My scheduling effort seems to have worked well...I can see the world is going to be "on a schedule" soon. :-( This is good for some things, but not forced human labors...making us into robotic humans...who knows where the ungodly will take us.
For my blog, I have to learn more about the long writing effort. I mostly write this just as a way to let you know what is happening in the moment, with me, with WT, with the battles between Satan and GOD. I am going to have to figure out how to write drafts of entries on topics that take more time to share...single subject, controversial, etc.
I am continuing my daily effort to write a minimum of ten goals. If I write them in the morning, after a good night of sleep, I have more energy and excitement about the possible future. Later in the day I am hard-pressed to write much. I have already noticed how the list is becoming more concrete... I repeat the same main issues/goals that matter. As I write these goals every day, I am reminding myself what I need, what is most important, what I have to focus on. It is really a great tool.
One of my goals is to pay my debts off, especially my student loans, so I don't have that hanging over me anymore. That is like getting my life back to a zero balance, a way of starting over.
The need for a certain kind of property, with an adequate home, is a long-held dream, and a repeating goal. I am learning more and more about our food supplies, and I would rather have more control over what I eat.
Another repeating goal is to get all the things I need to accomplish the work I feel GOD has created for me. I have had to start this process over and over again because of the issues I encountered over the years. I hope that GOD will deal with the problems I have to endure right now, and that I won't have to start over again.
It is challenging to write a goal as though you have already achieved it. Each day, when I write, I try to decide if I should focus on big goals or on little goals. I am getting into more and more details of what would be my ideal future, and I keep putting several goals together or taking others apart. It is an interesting process.
More important than just writing these goals is trying to figure out how to achieve them...especially in my situation (in poverty, health issues, etc.). Breaking a big goal into smaller pieces, achievable pieces, has always been the main challenge.
Through the years I have struggled to overcome my various situations, I have always marveled at the differences in what people call suffering. I think, in America especially, we have come to believe that abundance is the norm. Christians associate this abundance with GOD, others associate their abundance with hard work, talent, education, or other parts of our lives. Obamacare is, to me, another evidence of an increased judgment by GOD on America, a reflection of our slowly eroding condition. It is bringing the "middle class" into dependency through the insurance program/s of the government. When the government began to provide social services, it was to meet the needs of the poor, I think it had a lot to do with soldier's widows and orphaned children. It is now expanding into all levels of our existence. This is NOT a good sign about our economic situation.
As a struggling parent at a Welfare level, I searched and searched for ways to provide my sons with replacements for the normal progress into responsible adulthood. My favorite complaint example is every article using money as an incentive for the better behavior goal -- allowances, chores, etc. Most of the publications I am talking about are focused on middle-class readers. Poverty households don't have too many resources to access, and lots of problems to deal with. There is little energy left for finding solutions beyond government or program mandates.
I think personality is another issue in goal-setting and achieving. I took a bunch of tests through one program I went through as a government mandate. It said business and management were good goals for me. I liked seeing that. It didn't tell me what part of the business process I was best suited for, but I was heading in that direction already.
One of my biggest handicaps is not being as aggressive as some "successful" people I have met, read about, etc. I sometimes wonder if I had start-up funding in the beginning, would everything have been different. Only GOD knows the purposes of the years that have passed, I am trusting that He had a reason for all the issues that have been beyond my control.
With my focus on goals, I am listening to my sales tapes again, reading the sales help books I have, and trying to think of better ways to reach my goals for Working Together and myself. Now that I have a clearer vision of what to do with membership, I am able to see a better future. I can focus on individuals for membership, and seek out churches, ministries, and other organizations for CORD listings as their form of membership.
Pricing is still a guess, but I decided to use my own payment structures and what other online businesses use as a guide. After we have it going for a year or two, and see the way things evolve, then pricing will be better. LIFETIME options are probably a better deal now...when I get it all figured out, they will have to cost more. I almost have a monthly payment option figured out, and have been trying to work out the details for autopayments. All these things cost money I don't have, and have to wait for GOD to provide.
I have created an Excel file for all my GOALS and lists of ways to achieve them. I think this will work out nicely. I am putting one goal at the top of a column and then trying to make a list of the smaller parts under the title. I can move the list around by using Excel, and change the priorities as they happen. I keep discovering new things that have to be done. The flexibility of using Excel helps me to adjust all the details. If I had it on paper, I would have a mess, and would spend a lot of time writing it over and over.
I hope you are using this ten goal process to focus your life, too.
