OK, so another thing about self-publishing your book, is that you're the one responsible for sending out promotional copies to potential reviewers.
I got my latest batch of books, and made plans to get mailer envelopes while running errands yesterday. Only we got a late start, and we had to go to several places to get everything done. By the time we stopped at the third place, it was already well past lunch time (for all of us) and heading into nap time (for the toddler). I was still dealing with the remnants of a cold, and I didn't have much stamina left - we had to get home, fed and napped, and SOON. I decided a compromise was in order - I had planned to drive to another shopping center to get "real" poly mailer bags, but I knew there was a Dollar Tree in the same plaza as stop #3, and Dollar Tree carries 6"x9" bubble mailer envelopes, 2 for $1. My 5"x8" book fits perfectly in those.
So after stop #3 we walked up to Dollar Tree. I reached for the bubble mailers, meaning to grab 4 packs so I wouldn't run out, when I saw something else. 3M postal mailing brown paper - a big roll for $1.
I bought the brown paper, brought it home, wrapped my books in a plastic shopping bag (to protect them from rain) and then wrapped them in the brown paper and packing tape, and addressed them.
It may be a tightwad-dy solution, but I still have lots of paper, and this solution only costs me about 5 cents a book instead of 50 cents.
At some point I will probably go ahead and try to appear professional, and buy the "real" shipping options... when the book sells so well that saving 45 cents seems silly! :)
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Why "Hard Core Poor"?
I've had one or two people say in comments "The book sounds neat, and I'd like to read it, but I have issues with the word 'poor'. It sounds so dire."
I get that, and when I chose the name "Hard Core Poor" for my book, I knew it was a loaded word. Here's why I did it anyway.
When I was seriously broke, any time I did something that saved me money that was unusual or difficult, I said I was being hard core poor. It made me feel tough, like "poor" couldn't beat me. Like I was too hard core to let a little lack of money stop me from doing what I needed to do.
Also, it sounded borderline naughty. That made me laugh, which was something I sorely needed. And it had a snappy sound to it.
So probably ten years ago, I decided that if I ever wrote a book, gave "thrift" classes, or otherwise advised people on serious ways to save money, the phrase "Hard Core Poor" would have to be a part of it.
I have another phrase in my head, which may or may not play out as a book someday. It took me about 3 years of part time effort to write this book, so we'll see what I can do with this.
Meanwhile, on the home front, Tristan the Two Year Old Terror is finally not sick anymore, Jake is mostly better, and I'm improving after a few days of coughing and low fevers. But the big kids have not been sick yet, and Catie has a HUGE project due next week - this makes me superstitious and nervous. Daniel? Eh, homeschooling is lovely in that as long as we log 180 days and get a good solid education in there, we're good on WHEN it happens.
Hope you're all well and warm!
I get that, and when I chose the name "Hard Core Poor" for my book, I knew it was a loaded word. Here's why I did it anyway.
When I was seriously broke, any time I did something that saved me money that was unusual or difficult, I said I was being hard core poor. It made me feel tough, like "poor" couldn't beat me. Like I was too hard core to let a little lack of money stop me from doing what I needed to do.
Also, it sounded borderline naughty. That made me laugh, which was something I sorely needed. And it had a snappy sound to it.
So probably ten years ago, I decided that if I ever wrote a book, gave "thrift" classes, or otherwise advised people on serious ways to save money, the phrase "Hard Core Poor" would have to be a part of it.
I have another phrase in my head, which may or may not play out as a book someday. It took me about 3 years of part time effort to write this book, so we'll see what I can do with this.
Meanwhile, on the home front, Tristan the Two Year Old Terror is finally not sick anymore, Jake is mostly better, and I'm improving after a few days of coughing and low fevers. But the big kids have not been sick yet, and Catie has a HUGE project due next week - this makes me superstitious and nervous. Daniel? Eh, homeschooling is lovely in that as long as we log 180 days and get a good solid education in there, we're good on WHEN it happens.
