Saturday, April 16, 2016

Three Jobs in Three Months?

I had an interview for a custodial job at McDonald's yesterday. I hope I get it; I really don't like telemarketing. 
I would be working in the middle of the night but that's alright by me since I could watch the markets in the daytime. 
If I get the job, it will be my third one in under three months. 
I might not get as many hours in but it pays better per hour and I won't have to travel an hour and a half a day to get to work. In fact I could ride my bicycle to work. I could stay in Decorah.
I don't look forward to moving since all of my friends and favorite coffee shops are here. 
I'm getting turned down when I apply for credit card credit limit raises and loans. I'm going to close down most of my bank accounts and credit card accounts if they don't give me loans at low interest rates. I don't see any reason to fool around with those people. If I can't get more money out of them I'll just close my accounts. 
My van is giving me troubles. The brake light came on. The broken emergency brake cable is the problem. It's going to cost over $350 to fix it. That is more than a week's pay. It turned out that there is a cheap way to fix it that includes patching up the cable. I should have asked around before committing to fixing it at a car dealership. Well at least it will be done right, and it should last the life of the car. 
I'm buying a lot of silver on Ebay as well as Amagi Metals. I still can't get enough to make me feel at all secure during the currency collapse. I need to either sell something for some real money or keep working at a job that pays well. I need a lot of money for prepping (such as buying dehydrated food) and stocking up on precious metals. 
It looks like the collapse is coming quicker than I thought it would. I'm seeing things on the Internet that makes me thing we are in the middle of the collapse right now. 
Maybe it will blow over like the Ebola scare. I hope it does. I need a couple of years to get prepared at all. Poverty makes it impossible to really get ready for the inevitable collapse. 
Oh well,
Later

Saturday, April 9, 2016

I got out from under my worst loan

To get back from California, I borrowed almost $4000 at around 100% interest. That loan was killing me.
I got it paid off by borrowing against my van. I now owe over $5,000 on the van but it's at 12% so I'm saving over $200/month.
I was able to use my new job as more income against my loan; that made it possible to get the loan.
I feel much better, now. I was worried about what I would do if my income went down and I didn't have the money to pay the loans and credit cards.
The next step is to pay off credit cards and maybe get loans to do that at a lower interest rate. I'm hoping for something around 11% which would be better than the 20+% that I've been paying.
I think I'll just pay off my First Premier card. It has a bad reputation for extra charges.
The next thing I'll do is to pay off my credit cards with low interest loans. In the next 6 months or so I should be in a lot better shape, financially.
Later,


Friday, March 25, 2016

My Second Day of Telemarketing and I Almost got a Sale.

I stayed home from work yesterday and shoveled snow. It was some of the worst weather that we've had this winter. The snow was wet and heavy; it was hard work. I didn't make much money but at least I didn't risk having an accident driving to work.
I'm feeling drained from all the shoveling. It all melted, today; but it had to be shoveled yesterday.
I got in my first full day of telemarketing today. I'm still nervous and making mistakes but I almost had a sale. I just screwed up taking the information about where to send the book I was selling. I sent the customer some information and we'll get back to him next week. I feel certain that I'll get that sale.
I'm glad to get a job that will last a while. I was really worrying about finances. Now I'll just refinance some of my worse loans and credit cards since I have a new job; and I can show some more income. That should turn things around. I also hope to sell some things like etchings and my motor home. That will really help.
I'm still thinking about going back to California and search for gold. This time I'll have more money to work with. I might just be too old for all the hard work that, that entails. I would probably be better off selling books on the phone and buy gold with my income.
I'll probably do something that involves having an increased income and finding gold. If I found enough gold I could certainly justify going back to California and prospecting again.
The first time I went out there I didn't find enough gold to go back; but I have some new ideas about how to look for gold. If things work out I may go back in a year or two.
On a different topic; Raymundo is going  with me to church this Sunday. He must be facing a lonely Easter Sunday as well as myself. I hope that Barnes & Noble is open that day. I'll have to check on that. I've got a coupon for a 20% discount; I'll use it for food.
That's all for now.
Later.

