I hate doing this, but it’s cold and we cannot afford to refill our propane tank (which fuels our furnace) so I’m asking for help.
A couple of years ago my husband had a good job that paid enough we decided that we could make do with a single income so I could focus on our kids and home. I left my job and things were good for a few months until my husband list his job. It took a couple weeks longer than he’d hoped to get a new job and then a couple more weeks until the paychecks started up again. Our meager savings was depleted but he had a new job and we were confident that we’d get caught back up in no time. I even started picking up some odd jobs and selling some stuff on Etsy to help make ends meet.
Six months later and he was let go for unspecified reasons. This time he had two job offers within a week, which was a relief. Weighing our options, he chose to take the lower paying position with what he felt was a better company that would offer better opportunities in the long run. By now we were drowning in bills, juggling who would get paid to keep the cars and house and lights, etc. We entered into a debt relief program to consolidate and negotiate our credit card bills to a manageable amount, which locked all the cards and removed them as an option to pay for anything. Although this was the right thing to do, it has made a hard situation even more challenging. I was looking for work again, but full time would mean putting the kids in a summer camp program, and none of the jobs available paid enough for us to afford that. So I started gardening for my neighbors, weeding and trimming and whatnot, for cash. (Fun Fact: I sweated about 20x my body weight this summer.) While this paid for our groceries, it didn’t do much more than that.
Flash forward to now. We just managed to finish paying the past due amount owed to our propane company for last winter’s heating but need to have money to refill the propane tank so we can actually use our furnace. Up to this point we have been using two small electric heaters (the kind you use to heat your cubicle at work) to heat our 1100 sq ft home, and they do ok at keeping the house from freezing, but only with the aid of our oven (which I have filled with rocks to retain and slowly release heat)
and a clay pot heater I rigged up in front of our fireplace
“Hey, Jackie, why don’t you use the fireplace for warmth?”
Good question! The flue liner is cracked so it doesn’t draw properly and not only does the house stay cold, but it fills with smoke. Plus firewood isn’t free and I happened to have about 100 tea lights and all the other things needed to make this surprisingly efficient little radiator.
I had a phone interview last week for a good job and have my fingers crossed that it will work out, but realistically, if I do get the job, it won’t start paying until January and it is really cold now. Any help would be greatly appreciated, even just sharing this post. Thank you for reading this far! Happy (warm) Holidays to you all!
I’ve added the link to my Etsy shop for anyone who wants to see what I’m selling. Vintage geeky and what I refer to as “cottage chic” items. Sorry for all the reblogs, I’m going to try to keep them to a minimum.
