Lost track of what I was thinking

Something I havnt talked about is that I do work as a handyman. With this type of work you run into all kinds of crazy, rather it be a possible client that refuses to pay or opening up a water heater closet to find theres no floor and its held up with straps and nailed to the wall.I started out doing just yard work and debris removal and then started getting asked about other things as well. In the begining, I didnt really have many tools other than what I needed to work on my car plus a hammer and hand saw. Now I have an entire tool chest that is packed full and I carry around with me all the time, plus several pneumatics and odd tools that I keep in a shed as well because it wont fit in the chest.I originally did it as a part time job right after my divorce for extra money that my full time job didn’t provide. I would take along my girlfriend at the time and her son with me, I would pay him for the help but only if he actually did work. It gave him a really good work ethic that he shows to this day.A few years in and I had a call from a local lawyer who also gave me business pointers and actually helped me a lot. The work I did for him was more of janitorial services for the most part in his offices. It was one of the oldest buildings in my town, built back in the late 1800s. Later he had me working at his home as well and had to use him as my lawyer to get my workmans comp claim to actually pay my medical bills when I got hurt at work.After I had gotten hurt at work and was able to walk again, I still had issues doing the work that I was doing normally. It was hard work, tossing 50 lb bags of feed almost daily all day long.Anyways, I left there and went full time as a handyman. It can be scary at times not knowing when the next call is going to come for you to make money to pay your bills or buy food. Its always feast or famine unless you have savings. I learned this lesson a few years ago. I had landed this big contract that I knew could end at any time but I took it anyways and quit another job that I had taken when there was no calls. It paid enough that I had paid up the mortgage for 6 months as well as the other bills. At the end of that 6 months I had gotten a few calls but they ended up not paying, normally I wouldn’t have worried about it so much but it was at the end of that 6 months and the mortgage was coming due.I chased down the company that owed me money but they soon changed thier phone number and it was like the company no longer existed. It was a corporate account from a maintenance outfit based out of Florida and I’m in Illinois. The amount would not have been worth the court fees to sue them because it would have cost more than it was worth. It did however cause me to loose our home.This was the fall prior to covid hitting. Thats when I built our tiny on wheels and that is where we are now.

#handyman #oddsandends

A glimpse into our life

JULY 2, 2023 ~ WHYSPRS

As I’ve stated before we are semi offgrid, we tend to use coolers to keep our food cool and can be difficult more in the summer than winter. You will want a good cooler to do this and yes they can be expensive but it is a good investment. The one we chose is the Lifetime 55 quart cooler. We chose it because it has flip tabs instead of having to pull the big rubber pieces up which is hard to do in the winter.

We keep ours outside due to the limited space inside, so you will want to have it in an accessable area and in the shade. Instead of buying ice all the time, you may want to invest in a freezer with solar set up. A freezer doesnt usually use power as much as you would expect and about a 100 watt system with a single car battery should work fine. Just make sure that you have enough amp output for the peak which is when the compressor first kicks on.

With our cook stove, we went with the camp chef, which is a propane stove and has its own oven in case we decide to bake things. We have been using it for about 3 years now and can say it does very well. It has 2 large burners on top, and 2 oven racks inside the oven which can fit up to a 12 inch pizza.

Our toilet is a chem toilet but I am seriously thinking about going back to a composting toilet with a urine diverter. They do work very well and you dont have to continue to purchase the chemicals which prevents the feces from breaking down. Considering the majority of the contents of a toilet ends up being liquid, it would save trips to a dump station for the chem toilet where as with a composting toilet you can either compost the waste, burn it or have it hauled away with the trash depending in the local laws.

We do have a single light in the house, a fan and now an air conditioner in our house. As for heat I am using a buddy heater which sometimes is too hot in the winter, so its not used a lot but is also hooked up to a 20 lb propane tank.

#offgrid #tinyhouse #lifestyle