7 AUGUST 2013 :: Raising Money in America
When I read the newspaper and other materials, there is so much I want to say. When I finally get in front of the computer, it is hard to decide which topic to focus on. The problems are so many...and my greatest focus is America, and the Christian community.
I have reformatted my original booklet, What If There Is No Rapture, and added my update comments. It is a FUNDRAISING EDITION, meaning I hope to sell it for money to begin building Working Together. I thought $5 was a fair price for fundraising, and it is an email process. I haven't learned how to do eBooks yet, but I will by the time the full update is done. :-)
We are heading deeper into the 2014 election cycle. The "conversations" in the media are as they always are: degrading to the Republicans, and lifting up the Democrats. Neither side is right as far as I am concerned, but I told the Republicans over the weekend (online) that I think they are the only hope for getting our debt down. Obamacare is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back I think. It is almost ALL subsidies, which is another word for taxes.
The political fog of saying the federal government is going to pay 90% of the costs for the state is an illusion...it is all taxes, paid by the citizen, to both the federal government and the state government. After Obamacare officially starts, there will be more cries for raising taxes and creating new ones. The purpose of creating fines is that government has been operating on fine income when taxes don't provide enough. The prison systems are really good at doing this.
If the government did their job well, we wouldn't question their requests for more money, even temporary (which often become permanent) tax requests. But the government is not frugal or well organized. It wastes millions of dollars, or maybe it's billions, or trillions. People in government tend to feel it is an endless supply of money (note the constantly rising tax base), so they don't spend the tax dollar the same way they would their own money. Some take what they can (fraud, theft, abuse), others barter for their slice of the pie (earmarks), and some use their employment with the government as a means to manipulate individuals, groups, and social policy. The power of the government is moving from service to mandate, from protector to police state, and from limited taxation to financial control. The frog in the kettle, which is the population of America, is close to dying.
What can the government really accomplish with Obamacare? Government thinks that if they control the medical process they can control the amount taxes will have to pay for it. The government is not really trying to help Americans with Obamacare, they are trying to reduce their own bills. (Especially the long expected Baby Boomer costs that are just beginning.) What I see happening is government becoming a prison guard, and having more LEGAL access to every detail of our lives. To get government money, people have to agree to let the government have access to every aspect of their lives. It isn't like ordering insurance and sending a monthly payment in. Tax dollars bring with them a lot of paperwork, a loss of freedom, the end to privacy, and great unhappiness.
I haven't read anything that tells me Obamacare is a good idea. People with money, insurance, houses, and the middle class or upper class life don't realize what it is like to DEPEND on the government for your survival... whether that is food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, or any government program. What begins as a lifeline soon becomes a heavy anchor that takes you down into the depths of despair. People turn to the government as a LAST resort, not because it is such a great opportunity.
My greatest question is: HOW MUCH DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY NEED TO PROVIDE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF SERVICES, the most necessary tasks, TO OUR COUNTRY, including help for the most needy? What is essential and what is just because someone wants tax dollars to pay for something? How can we save money? Tax reform is going to become the top priority for all government bodies. The Tea Party is the first sign of the revolt that is coming. The repeated votes of the House against Obamacare is another.
I have reformatted my original booklet, What If There Is No Rapture, and added my update comments. It is a FUNDRAISING EDITION, meaning I hope to sell it for money to begin building Working Together. I thought $5 was a fair price for fundraising, and it is an email process. I haven't learned how to do eBooks yet, but I will by the time the full update is done. :-)
We are heading deeper into the 2014 election cycle. The "conversations" in the media are as they always are: degrading to the Republicans, and lifting up the Democrats. Neither side is right as far as I am concerned, but I told the Republicans over the weekend (online) that I think they are the only hope for getting our debt down. Obamacare is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back I think. It is almost ALL subsidies, which is another word for taxes.
The political fog of saying the federal government is going to pay 90% of the costs for the state is an illusion...it is all taxes, paid by the citizen, to both the federal government and the state government. After Obamacare officially starts, there will be more cries for raising taxes and creating new ones. The purpose of creating fines is that government has been operating on fine income when taxes don't provide enough. The prison systems are really good at doing this.
