Making Money In Hard Times

When times are tough, it's time to think out of the box. I've had a lot of experience with financial creativity over the years, so I thought I'd share a few good ideas from my experience in case any of you might be tired of filling out applications, or just need an additional boost to your income. If traditional job hunting isn't working, a little creativity might.

National unemployment for May, was 9.7%. On the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics site, you can see what the current unemployment rate is in your state. Last month, Nevada was the highest at 14% and North Dakota had only 3.6% unemployed.  Even though Montana is at 7.2% statewide, the county I live in has ranged from 12% to 13.8% in the last few months. Yikes! My husband is employed - sort of. He's self-employed, which means that income is unreliable and we're often struggling to make ends meet. We're getting creative. Here are a few ideas:

IDEA #1 - CLEANING

If you are a fast, efficient and thorough cleaner, cleaning jobs usually pay well. Between myself, my mother, sisters, and nieces, we've had various jobs over the years cleaning for private homes, vacation rental homes, new construction, and business offices. The pay in our valley ranges from about $12 to $25 an hour. I currently have two homes that I clean every few weeks, and am paid $20/hour. It's not a lot of hours each month, but gives me enough spending cash to help out with a little gas or groceries or buy one of the boys a package of socks now and then. I swear, boys seem to go through socks like babies go through diapers!

To find a cleaning job, put an ad in the local paper, put the word out among friends, stop into offices and ask if they have someone to clean for them - and if not, would they like to? If you have a Temporary job service, those kinds of jobs are often listed there. Office cleaning jobs are very often paid at a flat rate, rather than hourly. You need to look at the size of the office, what kinds of cleaning is needed and estimate how long it will take you. If you really aren't sure, see if they would be willing to let you clean once to see how much time you need, before you give them a price. You should be able to make between $20 and $25 an hour, but must be fast a do a thorough job. To be reasonable, prices might be higher or lower in your area. I'd ask at some job services or the Chamber of Commerce to be sure you are getting what your efforts are worth, but not over-charging.

IDEA #2 - RESELLING

My sister told me of a woman in her area who made $60,000 last year (2009) just by selling used golf clubs that she bought at pawn shops and thrift stores. There are a lot of things you can re-sell. This is something you have to have an eye for. You'll need to get a feel for the value of items, how easily they'll sell and what a good price is to pay for them. Many people watch the classifieds and when they spot a great deal, they buy it up, fix it up, and resell it. Whether it's a rocking chair or a car, there are lots of good deals to be had, because people often just want to get rid of something they don't need. Other places to watch are Craig's List, E-bay auctions, and other personal selling sources. Yard sales are also full of treasures. You just have to know what to look for. Check to see if your area has a "Freecycle" group. It's an on-line listing of things that people are willing to give away rather than have to haul it to the local landfill. You can also list things there that you are looking for. Then if someone has the item sitting in their garage or attic, they call you up and it's yours.

IDEA #3 - HAULING
Do you have a pickup? A couple of summers ago, my nephew's friend put an ad in the paper that he had a pickup and would pick up and haul whatever people needed moved. He was busier that summer than a jar of red ants! He hauled construction scraps, furniture, dirt, appliances, plants, garbage - you name it. In a smaller area like I live in (and every other person owns a pickup - this IS Montana!) this wouldn't work so well. But this boy lived in a larger area, where population spreads for miles and miles. Most people in large towns and cities don't have pickup trucks. When people needed things hauled to the dump, he charged enough to pay for his gas, labor and time, and they'd include the landfill fee.  If someone has a landscaping or remodeling project at their home, they often don't have any way to haul the materials. I was told he had more work available than he could do.

