MRE’s are always cheap at the army surplus store – and come with their own heaters – no need for electricity. As far as showering, when I worked at the Greenwood Fred Meyer, we had a regular who would bathe in our restroom. As long as she kept her naughty bits covered, no one complained. Always an option Candles are great for evening reading, but honestly, you’re in Seattle – so much free entertainment around, stay out at the parks until dark, go home, go to bed.
Been in your situation, actually while I lived in Seattle. Have fun with it, honestly – it’s not so bad and it will go by quickly. Sorry to hear about your financial troubles, and I hope they don’t last long!
Yes, but he might, for some completely incomprehensibly stupid reason, be lying, in fact, he might actually be a 12-year-old-girl, having created the lissener persona just to groom us.
How long has it been since you’ve paid the electric bill, lissener? Have you communicated with the electric company, and tried to work out a payment plan, or have you hid behind the couch?
OK, this is hilarious. Thanks, amber03–assuming that’s really your name–for making this thread very entertaining.
The rest of you, thanks very much for your suggestions and support. Frank, I had paid half of it several months ago, but then fell behind on my followup while I was catching up on rent. And I didn’t realize the ultimatum, when it came, would give me only 24 hours notice. Unless I tossed a previous notice as junk mail, which is certainly possible.
The cold showers ain’t lethal, especially if I put myself in “seriously, what if you WERE camping? this wouldn’t bother you at all” mode. The worst part is that I live in a very noisy neighborhood, and I’ve become addicted to my white noise generator. Literally: without it every little noise keeps me awake. And working late, and sleeping mostly during the day, makes that a real problem.
Also, I’m having to take my iPod and phone chargers to work, which is a pain. I’m not in the habit of plugging that stuff when I get to work, so I have to remind myself. I learned this the first day, when my phone died at home–my only clock.
(And now work is getting busy, so that’s all for the moment. Good thing I don’t work for amber03.)
I thought this was going to be a thread about summertime, and pitching a tent in the back yard, and watching the stars…
I think you did the right thing by paying the landlord first (er, I work in a property management office).
Thank goodness it isn’t December!
You’ve still got a place to live, you’ve got a job… If you keep thinking of it as an adventure, and figuring out creative ways to cope, you’ll be fine. Keep your sense of humour, and pay the electric bill next. Humans can live without electricity; living without humour and support is harder. I guess I’d be hitting the local rec centres for showers, er, I mean, evening swims, and staying late at work, too, to “catch up”. It’s not the worst thing in the world, and some day you’ll look back and laugh.
It’s always good to have a hobby/pasttime you can do sans electricity (me, I play guitar and sing) and kudos for you for living up to your rent obligations.
One day, this will just be an anecdote.
And hey, I pay my $14.95 or whatever to the SD once a year. If six months from now, I lose my job, etc., I probably will still have my computer and valid membership. If I hock my computer, I could still log on for at the local library. Having a membership and being flat broke or in the hole, even, aren’t mutually exclusive.
Reading this thread, I’ve found a number of good suggestions, like the hand cranked light/radio, the MREs at Army surplus, and hitting the library for free services.
I thought it might be handy to start a thread where people who are having financial troubles generally can look for ideas. The ideas presented here are good, but no one’s going to find them uless they know to look for a thread entitled “Camping At Home” which will not necessarily occur to many folks. So I started a thread for financially getting through the tough spots that would be generally accessible, since Lissiner isn’t the only Doper who’s posted about tough economic problems. Here’s the URL, feel free to post your ideas or solicit idea from others there:
I actually had my power shut off back in 1997 for nonpayment because I was working so much I started neglecting my bills. I continued working long hours and putting off going down to the power company in person (which they demanded), and eventually I just got used to not having power. And I’m a computer programmer! I went down to Walgreen’s and got two wind-up alarm clocks (those things don’t have a snooze button), a small flashlight, and lots of batteries (but some rechargables you can take to work might be more cost effective), and read a lot of books. I also found food and drink staples that were acceptable at room temperature and did not need refrigeration. I lasted three months before breaking down and getting the power turned back on.
The one thing I had that you didn’t was that my apartment building had central hot water, so I didn’t have to take cold showers. I might not have lasted so long if I had to pretend I was camping while taking a shower. Good luck.
Candles are great for evening reading, but honestly, you’re in Seattle – so much free entertainment around, stay out at the parks until dark, go home, go to bed.
I went down to Walgreen’s and got two wind-up alarm clocks (those things don’t have a snooze button), a small flashlight, and lots of batteries (but some rechargables you can take to work might be more cost effective), and read a lot of books. I also found food and drink staples that were acceptable at room temperature and did not need refrigeration. I lasted three months before breaking down and getting the power turned back on.