I Just Need a Little Help From My Friends...


TLDR, just want to donate

So this is a difficult post to write, probably even more difficult than figuring out how to tell people I had a brain tumor. I HATE asking people for money, for help, for most anything really - except prayer, I'm pretty good at asking for that! Here's the thing, I don't NEED money. I'm not looking for donations for a huge fundraiser like the 3-Day (did that a long time ago). I'm not going on a mission trip. But I am doing something new, something I can't do without help.

In this eye of the storm season I'm in, I've become positively obsessed with travel. The thing is, travel is expensive and while I could just spend our savings to do what I want, that wouldn't be great stewardship of our future and hopeful retirement. So I've been learning about points and miles and the best way to get return towards travel with the spending we're doing anyways (like paying bills and buying groceries). The thing is, to really make this work for you, you have to have some sort of a "side hustle" so that you qualify for business cards. It doesn't have to be an official business, you could sell things on ebay or host garage sales or babysit. But you do have to earn some money. It doesn't have to be a lot, most of the things I've been reading say that if I even bring in $300 a year it will qualify. 

So I set to thinking about what I could do to earn $300 in a year, well this year particularly, so in a month. At first I reached out to my Mom and my oldest son to see if they had any old trading cards they'd like me to sell for them on ebay. I figured I could do that. Unfortunately, they didn't. They were very willing to help out if I needed money though, so that was sweet! I looked around the house for things to sell, and while there might be something, we live a pretty simple life and while our things have a high sentimental value, their sellable value is somewhat less. So I thought and I thought. I looked into becoming a travel agent again, but that was very complicated and expensive and I'm so afraid now of just getting into it and then having to do radiation or something and having to quit again. But what I am doing is writing a blog. I'm writing a lot, actually. I'm almost at 200 published posts, with several more in the works in the background. I'm sharing devotional thoughts, educating people about chronic illness and disability, inspiring (hopefully) others with travel highlights and how-tos. Turns out, I'm a blogger.

Well then, how does one go about earning money from a blog? Well, one option is to allow ad placement. I looked into that, but as I prayed about it, it just didn't feel right. I don't want people to be bombarded with pop ups and side bars. I want to keep the main thing the main thing. Not to mention I'm more than a little leery of what they might put on and I'd hate to have people thinking I endorsed the random things that Google generates for them. So that's out. I could start up a membership, offer bonus things to the "select," and I'm not entirely against that, I'm just not sure how much interest there would be in that (let me know in the comments if I'm wrong and you would be interested. Be sure to include what type of content would inspire you to be a member). So I'm going to try out strategy three, a donation ask. Now this isn't a tax-deductible donation. I am not a 501-3(c) or any other type of charity. If you donate, you are donating because you find value in the content I create and you'd like to support me in doing more of it. It's that simple.

So if I don't make enough money will I quit writing my blog? Absolutely not! It will just tell me that this was not the path that God had for me. I've prayed about it quite a bit, and I think the points and miles path is where I'm supposed to be, but I definitely wouldn't say I'm certain. Several times in the past, God has shown up through others in supporting me, whether with meals, money, or memes (the three m's ?). He's illuminated His direction for me before, and I'm expecting that He'll do it again, one way or the other.

What will I do with the donations? They will go into my travel fund! I currently have five trips planned next year with a few more in pencil. I'll be sharing with you all about solo travel, disability travel, finding cheap cruises, and, if I get this all sorted out well, points and miles. I definitely won't forget the devotional posts I've been writing though, and I'll be sure to keep you all up with what's happening with my health. I've got some interesting posts coming up on living within your limits using a health tracker and the crazy experiment we've done with trying to figure out my blood sugar using constant glucose trackers.

Here's the Thing: Please, please, do not feel obligated to donate, but if you are interested, here's the easiest way I've found for you to do it. Just click on this link and you'll be taken to my paypal page where you can log in and donate via your connected bank account or paypal balance (no fee) or with a credit card (small fee). There's a place for you to leave a note if you'd like to let me know how the blog has blessed you! 


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