If the government did their job well, we wouldn't question their requests for more money, even temporary (which often become permanent) tax requests. But the government is not frugal or well organized. It wastes millions of dollars, or maybe it's billions, or trillions. People in government tend to feel it is an endless supply of money (note the constantly rising tax base), so they don't spend the tax dollar the same way they would their own money. Some take what they can (fraud, theft, abuse), others barter for their slice of the pie (earmarks), and some use their employment with the government as a means to manipulate individuals, groups, and social policy. The power of the government is moving from service to mandate, from protector to police state, and from limited taxation to financial control. The frog in the kettle, which is the population of America, is close to dying.
What can the government really accomplish with Obamacare? Government thinks that if they control the medical process they can control the amount taxes will have to pay for it. The government is not really trying to help Americans with Obamacare, they are trying to reduce their own bills. (Especially the long expected Baby Boomer costs that are just beginning.) What I see happening is government becoming a prison guard, and having more LEGAL access to every detail of our lives. To get government money, people have to agree to let the government have access to every aspect of their lives. It isn't like ordering insurance and sending a monthly payment in. Tax dollars bring with them a lot of paperwork, a loss of freedom, the end to privacy, and great unhappiness.
I haven't read anything that tells me Obamacare is a good idea. People with money, insurance, houses, and the middle class or upper class life don't realize what it is like to DEPEND on the government for your survival... whether that is food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, or any government program. What begins as a lifeline soon becomes a heavy anchor that takes you down into the depths of despair. People turn to the government as a LAST resort, not because it is such a great opportunity.
My greatest question is: HOW MUCH DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY NEED TO PROVIDE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF SERVICES, the most necessary tasks, TO OUR COUNTRY, including help for the most needy? What is essential and what is just because someone wants tax dollars to pay for something? How can we save money? Tax reform is going to become the top priority for all government bodies. The Tea Party is the first sign of the revolt that is coming. The repeated votes of the House against Obamacare is another.
2 AUGUST 2013 :: Is food a necessity?
I am trying to get ahead of my weekend, Sabbath, and long list of things to do. This is Friday, the day to prepare for the Sabbath at sundown, and it is the day I am suppose to get my food stamps for August. One person (in Oregon) gets a maximum of $200 a month right now, depending on their income. My income is very low right now, so I recieve the maximum amount. I try to keep all my food purchases, except an occasional value meal somewhere, within that budget.
Since my first effort to "have something left at the end of the month" in about 2004, which was food stamps at the time, I have been trying to make my food stamps last all month. One of the best ideas I ever came across about food budgeting was to create your weekly meals based on what was on sale at your market/s, so I have tried to establish a weekly food budget. It seems like an easy task, but it isn't. When there is a good sale, you want to take advantage of it, but if you go over the budget for any week, especially the first week, the rest of the month suffers.
This summer I am trying to shop at local Farmer's Markets, too. This is something I have never really been able to do. I finally decided to try to have $10 a week for Market items because the one nearest me offers food stamp households a $5 match for spending $10 or more in food stamps. That means I can get an extra $20 in food each month IF I can manage to do that. The Markets here distribute $1 wooden coins for food stamp purchases. Vendors aren't allowed to give change to food stamp customers, so shopping is a challenge. And I try to save what I can of my $15 allotments for the weeks I am not able to budget the way I want to.
Farmer's Market foods are very different than shopping at a store. They are generally fresher, I am told. Some of the Market produce is harvested close to the selling time, I think...that's what one farm booth told me. I suspect much of it is picked for/during the week for each sale day. I don't know if they have a lot of "leftovers" from week to week...keeping produce fresh is a challenge for farmers I am sure. I have been struggling to figure out the best way to store, make and eat the foods I get from the Market. I don't want to waste my food money, especially the foods I buy at the Farmer's Market.
I always assumed that the food at a Farmer's Market was organic. I have discovered that some of it isn't. I'm getting better at noticing the difference, and figuring out which farms have which products. This is my first summer, and the Market I go to nearest my home is advertised as year-round. I will be continuing my experience with Farmer's Markets for the year, and beyond that I suppose. I like the way fresh foods taste, the connection with the farmer, and some of the other differences between Market food and grocery store food. I still have to resolve my dislike of GMO foods and how they are hidden in our food purchases, but right now I am somewhere between grocery stores, Farmer's Markets, and growing your own.
I don't have kids with me these days, so shopping is different for me now. I would never have been able to try Farmer's Markets as a low-income parent. The prices are higher than I could afford. Food stamp families have to buy as much food as they can with each dollar they have, and include some extras that the rest of the world enjoys for their kids and themselves (chips, soda, ice cream, etc). Finding a way to buy enough good food and make it last through the whole month is a challenge...and when you make a mistake with your efforts, you have to find another way to make it through to the next food stamp supply.
