Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Should You Really Have a Party When You're Broke?....Yeah, Duh!
There are a lot of things in life to skimp on. There are things you can really live without. My favorite example is one that Suze Orman said long ago: Women, you don't need to buy candles unless your power's out. I'm paraphrasing and she gets on my LAST nerve, but she has a point. We do buy a lot of crap. I know I do. Then I wonder why I'm broke. I've got a better handle on things now but I still end up in the stationary aisle of whatever store looking at journals and pretty paper that I'll never use. Why? Cause it's not 1933 anymore and we don't have to have paper and pen to share an idea.
I say this to say, while we could skip the stationary aisle, there are some things that I refuse to refuse. One of them is hosting parties. I LOVE having people over and I LOVE cooking for them. We don't have to be doing anything more than having a Breaking Bad marathon. Food and friends just go together so perfectly. But what do you do when you're down to pennies in your account? I want to share a recipe that I use to feed an army for pennies. Now this isn't a big pot of pasta. That's boring, fattening and everyone will know you're flat broke. No, this one will make everyone think you're flush and fancy. Check it out:
Mini Reubens and Mom's fries
1 point cut corned beef (Aldi always has it) Most expensive item in the recipe. Don't pay more than $15 MAX more like $10
1 loaf no name bakery rye bread. Can usually get this at a local store, not a chain $2
1 can of sauerkraut $1
1 bottle Thousand Island dressing Get the generic small bottle $1-2
1 5lb bag of potatoes russet or new $2
1 stick of butter (Another thing you should never skimp on)
1 lbs package of swiss cheese Try to get slices but if you have to go with shredded for the cost savings it won't matter much
Reubens
In a large dutch oven, place the corned beef and enough water to just cover the meat. Place on the back burner of your stove and turn the heat on high to bring to a boil, then very low and let simmer.
While the meat is simmering, start your next step which is the bread. Take out your griddle and place it on the stove or if you have an electric griddle, plug it in and start the heat high for now. Open your bread bag and take out each slice and lightly butter both sides. Set them on a plate until your griddle is hot. Once the griddle is hot, turn the heat down to medium and toast each slice of rye bread. Once one side is toasted, turn and do the other side. Depending on the size of your grill, you can do two or more slices at a time. You want a nice golden color to your bread. Once they're done, set them on a plate and start the next batch. Do the entire loaf. For a good size loaf you should at least get twelve slices of bread.
Next step, open your can of sauerkraut and drain it very well. Use a sifter or colander and try to get as much water out of it as you can. If not the bread gets very wet and it's kind of gross. Once drained, set the sauerkraut on a plate or bowl and set aside.
Get your cheese and Thousand Island dressing ready. You want to start a little assembly line: toasted rye, Thousand Island, cheese, sauerkraut and finally corned beef.
Your corned beef should be fully heated through by now. Take the meat out and place it on your cutting board. Cover it with tin foil and let it rest while you get your assembly line ready. After about 5 mins, begin slicing the meat, against the grain to get nice long, thin slices. Place the slices on a plate and start assembling.
First take a slice of bread, spread a light layer of Thousand Island, then a slice of cheese, place the meat and then the sauerkraut on another slice you should have at least six slices each of matching, meat & sauerkraut and thousand and cheese. Match the two sides together. The sandwiches are then cut into 4s. Once lengthwise and then width-wise. Place the mini Reubens on a nice platter. For presentation, you can dress the platter with lettuce leaves and maybe a few grape tomatoes or whatever you have on hand.
Mom's Fries
Hopefully by now you're saving your bacon grease. If you're not, you can use vegetable oil but it's really not the same in this recipe but you can certainly make it work.