IDEA #4 - CONSTRUCTION CLEAN-UP

Construction has slowed down, but it hasn't stopped. If you stop by a construction site when it's first started, your chances of getting work are better. Smaller projects, like homes, often don't have any clean-up planned for yet. It's a different kind of cleaning than what you would do in a home or office that is already in use. Since the walls are painted, light fixtures are hung, and the flooring - except carpet - is completed before the finish carpentry is done, everything is dusted with a  fine sawdust and needs to be wiped down. New carpet needs to be vacuumed. Cupboards and drawers need to be wiped out, mirrors cleaned off, tubs and showers wiped out, etc. It's just a lot of dust and scraps from Sheetrock, wood and putty. If you let them know you are interested, you may get some hours cleaning up construction scraps during the building process also.

IDEA #5 - SELL A HANDMADE ITEM

Do you have a skill or hobby? Why not make money with it! My brother has a friend here in Montana that makes birdhouses. He makes them all shapes and sizes and his wife paints some little flowers on the side. He sold them in the summer at two different Farmer's Markets and made over $90,000 in one summer. During the winter months, he makes more birdhouses. Unique things sell at Farmer's Markets, Flea Markets, and craft fairs. Wind chimes, creative wood craft items, metal work, pottery, etc.

IDEA #6 - OFFICE PLANT CARE

Almost all offices have plants - some silk, some real. Plants get dusty and need a little trimming now and then. If you like working with plants, this is a great job. The investment is minimal. All you need is a couple of different kinds of plant sprays and polishers. There are products for cleaning silk plants, and products for cleaning real plants. You can probably get a little education at a plant nursery of what products to use on what plants. If you know how, you can include trimming and pruning in your service.

IDEA #7 - BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR SKILLS
One summer, when I was about 14, my sister and I put an ad in our local paper. We sat down and made a list of all our skills, and then wrote an ad that went something like this:

Two ambitious, talented, hard-working, teenage girls looking for work. We will milk your cow, paint your fence, cut your hair, bake your bread, tend your animals, watch your house, mow your grass, weed your flowers, wash your car, sew or mend your clothes, tend your kids, water your lawn or just about anything else you need done. Please call Karen or Susan at...

The phone started ringing and the jobs poured in. There was a movie crew in town at the time and they ordered home made bread and hair cuts. My sister was older than me and she could cut hair and can sew like nobody's business. I was the bread baker. We both pretty much did the rest together. We milked cows and goats and took care of farms and houses while people went on vacation.  She got mending and sewing jobs and I babysat. We stayed very busy and made a lot of money that summer.

These are only a few ideas. Take inventory of your skills, interests, and resources, and capitalize on them. With a little creativity, you could bring in some nice extra cash, or maybe even a healthy income. Just think out of the box!

After Rain

I just couldn't resist. It's so many shades of fluorescent green here in June. We've had a lot of rain lately and when it stopped yesterday evening there was an eerie glow about everything. I snapped a few shots in and around the yard. I hope you don't mind this little side trip!

This is a wild Sarvis Berry bush - sometimes called June Berries. They are scattered throughout our woods and I've got a couple at the edge of my yard. The berries are good to eat right off the tree, and make good jam, also. There will be lots of berries this year.  :)

Some garlic chives growing with the flowers.

In Honor of Veterans and Patriots

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
--- Joseph Campbell ---

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
--- John F. Kennedy ---

"...we remember today that all our gentle heroes of Vietnam have given us a lesson in something more: a lesson in living love. Yes, for all of them, those who came back and those who did not, their love for their families lives. Their love for their buddies on the battlefields and friends back home lives. Their love of their country lives."
--- Ronald Regan ---

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
--- Thomas Payne ---

"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.
--- John Quincy Adams ---

"A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society?....The Scriptures tell us "righteousness exalteth a Nation."
--- Abigail Adams ---

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."
--- Daniel Webster ---

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them.
--- George Washington ---

"The said constitution shall never be construed to authorize congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
--- Samuel Adams ---

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
--- Patrick Henry ---

Cooking - Tips and Substitutions

Have you ever gotten half-way through making a recipe, only to open the fridge to get an egg and discover that there are none? Ever needed some buttermilk and didn't have any? Or over-salted a pot of soup and are afraid you'll have to dump it out? Believe it or not, there are solutions to those problems! I love solutions. :-)  They can help you save time and money, save you in a crisis, and maybe relive a little stress. Here's a few tips and resources I keep on hand...

