Hard Times..ideas please

I found out this morning that there are 3 packs of shingles in my moms basement, ones that match the house. Go figure huh. I have never laid shingles before, cant be much to it. I mean i got the basic concept and all that. I guess i just need some roofing nails now and should be half way good to go. If i botch the job up it will still be better than tar paper and an old tarp. Now as long as i dont fall thru the roof i'll be ok

Keep your powder dry[/QUOTE]

There should be some instructions on the internet that can help you lay shingles, or read the package.

3 bundles is only 1 square, but it is better than nothing. One square is a 10 foot by 10 foot area.

To do this right, you need to place one shingle on the bottom edge of the roof, and allow it to hang over at least one inch. This first run will be upside down, with the cut outs pointing toward the top of the roof. This is called the starter row. If you dont do the starter row, you wont have anything to stop the water from coming in thru the cut outs. Check another roof, and you will see what I am talking about. Then, once your starter row is down, you can start roofing. Make sense?

Wish you were closer, I have nails I would give you.

Clove

Modern Pioneer,

I am curious...are you trying to support yourself by only working in a homesteading fashion, or is this just a down-on-our-luck-right-now situation?

Keep your chin up.

Clove

Check your PM's in the upper right corner of the screen.

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

It seems to me that you would qualify for college grants. Go to the college. They have an office just to help students get money for college.

Cloth diapers can be washed in a bucket and hung up to dry. For a time, I washed diapers in the bathtub. They wash up pretty easily. Use hot water, soak, swish. No detergent. Add a little bleach once a week. They dry very fast. For the time being, you can use any old cloth rags. Flannel shirts and t-shirts, for instance. Dish towels are also very good. You will need diaper pins. With the money you save from not buying disposables you will be able to buy "real" cloth diapers. Tell your 8 year old that this is what it means to be "green" and is how environmentalists diaper their babies.

Good luck on the cook job (but do yourself a favor and go to college).

I will say a prayer that you get the cooking job. It would be nice to be able to walk to work. Ask for buckets from the food service/'greasy spoons and bakeries--you can plant your herbs, veggies, fruits in these. And could take them with you if you need to leave your moms or find a place of your own. I have planted everything in buckets--even had a blueberry bush in one for two yrs.

Prayers for you and your family..QB

You may be too old for the military. I think 35 is the cut off point, unless you are a nurse, at which case they will take you much older. Besides, they will give you a physical. If you are on medication they will find it in the blood or urine. On top of that, if you can't do manual labor, you aren't going to make it through one week of boot camp.

Can you become a caretaker? I don't know what kind of references you have but there seems to be always someone somewhere looking for people to help maintain or clean up property in exchange for a small cabin. I would try the craigslist in the areas you would wish to move. Advertise yourself and your family.

I second college. Even something like a phlebotomist which I believe is only a one term certificate can bring in some decent money and there should always be some hospital hiring. You can always work your way up. My mother put herself through college one degree at a time. She became a CNA, then a LPN, then an RN. The hospital that hires you would probably even pay for your schooling. Ours does if you commit two years once you graduate.

My mother raised two babies in diapers without running water. It isn't "easy" but it is doable. Cloth diapers can be expensive to start but I would call around and see if you can get any donated. You can also check the second hand stores. A note from my mother though (which is what she passed on when I used cloth), do not get the "pre-folded" diapers, they are too thick, get the old fashioned ones you fold yourself, they dry much quicker.

I forgot about Hocking College. A lot of the students end up taking jobs in Athens and the surrounding area. Have you checked with the college about being dorm parents? There may even be other jobs through or at the college.

The Natural Resources program at Hocking used to be the best in Ohio. Several of my high school classmates went to Hocking.

The Paul Bunyan Show should be coming up soon. I don't know if you would be able to set up a craft/bake sale booth there or not. Lake Hope also hosts a ROAR day in October. Set-up is free and cakes and cookies would sell well there. Pies probably not so well as there is a group that sells pies there already. Their employees that clean the cabins and campgrounds are not college students. The college students do park maintenance and help with nature programs. And the Athens area does have a Civillian Conservation Corps. The only info I could find for them was one thing about volunteers and another about going through Job and Family Services to find employment with the CCC.

