You may have heard me say before - "if the car ever dies, we're finished"

Welp.
Yesterday was D(ead Car) Day.

It'll need a new motor, and it's old and tired enough it would be stupid to put one in it.

There's enough money in possession to barely pay the next electric bill (and some of that would surely have been spent before before then but nevermind that) and one assumes there's a few hundred dollars at least in salvage value (if i can find someone to get it there for a sane price)  but the bottom line is - no car = no job.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

The real sucky part is that a friend of mine has turned me on to an on-line income opportunity (that he worked for so I know it's legit)  which, if i pass the test and get hired, would likely be a steady, even healthy income stream once i get up to speed. The only downside is you invoice your work once a month, and get paid "within 30 days" which means it could conceivably be after Christmas before i got my first check.

Now, however, i'm not sure how we survive another two months. Where I live you pretty much have to have a car. The grocery and Wal-Mart are within walking distance and if you keep your loads small you can buy most things for daily needs, but unless you work within walking distance (which Wal Mart holiday hiring would be the only realistic possibility there) there's a limit to what sort of income you can generate while on foot.

SO frustrating.

and of course, all the money troubles just adds another layer to the "it's all your fault!!!" attacks at home.

It sucks you're still going through a tough time. I hope things get better. Question: Do buses not exist where you live?

I'm so sorry things are getting tougher for you. No transportation makes things difficult for anyone. This online thing sounds like it might be a good deal for you I hope it works out.

I'm sending good thoughts your direction.

Just hang in there, things always work out. You mentioned doing some writing, maybe you could do something with that. Hugs, Tracey

Tammy, I'm so sorry to hear things are so difficult for you.  I will keep you in my prayers.  I will specifically pray that something helpful will happen for you in the very near future.  Meanwhile, hang on, however you can, and stay hopeful.  I'm sure things will get better.

Quote from: Tammy Hope on October 30, 2011, 02:12:05 PM

The real sucky part is that a friend of mine has turned me on to an on-line income opportunity (that he worked for so I know it's legit)  which, if i pass the test and get hired, would likely be a steady, even healthy income stream once i get up to speed. The only downside is you invoice your work once a month, and get paid "within 30 days" which means it could conceivably be after Christmas before i got my first check.

I don't mean to be a drag, but surely there are some expenses that you can cut from your budget at least to make it through the winter?

I'm a homeless, transsexual, college student. Even worse- I'm a history major. So I'm pretty much setting myself up for a life of ramen noodles and poverty. However, if my experience has taught me one thing: You can always squeeze more money from your budget than you think possible.

For instance, for the last six months or so I've survived nearly exclusively on pasta. Calorie for dollar, it basically the most nutritious and cheapest choice available. I know that at my walmart you can get a box of store brand pasta for 99 cents and a can of pasta sauce for 50 cents. Together, these are almost 2000 calories- more than enough to 'survive' for a while.

Also, you needn't spend anything on entertainment costs. That's what the library is for! So unless your writing this from a public computer that's ~$30 that you can save each month. If things are really in the dump, you can always ration your water/electricity to cut your utilities cost. Who needs to shower more than twice a week?!? Light for all hours of the day? Bollocks.

I know it really really really sucks to be in this situation, but you have the ability to at least make things better through tough choices.

Best of luck. (Also, if you need any more poor person tips, I was featured on the local news for having stretched a dollar a half mile

Hi Tammy, that's a bugger. 
If the weather allows, and I know you are heading into winter over  there, can you borrow a bicycle?  Even pushing a laden bike is easier than carrying stuff.  Also makes you look really "Green" and cool! Can you get a rebate on any unused car registration and insurance?

For a while I had a diet consisting largely of rice and vegetables with a bit of fish or meat waved over the pot. It's a bit boring, but healthy. If you can get your rice in large  (20 lb or so) bags it is heaps cheaper.  Tip- wash it before you cook it to stop it going gluggy, once the water is clear does the job.

There are lots of parts of veg that get discarded that are actually useful too, like the stems of broccoli. Peel and slice it and you get twice the amount compared to just using the florettes. Same with cauliflower, both are great for bulking out a soup or stirfry .Potatoes done in their jackets are easier than peeling, and have lots of vitamins otherwise lost. My attitude is that if the pioneers and early settlers could cope, I can too.   If it was cold they just put a jumper on to sve lighting the fire, so I do the same.

Hope the job comes through for you though.

Karen.

Quote from: JenJen2011 on October 30, 2011, 02:17:32 PM
It sucks you're still going through a tough time. I hope things get better. Question: Do buses not exist where you live?

No. buses are urban, I'm in a very small rural town.

Quote from: Wavooka on October 31, 2011, 01:29:25 AM
I don't mean to be a drag, but surely there are some expenses that you can cut from your budget at least to make it through the winter?

