April Basic Income
Quality Items and the Opportunity to Help Others
April had 3 new pieces
Having the option of quality items for my new apartment was possible with my basic income
I used about 15% of the basic income in April to make two microdonations in two different crowdfunding campaigns
Patreon gained another subscriber
Leveraging $5 to get other people to donate was a good feeling
April only had 3 new pieces. Initially, I was going to write about how I spent the basic income from April on April 30th, but I hadn’t spent it by then. I knew I wanted to use the money to get something for a new apartment I moved into this month but was indecisive with my selection and it took me until the first week of May to fully decide on what I wanted to get.
A portion of the basic income went to a shelving unit for my teenage son so he could store his belongings in his new room a lot easier. I purchased one as soon as the basic income was deposited.
In the past, I always approached having to buy new things with a very frugal outlook and often my budget did not always allow for quality items. As I began making a list of everything we would need for the new apartment I started to ponder how to approach getting things so that they would last and possibly even have better accessibility.
Last month I found myself in a conversation with my partner about kitchen garbage cans. We discovered we both had the same dislikes about previous garbage cans we had used (frugal options) and it occurred to me that a portion of April's basic income should go towards a garbage can that we both really liked. Spending a little extra than we normally would have on a trash can, I made up the difference with the basic income, we got something we both preferred. This left me with $10 of basic income.
Throughout the month two things appeared on my Twitter feed that caught my eye: posts about a GFM for a single mom who had fallen behind on bills and a GFM my dear friend Kitty had made to help with veterinarian costs when their cat had an emergency vet visit. I knew I wanted to use the remaining amount on the crowdfunding.
One of my favorite parts of documenting my crowdfunded basic income journey is making the evolving charts for how I spent it. This month was the first month that I included microdonations for other crowdfunding campaigns, something that is very important to me. I’d like to think that the Crowdfunding category will continue to make an appearance each month.
This month I gave $5 to Bethany, a single mom trying to reboot things after a temporary extent of unemployment left her falling behind on the bills. For anyone interested in Bethany’s circumstances you can check out the Tweet I made when I donated to her or check out her GoFundMe for updates.
I also gave $5 to my friend Kitty who had a significant veterinarian bill after their cat was sick. You can see how things are going for the cat with the Tweet I made on #Caturday and check out their GoFundMe if you’d like to help.
Again it’s not about a few of us giving a lot, it’s about a lot of us giving very little. If I’m in a position to give $5-$10 of my basic income to others (especially if I can then inspire others to do the same), I’m going to.
Both Substack and Patreon are still growing with a new Patron on Patreon and 5 new unpaid subscribers on Substack.
Several months into crowdfunding, I can see that the basic income will be utilized for many different things.