Hope you're all well and warm!
Thursday, January 8, 2015
A little something for all of you
Hey, welcome again to all you newcomers from Monroe on a Budget and Penniless Parenting!
I just wanted to offer you all a little something to say a huge THANK YOU for stopping by! If you wanted to buy a copy of Hard Core Poor in paperback form, if you buy it through this link, I have a discount code that will give you $1.50 off!
Just enter 6T5QRQE5 in the discount code section at checkout. You do have to buy it through this link to get the discount, not the usual Amazon link.
Happy frugal-ing!
I just wanted to offer you all a little something to say a huge THANK YOU for stopping by! If you wanted to buy a copy of Hard Core Poor in paperback form, if you buy it through this link, I have a discount code that will give you $1.50 off!
Just enter 6T5QRQE5 in the discount code section at checkout. You do have to buy it through this link to get the discount, not the usual Amazon link.
Happy frugal-ing!
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Sickness and planning
(Hi, everyone from pennilessparenting.com !)
We've been fighting off a nasty cold here, and like good people, we share things. I've been lucky enough that I haven't been affected... yet. But Tristan the Toddler has been coughing and icky, Jake has taken two days off work this week feeling lousy.
Tonight, I started to feel just a little yucky. Enough that I'm a little concerned that I might be coming down with this cough/ache/tired thing.
So I did something smart.
Tonight we had chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I had some frozen, gluten free pie shells in the freezer. I took some mixed veggies, the leftover chicken, the left over broccoli, and made some chicken pot pie filling tonight, while I can still stand. Tomorrow I'll put the filling in the crusts, top with mashed potatoes, and bake for 40 minutes. I should be able to do that even if my legs have fallen off. Dinner - solved. That's no mean feat in a family that has two gluten free people, and can't just order food on sickie days without taking out a second mortgage.
I wish I were smart enough (and ambitious enough) to make up a bunch of meals like that, like gluten free lasagnas and casseroles. I mean, I AM that smart - I know I could do those things - but acting that smart is a whole other story. :)
Encourage me along, if you would - I'll try to do the same for you!
We've been fighting off a nasty cold here, and like good people, we share things. I've been lucky enough that I haven't been affected... yet. But Tristan the Toddler has been coughing and icky, Jake has taken two days off work this week feeling lousy.
Tonight, I started to feel just a little yucky. Enough that I'm a little concerned that I might be coming down with this cough/ache/tired thing.
So I did something smart.
Tonight we had chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I had some frozen, gluten free pie shells in the freezer. I took some mixed veggies, the leftover chicken, the left over broccoli, and made some chicken pot pie filling tonight, while I can still stand. Tomorrow I'll put the filling in the crusts, top with mashed potatoes, and bake for 40 minutes. I should be able to do that even if my legs have fallen off. Dinner - solved. That's no mean feat in a family that has two gluten free people, and can't just order food on sickie days without taking out a second mortgage.
I wish I were smart enough (and ambitious enough) to make up a bunch of meals like that, like gluten free lasagnas and casseroles. I mean, I AM that smart - I know I could do those things - but acting that smart is a whole other story. :)
Encourage me along, if you would - I'll try to do the same for you!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Welcome, Monroe on a Budget readers!
I'm so excited - Monroe on a Budget did a fabulous write up on my book (Hard Core Poor, in case you're new here)! I wonder if "real" writers get less excited and gushy after a while when somebody likes their work - it's going to take me a long time to stop bouncing like a demented Valley Girl every time someone says something nice about my writing.
This was bounce-worthy, though - she compared me to Amy Dacyzyn (The Tightwad Gazette) (not an affiliate link - I just love her work). The Godmother of Thrift and me, in the same sentence.
Boing boing boing!
And word has it that my good friend "Penny" at Penniless Parenting will also be doing a review of my book this week - she's really the reason I got the interview with Monroe on a Budget. She said a little something about how much she liked my book, Paula Wethington (the journalist) saw it, and she contacted me!
