Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Stayin' Alive
Soon, very soon, we'll have a roof over our heads, but we've still got to overcome obstacles. We may be in a town without a shelter or mission, there may be no room at the inn (especially in the winter) or we may need an ID and/or a negative TB test card to get into a homeless shelter..
So at this point we're still camping out. There are still assets we can add to our Homeless Portfolios that can enhance our quality of life. Lets take them in order.
We're never going to get anywhere if we can't bathe. It's going to hurt our health, offend others and make the diligent homeless look (and smell) bad. Fortunately, a large (but not too large) city offers us lots of options.
Salvation Army posts may offer even non-residents a quick shower. So might homeless services offices or St. Vincent De Paul centers.
If we can scrape together a couple of bucks, our local YMCA is a good place to look for showers. If we are veterans, we may be able to take a shower at a drop-in facility near us.
Several of the agencies listed above, as well as many churches, have clothing closets where the homeless can get fresh, clean clothes, and several of these centers offer free laundry facilities. If we can't find free washers and dryers, we're going to have to save up enough to wash our clothing at a laundromat.
And taking care of our teeth is vital to our overall health. Any homeless support and assistance center will have toothbrushes and other toiletries. Cleanliness is a vital creed as we accumulate these quality of life assets,
By now we are really sick of being homeless. There's little light at the end of our tunnels. If we stick to the principles of our Homeless Portfolios, we will return to self-support more safely and quickly.
Don't lose hope!
So at this point we're still camping out. There are still assets we can add to our Homeless Portfolios that can enhance our quality of life. Lets take them in order.
We're never going to get anywhere if we can't bathe. It's going to hurt our health, offend others and make the diligent homeless look (and smell) bad. Fortunately, a large (but not too large) city offers us lots of options.
Salvation Army posts may offer even non-residents a quick shower. So might homeless services offices or St. Vincent De Paul centers.
If we can scrape together a couple of bucks, our local YMCA is a good place to look for showers. If we are veterans, we may be able to take a shower at a drop-in facility near us.
Several of the agencies listed above, as well as many churches, have clothing closets where the homeless can get fresh, clean clothes, and several of these centers offer free laundry facilities. If we can't find free washers and dryers, we're going to have to save up enough to wash our clothing at a laundromat.
And taking care of our teeth is vital to our overall health. Any homeless support and assistance center will have toothbrushes and other toiletries. Cleanliness is a vital creed as we accumulate these quality of life assets,
By now we are really sick of being homeless. There's little light at the end of our tunnels. If we stick to the principles of our Homeless Portfolios, we will return to self-support more safely and quickly.
Don't lose hope!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
It's our special birthday week!
So we're taking the day off.
This afternoon the University of Arizona Wildcats host the Oregon State Beavers in a big Pac-10 football matchup. The Cats are ranked 9th in the nation, their first time cracking the top ten in 12 years. Your friends here at The Homeless Portfolio are fortunate enough to have scored tickets to the game. Who'd have thought that even remotely possible during our years of homelessness ? God we love Pac-10 football...
Enjoy your weekend...
This afternoon the University of Arizona Wildcats host the Oregon State Beavers in a big Pac-10 football matchup. The Cats are ranked 9th in the nation, their first time cracking the top ten in 12 years. Your friends here at The Homeless Portfolio are fortunate enough to have scored tickets to the game. Who'd have thought that even remotely possible during our years of homelessness ? God we love Pac-10 football...
Enjoy your weekend...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Coming up this weekend!
We'll steer back toward expanding our money smarts by applying some basic investment terms to our real-world Homeless Portfolios. Now that we've got a few bucks, how do we spend them? Some answers this weekend...
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Canning
"Canning" is a street term for collecting aluminum cans and turning them in for cash. The problem is that, in most states, we get very little reward for our hard, smelly work.
The first thing we need is a plastic garbage bag. If we have a buck we can get them at any dollar store.
Now we need a plan. First, we'll start our regular canning by five in the morning. Last night's empty cans and bottles may already be sitting on the curb.. Grab 'em...but be careful to never trespass on private property. We're going to have to look in and dig into trash cans to reap our reward. Next we'll hit the "collegetown" area. Remember, college towns are the best when it comes to providing services to the homeless. Fraternity houses are manna from heaven. Talk to the guys who live there...they may well save up their cans and bottles for you. In 4-5 hours we should be able to collect 100 cans, and use the proceeds to add important assets to our Homeless Portfolios.
Now we need to take our goodies to an aluminum recycling facility. In states without bottle and can deposits we're only going to make about 60 cents per pound, meaning our 100 cans (33 cans/pound) will earn us $1.80.
Contrast that with states which pay us five cents per can. That money comes from a deposit already paid by the purchaser. In Oregon, for example, those 100 cans will net us $4.80, a 266% better return than in by-the-pound states. "Return" simply means profit, or the amount of money we make. Look at any aluminum can and it will tell you whether there is a deposit law in your state.
So now we need to use this new asset, money, to enhance our Homeless Portfolios. Canning is not a positive long-term effort, but it can fill the gaps. Next week we'll talk about how we should spend our money to improve our lives.
The first thing we need is a plastic garbage bag. If we have a buck we can get them at any dollar store.
Now we need a plan. First, we'll start our regular canning by five in the morning. Last night's empty cans and bottles may already be sitting on the curb.. Grab 'em...but be careful to never trespass on private property. We're going to have to look in and dig into trash cans to reap our reward. Next we'll hit the "collegetown" area. Remember, college towns are the best when it comes to providing services to the homeless. Fraternity houses are manna from heaven. Talk to the guys who live there...they may well save up their cans and bottles for you. In 4-5 hours we should be able to collect 100 cans, and use the proceeds to add important assets to our Homeless Portfolios.
Now we need to take our goodies to an aluminum recycling facility. In states without bottle and can deposits we're only going to make about 60 cents per pound, meaning our 100 cans (33 cans/pound) will earn us $1.80.
Contrast that with states which pay us five cents per can. That money comes from a deposit already paid by the purchaser. In Oregon, for example, those 100 cans will net us $4.80, a 266% better return than in by-the-pound states. "Return" simply means profit, or the amount of money we make. Look at any aluminum can and it will tell you whether there is a deposit law in your state.
So now we need to use this new asset, money, to enhance our Homeless Portfolios. Canning is not a positive long-term effort, but it can fill the gaps. Next week we'll talk about how we should spend our money to improve our lives.
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