When You Can't Cut Back

I think I'd be good at telling others how to spend their money.  Some of you will be glad to tell me where I can cut back.  As I see it, I've cut to the bare bones.  Instead of telling me what to cut out first tell your designer friends to help me increase my income by purchasing stock photography and footage at. Pond5.  I mean needed stock, look there first.  I pray daily for inspiration for needed subjects to shoot.  I also pray for willing and able buyers to see my work.  My portfolio is increasing and sales are inconsistent.

Here are our cut backs.  My house payment and utilities are much less than when we lived in the apartment.  I have a cell phone that only talks, Andrea doesn't have one.  Andrea does the yard work.  We don't have satellite or cable, Netflix, or Hulu Plus.  We don't smoke or drink.  I drink Big K cola and buy whatever is on sale at the grocery store.  The house is hot because I don't turn on the air conditioner until at least June first.  We don't wear designer clothes and shoes.  We don't get Mannies and Petties. 

You may think these are splurges.  I give Andrea and allowance so she can learn to manage money.  She bought her prom dress out of her allowance by making payments.  She says she'll wear it again next year.  If she does, she will have learned a valuable lesson.  I don't have the slowest internet because of online school, uploading to stock agencies and watching free stuff on Hulu and YouTube.  I only buy Bounty paper towels and Scot Toilet paper.  I've found those worth the extra cost.  I have a monthly Smugmug account to safely share a few pictures and have off site storage.  We have two dogs.  Sparkles has been with us since 2004.  Brody is our outdoor watch dog.  We have woods behind out house and he provides peace of mind.     

You may say, "Stop whining and get another  job."  I can't read the unfamiliar scripts for LiveOps anymore.  I'll refer you to the quote in a previous post called Out of the Mouths of....Everybody under Man at Sheltered workshop. in Salt Lake City.  To add to all that my eyes are much worse now and it shows.  How many of you have heard back from applications you made online?  To find anything now I either have to take para-transit of take Andrea with me; an extra expense either way.  My right foot won't allow me to walk great distances on a daily basis or stand for long periods of time.  I've applied for photography gigs on Craigslist.  I always send a link to my Pond5 portfolio and the the first Blind as Eye Look blog post.  I don't want them to get a surprise after I show up.  So far nothing, not even a thanks but no thanks return email. 

Andrea and I get survivor's benefits and I also get disability.  Andrea gets reduced health insurance through the state and I get mine through Grady Memorial Hospital.  We don't qualify for heating assistance, straight Medicaid or food stamps.  Medicare premiums are too high.  The income I made from LiveOps made me inelegible for Grady's prescriptions.  I used a Canadian pharmacy all last year.  LiveOPs working vs no prescription coverage, I'll choose LiveOps, if I could.

I have a lot of credit card debt from moving to Georgia expenses; appliances, lawn mower, and weed eater  for this house, and failed ventures such as My Wife's Closet and Kalani's Kandles.  Once I pay the bills, juggling some, and buy food we're broke again.  Some months I don't even put twenty dollars into savings.  I shutter to think how I'd manage if there was an emergency.

Andrea is looking for work too.  I hope she finds something soon.  When she goes to college  in a couple years FASFA can forget about the parental contribution.

I have friends with full time jobs struggling the same way I am.  I know people with no visible means of extra money taking vacations.  Are the people with money to spend once the bills are paid making that much more or are they up to their eyeballs in debt?

Basic living expenses keep going up.  For the last three months I have paid more each month for the same basket of basic food.  The therm rate on natural gas went up when I renewed my contract.  Para-transit fare went up a few months ago.  Andrea's health insurance rates doubled this month.  I'm turning into a bitter person.  WalMart was collecting for some charity another to help orphans; I told them no thank you.  First, I don't have any extra money to give.  I don't know what percentage goes for good and what percentage goes toward administration.  Too much on the new about people using contributions for personal use.  Not to mention we qualify for very little while others are raking it in.

So, I beg you, please tell people you know who need stock photos and footage to visit my online portfolios.  I should mention Shutterstock and Fotolia as well.  Shutterstock and Fotolia pay when you reach their minumum threshold and request payment.  Pond5 pays automatically on the fifteenth of the month after you've reached their minimum threshold.the previous month. 

I'll keep you posted.