank and save to buy my current boat for cash, my last three cars for cash, have 3 to 5 months bills in the bank.
I have to admit that it helps tremendously that neither my wife or I are addicted to cigarettes or alcohol. those seem to be major expenses in a lot of peoples lives. I would hate to not be able to afford my book addiction though.
anyways.. I grew up poor and learned how to be happy with less I guess. I don't need new or newest. something that is reliable and functional seems to work fine for me. It's certainly much less expensive than trying to keep up with the neighbours.
interesting topic. I was just thinking about this the other day.
sadly because I still owe on my house I am still tied down financially. I will never finance a house again. I will purchase outright or buy land and build a small house on it myself. I cringe when I look at the 10's of thousands of dollars in interest I have paid over the last decade, and I only financed for 20 years not the 30 that a lot of people do.
Live debt free!!!!!!!
Scott"
"The last few years with the economy depressed we as a family have lived on less than 30,000 a year. The Government calls us below the poverty line. However due to what I think is just common sense financial management we eat better than a lot of family or friends. Mostly own our home, own a 38 ft sail boat and since we needed a 4 door car with the new baby I went out and bought a used Honda for cash. I also try and keep enough cash in the bank to pay 3 or 4 months of bills.
I know so many people that make more than me that always seem to be strapped for cash and barely making it. But they are financing new cars, very expensive houses, eating out every day, smoking, drinking etc..
If you are living a fairly normal life with steady income these rules will help you live beyond how most people in the same income bracket do and have cash in the bank.
1. don't finance anything. If you can't afford to pay cash then you don't really need it. I have broken this rule a few times in emergency's but then have busted my butt to pay it off as quick as I could by sacrificing any fun till it was paid off.
2. pay a car payment every month to yourself in a savings account. In 3 or 4 years you can go out and buy a car for cash.
3. don't purchase a new car. Buy one used. Take your time and wait till a good deal shows up. I start shopping for the next car 6 months before I actually think I will need it. This allows me to find the best deal and the vehicle I really want.
4. Get as high a gas mileage car as you can. I went from driving a 20 mile to the gallon vehicle to a 35 mile to a gallon vehicle and it put an extra 150 dollars a month into my pocket that I had been spending on gas. I swear by Honda civics. My 2 door that I'm getting ready to sell has gotten 34 to 39 mpg during the time I have owned it. The new 2002 4 door civic I just purchased is getting 35 miles to the gallon. My average annual maintenance on 3 different Honda civics has averaged about 500 a year on cars with between 110,000 to 184,000 miles on them. About 40 dollars a month average. Parts are cheap for them. If I did the work myself it would probably be less than half that. (for those that start foaming at the mouth about buying American.. well my Honda's were built in Ohio.) all three cars were bought for between 1700 and 3000 dollars. Cars eat a huge chunk of our money between financing, gas, purchase price, maintenance, registration and taxes,
and insurance. Be smart about it. New is pretty and rides super smooth :) but cost 4x a older used car.
5. Go over your monthly bills with a microscope. In 2008 when stuff went south for our finances we saved 1200 dollars a year by cancelling the two land lines to my business and home and just using cell phones. We saved 400 dollars a year cancelling cable service and didn't miss it. We kept the Internet and if we want to see something you can stream almost any show over the Internet. We did netflix for a while but cancelled that also as we ended up not using it much after a while. another 130 dollars a year savings. We went to an unlimited plan on the cell phones. This actually averaged out 200 dollars cheaper than the past 2 years cell phone bills. We quit eating out as much, this saved about 2400 a year. We still go out a few times a month but not every other day just because it is convenient. Work on reducing your power bill. Insulate your water heater, find and seal air leaks in the house, turn off lights behind you, don't leave computers running all
the time, turn the thermostat up or down a few more degrees depending if your heating or cooling. For us this saved about 500 a year. We don't economise much on food for the house. We like speciality teas and indulge ourselves. We do shop for good deals between the grocery stores and costco, sams etc.. and save a lot of money. We buy in bulk and have learned how to store stuff so it doesn't go bad. We eat 90% of all left overs before cooking anything else. We cook many things in bulk and freeze meal sized portions for eating later.
roughly for this list it added up to 4830 dollars a year we cut from our budget in 2008. I can't say that we missed the stuff or hurt doing it.
6. When purchasing "things" always shop around for the best deal both for quality and price both locally and online. Price matching is your friend. Coupons or coupon codes online are your friend. I purchase locally if I can get a good deal or the vendor will price match. I think I average about 30% off on retail by working at this.
7. always save save save every last dollar you can for an emergency fund. I have lost most of my income twice in the last 12 years. Both times I survived because I had saved enough money to pay the minimal bills until I could get a job or start a business that replaced that income.
8. if you have to go into debt, never have payments that you couldn't pay if you lost 50% of your normal income. This rule has saved me in both the above referenced instances where I lost major income during the dot com crash and in the recent recession.
By following all this fairly reliably I have been able to put many thousands in the bank and save to buy my current boat for cash, my last three cars for cash, have 3 to 5 months bills in the bank.
I have to admit that it helps tremendously that neither my wife or I are addicted to cigarettes or alcohol. those seem to be major expenses in a lot of peoples lives. I would hate to not be able to afford my book addiction though.
anyways.. I grew up poor and learned how to be happy with less I guess. I don't need new or newest. something that is reliable and functional seems to work fine for me. It's certainly much less expensive than trying to keep up with the neighbours.
interesting topic. I was just thinking about this the other day.
sadly because I still owe on my house I am still tied down financially. I will never finance a house again. I will purchase outright or buy land and build a small house on it myself. I cringe when I look at the 10's of thousands of dollars in interest I have paid over the last decade, and I only financed for 20 years not the 30 that a lot of people do.
Live debt free!!!!!!!
Scott"
Friday, November 18, 2011
Such is Life
Some days things just do not go as planned. The idea for this month was to get tires on van and trailers. It ain't happening. Choice was get two new tires and let very thing else go or get materials and wait on tires. Who know it would be so hard to find 11 lousy tires in decent condition.
The good news is almost all materials have w been bought to complete the house. Still looking at counter top laminate for kitchen counters, a few bits of dry wall, tiling the surround for the wood stove etc. Little stuff like that.
One day at at time.
The good news is almost all materials have w been bought to complete the house. Still looking at counter top laminate for kitchen counters, a few bits of dry wall, tiling the surround for the wood stove etc. Little stuff like that.
One day at at time.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
EZ Kitchen Cabinets
If you really need kitchen cabinets but cannot afford them or do not know how to make them , here is a simple, cheap and effective way to accomplish that goal.
When I removed the original cabinets in the kitchen I was shocked. It was nothing more then a bunch of supports nailed into the walls that supported the drawers and shelves attached to the walls then a facer board put over it . Simple yet served purpose for many years. Here is what we did to duplicate this simple , cheap and effective cabinet making.
As you can see form the photos it is basically stained and polyed board fastened to the studs with metal brackets. Then a facer board and doors put in place. It works well
Tyhe upright s support the top. This side is til in process of being completed..
This side we already have facer board and doors on
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