frugalraw

since I’ve been able to sign in - I’ve tried numerous times and the today.com application wouldn’t load or let me in for some reason.  Oh well - I’m back now!!!

Since my last post, I have turned 43, started a new job, and am beginning to see small bits of payoff in my side endeavors - the book, the shop, my art…it’s all coming together - slowly but surely. 

I’m having to be very frugal with my time these days, as into the mix of it all, my Aunt fell last week and suffered a compound fracture.  Spare time is being spent on caring for her and keeping her company so she doesn’t go nuts.  She’s normally a very active 81 year old.  She cooks, she knits, she gardens, she sews - and she reads.  Reading is about the only thing she can muster at the moment.  I expect that she will be back on the mend quickly as she, like me, has no patience for illness or convalesence in her own life.

Another aspect of frugality has hit home for me this past month.  When I do custom art, I like everyone else in the world expect to be paid - even by my friends.  Sadly, what I thought was a blossoming friendship has turned out to be in reality yet another occasion of being used for my talents.  I won’t go into the nightmare that it was just getting this custom order ready.  I priced it only half of what it should have been, because I thought I was doing this for a friend, and also agreed to allow this friend to make payments - today marks one month since the item was picked up, and to date, this so-called friend refuses to tell me when she will pay me a thing.   In the meantime, I am in danger of losing my utilities and have made her aware.  Does she care? HA!  Hardly…this learning experience will probably lead to my first experience in small claims court. 

This brings me to the point of this part of my post today.  Contracts.  I will never again do custom work without being paid upfront and with a contract for the order in writing.  Why?  Because doing that custom order takes me away from other items I could be working on that will otherwise sell while I am waiting on that custom request to be paid for.  So, no more payment agreements, no more rush orders without the dough-re-to-me before I begin.  It’s hard learning to not trust those who are supposedly close and friends…sadly today it’s a necessity.  It’s because of the people in this world who have tried to get over on me or have successfully ripped me off that I am now drawing a permanent line in the sand that is inclusive of all who know me and all who do not.  Thieves are in our midsts and they may well be the ones you sadly trust most.    

Protect yourselves and live by the letter of the law - being frugal enough to make the agreement in writing can make a world of difference in how you are handled by others.