What the Heck is Zazzle?

In spite of Zazzle's growing popularity, there are still folks out there who ask me what it is. I thought I'd explain it a bit.

Sleeping Bulldog Tote Bag by SpotsDogHouse
See more Bulldog Bags

• Zazzle is a print on demand company. It's main appeal is that you can order as few as one item. Most printing places have a minimum of dozens of a particular design.
• You can design your own product or you can buy one that is already designed for you. You can even customize many ready-made designs.
• The ready-made products are designed by people like me who group them together in a virtual store. When someone buys a product with my design, I get a royalty. It may be only pennies or a dollar or two but it adds up.
• Zazzle offers more than just tee shirts and coffee mugs. There are pendants, trophies, stationary, cell phone cases, mouse pads, jewelry, electronics, housewares, hats, belt buckles and more items than I can list. They come out with new items all the time.
• From a few items I've seen they are high quality products. You can read the reviews to get an idea of what others thought.
• Zazzle products make great gifts. You can even get awards for your club or activity.

Take a look at my stores at
Ragtimelil       
SpotsDogHouse
RagtimelilsMugs         
RagtimeStudio

A Miracle and Payback

I wasn't expecting a miracle. I had a friend who had said she and her husband would try to help me buy a car. At first, they said they'd help once they sold their extra car. But there was a problem with the title. So I didn't get too excited. I know how long things take sometimes. I was happy that they were thinking of me and wanted to help.
Then the miracle happened. I got a text message that they were going to give me a van. I just couldn't believe it. I had signed up for Charity Cars online but didn't expect to see any results from that for a LONG time. I was pretty far down on the list and couldn't find my way around the web site. It was not an easy web site to navigate.
So we met last week and went to the registry and I now have a van. I can't really believe it yet. I still feel like I'm borrowing a car. That's OK too. I will take better care of it that way. I get almost weepy when I think about how generous they were and how it has changed my life. It's just an amazing feeling to be able to go to the store any time I want. People can invite me over to visit and I don't have to ask for a ride.

Of course, now, I want to pay it forward. My new neighbors don't have a car. I've taken them to the store a couple of times. The husband is a locksmith and he fixed the lock on my camper. I had lost the key for it and he had keys that just happened to fit and adjusted it for the sagging door. I like the barter system.
But the other night they asked for a ride to a friend's house, which was some distance away, to pick up cigarettes. I didn't want to drive that far, and I didn't want to go right that minute. I had just settled down for the evening and was sipping a cold one and watching my little lizard buddy on the plant shelf stalk a fly. (I live an exciting life.)
I did take them but I was a teeny bit annoyed. When I thought about it, I realized I had always asked people to take me when it was convenient for them usually when they were going anyway. I only asked someone to drive me to the nearest corner store if I really needed something that day.
I really want to help, but I feel like I need to decide what I am willing to do.I end up doing what people ask and then being annoyed because it wasn't what I really wanted to do.
I will take them to the store when I'm going anyway or we've made plans to go. Or I'll take them to the corner store and even loan them money for cigarettes if they are desperate.  I will not drive them to Walmart which is miles away in the next town just because that's where they'd rather shop. I want to help but I don't have unlimited gas money and I treasure my time.
I hope I'm not being selfish after all the generosity that has been shown to me. I'm torn with trying to make a decision on how to handle this.

Pizza and Zazzle. Too Many Zs

Today I am still waiting for my truck to be fixed. It has been a month now. I hope that's it for a while but I fear not.
I hitched a ride to the church food pantry today. My neighbor was given a pizza but she didn't like it so gave it to me. It was pretty bad. The crust was good, but the topping looked and tasted like it had been painted on. I cut a piece and put it in a frying pan and added some tomato sauce. I didn't have any cheese but had anchovies (of all things to get from a food pantry....) I happen to like anchoves so I threw some on. Not bad. At least it pretends to be a pizza. If I had more milk and some vinegar, I could have made cheese, but I'm down to my last four dollars. No money to squander on vinegar.
I've been working like crazy on my Zazzle store. If you haven't been by in a while, come by and take a look. I've been really cleaning it up and redoing the look as well as adding a ton of new stuff.

Other Basic Necessities that a Less Affluent Person Might Need

There are other things a person living on the edge might need or want. Some are essentials, others just something to make life more comfortable.

Communication is often difficult. I avoid signing up for anything that results in a bill at the end of the month. I use a prepaid phone.

The phone itself is very inexpensive, especially for the basic model without any bells and whistles. I’ve always used TracFone for its availability. Almost every gas station carries a phone card for them. They are easy to use if not the most economical. I don’t talk on the phone much and don’t make casual calls. I have a phone mostly for emergencies. Texting, however, is cheaper on this phone than an actual call. I use that more often.

There are fancier models and all sorts of discounted cards that would make a super gift. Click on the boxes to read more about TracFone and minute cards.

When you’re out of spare change, you don’t get to do laundry. Fortunately, living in an RV park, I do have electricity. Some years ago I bought a little table top washing machine. It works great. I can’t believe how clean it gets my clothes. It has a couple of drawbacks though. One is that it only holds a few items. I have to do a wash every day and don’t get down far enough to get to things like sheets. The other is that this model has no drain. You have to dump the water out. It does have holes in the top so that the clothes stay in the bucket. It’s great for emergencies, but gets pretty tiresome.

   This one has a drain hose      

I'll be highlight more things that can make life better for someone  living on the edge. It doesn't have to be all gloom and doom. The way out is upward and onward.