Hey guys, this isn’t a real blog post, this is just my monthly reminder that Steel Magnificat, and my family, depend almost entirely on tips. I get a very small paycheck from Patheos based on clicks in the United States, and the rest of my income is gratuities from satisfied readers, or readers who just feel like being nice. Think of it as tipping your Doordash driver, or a magazine subscription where you get to pay whatever you think I’m worth and still get to read if you can’t afford to pay anything.
This whole year has been a fun challenge because we’re making just exactly enough every 90 days to not qualify for any EBT benefits, but not quite enough to cover utility bills on time every month. Also, with the pandemic currently hitting the Ohio Valley hard, it’s not safe to take the bus because nobody can social distance and half the passengers won’t wear masks. So we’ve been doing all our shopping for the past few weeks on foot at the grocery store a mile away or at the tiny local market two blocks from here, both of which are more expensive than taking the bus to Aldi like I used to do. I’ve been desperately trying to secure a used car to make life in a pandemic easier, but we can’t save up for one when we’re paying late fees on bills. And now that we’ve finally paid off the enormous utility bill from cooling the house all summer, we’re looking at winter heating bills, not to mention Christmas.
I’m extremely humbled and grateful that my readers have kept us alive thus far. And I humbly ask you keep doing it.
If you’d like to leave a tip, just go to the donate page, click on the bright yellow “donate” button there, and Paypal will walk you through the rest. There are options to tip a little bit monthly if you want, and you can also just give a one-time gratuity. I know the button says “donate” but they’re not charitable donations; I pay taxes on them, or will if I get enough.
And now back to blog posts worth reading!
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In