Egg Substitute - (for use in baking) Combine 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin with 3 Tbl of cold water and then another 2 Tbl plus 1 tsp of boiling water. This will take the place of one egg in recipes for cookies, cakes, etc.

Meat Substitutes and Extenders - You can use cooked wheat, cracked or whole, in spaghetti sauces, pizza, Sloppy Joes, soups, etc. You can also add it to your ground beef for meat loaf, taco filling or hamburger patties when you don't have quite enough. Whole grain wheat berries are about 15% protein, on the average. Wheat germ can also be added to recipes, and contains about 23% protein. Millet is another grain that is high in protein, like wheat, and can be used as a substitute or extender with meat recipes.We like cooked millet with milk and honey for a hot breakfast cereal.

Boiled Eggs - To keep the shells from cracking while boiling, add a dash of salt to the water before you start.

Tupperware Stains - Spray your Tupperware or other plastic containers with cooking oil before you put tomato sauces in them and they won't stain.

Over-Salted Soup - If you give your pot of soup the taste-test and find it's way over-salted, peel a potato and drop it in the soup raw. It will absorb salt into itself. Leave it in until you're left with just the right amount of flavor.

Stained Fingers - Speaking of potatoes - I'm told that rubbing a slice of raw potato on your fingers will usually take stains off them.

Sprouting Potatoes - When you have a large amount of potatoes in the cupboard that you know might start to sprout before you get them all eaten, put an apple in the bag with them. It will keep them from sprouting.

Buttermilk - Buttermilk isn't something I use very often, so every now and then when I get a hankerin' to make buttermilk pancakes or something, I don't usually have any. Well, I discovered you can make your own. 1 Tbl of vinegar or lemon juice added to enough milk to make 1 cup, let it stand for 5 minutes, and whalaa! You have buttermilk.

Powdered Sugar/Confectioners Sugar - Put 1 cup of sugar in the blender and blend it up. Commercial products usually have corn starch added. If you want to more closely imitate that taste and consistency, add 1 Tbl of corn starch to the sugar when blending.

"Dusting" the Cake Pan - I never liked that look of gooey white flour on the sides of my cake or brownies. That's easily remedied by dusting the cake pan with a little bit of the dry cake mix instead. Or, if you're making a chocolate cake or brownies, you can dust the pan with some cocoa powder.

Measuring Sticky Stuff - Run your measuring spoons or cups under hot water before measuring molasses, honey or syrups, and the sticky stuff will all come off clean. Or, coat them with oil first.

Separating Eggs - If you have trouble separating eggs, use a small funnel. Crack the egg into it - the white will run through and the yolk will stay in the funnel.

Maple Syrup - I don't buy imitation maple syrup because it's basically High Fructose Corn Syrup with flavoring. HFCS is REALLY not good for you. Real maple syrup is extremely expensive. When I can't spare the money to buy it, I buy Mapleine at the grocery store. It's a natural maple extract mixed with some of the usual not-so-natural things. The little 2 oz. bottle will make 24 pints of syrup and costs about $4. You make the syrup with boiling water, sugar, and the Mapleine. I wouldn't call it a healthy "food" but this is one of those times when I'm happy to use good ole' regular sugar, because it's much preferable to the alternative. It has a real good maple flavor, is very inexpensive to buy, and is a great storage item.(Hint - make small batches that will get used right away. It tends to "sugar" on the bottom of the jar as it sits in the fridge.)

Some of these tips I've used, and some I haven't yet. They're all taken from various sources of information I keep on hand for food storage, cooking and other things. One of my favorite sources is a book my mother gave me a couple years ago, called Jumbo Jack's Helpful Hints Almanac. It's only $4.99 on Amazon, and worth every penny! I hope some of these ideas can make your life a little easier.