Meanwhile I'm snuggled on the couch with a sniffly toddler, watching the snow fall. Daniel got through all of his homeschool assignments early today, and the snow isn't heavy enough to close school for Catie, so things are really relaxing... on the outside.
On the inside? Boing boing boing!
This was bounce-worthy, though - she compared me to Amy Dacyzyn (The Tightwad Gazette) (not an affiliate link - I just love her work). The Godmother of Thrift and me, in the same sentence.
Boing boing boing!
And word has it that my good friend "Penny" at Penniless Parenting will also be doing a review of my book this week - she's really the reason I got the interview with Monroe on a Budget. She said a little something about how much she liked my book, Paula Wethington (the journalist) saw it, and she contacted me!
Meanwhile I'm snuggled on the couch with a sniffly toddler, watching the snow fall. Daniel got through all of his homeschool assignments early today, and the snow isn't heavy enough to close school for Catie, so things are really relaxing... on the outside.
On the inside? Boing boing boing!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Nickel and Dimed, a dozen years later (for me)
I'm re-reading "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich - it's a much lauded book about a middle aged woman who lives a comfortable, upper-middle-class life, deciding to go "undercover" as a member of the working poor for 3 months, one month in each location. When I first read this book about a dozen years ago, I was living the hardscrabble, working poor life. I was often working two part-time jobs or one full time one, and all the work was pretty physically and emotionally draining. When the author was recounting the fatigue and the utter lack of appreciation that low-wage workers experience, I remember feeling both glad that someone was telling the story and a sense of "duh!" - you don't think those clerks and waitresses are there for the endless joy of dealing with the public, do you? The way the employees are casually mistreated by management (having their first paycheck withheld until the day they quit, for example, to prevent people from starting and quitting immediately) is so common none of us would have dared to challenge the legality of it.
I remember after a year of working in a retail store, idly reading the federal employment law poster and being shocked that I was supposed to be receiving a half hour unpaid lunch break when a shift went over 6 hours. We might occasionally get to dart to the food court if our store had double coverage, but invariably we had to bring our meal back and gobble it either in the back room or behind the counter. I mentioned it to my manager, and she shrugged and said "legally, yes, that's what we're supposed to do, but corporate only allows me so many employee hours to staff the store. I honestly can't schedule the lunch/dinner breaks with the hours we're given". I looked. She was right. Then there was the time that the messenger service who delivered all the store paychecks for the whole region had some sort of delivery SNAFU, and all of us were paid 4 days late. It was a crisis for every single person who wasn't signed up for direct deposit (which wasn't as common in those days). We were borrowing money for gas from friends who worked elsewhere, so we could afford to get back and forth to our jobs for which we hadn't gotten paid. The company said "Well, we sent the checks! There's nothing we can do - why didn't you sign up for direct deposit?"
While all those moments weigh in my mind, this time around reading Nickel and Dimed, a person stood out that I hadn't remembered in previous readings. In Florida, she mentions a restaurant hostess who was always well-groomed and well-dressed, in a variety of personal outfits (hostesses wore their own clothes, waitresses wore a uniform). The author was shocked to discover that those lovely clothes had come from thrift stores, and the hostess was living in her car.
That hostess is now my hero. The rest of the book has a few strong people, working through many personal struggles and miseries, but that hostess now holds a place in my mind as a person holding on to her dignity in the most challenging circumstances. She wore beautiful clothes that she didn't pay much for, showing up for work even when she likely hadn't gotten much sleep from sleeping in a car. She shows poise and grace, not complaining that she can't afford clothes from Macy's, but getting pretty clothes at the price she could manage.
The rest of the book now reads to me as navel-gazing culture shock - a pampered well-to-do woman (though she keeps referring to her parents blue-collar past) stunned that getting by on minimum wage is hard on the body, mind and spirit. Especially she realization that she isn't getting any acknowledgement for her hard work - we all love praise, but she seemed to be upset that she wasn't getting an "atta girl" after working while tired and sore.