Contact your local churchs, they may have a handy man crew that could come out with some donated materials and fix up your room pretty well. Look for a local habitat for humanity group, they may be able to do some of that as well.

Good luck on the cook job, good cooks are always needed. Maybe eventually your wife could come work with you as well, who knows.

Best of luck.

You should be out looking for work. How do you have access to a computer but no water?

Well first of all it takes money to pay the water bill. I dont own this place or take care of the bills here. We have been here 1 week tommorrow. We have been searching for jobs as much as we possibly can. After you put in a resume/application at every single place that is availble, not much you can do but wait and call to check on the status of the app. We are very low on money and with gas nearly $4 a gallon its kinda hard to just go galavanting around all day long doing nothing but burning gas. We have a van with a 350 small block that is a killer on gas. I keep the van because it has a newly rebuilt transmission, and i have kept it well maintained. Besides a smaller car would do us no good with the kids, the dog and gear. I have access to a computer because i bought it over a year ago. My mom does have a phone line, so all i did was pick up a netzero disk for free and got internet for a free 30 day trial. I wish it was the other way round, id much perfer water over the internet. I got what i got and can do nothing more.

Keep your powder dry

http://www.workathomecareers.com/

http://www.workamper.com/


Just a couple of sites that I have friends or family working thru.

I think two or three HT"ers do some of the phone jobs listed in the Work At Home site, and the forums give you the truth of the jobs.
No gas, and you seem to have a computer, and maybe you have a land line, or can get into the internet phone for a job like this. And disabled or not, would not have much impact on these jobs.

Angie

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

Water bill? If you're on city water call them and ask what the deal is.
Maybe one of the churches would help if it was a nonpayment turn off.
Is there a "council on aging" or "senior center" type thing in your area. They often will
offer some assistnace for elderly and might can help you out with something. Go ahead and get those shingles up while it's not raining.
Best of luck to you.
Shelly

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You can't soar with eagles in a turkey pen.

You may have figured it out by now, but you really have some nerve!

You should read every OP post on a thread like this one, before you jump to conclusions.

Well, maybe an unpopular idea, but apply for jobs you dont qualify for by "exagerating" on your resume. Dont mention any type of disabilities. Even if you are found out a week or two after being hired, that will be a week or two's worth of pay you wouldnt have had. There are lots of jobs anyone with common sense can do but they only hire people with experience or degrees. If you apply for a job at Walmart's, there is a place in the application where you mention if someone referred you. Find out the name of the regional walmart for your area and put their name down.

As for the churches, it will help if you as a family attend all services offered for two weeks before asking for help. Then, you will not be just a stranger asking a random church for help.

These tactics may be frowned upon by many here, but if Im in your situation, Id do what ever it took to get my family by.

Not so. Food stamps are a federal program and they are allowed. http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/forms/file.asp?id=50942

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Ehh, whatever.

Did you see the PM I sent you? There were caretaker positions with housing included.

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

I have not taken the time to read all of this, but, in the tropics they use mosquito netting. The middle hangs from the roof, and the bottom MUST! be on the ground so it is quite a bit of fabric.

Which you are in no position to buy, right now. Unless the Mother has quite a bit of cheese cloth.

Good luck with your job hunt!

FUNKY PIONEER, I did not know they accepted seed purchases. Seeds are not considered food items and are taxed throughout the state. Thanks for the info.

ETA, I wonder how often the cash register rejects seed and plant purchases for people on food stamps.

Oh, yes.

People used to put the used cloth diapers into a pail with a plastic liner. When the pail was full, they tied the top and put in a new bag. This kept the odor down until you washed them. Feces were dumped down the toilet first, of course.

I have heard that you were supposed to use detergent instead of soap, but I honestly do not know the difference. I was a teenager when I was learning to use cloth diapers on my younger siblings, and my Mother did the laundry.

You will want fabric softener so that the diapers do not get stiff.

Will you be using pins to keep them on? I haven't seen diaper pins in years, perhaps they now use velcro? At any rate, if you DO use pins, put the fingers of your other hand between the baby and the cloth so that you do not stick the child. It sounds harder than it is: you will catch on quickly.

Lastly, if you are in a pinch, use any absorbant cloth that you may have to make diapers. You will need more of them to get through the day, as disposables hold more urine and keep the baby drier.