For those who pioneered, how did you support yourselves? Did you struggle to pay household expenses, or live at home? How did you get by without starving? What kinds of jobs did you have?
Pioneer budgets:the simple life
by Virgogirl 8 Replies latest jw friends
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Scully
Although I was never a Regular Pioneer™, it seemed as though the Number 1 Rule of Pioneering™ was:
Learn How To Free-Load. Do It Well, and Do It Often.
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daniel-p
I lived at home while pioneering for the majority of the time. I still tried to pioneer while I was living on my own, with a full-time job making 7.50/hour, it took me about 5 months before I figured out it wasn't going to work.
btw, no one knows how to freeload better than a Bethelite. It's the best Freeloader school there is. -
Finally-Free
Learn How To Free-Load. Do It Well, and Do It Often.
The pioneers™ who freeloaded were the most successful. I regular pioneered™ for over two years, didn't freeload, and cleaned windows to support myself and my wife. It was often a struggle to make ends meet. I made good money cleaning windows, but often had cash flow problems due to the aging receivables.
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Emma
I wasn't a freeloader. Once in a while a sister would help out, especially after I moved "where the need was greater." Those places usually didn't have a lot of employment choices. I did the usual house cleaning, worked in a meat packing plant (yuk!!!), worked in a Christmas store (yes, the congregation servant said it was OK; I wasn't celebrating but working for a living), made carrot juice for one elderly brother, worked in a pre-school. One of my pioneer partners worked in a school cafeteria after lunch supervising mentally handicaped kids clean up the kitchen. (It soon became illegal to "use" the kids this way.) I couldn't even afford a pair of pantie hose. I found the old fashioned stockings, two pair for a quarter. When my purse wore out, I carried a paper bag. It only lasted two years; how can anyone endure that kind of life? But we did get the ragazines for a penny apiece and got free food at the assemblies; such a blessing... AND we had to put in 100 hours a month back then.
Emma
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FairMind
but often had cash flow problems due to the aging receivables.
I believe you are saying that not everyone pays their debits timely. Were any of these free loaders pioneers?
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Finally-Free
Were any of these free loaders pioneers?
No, the aging receivables were mostly my own fault. I didn't keep close track of them because I was too busy trying to get my time; neither did I impress upon my ex the importance of keeping our paperwork up to date.
There were some brothers™, some of them pioneers™, however, who seemed to view my knee injury as a blessing from Jehovah. Several immediately went out to my customers and undercut my prices while I was incapacitated. How did they know who my customers were, and the prices? My ex was doing some of the work and she spotted a MS (in his big, white cadillac fleetwood) following her one morning. Interestingly, a clipboard with customer and price lists was missing from the car when she got back to it. I started losing customers in several parts of the city after that.
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dedpoet
I washed windows and did cleaning jobs to pay the bills, and lived a very simple life, without a lot of support from my loving brothers. I don't look back on my pioneering days with any affection at all.
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rebel8
I worked a very low paying job 16 hours a week and took lots of cash advances from my credit card.