I'm a homeless, transsexual, college student. Even worse- I'm a history major. So I'm pretty much setting myself up for a life of ramen noodles and poverty. However, if my experience has taught me one thing: You can always squeeze more money from your budget than you think possible.

For instance, for the last six months or so I've survived nearly exclusively on pasta. Calorie for dollar, it basically the most nutritious and cheapest choice available. I know that at my walmart you can get a box of store brand pasta for 99 cents and a can of pasta sauce for 50 cents. Together, these are almost 2000 calories- more than enough to 'survive' for a while.

Also, you needn't spend anything on entertainment costs. That's what the library is for! So unless your writing this from a public computer that's ~$30 that you can save each month. If things are really in the dump, you can always ration your water/electricity to cut your utilities cost. Who needs to shower more than twice a week?!? Light for all hours of the day? Bollocks.

I know it really really really sucks to be in this situation, but you have the ability to at least make things better through tough choices.

Best of luck. (Also, if you need any more poor person tips, I was featured on the local news for having stretched a dollar a half mile

food isn't really an issue, stamps cover that.

Housing is covered all but $6 a month, but the utilities are mine and the lion's share of the expense. Collectively I've not been able to get them under $300 a month (if I were single I could cut them further but I'm somewhat subject to the demands of the family on some points. Everything is at minimum except electricity anyway (that will change as it gets colder and the gas heating kicks up)
It's true that the 'net costs some, but it's bundled with the TV and Phone - the situation I have with my wife is very very tineous - if she loses the phone or the kids lose cable because I'm (in her view) putting transition ahead of them, it will surely be the last straw.

That said, of the three utilities it will surely be the first to fall. when the ax comes down.

We don't spend anything at all on entertainment except, on rare occasions (once every 2-3 months) a DVD from Redbox for $1; We did get some fast foods on our anniversary but again, I was pretty much obliged to not quash that.

No optional purchasing at all, for anything. Household expenses are down to bath tissue, laundry detergent, and such that simply cannot be avoided.

had a tiny bit of good news, potentially quite a bit of good news, today, via learning just how sorry some folks can be.

On Saturday, when I found the car knocking pretty intently when I tried to crank it in the morning, my utter dread of this moment arriving led me to assume the worst. The car would only run for a few seconds and it sounded like mechanical death.

The wife prevailed upon her nephew and brother-in-law (the Brother in law who once had a chance to recommend me for a job and said he would never do anything for "Tammy") to come round and render an opinion.

The listened, and told me they were sure it had thrown a rod. That's death in a car this old. Might as well sell it for salvage they opined.

later that evening one of them sent word that they would go together and give me $250 for it. Just for scrap.



Fast forward to today: I do some digging on-line and find out that the going salvage rate is $14 per 100 pounds and the car is listed at a tad over 3400 which worked out to about $475  - minus whatever it cost me to get it there and adjusted for a few things like taking the battery off and so forth. so much for a fair price from the kin - but wait, it gets better.

A bit later and i'm headed for the supermarket on foot. My neighbor a few doors down happens down the road in his pickup-truck-converted-to-makeshift-wrecker (a real redneck mobile!) which I'd forgotten about him buying and i flagged him down with the intent of asking what he'd charge to pull the dead car to the salvage place (trying to maximize me net return on it).

After a bit of conversation he says he wants to look at the car and of course he does and he tells me a couple of things I already knew but my dread and despair had caused me to forget - cars with a thrown rod can't be cranked and run, however weakly, and usually you can't measure the oil (mostly because it's all somewhere it's not supposed to be, often on the ground).

He's sure there's nothing worse that a timing belt broke on it (still a very expensive repair in the shop, but worth the cost). He's good and his dad is better and after they talked it over they agreed there were about 4 or 5 possibilities, with the timing belt being the most expensive, and said it would have to have computer diagnostic to tell which one. A couple of the options have to do with fuel flow and the car has had problems with that for over a year (another long story)

ANYWAY, the upshot is he can fix it, for considerably less than the shop can, whichever the problem. it will wipe me out to do so, but it's better than losing the car altogether,and getting less for it than it costs to replace it with even the cheapest clunker.

But along the way I learned that dear sweet kin-folk, who YES have enough knowledge to know they were lying to me, and YES know perfectly well how desperate our finances are, were nevertheless willing to beat me out of my last simi-valuable possession in order to make a few hundred dollars profit off my ignorance.

This is the world I live in folks.

I'm sorry to hear about your recent troubles. I can understand how a car is important (Mines 13 or 14 years old), I lived in my car for a year when I was homeless.  Unfortunately, other people will try to rip you off no matter your financial status, what a sad world we live in. Its interesting though that people that you may know but not very well are more honest and nice then people you know.  I've had a lot of people try to rip me off, its probably because I look like the type that would fall for something.  I hope things work out for you .