The book has a purpose, I guess - many people have never struggled to the extent that I did, and would still be doing if I hadn't married. They have no idea of the hollow boned feeling you have after working long, physical shifts, and realizing that the pay you earned today won't even pay half your electric bill. It will just about fill your gas tank, if you drive a small car or prices are down. It might buy a weeks' groceries, if you stick with the cheapest stuff. And you have a car payment that's late, rent that's late, the heat could be switched off if you don't hustle something quick, and people are depending on you to provide a stable environment. But when you're working with the public, you're not allowed to let any of that show - you wouldn't want to anyway, because it's embarrassing and takes away from the real focus, the customer.
That's why the hostess is now my hero - she barely merited 3 lines from Ms. Ehrenreich, but she came off as displaying true grace under fire. Maybe if more had been written about her, I would have found out that she was a major whiner in her off hours, or got good and drunk every night so she could sleep. But as it is, she seems like a person making the very best out of the bad hand she had been dealt. I admire her. And I pray that she was ultimately able to get a comfortable home.
I remember after a year of working in a retail store, idly reading the federal employment law poster and being shocked that I was supposed to be receiving a half hour unpaid lunch break when a shift went over 6 hours. We might occasionally get to dart to the food court if our store had double coverage, but invariably we had to bring our meal back and gobble it either in the back room or behind the counter. I mentioned it to my manager, and she shrugged and said "legally, yes, that's what we're supposed to do, but corporate only allows me so many employee hours to staff the store. I honestly can't schedule the lunch/dinner breaks with the hours we're given". I looked. She was right. Then there was the time that the messenger service who delivered all the store paychecks for the whole region had some sort of delivery SNAFU, and all of us were paid 4 days late. It was a crisis for every single person who wasn't signed up for direct deposit (which wasn't as common in those days). We were borrowing money for gas from friends who worked elsewhere, so we could afford to get back and forth to our jobs for which we hadn't gotten paid. The company said "Well, we sent the checks! There's nothing we can do - why didn't you sign up for direct deposit?"
While all those moments weigh in my mind, this time around reading Nickel and Dimed, a person stood out that I hadn't remembered in previous readings. In Florida, she mentions a restaurant hostess who was always well-groomed and well-dressed, in a variety of personal outfits (hostesses wore their own clothes, waitresses wore a uniform). The author was shocked to discover that those lovely clothes had come from thrift stores, and the hostess was living in her car.
That hostess is now my hero. The rest of the book has a few strong people, working through many personal struggles and miseries, but that hostess now holds a place in my mind as a person holding on to her dignity in the most challenging circumstances. She wore beautiful clothes that she didn't pay much for, showing up for work even when she likely hadn't gotten much sleep from sleeping in a car. She shows poise and grace, not complaining that she can't afford clothes from Macy's, but getting pretty clothes at the price she could manage.
The rest of the book now reads to me as navel-gazing culture shock - a pampered well-to-do woman (though she keeps referring to her parents blue-collar past) stunned that getting by on minimum wage is hard on the body, mind and spirit. Especially she realization that she isn't getting any acknowledgement for her hard work - we all love praise, but she seemed to be upset that she wasn't getting an "atta girl" after working while tired and sore.
The book has a purpose, I guess - many people have never struggled to the extent that I did, and would still be doing if I hadn't married. They have no idea of the hollow boned feeling you have after working long, physical shifts, and realizing that the pay you earned today won't even pay half your electric bill. It will just about fill your gas tank, if you drive a small car or prices are down. It might buy a weeks' groceries, if you stick with the cheapest stuff. And you have a car payment that's late, rent that's late, the heat could be switched off if you don't hustle something quick, and people are depending on you to provide a stable environment. But when you're working with the public, you're not allowed to let any of that show - you wouldn't want to anyway, because it's embarrassing and takes away from the real focus, the customer.
