Hi to one and all: this is somewhat of a long drawn out story spanning the course of 11 years, so I will try to only give the highlights. About 11 years ago I went through a divorce and being laid off at the same time(about a year apart). Keep in mind that I was laid off from a company owned by my family. My family has money, I don't, at least not as much. I ended up finding a job making a little less than half of what I was making in the final year working for my family. On my days off I went to a labor temp service for the purpose of making an extra $50 for the day. My ex also left me with a $15,000 credit card(I was a very good but extremely stupid husband) To say that I was on the verge of bankruptcy is an understatement. During the final year of owning my house I endured an entire winter with no heat or running water. The labor temp service eventually sent me to one of Dominos Pizza's corporate distribution centers where I eventually gained full time employment and over the course of the next 8 years I got annual raises to the point that I'm just now making what I was making 11 years ago. Now for the good stuff. About 3 or 4 years ago, after digging myself out of the bottom of a bottle of tequila(love tequila) I decided that its a better use of my energy to look for solutions to problems rather than cry about them. So I took a walk through the forest preserve across the street from my house and started gathering aluminum cans from people's picnics. The 1st time I went to the yard I made $20 and tried telling the yard guy that this piece of metal was stainless because "someone said so". As time went on, I started to expand my route and during the spring, summer and fall would walk through the forest preserve every day and started making an extra $30 a week, I didn't have much spare time, I was putting in a lot of overtime. Then I started to see all the metal our maintenance dept was tossing in the garbage and started to save that also, along with the aluminum soda pop cans from my co-workers. Then I started to make an extra $40-$60 a week and have done as much as $900(that was a one time deal at work). Now some years later, I'm about to close on a townhouse. I'm not a millionaire, but I can afford to pay my bills, or take a woman out for a nice dinner and not cry about it later. What I've realized over the course of the last 11 years is that generally speaking: we can cry about the government and politicians, or the economy or whatever. But at the end of the day, the only person we have to blame or credit for the things we do or don't have is standing in front of us in the mirror. Yes the government, politicians, corruption, lack of job, economy may make our goals take a little longer but all else being equal if you want something and are willing to do whatever work is necessary to attain it you will. There are many other aspects to this story but in the end can be said with 1 sentence: 8 years ago I would have to fill a bucket with rain water to flush the toilet and now I'm about to close on a newly remodeled townhouse with excellent credit all due to digging aluminum cans and other forms of metal(anything broken with a cord) and broken applainces out of the garbage and with no assistance from my supposedly wealthy family. Take care one and all and keep scrapping.
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Originally Posted by Scrap Junky
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