Have you ever gotten GREAT news and within a day or two gotten AWFUL news that just took that joy away from you?

This week I found out, when the car finally went to the shop, some amazing news. My neighbor finally got around to towing it for a computer diagnostic - which costs $20 - to identify what  repairs were needed. What happened next will blow your mind:

guy sits in the car and hooks up the leads,
guy watches the readout, punches a few buttons or something
guy cranks car

Done.
Total cost of repairs = $20

for a supposedly dead car.

Snoopy dance, right?

So I get home, revel in that for a few hours, and check my mail.

let me back up a sec and tell you that a friend of mine on another board had recommended to me a company where I could work on-line, for GOOD money (at least, really good for me) and it was credible because he had worked for them. so i applied, they sent me links with a 125 page PDF of guidelines, and links to a test - 24 questions which if i passed would lead to another with 150 question which if passed meant being hired.

Well, test-taking is my superpower. I can't remember the last time I failed a test. so I had considerable confidence that i'd get this job. It's true i wouldn't have started getting money for almost 2 months but at least there was a real light at the end of the tunnel.

You see this coming, right?

I checked my mail and....I failed the test. there's no way to find out why, maybe you had to make 95% on the first one or something, but they won't give you feedback and won't let you re-test.

So the light at the  end of the tunnel goes out.

It's sucky - the first legitimate "GOOD NEWS!!" in over a year and i don't get to enjoy the high for even a day.

Quote from: Guantanamera on October 31, 2011, 01:29:25 AM
For instance, for the last six months or so I've survived nearly exclusively on pasta. Calorie for dollar, it basically the most nutritious and cheapest choice available. I know that at my walmart you can get a box of store brand pasta for 99 cents and a can of pasta sauce for 50 cents. Together, these are almost 2000 calories- more than enough to 'survive' for a while.

I don't know what you mean by nutritious but if you really live off of pasta then you're not getting enough protein (with all essential amino acids) or essential fatty acids, and are probably deficient in a whole host of vitamins and minerals and insulin resistant.

Energy is far from the only nutrient. I would recommend doing whatever you can to get a better and more varied diet or it will catch up to you in your future with medical bills you can't pay for.

Tammy,

First off the car is excellent news. I had a similar "transmission" issue that turned out to be a simple $150 repair to a chip type component.

Though not in the same day. On MORE than one occasion I have failed sure thing tests.

About that small rural MS town you live in, your neighbors rock!!!
Though your family members, like some of mine, leave a lot to be desired.

Quote from: pretty on November 04, 2011, 11:34:22 PM
I don't know what you mean by nutritious but if you really live off of pasta then you're not getting enough protein (with all essential amino acids) or essential fatty acids, and are probably deficient in a whole host of vitamins and minerals and insulin resistant.

Energy is far from the only nutrient. I would recommend doing whatever you can to get a better and more varied diet or it will catch up to you in your future with medical bills you can't pay for.

I definitely agree, if I had my choice I would eat exclusively raw/vegan foods. But I'm not necessarily in that position being a college student and all.
For one, even though I work out, I've gained some ~15 pounds in those months. And I can feel that I'm not as sprite as when I was eating better.

For me personally, I would rather have an education and be able to see my therapist than eating better.

I'm certainly not recommending this diet to anyone that has even slightly better options. But as for keeping you full nothing beats pasta.

Quote from: Guantanamera on November 05, 2011, 12:45:10 AM
I definitely agree, if I had my choice I would eat exclusively raw/vegan foods. But I'm not necessarily in that position being a college student and all.
For one, even though I work out, I've gained some ~15 pounds in those months. And I can feel that I'm not as sprite as when I was eating better.

For me personally, I would rather have an education and be able to see my therapist than eating better.

I'm certainly not recommending this diet to anyone that has even slightly better options. But as for keeping you full nothing beats pasta.

You could at least throw in brown rice, beans, olive oil, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, etc... for about the same price and be much healthier.

You gained weight because, like I said, insulin resistance... you're almost definitely developing diabetes too. Have to eat more fat and protein and less carbs.

I don't think you'll be too happy with your history degree when you're an obese diabetic with a failing immune system.

Not that you actually need to spend more money, just need more variety... but geeze what do people think their body is made of? It's not a magic machine you put anything or nothing into and get the same result. Ask anorexics how that works for them, and if they'd like to stop dying 25 years younger than normal people.

totally off topic, but if i could afford it I'd like to try juicing.

Great news about the car.  As for the test, they are totally over the top these days. Son and his friends had to do a multi-page assessment, to stack shelves at the supermarket for crying out loud!

I sometimes worry if I'll ever get paid for anything again.