7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Where are you and where are you going?
7Wannabe5
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Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@mountainFrugal:

Yes, I could perform those sort of experiments, or I could just move the pots around if I notice that plants aren't flourishing. I am kind of imagining a sort of structure radiating from the kitchen of my apartment with the tiny seedlings in small pots and the pots being larger at the Money Dimple which is 2 miles away.

Almost all gardening is either a rough form of container gardening to the extent that it isn't something like mini-farming. For instance, with the Mel Bartholomew Square ft gardening method, you are basically preparing each square foot you intend to plant as if it were a 12 X 12 container, and the same holds true for raised beds. I have access to a lot of cardboard and a huge pile of woodchips from the trees I had removed, so I will just start by putting down cardboard covered by woodchips everywhere that I might want a bed or a path, and then I will just place the containers, some of which will be biodegradable, on top of the carboard for now, with some kind of water wicking system in place. Then I can slowly build up the layers of compost and other materials for a sandwich bed around the plants rather than vice-versa. Probably I will also order some straw bales to be delivered to be used as both planters and barriers and then eventually mulch. I would also like to integrate some more chitty-chitty-bang-bang automated hydroponic type experiments, but my vigor is at an extreme all time low, so I must rein in my ambitions. Success this year will be the Money Dimple isn't condemned by the city and I am somewhat cheered by random hodge podge of plants, some of which will be purely ornamental.

7Wannabe5
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Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

February

Personal Spending
Shelter- $500
Food- $169
Girl Stuff -$10
Tools/Gear- $25
Edutainment- $24
Social- $0
Transport -$90
Com/Tech- $87
Health- $180
Total
$1085

I am hoping to get my personal spending number back down below 1EcoJacobPPP = $881/month ASAP. My Health spending will drop significantly once I have paid off 0% financed total of my 2021 expenses which weren't covered under my ACA plan since that amounts to $160/month. However, this is more than a bit of a "cheat" since my ongoing medical treatments would be quite expensive if not covered by extended Medicaid plan I qualified for this year, but I don't know how this is going to all work out in the medium or long run because the expensive treatments aren't even working (yet.)

Food should also come down once I've done a bit more adjusting to my newly adopted "soft gastro" diet. Oat milk is pretty much my primary food, so I'm going to try to start making it from scratch. I was getting depressed about the fact that it will be difficult for me to eat much of anything fresh from my garden, but I decided to think of it as experimenting with a new cuisine and just ask myself how I can eat any given item of produce. For instance, apples will become applesauce, and I could even eat legumes if I processed them into tofu like substances. I am also going to keep my eyes open for a juicer at the thrift store. Worst case scenario, I'll just dump all the fiber back into my compost, but maybe I can come up with an intermediary consumer.

Net Income/CapX

Tutoring- $368
Misc. Income-$466
Money Dimple -(-$96)
Book Business-(-$214)
Permaculture-(-$133)
Investment Income Realized ($0)
Graduate Studies- (-$1940)
Total
(-1549)

Actually not quite as bad as it looks here, because I am focusing on cash flow rather than equity/inventory/etc. Also, my tutoring income is going to be much higher next month and forward. However, the day will shortly come when I will have to somehow justify these expenditures. One of the primary rules of permaculture is Create a Yield!

I am going to try to start making progress on the Money Dimple again as soon as it warms up a bit more. My garage is now fixed up enough that I could probably attempt living in it when my apartment lease is up in June IFF I was feeling better. I'm usually somebody who very much likes doing stuff like sleeping in the bag of a jeep with a new BF on a cold night, but lately I'm like no can do on roughing it. So, I would have to make one corner of the garage pretty posh level comfortable with insulation, fully functional chemical toilet, etc. My most immediate tasks are replacing the lock on the garage door, cleaning the very last of the debris out of the house, putting down cardboard and wood chips for tentative growing bed and path locations, and experimenting with making homemade non-toxic paint out of wheat flour and linseed oil. I have been searching for a cheap source for natural pigments such as ochre, but no luck as of yet. I am having a lot of fun with my "plant something every day" practice and my countertop hydroponic units. Dill, rosemary, and basil are my only harvests as of yet, but that's pretty good for February in Michigan. I have around 30 different species of plants growing or started now, covering one countertop, 3 windowsills, and a hot sprouting spot near the furnace. There's probably at least 30 species growing at the Dimple already, if I count stuff like dandelions and chicory, so maybe it will already start getting a little bit interesting this summer.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I sold the Money Dimple on land contract to my next door neighbor (the assertive lawn mowing guy) a couple days ago. I think my Take 8 might be subtitled The Non-Adventures of Indoors Girl or Early Onset Amorality of Old Age or A Moebius Twist of Wheaton with Cheez.

sky
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Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by sky »

How would you rate your experience with the Money Dimple, positive/negative/neutral?

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@sky:

Hard to say. Too mixed up with Covid lockdown stir-crazy, breaking up house with poly-partner, Crohn's diagnosis, and excuse to hang out with my adult kids. Going to write it off like somewhat too expensive wacky road trip.

However, I will note that I am currently moving towards hard reversion to extreme minimalism, low maintenance costs.

Gilberto de Piento
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Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I'm sorry things didn't go to plan with the house. It was a huge project. I hope you are doing ok.

DutchGirl
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Location: The Netherlands

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by DutchGirl »

I looked at your message and thought: new adventures await.

But yes, also what Gilberto says: the most important thing would be for you being okay.

jacob
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Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by jacob »

Housing lives longer than humans. It is, therefore, best thought in terms of a temporary holding that occupants should ready for the preferences of whoever is next to live there. Would they want a garden or a lawn?

FWIW, I think selling was a good choice.

UrbanHomesteader
Posts: 87
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:02 pm

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by UrbanHomesteader »

It's been a fascinating chapter to follow in your journal and I look forward to hearing about your next chapter. Please do keep writing.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@all:

Thanks for the well wishes. I am doing okay. In a bit of a holding pattern until next round of treatment for Crohn's disease. My DS32 is going through a rough patch, so I've also been helping him out some. I'm tutoring math part-time, working on masters in data analysis part-time, and reading a lot. I'm not actively dating, and I've almost run out of former partners who are still hanging around. Some members of my extended family have started thinking seriously about climate collapse etc., so my next project might be more of a group effort.

Riggerjack
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Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Riggerjack »

@7,

Letting go of projects can be cleansing. It's good to see you free of this one.

I'm sorry you didn't see the dimple finished the way you wanted it. Now you will have the chance to see how it progresses in someone else's hands. That can be sweet, too.

7Wannabe5
Posts: 9370
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Riggerjack wrote:Letting go of projects can be cleansing.
Very true. I'm trying to clean up a bunch of my other hanging chads and relax into a very boring lifestyle.

Riggerjack
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am

Re: 7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

Post by Riggerjack »

I'm trying to clean up a bunch of my other hanging chads and relax into a very boring lifestyle
Yes! And NO!

Yes, while focusing on healing, losing the distractions is a great move.

But how relaxing is boredom for you? From your writing, boredom seems stressful.

So I would advise actively looking for convalescent friendly new projects as I closed out the old projects.

But you are probably already doing this. :)

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