In a large skillet, it's important it's in a skillet not a deep fryer, heat about 2 cups of oil, preferably bacon fat. While the oil is heating, peel all the potatoes in your 5lb bag. You don't have to get religious about it, but peel as much of the peel as you can. Slice the potatoes lengthwise into steak fries size portions. Once the potatoes are cut, check your oil and turn down the heat to about medium. Add the fries a bit at a time. Russets take longer than new potatoes but you can expect to leave them in the oil for 5-8 minutes. To test if they're done, take a fork and pierce them while they're in the oil. If they are falling apart, good. If your fork meets some resistance, give them a bit more heat. Cook all the potatoes the same way, a bit at a time. Don't overload your skillet trying to get them done, they take way too long and because they're all different sizes, some will be done and others will be raw so take your time.
The Reubens don't have to be hot, in fact they're better at room temperature. The hot beef should melt the cheese just enough, but if for some reason you feel like it needs more heat. Put the minis in an oven safe pan and turn the oven on WARM. Don't turn the heat up too high or you'll have a mess and the meat will dry out. This should keep them nice and warm while you're doing mom's fries and then serve and party on.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Saving Money on Home Improvement
When I moved into my house, as you can imagine, I needed so many things. The roof needed repair, which clearly was job one. The carpeting needed replacing. The flooring in the kitchen needed to be done and the whole interior needed painting. The previous owners apparently thought navy blue was the "it" color, I suppose.
These are huge ticket jobs and can easily break the bank and for me, very nearly did just that. It inspired me to write today because there are so many of us out there in similar situations. I thought I'd share how I got it all done and perhaps you'll find the story helpful.
Now before I begin, I want to say that these ideas are not going to be popular with everyone. There are those that are going to disagree with the steps taken and I want to say at the outset that I understand. The way I do things may not always be the safest or most prudent or even the smartest. When I need to get stuff done, I go into a survivor mode of thinking. What's the least expensive way to get what I need. So, with that said, if you find these ideas helpful, great, if you don't, I understand.
The ROOF
Getting the roof done on the house was a fluke really. I needed help with installing a new TV antenna. I placed an ad on Craiglist. I can hear you out there screaming "NUTS". I'm the type of person that believes 99.9% of people are decent. I realize that's not necessarily true but strangely when you believe that people are good, they tend to be good. I always insist on local help in my ads. I believe in neighbors helping neighbors and that's a really good way to get to know your neighbors. A man answered my ad who lived just down the road from me. He mentioned he was a roofing contractor and because of the time of year and the economy, he was having a rough time making ends meet. LIGHTBULB! Hey, I need my roof done! So does my best friend who lives about 10 mins away. What price would you give me if I gave you both jobs? Well it ended up costing me $1500 with materials. That's a steal. Re-thinking the CL now aren't you?
Painting
The painting job was particularly painful. I mean, seriously, navy blue? Ugh. I went to Home Depot and got paint. Now I highly recommend you look for the OOPS paint. If you don't know what that is, it's when they mix a paint and the customer decides they don't like it. The discounts are significant. If you're like me and don't care much what color as long as it's not obnoxious (like navy blue) this it the way to go. Walmart also has a lot of Oops paint and very cheap. Like pennies per gallon cheap. Of course, again you're taking chances. You need to be sure you have enough paint or can at least get more if you need it.
I got two big 5 gallon buckets of a kind of cream and I needed every bit of it. Trying to cover that dark paint was brutal. My neighbor at the time, Juan, offered to do the painting for me. He lived right next door so I was all for it. I don't particularly mind doing the work myself, but I have arthritis and really can't paint very long. Well, Juan turned out to be a flake, a huge flake. He would call me and tell me that he was going to work on it that day, then never show. He did tape one room and started the painting but that was it. This is the kind of stuff that happens when you try to do things on the cheap so you just have to try to work through it and expect it or at least try not to be surprised if it happens.
I attempted to do the work myself. It wasn't working out so again I turned to the dreaded Craigslist. I put an ad up and got some kids from the HOOD. Yeah, they were not the types you would invite over for dinner necessarily. But once again this is where you can't make arbitrary judgments about people. These kids turned out to be very decent. They were trying to start their own business and I truly respect that so I was more than happy to help them and actually tried to give them more work. They, like young kids tend to do, decided that maybe that wasn't the business for them. They didn't do the greatest job, but they got rid of the blue as much as humanly possible and despite them wanting to listen to that ghastly rap music while they did it, we had a really good time. We ate pizza, got rid of the heinous blue walls in 4 rooms and the hallway, $200 and done.
