It occurred to me that several of the people who wanted to help but couldn't due to lack of funds

[conuly]

might actually have funds in the form of gift cards elsewhere. We are looking into food stamps this week, but of course those only cover *food*, and not always completely. So I went and made an Amazon wish list with things we use up often. I focused on non-perishables that are reasonably cost effective. Like, beans are really, really marked up on Amazon, even when you take shipping into account. For most varieties it is only worth it to buy in 25 pound increments, and I'm not going to ask people to buy me 25 pounds worth of kidney beans! I'm not even sure what I'd do with that, swim around in them?

This was a quick, rough and ready list. It's doubtful I chose the cheapest items, and that's not even taking into account that you might get a better discount at another site. I'm just trying to save money wherever I can, put it into the house. (My sister wanted me to put new stove knobs on the list, and I see her point, but if we lose the house the issue is moot anyway. I don't want anybody buying new stove knobs to give them to the bank, and I'm certainly not intending to carry them around with me either!)

Obviously I do not expect *anybody* to get me *anything*. You've all been more than generous already, as you can see at the gofundme link, and I'm overflowing with eternal gratitude.

On that note, if you order anything from Amazon, for anybody, be sure to do it via smile.amazon.com. You get to pick a charity, and a teeny tiny portion of your spending goes to that charity. I chose Solar Cookers International (back when we had funds) because solar cookers are win-win-win-win all around. They are made of win. Currently, cook fires in Africa and Asia cause rampant deforestation, which is of course bad for global warming. Because of the deforestation people, often women, have to walk miles every day just to get wood to cook dinner. Time spent on this is time not being spent on work or education or, god forbid, simple leisure. Cook fires release toxic fumes which not only are hazardous to the lungs, but also are a contributor to global warming. And, of course, there is always the risk of people, especially small children, falling into the fire and getting burned. There is no way that solar cookers can't help.

When we are past this crisis, I will buy myself a Wonderbag, which is another method of saving people from cook fires. For every one purchased, another is donated.

Comments

[janewilliams20]

Excellent idea, and done!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yo, I want to send you something, but I have never bought anything online in my life. I don't have PayPal or whatever, and this computer I'm using is so unsecured that I don't feel safe typing my debit-card number into it. According to your GoFundMe I can just send you a check, which would be simplest, but it does not say how to find out where to send it.

Can you just put up a friends-filtered post with your mailing address?

[ancarett]

Amazon isn't giving me an option to ship to you via your wish list but wants me to enter the address all over again which, fine, I see the link below but they also want a phone number?

[conuly]

Why is everything fucked up??? Amazon is not supposed to act stupid like that!

[ancarett]

I don't know but if you can PM me a phone number, I can have a few things sent your way. Next week's lunch money can buy some food for you guys and I have made a bunch of reheatable meals for me this week.

[conuly]

"Only the registrant's name, city and state will appear on the default address to protect the privacy of the Wish List owner.
If you're purchasing an item from a seller, the default shipping address will only be available if the Wish List owner has enabled third-party address sharing. Otherwise, you'll need to know and enter the shipping address.
To mark a seller item as purchased, click the Buying this elsewhere link next to the item and follow the instructions in the pop-up."

Well, now, no do I enable that?

Edit: I think I enabled this. Shit, this is the most backwards, convoluted thing!

[conuly]

Nah, I got it. Food isn't the most urgent thing, oddly, because we have a shit ton of beans and rice and oats and beans. Not fun, but definitely edible, and the girls are right now eligible for free lunch and breakfast if it comes to that. Cat food and toilet paper are our constant recurring expenses. (Another thing to be thankful for, along with a prepaid CSA membership: reusable menstrual products. Talk about an idea whose time has come! Every time I walk down the diapers and pads aisle in the supermarket I sneak a look at the prices and then pat myself on the back for avoiding all that.)

Incidentally, if you think you found something cheaper or better than what I have on the list, let me know, I'll switch it. I just hurried that up there because if I can put my toilet paper money towards the foreclosure fund, well, at least I'm not throwing it down the drain. So to speak.

[ancarett]

Picking up some other stuff - cat food, TP and detergent - from the list and your address SHOWS UP! Yay!

[conuly]

You are awesome. I had realized I could set priority levels on that thing and was wondering where the TP went, and that actually does seem to be cheaper via amazon than in real life. *hugs*

Remind me to pay you back when this is all settled. (Don't say "no, don't bother". If you're thinking that, just quietly remember not to remind me when the time comes.)

[ancarett]

Seriously, pay it forward. Your stories about your nieces have always brightened my days. People helped us out when the girls were little and Mike was out of work. We got donations of clothes, lots of treats that the girls adored and we could never afford, even some help on our house from a co-worker and a neighbour who both said "pay it forward". I'd say the same, here.

[conuly]

Will do.

(Among other things, from now on I am going to be religiously reposting signal boost things. Help somebody save their house? Check. Help famine victims overseas? Earthquake victims? Hurricane victims? Check, check, and check. Help people leave abusive spouses and keep their pets? Checkity check. Help somebody realize their dream of going on a trip around the world? Um... sure, check.)

[conuly]

I just screened that because my sister wants to minimize how much her work name is associated with this. I understand that completely. If you need to see the comment again, poke me, I'll stick it somewhere locked.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

It worked. You have light-bulbs coming your way, and the address was like it says, name, city etc. Just enough to identify it.

But replying here is still a little weird - it's letting me do so, now, but I'll have to fill in a Captcha.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Umm... I didn't see it; I don't have either e-mail or e-mail notifications. But isn't there a *thing* on your GoFund Me for people to send checks?

The big problem I'm having with GoFundMe's set-up is that they keep trying to get me to 'buy a pig in a poke'. One has to click the DONATE buttom in order to find out what the procedure for donating is, and I know that authorizes their tracking-bots, which I don't want to *do* before I even know what the procedure is. I may be making too much of this, but my daughter got identity-thefted and ripped off for hundreds of dollars last year after she bought something online.

Anyway, if you can just tell me here what the check-sending procedure is, I will do that.

[conuly]

I commented in your journal. The only issue here is that I don't have a bank account, so things have to be sent in my sister's name, and not her friends-and-family nickname either.

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

Which do you need more, household stuff or money towards the house?

[conuly]

All my friends are awesome. I have officially added you as a friend now, I could've sworn I had already done that. But now it is really, really done, I checked.

[conuly]

It's all fungible. Money spent on household goods and pet food is money we can then save to put towards the house. I love the sight of money growing in the gofundme more, I'll be honest, but if it is difficult or impossible to help out that way then it is good to have the choice on Amazon.

Wow, that's a useless answer. Put the money wherever you want, I'll fall all over myself to say thank you anyway :)

Maybe I just like the word fungible. It's a good word. Fungible. And you so rarely get to use it, so even though my answer was useless, thanks for asking the question. Fungible.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

No worries, can do that - go post me your mailing address on that comment thread, which is screeened, and I'll delete it after I write it down.