At one point in my life, I had to buy almost the entire month's food in one shopping trip. That means a lot of canned and packaged foods, not fresh and organic foods. That was because I had to pay a taxi to get the food home. One trip a month was all I could afford, so I did my laundry on the same trip. Transportation makes a difference in every area of our lives, including how you can stretch your food dollars.
Now that I am getting older and have senior limitations in view, I see that shopping can be even more of a problem. I am thinking that the European style of shopping may become a necessity as long as I am healthy. (I have read they like to shop daily for their meals.) If I get to the point of needing a walker, very small purchases will be a necessity. Wheelchair shoppers have been on my mind for a long time...how do they shop for what they need and get it home on the bus? I need to find the best solutions for my individual situation...as it evolves.
$200 a month is about $6.50 a day for all your food needs. I think that's the price of a combo meal at a fast food restaurant. If you subtract $1.50 a day for condiments like butter/margarine, mayonaise, mustard, ketchup, and other foods like sugar, salt, pepper, and other flavorings, three meals and snacks would really need to cost $5 a day. When there is more than one person in a family that gets food stamps to live on, the increase is about $100 more per person. So, two people would need to live on $7.50 a day, three people on about $10 a day, and so on. As food prices rise, the ability to survive on government programs decreases. What kinds of meals do you know that would fit into that budget?
Low-income households don't have a lot of options. I wish that we had a better system to deal with crisis poverty and ongoing needs, but right now this is all we have: government programs and community/church outreaches.
I know that food stamps seem like a "frivolous" program, but they are the most critical program the government provides. We MUST have food every single day in order to survive. Not having food leads people to do whatever they can to get it. If the American economy crashes, there will be millions more in need of food to get through their trials. My view is that the government better make sure it has more than it needs in funding for this program. The consequences would not be good when there are no food options for people who have nowhere else to turn.
I went into that issue without planning to, but the current budget crises are threatening our nation. It won't matter what party you belong to if you are hungry, starving, or threatened by desperate people. I hope we can find a way through this without too many innocent, struggling people being hurt. Finding the right places to cut back and changing the way we see the responsibility of our government is really very essential to our future as a nation. As morals decline, each area of our existence is going to be affected. I think we need to create a survival focus :: What matters most? What can we do without? How do we save as much as we can? What can we finance in other ways? How much do we really need?
I am not fond of government programs, but they are something we have established and are now essential for those who have no other option. The Bible tells us that the family structure is going to be destroyed as the End Times continue. Some kind of alternative intervention system is going to be necessary to help people in crisis. I would prefer it was the church, a loving and involved effort to meet the needs of those who cannot provide for themselves for whatever reason, who don't have families to support them through a crisis. As the End Times continue, the resources of our churches are going to be needed by its members...leaving less for those outside their congregation.
Those who do not want GOD to be the source of their help need another place to turn to, and the government seems to be that source. These are the people who want the government to provide for every need.
Once we establish a program, it is very difficult to eliminate it. We become dependent on it...whether it is a farm subsidy, food stamps, Social Security, or student loans. As we go through this financial evaluation of our budget, why don't we think about what programs are most critical to the most in need. Food, shelter, and income are the basics of survival.
We can find solutions, if we really look for them.
Since my first effort to "have something left at the end of the month" in about 2004, which was food stamps at the time, I have been trying to make my food stamps last all month. One of the best ideas I ever came across about food budgeting was to create your weekly meals based on what was on sale at your market/s, so I have tried to establish a weekly food budget. It seems like an easy task, but it isn't. When there is a good sale, you want to take advantage of it, but if you go over the budget for any week, especially the first week, the rest of the month suffers.
This summer I am trying to shop at local Farmer's Markets, too. This is something I have never really been able to do. I finally decided to try to have $10 a week for Market items because the one nearest me offers food stamp households a $5 match for spending $10 or more in food stamps. That means I can get an extra $20 in food each month IF I can manage to do that. The Markets here distribute $1 wooden coins for food stamp purchases. Vendors aren't allowed to give change to food stamp customers, so shopping is a challenge. And I try to save what I can of my $15 allotments for the weeks I am not able to budget the way I want to.
Farmer's Market foods are very different than shopping at a store. They are generally fresher, I am told. Some of the Market produce is harvested close to the selling time, I think...that's what one farm booth told me. I suspect much of it is picked for/during the week for each sale day. I don't know if they have a lot of "leftovers" from week to week...keeping produce fresh is a challenge for farmers I am sure. I have been struggling to figure out the best way to store, make and eat the foods I get from the Market. I don't want to waste my food money, especially the foods I buy at the Farmer's Market.