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Carpeting/Flooring
I would ask you to pay particular attention to my story of the carpeting and flooring in my house. This was something I should have taken care of before I moved in and didn't. It was a huge mistake and I share it with you because I suspect I'm not the only one to make it.
When I bought the house, it was clear it needed new flooring. The problem was, with all the expense, I could hardly afford it. The kitchen was my main concern. It had that awful sheet vinyl and it was peeling terribly. The carpet was intact but filthy. I elected to go to a home improvement store for the kitchen flooring and get the carpets professionally cleaned.
Well, with my arthritis, I did a pretty crappy job on the kitchen, but good enough. The carpet cleaners, great people, did the carpet throughout the house plus the vents for $100. Great deal. Jackie's Carpet cleaning if you're in the neighborhood. When they came, the company owner came to work on them as well. He told me that I was going to have to replace the carpet soon. I think he was being nice. For that entire year, I was constantly ill with sinus infections and coughing all the time. Sometimes there would be traces of blood in my cough. Nothing life threatening, but certainly alarming. There wasn't necessarily a smell or something to alert you to a specific problem. I was just constantly sick. The reason for it?,,,,,THE CARPETING. I didn't know it until I finally got the work done.
The search for flooring contractors was terrible. I tried the big companies, this is a total waste of time folks. 1000 sq ft house and the prices they quoted would have run me $5000 dollars. There may be some people reading this thinking that would be about right. Many of the quotes I got were about that amount. It was not possible on my budget.
Some tips when shopping for contractors (any contractors):
1) Get as many quotes as humanly possible. Most companies are hungry for work, take advantage of that.
2) Get small local companies that don't advertise. Google the type of contractor you need and skip the google ads go for the "yellow-pages" type listings. These are the companies with the best pricing.
3) Craigslist has a lot of small business listings, but they're not always cheap. Check it out because you want as many quotes as possible but don't make the CL your "go-to".
4) Wherever possible go with neighborhood businesses. This keeps your money local and usually works to your advantage budget-wise.
5) MOST IMPORTANT - get the work done out of season. I got my carpets in January after the holidays. Typical dead-time for flooring contractors. Determine their busy season based on the work the contractor does and plan for they're slow season. You'll get much better pricing.
I found my contractors on Craigslist. I did have another guy who I wanted to do the work but, once again, he never showed. So I went with my number two, great folks, good products, not much of an online presence and not the most professional of workers. There was some damage to a wall and they broke a mirror. However, I have to say, I'm in love with my floors. They worked their butts off. Moving the furniture, working with my dogs always underfoot and the most dreadful of jobs ever, pulling up the old carpeting.
I never knew how many sins a carpet could hold until we pulled up the old carpet. I literally gag when I think of it. The carpet in the living room was so rancid when we pulled it up. You couldn't smell it when it was down but WOW when it was pulled up. Horrible. I can't believe I walked on it. I won't get too descriptive but just imagine a cat's litterbox. Say no more?
Needless-to-say, this was the reason for my year-long illness. Once it was corrected, no more coughing, no more infections, no more illness. Even the people at work noticed it. I told them it was the carpet and they were shocked. Folks, if you're living like this, please get it fixed immediately.
Now I'll tell you what I paid. 4 rooms plus hallway, plus new vinyl for the kitchen, $2482.13. Cut it in half folks, it can be done.
I really hope this information is helpful to you. Remember where there's a will there's a way and don't wait when your health is involved. My best friend kept suggesting that I wait on the carpets to hang on to my money but honestly I'm so glad I finally did it. He had the best of intentions and he's usually right. I sometimes get ideas in my head and keep pursuing it until I get it. That can be an admirable quality if directed appropriately but I tend to spend money when I should probably just wait a bit. There's always a balance to be achieved when living on limited means.
