According to the federal gov't myself, hubby, and the boys are NOT in poverty. Well, fed gov't, that's good to know! Have you tried raising a family my size on 28000 a year, including overtime, pretax? It's doable, and we have roommates, which drfrays some of the costs, but it's not easy. Some will ask why I am not working. What's the point? If I get a job working outside the house, most, if not all, of the money that I bring in would go for child care. I could work a shift opposite my husband. Yeah, and never get to spend time with him, leave the kids to him, after his long day at work, so I can have a long day at work, come home and try to sleep before we start it all again. I've seen the remains of relationships that have done that. Very few work out in my experience. What we do is this. We budget, we cook in bulk, we shop on sale and buy in bulk if it's feasable, we make as much as we can from scratch as possible. We are cuurently setting money aside for a chest freezer, so that I can make more food ahead and freeze it, and also so that I can start making bread again. With a second freezer, I can make large batches of dough, freeze the excess for up to three months pull it out, thaw and bake as needed. The funny thing is the amount of money people would pay for what I make on the cheap. Homemade bread does not cost much to make, nor mac 'n' cheese, lasagna, and most caserroles that freeze well, yet Hubbies coworkers are amazed by how well we eat, and relay to us what it would cost them to eat the same way, if they bought frozen premade, then relay to us what they would pay for the same food, homemade, and generally organic. I could make a huge profit! Of course, I would be cooking, shopping and cleaning 20hours out of everyday to meet demand.
What I am serriously thinking about doing, however, is sellink my knitting, and eventual quilting. I have recieved many compliments on my work, I enjoy doing it, and if it didn't sell, I ould be assured that my family had blankets, lots of blankets. The only real cost for this would be the materials-which are surprisingly cheap, really, and the tables at craft shows and flea markets, also surprisingly cheap. Tis is not somethingI woud be doing untill after Baby#3 is born, at this point. I will keep working of peices, but I probably won't have enough to sell untill then, being right now most of what I am working on is for my kids. If it works, great! I can work my way up to bigger and better venues, if not I can say I tried. Also, I would like to get a new sewing machine and a serger...maybe x-mas, or tax returns.
Ultimately, if we became well to do, either by hard work, or winning the lotterry, I dont think we'd live a glamorous lifestyle. Ultimately what I want is what I want, no matter how much money I have, and it will be attainable someday. I want to own a house, somethingthat is mine, and I want to have land. The land does not need to with the house, but it would be nice. It needs to be enough land to garden, maybe have fruiting trees, and eventually keep chicken and sheep. I want, someday, to live a very natural lifestyle, on my little farm, with hubby and the kids. Granted, it will have to have internet access, so were not talking "Little House on the Prairie" or anything like that. I don't know, maybe like a new sort of hippie for a new century. Living organic, making our own clothes, living as much off the land as possible, while at the same time, selling product, homegrown organic food, hand-made yarns and blankets, specialty quilts, letting Hubby do the internet game he's designed, but hasn't gotten backing for yet, having a computer for everyone, websites all around. Techno-hippies...yeah...I like that. That would be ideal.
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