Right, so yesterday afternoon, I posted an explanation of where The Malik Report goes next from a planning perspective.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve received some well-meaning comments, some from those who are in the community and some from those who are not.
Their suggestion was a simple one, and it’s one that’s been echoed repeatedly: “Dude, the best way to fund your blog is to get a part-time job.”
This is obviously a good suggestion, and in a perfect world, I would be getting paid for doing a part-time job and I would not have to worry about the fact that this blog doesn’t make enough for me to keep my health insurance starting next year (as Michigan is establishing a work requirement for Medicaid recipients at approximately $750 a month in wages, or the equivalent to 20 hours a week of minimum wage work).
The problem is that this is not an ideal world, and the truth of the matter is that I have two part-time jobs. Their names are Anne and Mary Catherine, a.k.a. taking care of my 77-year-old aunt and my 69-year-old mom. My aunt has approximately 10 auto-immune disorders, and my mom has enough chronic health issues that we spend a fair portion of our time ferrying her to doctor’s appointments. Neither of them drive, neither of them do errands, and they both need my help on a daily basis.
It’s not that I don’t want to work or something. The problem is that I DO work, I just don’t get paid for it, and that’s why we’re trying to get my aunt signed up for Medicaid as well so that I can officially become her caregiver, and possibly get paid for doing the jobs I already do inside and outside the house.
So yes, I do hang onto the belief that, between Paypal donations and Patreon content, I will be able to make $750 a month and keep the blog going. I do so because I am optimistic, and because the concept of getting a part-time job to fund the job is simply not possible at this point because I am a full-time caregiver of two elderly ladies that I care about very much.
I’m not going to quit on them, so that means getting creative not wanting to quit this. So it’s https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport and https://patreon.com/TheMalikReport for now, with (hopefully) more to come.
Is there any way you could possibly get paid to take care of them? I believe some senior insurance plans offer such a thing for a live-in caretaker. I don’t have all the details, so it might involve jumping through a hoop or three, but it’s just a though.
Alan, we’re working on qualifying my aunt for Medicaid. If that goes through, I would be able to get some sort of stipend as a caregiver. We’re working on it, and crossing our fingers for the best!
Cool. Hope you can get some government money for driving them around and stuff. In Canada we care for seniors and have free health care so most people in your situation would just get a job and let others care for them. Then go visit every day. But whatever. Get a handout. Beg for money.
I hope those who have been overly intrusive into George’s life are satisfied.
Note that you always have the right to just not provide any dollars, but this invasive approach taken by a couple of souls (albeit possibly well intentioned) lacks propriety.
Thanks to wingnut for shattering my arcane notion that all Canadians are polite.
I’m not sure people in either the US or Canada understand how much work it is to keep up a blog, or how infuriating it is when people make assumptions about the lives of strangers.