These are huge ticket jobs and can easily break the bank and for me, very nearly did just that. It inspired me to write today because there are so many of us out there in similar situations. I thought I'd share how I got it all done and perhaps you'll find the story helpful.
Now before I begin, I want to say that these ideas are not going to be popular with everyone. There are those that are going to disagree with the steps taken and I want to say at the outset that I understand. The way I do things may not always be the safest or most prudent or even the smartest. When I need to get stuff done, I go into a survivor mode of thinking. What's the least expensive way to get what I need. So, with that said, if you find these ideas helpful, great, if you don't, I understand.
The ROOF
Getting the roof done on the house was a fluke really. I needed help with installing a new TV antenna. I placed an ad on Craiglist. I can hear you out there screaming "NUTS". I'm the type of person that believes 99.9% of people are decent. I realize that's not necessarily true but strangely when you believe that people are good, they tend to be good. I always insist on local help in my ads. I believe in neighbors helping neighbors and that's a really good way to get to know your neighbors. A man answered my ad who lived just down the road from me. He mentioned he was a roofing contractor and because of the time of year and the economy, he was having a rough time making ends meet. LIGHTBULB! Hey, I need my roof done! So does my best friend who lives about 10 mins away. What price would you give me if I gave you both jobs? Well it ended up costing me $1500 with materials. That's a steal. Re-thinking the CL now aren't you?
Painting
The painting job was particularly painful. I mean, seriously, navy blue? Ugh. I went to Home Depot and got paint. Now I highly recommend you look for the OOPS paint. If you don't know what that is, it's when they mix a paint and the customer decides they don't like it. The discounts are significant. If you're like me and don't care much what color as long as it's not obnoxious (like navy blue) this it the way to go. Walmart also has a lot of Oops paint and very cheap. Like pennies per gallon cheap. Of course, again you're taking chances. You need to be sure you have enough paint or can at least get more if you need it.
I got two big 5 gallon buckets of a kind of cream and I needed every bit of it. Trying to cover that dark paint was brutal. My neighbor at the time, Juan, offered to do the painting for me. He lived right next door so I was all for it. I don't particularly mind doing the work myself, but I have arthritis and really can't paint very long. Well, Juan turned out to be a flake, a huge flake. He would call me and tell me that he was going to work on it that day, then never show. He did tape one room and started the painting but that was it. This is the kind of stuff that happens when you try to do things on the cheap so you just have to try to work through it and expect it or at least try not to be surprised if it happens.
I attempted to do the work myself. It wasn't working out so again I turned to the dreaded Craigslist. I put an ad up and got some kids from the HOOD. Yeah, they were not the types you would invite over for dinner necessarily. But once again this is where you can't make arbitrary judgments about people. These kids turned out to be very decent. They were trying to start their own business and I truly respect that so I was more than happy to help them and actually tried to give them more work. They, like young kids tend to do, decided that maybe that wasn't the business for them. They didn't do the greatest job, but they got rid of the blue as much as humanly possible and despite them wanting to listen to that ghastly rap music while they did it, we had a really good time. We ate pizza, got rid of the heinous blue walls in 4 rooms and the hallway, $200 and done.
Carpeting/Flooring
I would ask you to pay particular attention to my story of the carpeting and flooring in my house. This was something I should have taken care of before I moved in and didn't. It was a huge mistake and I share it with you because I suspect I'm not the only one to make it.
When I bought the house, it was clear it needed new flooring. The problem was, with all the expense, I could hardly afford it. The kitchen was my main concern. It had that awful sheet vinyl and it was peeling terribly. The carpet was intact but filthy. I elected to go to a home improvement store for the kitchen flooring and get the carpets professionally cleaned.