Monday, March 21, 2016

I Broke a Tooth and I Start Telemarketing Wednesday

I broke a tooth last week. I was concerned that it would mess me up with telemarketing this week.
I went to the dentist this morning. He simply ground down the sharp places and said that it wasn't in danger of getting infected. I'll be at work this Wednesday; come Hell or high water.
That reminds me; it's supposed to snow this Wednesday. I kind of hope that I can get off of work so I could shovel snow. I can make more money at that than I can telemarketing. Oh, well. The snow will probably melt before I can get to  it.
Tomorrow I get my taxes done. It's free at the Library. An organization called RSVP does it for poor and retired people. I think I have every thing I need for it.
I went to a gun show in Onalaska, WI, yesterday. I was going to go to church but I forgot about that.
I was surprised to find that the guns in Wisconsin were a lot cheaper than the ones in Waterloo, Iowa. Maybe people in Wisconsin don't have as much money as Iowans. I was too broke to buy anything but I'll keep my eyes open for more gun shows when I have money.
What I really want is a mini-14; that's a smaller caliber version of the M-14. It's chambered in .223 instead of .308. It's a common round but I am a little afraid that it might piss off any bears I encounter in the mountains of California. A .308 would put them down for the count. I sold my Mosin-Nagant a few weeks ago. I needed the money.
Oh well, I didn't see any bears last summer so it's probably an unreasonable fear, anyway.
According to a guy named Bo Polny gold and silver were supposed to take off today. It didn't happen. I was probably to only one surprised by that. I'm beginning to think that gold and silver prices can be held down forever. When markets are so manipulated there is no telling when the manipulation will end. Maybe it's a forever thing.
I should just pay off my bills and buy some dried food and forget about precious metals.
That reminds me. I was cheated on some supposedly silver coins last week. The mint at Niue made some coins commemorating Disney princesses. These coins had the very same front as the Niue coins but they were labeled as being from New Zealand on the back. I reported the counterfeiting to Ebay. I doubt that anything will be done about it. I'm out about $40. I should have done more research. I did Google New Zealand Disney coins and I came up with no indication that they were counterfeit.
That's all for now.
Later

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

I got another job.

I found another job today. It's telemarketing and I'll be working through Manpower for a while.
It's in a town named Monona which is about 45 minutes of driving time away.
I'm figuring on working there for a few weeks to make sure that it's a good fit.
Gary told me that there is nothing in Monona so I'll always be coming back here for coffee and ice cream.
Maybe he's right. All of my friends and favorite coffee shops are here in Decorah. I'll be very tempted to come back all of the time.
I don't start working until next Wednesday so I'll be tempted to simply find a job at a gas station or McDonald's and avoid driving so much. I have a week to accomplish that. McDonald's seems serious about hiring people. I could also work there on weekends while I also work the other job.
At least it looks like I'll get the money to get out of debt and to set up for another trip to California.
One of my biggest problems in California was poverty. I borrowed heavily to get there and then I didn't have the money to do a proper job of prospecting. If I work hard and save my money I should be able to go back in a year or two. The next time I'll be more ready for what I have to spend and do to find gold.
In spite of being very broke I find myself buying more silver on Ebay. I bought 3 silver coins minted by New Zealand's mint the other day. They look real to me but the seller said that they were silver plated. If they were, I'll turn them into the New Zealand national police since they are obvious counterfeits. We'll see by Saturday.
I called a precious metals dealer about a gold coin that I bought last Summer. It turned out that it hadn't been delivered because the company had been bought by someone else and my order got lost in the shuffle. They said that they would deliver it. It will be a couple of weeks before I see it. I'm glad to be getting it.
That's all for now.
Later

Friday, March 11, 2016

A Job Came and Went'

I had a job for 2 days. That's all I could handle.
My biggest problem was bending over and getting back up. If I had to get down to the ground I couldn't get back up.
At least I got a couple of days in. It'll help with the bills.
I found myself counting all the money that I hadn't earned yet and I was thinking about how I would spend it all; now I'm back to poverty and wondering where it will all come from.
I've got to sell my etchings and motor home. I guess I'll sell the membership to the gold prospecting club "The New49er's" as well.
I hate to sell things that are important to me but it has to happen.
I'm sending in applications for IT jobs.
They'll pay better and won't require stooping over.
I haven't heard from any of my applications yet but I have hopes. In a worse case scenario I could sell the car and get by with a bicycle.  I see the mail deliverers doing that, now. The recession is just getting worse.
Later.

Friday, March 4, 2016

I got a Job!

It finally happened; someone hired me at over minimum wage. 
I'll be working at a place called Roto-Cast. I start next Monday.
I'll be working with plastics and chemicals which is probably why nobody else wanted the job. 
That's fine with me; I'll have the money to pay down my debts and I'll buy more gold and silver. 
I'm rather happy about this development. 
Here I am 68 years old and happy as Hell to be working full time.
On a different track; silver and gold seems to be breaking out. Jsnip4 on YouTube said that the IAU etf quit taking new orders. I tried to buy some GLD and SLV options and I got a mysterious message that said I couldn't go to those sites on Etrade today. 
I later went back and bought some SLV options. At least I got some options. I also bought a couple of coins (Austrian Philharmonics).
I did what I could. Gold and silver went through the roof, today according to CNBC.
I called Gary and told him to buy now since he might not ever be able to get precious metals after next week. 
I'm probably wrong but it looks like we are finally running out of precious metals. We'll know next week. 
This might be your only notification that the world is out of gold and silver so I would buy now.
Later