A Plea For Help II: Housing Update · 5:23pm Apr 25th, 2019
Hey folks,
Time for an update about our housing situation.
First, thank you. Because of your donations, we now have enough savings that will allow my family and I to probably afford pet deposits, security deposits and the first month’s rent for a new apartment.
You never cease to amaze me with your kindness and generosity. Words aren’t enough, but they’re mostly what I have to say thank you.
An extra special thank you to all of the people willing to take an extra step in supporting us monthly through Patreon, namely Xanni, B. Woodman, Cursori, DrakeyC, E. Miller, Frodo, Gara, Hubris, I.R.D. Burns, J. Rushton, Paul Asaran, Krickis, Los Vaqueros Press, Tsitra, N. Wirfel, Nilaru, Ramm, Reognorash, River Road, Rose Quill, TheVetPony, Little Tinker and Tyan.
I also ask for your patience with the coming of May. All of you will be the very first to actually get rewards for my Patreon. I know most of you didn’t join for the rewards, but it’s the least I can do.
Now, let’s talk about the good news and the bad news.
Housing Prospects
The good news has been you. And there’s a little more. I’ve reached out to my company and my friends. We’ve gotten some responses. A lot of them are “we’re working on it” or “we’ll keep an eye out.” Don’t get me wrong, this is wonderful, but I’m still scared for us.
It’s a lot of “possibilities” but very little definites. That’s part of the bad news. We have yet to find anything even close to what we were hoping for, namely somewhere safe for the family, within a reasonable distance from my work, near good schools for the kids, to name a few.
We did some apartment hunting last Saturday. One of them has potential, but it’s still going to be a minimum an hour and a half away from work for me (and there are some other concerns about the place). The other two places we found aren’t good fits due to the neighborhood quality.
For the record, trying to hunt for apartments with an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old is not a good time. I do not recommend it.
Still Looking for Long-Term Solutions
Time for the rest of the bad news.
Painted and I crunched the numbers again so we could give some answers about how much we can afford in rent. Right now, we’re are barely living paycheck-to-paycheck (the reasons why this is new information are a blog in and of itself).
We’re going to have to take massive cuts across the board and even then, we barely make enough to pay for a basic two bedroom, one bath (the fillies share) place.
Before you ask, there are many reasons why I will be staying at my current company, though I am exploring options in seeking something with higher pay. I’ve taken on a few side jobs to earn a little, but it’s not much. Painted’s situation is a bit more complicated and will take time to settle, as she will have to relocate entirely depending on where we end up.
I could tell you the rest. About how Painted’s going to school to land a better-paying position, but she’s still over a year away from being done. About how my own attempt at getting a jump forward failed miserably. I don’t want you to think we’ve been idle. We’ve been anything but.
But it’s not enough.
Stopgaps & Requests
Okay, enough explaining. Time for the truth. Yeah. I’m going to ask again. I’m going to ask if you can financially help us further. I hate this even more than the first time. This whole thing makes me sick.
I just don’t see any other choice. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so freaking sorry. I hope you can forgive me.
But I’m scared, so I’m still going to ask.
Right now, Patreon is the biggest help, because it’s a monthly donation Like before, it’s to support the stories that brought you here and to help pay for groceries and other bills.
PayPal is second-best, because it’s putting money directly into our bank account without fees. Please do it to marcusjsimms[at]me.com and select Friends & Family, otherwise PayPal takes a cut.
Ko-Fi is just like PayPal with a different interface, but I know some people like it, so I’ve featured it. I think it does use PayPal’s “Goods & Services” though, so there is a fee.
Finally, GoFundMe is our other fund. While they do take fees at the end of the process, they’re still more than available.
Patreon helps because it gives us a buffer every month, while the rest are single donations. I’ve added a lot of new features to my Patreon that I hope will give you something back (though it is still a work-in-progress).
I know this is a lot to ask. And asking again after a little less than a month of the first request? Even bigger. It feels so damn greedy.
I will be honest though: part of the reason I’m doing this now is because Patreon bills at the beginning of the month. Last time, I missed that by like two days. Felt kinda stupid. So, I wanted it out before May 1 hit.
