Do the hustle
On top of everything else that's going on in my life and because there's just a little bit of room left on the plate, I get to deal with this:
Furlough.
I never in my life dreamed that working for the United States Government was not the most secure job in town. But as things stand right now, I'm going to enjoy a lot of long weekends off from July to the end of September. Eleven unpaid days off.
It's about $500 a payday and 90% of that is going to come straight out of the take-home pay. I take home just a little over half of what I earn each week. I have a loan against my retirement account and that payment doesn't stop or change. The cost of my health insurance and life insurance does not change. Because of the bankruptcy, I can't contribute to my 401k plan. So that money comes right out of the take-home and that's going to hurt.
I joked with a friend on Facebook the other day and told him that at the end of this, I was going to send my Congressman and Senators a "What I did on my summer vacation" essay and that it would read: I hustled lawn mowing jobs; I mooched off relatives; and I lost ten pounds because I couldn't afford groceries.
I'm joking of course because I think I'm going to be OK. I trust that God will provide. He has so far! I have to adjust some things and I'm serious about hustling the lawn mowing gigs, which is starting to bear fruit, but past that, I have roommates to share the expenses with. I can cut down on things like the utilities, too. I have a clothes line I installed last year for Miss June, so we can use the power of the sun to dry the laundry. The air conditioners still don't work so there's an expense I don't have. The kid is gonna have to give the car back. I'm going broke driving Chevron, so there's another cut-back. We have a fully-stocked pantry and the garden is growing well.
The downside is that we can't go out looking for second jobs because they don't know for sure when the furlough is going to end. Right now the best guess is eleven days unless Congress does something. My bet is that they will, but then again, I've never seen things as bad as they are now. So we're left to hustle side jobs. Like mowing lawns. Or washing cars.
I never thought about that but we could have car washes to raise money for our families.
This may sound extreme, but it's not just us that are gonna feel the pinch. Money is being taken from, by and large, the biggest and most well-paid group of employees in Northern Utah. These are the folks that buy new cars, new furniture, toys, eat out, etc... and lots and lots of businesses in Northern Utah are going to feel the pinch.
I know for me my plans are to bottle up a lot of the apricots on the tree and enjoy some peanut butter & jam sammies.
Or maybe just some jam sammies. Peanut butter is gettin' pricey.
So, if y'all have some work for me to do starting in mid-July, I'm available.
Furlough.
I never in my life dreamed that working for the United States Government was not the most secure job in town. But as things stand right now, I'm going to enjoy a lot of long weekends off from July to the end of September. Eleven unpaid days off.
It's about $500 a payday and 90% of that is going to come straight out of the take-home pay. I take home just a little over half of what I earn each week. I have a loan against my retirement account and that payment doesn't stop or change. The cost of my health insurance and life insurance does not change. Because of the bankruptcy, I can't contribute to my 401k plan. So that money comes right out of the take-home and that's going to hurt.
I joked with a friend on Facebook the other day and told him that at the end of this, I was going to send my Congressman and Senators a "What I did on my summer vacation" essay and that it would read: I hustled lawn mowing jobs; I mooched off relatives; and I lost ten pounds because I couldn't afford groceries.
I'm joking of course because I think I'm going to be OK. I trust that God will provide. He has so far! I have to adjust some things and I'm serious about hustling the lawn mowing gigs, which is starting to bear fruit, but past that, I have roommates to share the expenses with. I can cut down on things like the utilities, too. I have a clothes line I installed last year for Miss June, so we can use the power of the sun to dry the laundry. The air conditioners still don't work so there's an expense I don't have. The kid is gonna have to give the car back. I'm going broke driving Chevron, so there's another cut-back. We have a fully-stocked pantry and the garden is growing well.
The downside is that we can't go out looking for second jobs because they don't know for sure when the furlough is going to end. Right now the best guess is eleven days unless Congress does something. My bet is that they will, but then again, I've never seen things as bad as they are now. So we're left to hustle side jobs. Like mowing lawns. Or washing cars.
I never thought about that but we could have car washes to raise money for our families.
This may sound extreme, but it's not just us that are gonna feel the pinch. Money is being taken from, by and large, the biggest and most well-paid group of employees in Northern Utah. These are the folks that buy new cars, new furniture, toys, eat out, etc... and lots and lots of businesses in Northern Utah are going to feel the pinch.
I know for me my plans are to bottle up a lot of the apricots on the tree and enjoy some peanut butter & jam sammies.
Or maybe just some jam sammies. Peanut butter is gettin' pricey.
So, if y'all have some work for me to do starting in mid-July, I'm available.
Comments
Post a Comment