Well, with my arthritis, I did a pretty crappy job on the kitchen, but good enough. The carpet cleaners, great people, did the carpet throughout the house plus the vents for $100. Great deal. Jackie's Carpet cleaning if you're in the neighborhood. When they came, the company owner came to work on them as well. He told me that I was going to have to replace the carpet soon. I think he was being nice. For that entire year, I was constantly ill with sinus infections and coughing all the time. Sometimes there would be traces of blood in my cough. Nothing life threatening, but certainly alarming. There wasn't necessarily a smell or something to alert you to a specific problem. I was just constantly sick. The reason for it?,,,,,THE CARPETING. I didn't know it until I finally got the work done.
The search for flooring contractors was terrible. I tried the big companies, this is a total waste of time folks. 1000 sq ft house and the prices they quoted would have run me $5000 dollars. There may be some people reading this thinking that would be about right. Many of the quotes I got were about that amount. It was not possible on my budget.
Some tips when shopping for contractors (any contractors):
1) Get as many quotes as humanly possible. Most companies are hungry for work, take advantage of that.
2) Get small local companies that don't advertise. Google the type of contractor you need and skip the google ads go for the "yellow-pages" type listings. These are the companies with the best pricing.
3) Craigslist has a lot of small business listings, but they're not always cheap. Check it out because you want as many quotes as possible but don't make the CL your "go-to".
4) Wherever possible go with neighborhood businesses. This keeps your money local and usually works to your advantage budget-wise.
5) MOST IMPORTANT - get the work done out of season. I got my carpets in January after the holidays. Typical dead-time for flooring contractors. Determine their busy season based on the work the contractor does and plan for they're slow season. You'll get much better pricing.
I found my contractors on Craigslist. I did have another guy who I wanted to do the work but, once again, he never showed. So I went with my number two, great folks, good products, not much of an online presence and not the most professional of workers. There was some damage to a wall and they broke a mirror. However, I have to say, I'm in love with my floors. They worked their butts off. Moving the furniture, working with my dogs always underfoot and the most dreadful of jobs ever, pulling up the old carpeting.
I never knew how many sins a carpet could hold until we pulled up the old carpet. I literally gag when I think of it. The carpet in the living room was so rancid when we pulled it up. You couldn't smell it when it was down but WOW when it was pulled up. Horrible. I can't believe I walked on it. I won't get too descriptive but just imagine a cat's litterbox. Say no more?
Needless-to-say, this was the reason for my year-long illness. Once it was corrected, no more coughing, no more infections, no more illness. Even the people at work noticed it. I told them it was the carpet and they were shocked. Folks, if you're living like this, please get it fixed immediately.
Now I'll tell you what I paid. 4 rooms plus hallway, plus new vinyl for the kitchen, $2482.13. Cut it in half folks, it can be done.
I really hope this information is helpful to you. Remember where there's a will there's a way and don't wait when your health is involved. My best friend kept suggesting that I wait on the carpets to hang on to my money but honestly I'm so glad I finally did it. He had the best of intentions and he's usually right. I sometimes get ideas in my head and keep pursuing it until I get it. That can be an admirable quality if directed appropriately but I tend to spend money when I should probably just wait a bit. There's always a balance to be achieved when living on limited means.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Easy Way to Save Money
The biggest issue I have is "rewarding" myself for working so hard. Let me backtrack a bit. I work two jobs. The first job is in an office and the second is driving for Uber (which if you're interested in, get in touch we should chat). I'm up at 4 am because I carpool to the first job and we meet at 6 and I start work at 7. I usually don't get home until 5pm then it's off to drive for Uber. This doesn't cover my writing time and the various other projects I have going at any one time, but suffice it to say, I work pretty hard. I don't mind....much, but I'm awfully tired so there are little things that I do to reward myself for being such a hard worker, that end up actually sabotaging me when it comes to saving money.
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Chief among these "rewards" is take out food. It's just $6-10 max, so what's the big deal right? I mean there is nothing worse than having to come home, tired and hungry and have to cook dinner. That's what goes through my mind. I think, "You know, I work damn hard and I should at least be able to afford a couple of tacos." In theory, this is sound, but in practice not-so-much. That once a week (which never ends up being once a week) expenditure adds up quickly. My weight adds up even quicker. I have a rationalization for that too, of course. I say it's okay because I'm walking the two miles to the Chinese take-out. Right.
