Профиль

☺️

That’s awesome!

I’ve found rolls of kitchen-sized garbage bags go very quickly as do toothpaste and laundry detergent

Caloric and protein-rich Shelf stable foods that don't take up much space are best. I fill it up 2x day. I make sure to not watch anyone, it's their private business. I posted a sign with directions & QR code for nearby full size pantries + a request that only people in need take from mine.

Thanks for asking - gift cards or contributions via seymourfoodsne.com are always welcome. They deliver locally made foods to the pantry for free!

Sure - shelf-stable things that don't take up too much space such as granola, nuts, pasta, rice, peanut butter, tuna fish, jerky, jam, canned ravioli, tomato paste, pickles, olives. I also stock canned black beans but hardly anyone takes them. People also love butternut squash, cabbage and carrots

Great idea - thank you! Indie grocers Seymour Foods deliver for my little free pantry weekly seymourfoodsne.com

Just a helper.

I would but books will take over - I get too many donations of them. There's an actual library just 3 blocks away though

It's just not enough space, and once I allow people to put books in, they will quickly overwhelm. I was getting about 75 books donated a week before. Happily the actual library is just three blocks away

BTW: I’d like to thank neighbors, passers by and @seymourfoods.bsky.social who have donated food to help keep the pantry going. Refilling twice daily is wearing and expensive - it’s a relief when I go out to find someone else has put some food in. It feels good to be part of a giving community.

Little Free Pantry update: It’s been 9 months since I flipped from books to food. Never expected to go on this long. Been wondering if I should maybe change back. But I found a hand written note yesterday, “Thank you. You’ve kept me fed during some hard times.” Ok then, let’s keep going.

That’s pretty amazing. Gotta warn you, it’s also emotionally hard, especially if your agemates are mostly not retired. Maybe don’t go cold turkey - if you can cut back and do part time, it will help with the emotional transition.

an accounting degree or check out women in the trades, get the income flowing again even though it’s not the profession you thought you’d spend your life doing.

The rest of your life - after work hours - that’s for you. Not just to restore your body and brain enough to go back to work on Monday, not just to get the house in order and groceries bought. It’s when you get to live. Knit, paint, garden, chill with friends. If they cut you at 50, go get

selling your precious hours for cash. (Or not even cash -the free overtime they got out of me in the name of “fulfillment”!) You gotta put that aside. You don’t want a job that makes you miserable- you want something ok with half decent colleagues that pays the rent and enough to retire.

The pay is better than you might expect in the trades once you get going. Gen X women grew up in a time when media was selling a myth of “career fulfillment” like your job was going to be your soulmate. It was capitalist nonsense meant to get people to think of work as a “calling” instead of

You can get accounting and bookkeeping skills with easily available training. Specialities like nonprofit finances are in even higher demand. You can WFH and sexism is low. Plus most states have a women in the trades org to help you get into stuff like hvac and the other trades. Sexism is high but

..workers. The fields I know now that are desperately seeking people are bookkeeping, accounting and HVAC. The first two are because the boomers didn’t ensure succession before they retired. The last is because explosive need. Plumbing and electrical also need more trained people (at least here)

I’m seeing a trend of women entering their 50s who’ve lost work and can’t get another job because unexpectedly virulent ageism. As I see it, you’ve got two choices - start your own company (but only if you’re already great at ops and marketing) or retrain in a field that’s desperate for trained ..