That's why the hostess is now my hero - she barely merited 3 lines from Ms. Ehrenreich, but she came off as displaying true grace under fire. Maybe if more had been written about her, I would have found out that she was a major whiner in her off hours, or got good and drunk every night so she could sleep. But as it is, she seems like a person making the very best out of the bad hand she had been dealt. I admire her. And I pray that she was ultimately able to get a comfortable home.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Dryer heresy
I was talking about laundry with a friend recently, and we were talking about dryers vs. drying on the line or on racks.
For the record, I love line-dried clothes. Especially when they're dried outside - they smell so good, it's cheap as all get out, and there's a real tactile pleasure in hanging and folding the clothes off the line. But I have a theory that may shake other frugalistas to their core. I don't think using a dryer wears out your clothes.
What??? But there's all that lint that comes off the clothes in the dryer! And it sets stains and makes some garments shrink!!!
Yes, it can set stains, and shrinking can be a problem, and I know some sweaters and undies need to be treated with care to avoid getting stretched, but the lint is what I want to address. A few years ago our dryer pooped out, and for months I dried clothes on racks in front of our wood stove. I was disappointed as the weeks wore on, because the clothes started looking pilly and dull. When I finally was able to run them through the dryer again, the lint screen was LOADED, but the clothes looked fresh, bright and fluffy again.
So what was happening there? My theory is that the WASHER loosens the fibers of the clothes, causing most of the lint to come off of the clothes. If you dry the clothes in the dryer or in a stiff wind, the lint gets fluffed away. If your clothes hang without being disturbed, you might not notice after one or two loads, but after a few weeks of washing and hanging you might start to see lint build up.
If you want to save money on running the dryer, hanging is great! If you want to avoid shrinkage or set-in stains, keep hanging! But just because you don't see a handful of lint after line drying, doesn't mean it isn't being formed. You just don't see it collecting in one place. If you're dedicated to line drying, make sure that some of the time your clothes get to really flap in the breeze, not just hang still indoors. Or you can fluff them in the dryer for 5 minutes to shake off any loose fibers and make them feel softer.
The point is, the dryer is not a monster that will chew up your clothes - just your money. :)
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For the record, I love line-dried clothes. Especially when they're dried outside - they smell so good, it's cheap as all get out, and there's a real tactile pleasure in hanging and folding the clothes off the line. But I have a theory that may shake other frugalistas to their core. I don't think using a dryer wears out your clothes.
What??? But there's all that lint that comes off the clothes in the dryer! And it sets stains and makes some garments shrink!!!
Yes, it can set stains, and shrinking can be a problem, and I know some sweaters and undies need to be treated with care to avoid getting stretched, but the lint is what I want to address. A few years ago our dryer pooped out, and for months I dried clothes on racks in front of our wood stove. I was disappointed as the weeks wore on, because the clothes started looking pilly and dull. When I finally was able to run them through the dryer again, the lint screen was LOADED, but the clothes looked fresh, bright and fluffy again.
So what was happening there? My theory is that the WASHER loosens the fibers of the clothes, causing most of the lint to come off of the clothes. If you dry the clothes in the dryer or in a stiff wind, the lint gets fluffed away. If your clothes hang without being disturbed, you might not notice after one or two loads, but after a few weeks of washing and hanging you might start to see lint build up.
If you want to save money on running the dryer, hanging is great! If you want to avoid shrinkage or set-in stains, keep hanging! But just because you don't see a handful of lint after line drying, doesn't mean it isn't being formed. You just don't see it collecting in one place. If you're dedicated to line drying, make sure that some of the time your clothes get to really flap in the breeze, not just hang still indoors. Or you can fluff them in the dryer for 5 minutes to shake off any loose fibers and make them feel softer.
The point is, the dryer is not a monster that will chew up your clothes - just your money. :)
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