I just did some dollar-cost averaging and discovered that my broiled chicken breast with green beans and spinach costs about $3.00. $3 compared to $10. And actually that's one of the more expensive dinners I make. Well, it seems as though there may be something to this saving money thing.
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I also discovered that if I wait to eat, I'm a lot less hungry than I thought. I discovered this when I was running particularly late one evening. I was so ravenous at about 5:30-6:00 pm but I had no time to deal with it because I was running late and had to walk my beloved dogs. Once I took the walk, by the time I got home, I was fine, not really hungry at all. So I wonder, is this dinner thing overrated? I do love dinner, but really do we really need dinner? It's more the pleasure meal, isn't it? I mean if meals are supposed to be ways to supply you with energy to get your daily tasks done. What tasks do you need energy for after dinner? Watching TV? Going to bed? I don't want to do away with dinner but it really gave me something to think about.
So armed with this, I'm really looking at my habits. I still want my taco dinner from Carnitas. I mean you want to talk about good tacos, they are out of this world. But when I think about the $10 it costs me, I have to think a bit more about just how much I want them. Yeah, I want them pretty bad. Still, perhaps I can think like an adult and make the right choice and save a bit of money and calories.
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Chief among these "rewards" is take out food. It's just $6-10 max, so what's the big deal right? I mean there is nothing worse than having to come home, tired and hungry and have to cook dinner. That's what goes through my mind. I think, "You know, I work damn hard and I should at least be able to afford a couple of tacos." In theory, this is sound, but in practice not-so-much. That once a week (which never ends up being once a week) expenditure adds up quickly. My weight adds up even quicker. I have a rationalization for that too, of course. I say it's okay because I'm walking the two miles to the Chinese take-out. Right.
I just did some dollar-cost averaging and discovered that my broiled chicken breast with green beans and spinach costs about $3.00. $3 compared to $10. And actually that's one of the more expensive dinners I make. Well, it seems as though there may be something to this saving money thing.
I also discovered that if I wait to eat, I'm a lot less hungry than I thought. I discovered this when I was running particularly late one evening. I was so ravenous at about 5:30-6:00 pm but I had no time to deal with it because I was running late and had to walk my beloved dogs. Once I took the walk, by the time I got home, I was fine, not really hungry at all. So I wonder, is this dinner thing overrated? I do love dinner, but really do we really need dinner? It's more the pleasure meal, isn't it? I mean if meals are supposed to be ways to supply you with energy to get your daily tasks done. What tasks do you need energy for after dinner? Watching TV? Going to bed? I don't want to do away with dinner but it really gave me something to think about.
So armed with this, I'm really looking at my habits. I still want my taco dinner from Carnitas. I mean you want to talk about good tacos, they are out of this world. But when I think about the $10 it costs me, I have to think a bit more about just how much I want them. Yeah, I want them pretty bad. Still, perhaps I can think like an adult and make the right choice and save a bit of money and calories.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Nepal Earthquake Apathy?
The larger purpose of my books and articles are to help people. A portion of the sales proceeds of my books go to families in need. Not an organization but individual families that have a story or perhaps don't have a story but I hear about them and just send them a check. No fanfare just a chance to exhale for a moment. These aren't big money checks by ANY means but if it means you can treat yourself to a manicure or dinner out, then I feel successful.
On the news, for the past few days, has been the earthquake tragedy in Nepal. Over the past few years Nepal has suffered a great deal. The Sherpas are woefully underpaid for the amazing task they perform protecting the lives of climbers who can be untrained or have unreasonable demands. A Western guide can make $50K per climbing season while the most a Sherpa can hope for is about $5K. Then there was the tragedy last year with the avalanche that killed sixteen guides. Now this horrible earthquake claims more lives.