No Matter What
Many of you are in a place no better than we are. Many of you can’t help even if you wanted to. I understand and it’s okay. The first time, so many of you just shared this and that was a huge deal. While I couldn’t thank every one of you, I did my best to thank as many as possible (and for the record, I never copy/pasted a thank you to the best of my knowledge).
All of us are grateful for what you’ve given. We don’t deserve friends like you, but we’re happy to have you despite that.
I know I have a tendency to ramble in these. I could say thank you a thousand times in a thousand ways in a thousand languages and it wouldn’t be enough.
So instead, I say it one last time, be it for a share, a prayer, a dollar, a comment or a hope.
Thank you.
-Novel Idea, Painted Heart, Primary Colour and Sunny Stage
One thought is that you should maybe let Paypal take their cut if people are donating through that route. :/ They get twitchy about accounts getting a sudden influx of money, to my knowledge.
As it stands I offer prayers and hope. Middle term? I'll do my best once I too land a stable financial situation, because children shouldn't have to worry about that kind of thing, which in turn means the parents too. I believe in you and in this community you've built for yourself and others of like mind. Best of luck going on! We'll all be here for you however we can.
For a second job for you and/or her, are gig jobs an option for you? They really fall into three categories, people, packages and food. I do the last two, particularly the packages and love it, but obviously it's not for everyone. Also you need a reliable 2 box design vehicle (van, minivan, SUV, wagon or hatchback), and a smartphone with data, lots of data.
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Huh, I'd totally forgotten about that. Thank you for reminding me. It can hurt for a lot of small donations, but it doesn't impact the large ones quite to the same degree (at least I think so).
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Thank you, Nonchalant. I know all too well what unstable financial ground looks like right now! Seriously, I know it so well, I really feel it should have bought me dinner first. Eep. But thank you for your prayers and hope. That's what we're running off of more than anything!
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Huh, that's an idea I hadn't considered. And it's something we'd have to think long and hard about. I'm still getting panic attacks and other things especially after a long day at work, so doing it on weekends/weeknights might be pushing me too far. As for Painted, she's wrangling kids all day, so she's so exhausted she can barely stand by the time I get home (there's some medical stuff in there, too).
That being said, we're in a hard situation anyway. We'd just need to balance the needs of our mental health and finances (they don't play nicely).
Is most of the income of that tip-based or is there some other payments system (I assume you're talking about Grubhub, Uber, etc)
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Mostly, although some companies like InstaCart and DoorDash aren't real transparent about how your getting paid, just giving you a number up front. Here's a run down of what I know of, which when it comes to groceries, I don't know much. Reddit is definitely your friend too.
Of these services, my favorite is Flex, though getting in can be hard. Basically you claim a block when they make them available, typically by Sunday night I've claimed my entire week in logistics blocks. A block gives you a start time, estimated time and how much they pay (typically $18/hr). You get paid by the block, doesn't matter how long you take. App takes care of navigation including organizing the stops, but is sometimes flaky (very flaky in some markets). I like the fact that I know what I'm making unlike food where you're mostly waiting and hoping for offers. I'm not really a people person and don't like pressure, so I love this, load up at the warehouse (scan packages in using the app on your phone), and then head out. Work at your own pace, I do this during the day, so virtually no customer interaction, scan the package, drop it on the porch, ring the bell, and move on.
GrubHub allows you to claim blocks on schedule day and here promises $10/hr as long as you take 80% of the offers for the day, not just your block. DoorDash allows scheduling too, but it doesn't seem to do anything really. Also DD pays less than Grub. UE & PM are weak here, but you can jump on anytime and any where you want, no zones, so it's not uncommon for me to turn on UE while coming back from a Flex run as I'm often sent to far west or far south St Louis metro.
As well as all those companies, you may have smaller local/regional players, for example Cape Girardeau has a company that does groceries, shopping, food and passenger service for a small part of MO and IL. Dallas and several other towns have a company. There's also Caviar in select markets, and those are just the ones I know of. Oh, and avoid BiteSquad like the plaque.
As to taking donations, consider Venmo (owned by PayPal) or Cash (owned by Square). I use Venmo to pay my rent and to get my room mate's share, and see no fees there. Dunno much about Cash, just that it's out there.
You know what? I'm in a comfortable spot right now, so you've got my pledge. I miss seeing Wavelengths in the feature box - here's to hoping you guys find some stable ground as soon as you can.