In Repair

Hi! I haven't skipped the country! I have just been unable to upload photos to my post. Hmmm... Working on it with blogger. It sounds like I'm not the only one having this problem. Hopefully, we'll be back up and running soon! And I hope you are all having a great week!

A Weekend In Spokane

We took a little break, partly for my son's birthday, and spent the weekend in Spokane, Washington. This is kind of a random post, but I thought I'd share a few photos of what we saw.

Spokane is the site of the EXPO '74' World's Fair, next to Gonzaga University. They've turned the fair site into a nice park and entertainment area, called Riverfront Park. There are carnival rides, a carousel, miniature golf, an IMAX theater, a Sky Ride tram that takes you in front of the falls, and lots of nice grass and pathways. The dome-shaped structure behind the ferris wheel above, is the framework left from the U.S. pavillion. To the right, the Carillon tower bells ring out a melody every hour.

Some of the architecture caught my eye.

The Sky Ride tram takes you in front of the waterfall.

Then we joined in the race around the park.

The local residents were very diverse:

The IMAX Theater had been a part of the U.S. Pavillion also. At the EXPO, it showed a film called "Man belongs to the earth", which showed beautiful scenes of our country, followed by demonstrations of the growing pollution problem. Now, it plays a 45 minute film that documents the story of the Hubble Space Telescope, and shows us some of what the Hubble has seen. It was pretty spectacular.

The trees around the park were just starting to bud, and I noticed these tulips hiding in the grass.





Not far from home, we spotted this mother black bear and her two little cubs. She kept her path as much behind the cover of bushes and trees as she could, so I was lucky to get a shot in a small clearing.
 

It was a nice weekend break. Now back to business!

What's A Nauga Farm?

My Google email is naugafarm@gmail.com. (You're welcome to email me.) I've had many people ask me where I came up with that, or what is a Nauga farm? I think the story is worth sharing in case anyone is needing a chuckle today.

Many years ago, when I was in college in Idaho, I had an interesting conversation with a California girl. She was very nice. Now, in spite of the fact that she was blond, from California, and used phrases like "gag me with a fork", I do not have any prejudice against anyone who fits any of those descriptions! As we visited, she asked me where I was from. I told her "Montana".

She said "Wow! Really? Then you're Canadian, huh?" She seemed pretty excited at the prospect of meeting a real live foreigner. I said "no" and explained where Montana was, and that it was next to Canada, so she wouldn't feel like she was too far off. She asked if we had electricity, had to ride horses to get around, and a few other things like that. I answered all her questions until her curiosity was satisfied. She just kind of looked at me, like she was processing the whole thing, and then said "Well... what do you guys DO there? I mean like, what does your dad do for a living?"

I couldn't resist. I said "He raises Naugas."

She asked "What's a Nauga?"

I said "Do you know what Naugahyde is?"

"Oh ya! That leather stuff they cover chairs and things with!"

"Exactly! Well, he raises Naugas and sells their hides."

She was satisfied, and that was the end of the conversation.

(The photo of the "nauga" above, is a Google image."

Not-So-Wild Turkeys

There's a large flock of wild turkeys in our part of the woods, but you wouldn't know they were wild. The neighbors have turkeys of their own, and the two flocks have become good acquaintances. Mainly because she throws feed out for her turkeys, chickens and peacocks, and the wild turkeys come and help themselves.

It's fun to watch them in the Spring when they gather in our yard, pecking for tidbits in the grass. The males strut around like they're really something, and the females don't give them the slightest satisfaction of noticing them. It's hard to get very close, but here are a few shots I took recently of our emergency food storage - Uh, I mean wild turkeys! It's only through-the-window quality, but I hope you enjoy them.

 

 It's interesting how their heads turn blue and their "snood" comes out to hang over their beaks. Yes, that is it's official name!

 

 

  The feathers are absolutely beautiful in the sun!