Given my mission and this story, you'd think I would donate book proceeds to the relief effort. It's not typically what I do, typically I try to find individuals or families to donate to, but when there is a larger tragedy like this, I do tend to donate the proceeds for that month to the relief efforts. I am ashamed to admit it, but this time it really didn't occur to me. I can't say I didn't know about it or feel compassion for the victims. It just really didn't cross my mind. Today I thought about it and besides feeling bad, which really doesn't help anyone, I wondered if I wasn't just in disaster overload. Am I just tuning out all the bad news in the world? It was just so shocking to me, someone who wants to help people, get dirty, get involved and yet I hear the news about Nepal and go to the kitchen for a diet Pepsi? It's not my intention to make this a self-flagellation session, but I confess it because I wonder if others have the same experience. The larger question for me is whether or not I, myself and we as a country or world are just overwhelmed with all the tragedy and at some point, perhaps only for self-preservation, are tuning out the world's troubles for our own more immediate needs simply for some amount of control or sense of control. Certainly, it's much easier to do something about the concerns of our own lives than it is to take on the troubles on such a large scale.
When we take time to consider how we might help in a situation like Nepal or perhaps the Germanwings disaster, we think, "Well, what could I possibly do?" I constantly think that. Is the few dollars I make from book sales really going to make any difference? Probably not. But then again, and this might be hubris, what if someone had taken a bit of time with that Germanwings pilot? What if my $20 or $30 in book sales means that a family in Nepal can buy some clean drinking water? It's possible. The average monthly salary for a Nepalese family is $48. There's a saying, "Can one person change the world? Of course, that's the only thing that does." Clearly we can't stop earthquakes but maybe we can make some kind of difference. Needless to say I'll donate this month's proceeds to relief efforts.
Broke-Ass Cookbook
On the news, for the past few days, has been the earthquake tragedy in Nepal. Over the past few years Nepal has suffered a great deal. The Sherpas are woefully underpaid for the amazing task they perform protecting the lives of climbers who can be untrained or have unreasonable demands. A Western guide can make $50K per climbing season while the most a Sherpa can hope for is about $5K. Then there was the tragedy last year with the avalanche that killed sixteen guides. Now this horrible earthquake claims more lives.
Given my mission and this story, you'd think I would donate book proceeds to the relief effort. It's not typically what I do, typically I try to find individuals or families to donate to, but when there is a larger tragedy like this, I do tend to donate the proceeds for that month to the relief efforts. I am ashamed to admit it, but this time it really didn't occur to me. I can't say I didn't know about it or feel compassion for the victims. It just really didn't cross my mind. Today I thought about it and besides feeling bad, which really doesn't help anyone, I wondered if I wasn't just in disaster overload. Am I just tuning out all the bad news in the world? It was just so shocking to me, someone who wants to help people, get dirty, get involved and yet I hear the news about Nepal and go to the kitchen for a diet Pepsi? It's not my intention to make this a self-flagellation session, but I confess it because I wonder if others have the same experience. The larger question for me is whether or not I, myself and we as a country or world are just overwhelmed with all the tragedy and at some point, perhaps only for self-preservation, are tuning out the world's troubles for our own more immediate needs simply for some amount of control or sense of control. Certainly, it's much easier to do something about the concerns of our own lives than it is to take on the troubles on such a large scale.
When we take time to consider how we might help in a situation like Nepal or perhaps the Germanwings disaster, we think, "Well, what could I possibly do?" I constantly think that. Is the few dollars I make from book sales really going to make any difference? Probably not. But then again, and this might be hubris, what if someone had taken a bit of time with that Germanwings pilot? What if my $20 or $30 in book sales means that a family in Nepal can buy some clean drinking water? It's possible. The average monthly salary for a Nepalese family is $48. There's a saying, "Can one person change the world? Of course, that's the only thing that does." Clearly we can't stop earthquakes but maybe we can make some kind of difference. Needless to say I'll donate this month's proceeds to relief efforts.
Broke-Ass Cookbook
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