I always assumed that the food at a Farmer's Market was organic. I have discovered that some of it isn't. I'm getting better at noticing the difference, and figuring out which farms have which products. This is my first summer, and the Market I go to nearest my home is advertised as year-round. I will be continuing my experience with Farmer's Markets for the year, and beyond that I suppose. I like the way fresh foods taste, the connection with the farmer, and some of the other differences between Market food and grocery store food. I still have to resolve my dislike of GMO foods and how they are hidden in our food purchases, but right now I am somewhere between grocery stores, Farmer's Markets, and growing your own.
I don't have kids with me these days, so shopping is different for me now. I would never have been able to try Farmer's Markets as a low-income parent. The prices are higher than I could afford. Food stamp families have to buy as much food as they can with each dollar they have, and include some extras that the rest of the world enjoys for their kids and themselves (chips, soda, ice cream, etc). Finding a way to buy enough good food and make it last through the whole month is a challenge...and when you make a mistake with your efforts, you have to find another way to make it through to the next food stamp supply.
At one point in my life, I had to buy almost the entire month's food in one shopping trip. That means a lot of canned and packaged foods, not fresh and organic foods. That was because I had to pay a taxi to get the food home. One trip a month was all I could afford, so I did my laundry on the same trip. Transportation makes a difference in every area of our lives, including how you can stretch your food dollars.
Now that I am getting older and have senior limitations in view, I see that shopping can be even more of a problem. I am thinking that the European style of shopping may become a necessity as long as I am healthy. (I have read they like to shop daily for their meals.) If I get to the point of needing a walker, very small purchases will be a necessity. Wheelchair shoppers have been on my mind for a long time...how do they shop for what they need and get it home on the bus? I need to find the best solutions for my individual situation...as it evolves.
$200 a month is about $6.50 a day for all your food needs. I think that's the price of a combo meal at a fast food restaurant. If you subtract $1.50 a day for condiments like butter/margarine, mayonaise, mustard, ketchup, and other foods like sugar, salt, pepper, and other flavorings, three meals and snacks would really need to cost $5 a day. When there is more than one person in a family that gets food stamps to live on, the increase is about $100 more per person. So, two people would need to live on $7.50 a day, three people on about $10 a day, and so on. As food prices rise, the ability to survive on government programs decreases. What kinds of meals do you know that would fit into that budget?
Low-income households don't have a lot of options. I wish that we had a better system to deal with crisis poverty and ongoing needs, but right now this is all we have: government programs and community/church outreaches.
I know that food stamps seem like a "frivolous" program, but they are the most critical program the government provides. We MUST have food every single day in order to survive. Not having food leads people to do whatever they can to get it. If the American economy crashes, there will be millions more in need of food to get through their trials. My view is that the government better make sure it has more than it needs in funding for this program. The consequences would not be good when there are no food options for people who have nowhere else to turn.
I went into that issue without planning to, but the current budget crises are threatening our nation. It won't matter what party you belong to if you are hungry, starving, or threatened by desperate people. I hope we can find a way through this without too many innocent, struggling people being hurt. Finding the right places to cut back and changing the way we see the responsibility of our government is really very essential to our future as a nation. As morals decline, each area of our existence is going to be affected. I think we need to create a survival focus :: What matters most? What can we do without? How do we save as much as we can? What can we finance in other ways? How much do we really need?
I am not fond of government programs, but they are something we have established and are now essential for those who have no other option. The Bible tells us that the family structure is going to be destroyed as the End Times continue. Some kind of alternative intervention system is going to be necessary to help people in crisis. I would prefer it was the church, a loving and involved effort to meet the needs of those who cannot provide for themselves for whatever reason, who don't have families to support them through a crisis. As the End Times continue, the resources of our churches are going to be needed by its members...leaving less for those outside their congregation.
Those who do not want GOD to be the source of their help need another place to turn to, and the government seems to be that source. These are the people who want the government to provide for every need.
Once we establish a program, it is very difficult to eliminate it. We become dependent on it...whether it is a farm subsidy, food stamps, Social Security, or student loans. As we go through this financial evaluation of our budget, why don't we think about what programs are most critical to the most in need. Food, shelter, and income are the basics of survival.
We can find solutions, if we really look for them.
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