Help us, help ourselves. 

Simply put, we are currently in a rent to own situation and we wish to be able to get it turned into an outright purchase and get some basic repairs done.

It's made slightly more complicated by the fact that I am disabled and have cancer on top of it all. 

Most of our bills as they are, are modest by most standards.

We pay $900.00 for the rental agreement, utilities (heat and electricity) at around $400.00 a month.

We don't have any form of television service, or a landline telephone, just an internet connection which costs us $100.00 a month. 

We both have a cell phone for texting each other which costs us another $30.00 per month. 

We have a borrowed vehicle that someone else is paying the insurance for to let Nic get to work and back, we cover the fuel, oil and mainainence. 

We don't go out to bars (or restaurants, at least not when we're paying lol) or drink at home very often (a 24 of beer once lasted us over a year!).

Clothes and things like that only happen when absolutely necessary and are usually from the local thrift stores. 

By far, our single biggest cost per month is the medication I have been prescribed for my disablity which is not covered under any health plan. That's just over $2000.00 per month. Another $1600.00 a month is supposed to go towards my cancer treatment, which is also not covered under any plan.

So, there's $5000.00 a month, without spending a penny (not that they exist anymore) on food. 

Balance that against approximately $900.00 a month disability allowance from the government for me and $1500.00 or so from Nic's job and you may see the problem. 

Now, if it were simply a matter of we would always just need more money each month, I wouldn't have started  a fundraiser in the first place. I have no desire nor intention of always needing outside support. It really bothers me to be in this position. 

Our costs can be brought down. In terms of shelter and utilities, both being able to get enough ahead to switch to an outright mortgage and doing the repairs that are needed will save us money. 

In terms of the rent/mortgage payment, although the actual payment would go down, we would also become responsible for the taxes, so that part would balance out. The repairs though, which we can't get done until we get switched to an actual mortgage, which will cost between 20 and 50k, will drop our cut our utility requirements in half to start with, with an ongoing further reduction as time goes on. 

To address the costs of my prescriptions, we can replace them 100% with natural plant remedies that we grow here at a tiny fraction of the cost, once we are set up. 

To do that, we have to get both outdoor garden beds and a greenhouse set up and built. 

For the outdoor garden beds all we need is seed. We will only be planting organic, non-treated, non-gmo heirloom varieties of plants. They bright side, is after we get the seed once, barring any problems, we will be able to supply our own each year after. 

The greenhouse (or houses), will take a bit more. Most of the materials will be salvaged, scavenged or found, but there will be some stuff we have to buy. Again though, once we get it set up, it will save us money overall. 

We  have to get an area set up for chickens as well as get the chickens as well as finding a Dexter or Jersey cow for milking.

If we were to hit our total fundraising goal. Our bills would drop from 5000.00 to under $$1000.00 while allowing us to provide ourselves with most of our own needs in a healthy manner.

The path to getting to that total goal though, we do not expect to be easy or quick and it is not entirely dependant on this fundraiser.

The perks (as we add them in again), are from things we actually make and sell through our online store and other avenues. If donating bothers you, check our our store and buy something that interests you, it all helps.

Help us, help others.

To start with, us helping others, has nothing to do with people helping us. We have been helping people whenever we can, in whatever manner we could, for a very long time. 

The last farm we had (the one we lost due to cancer treatment bills), was open to anyone who needed a place to stay, whether that was for a night or a couple of months. All we asked is that they pitch in on the work that needed to be done around the place. When people were there, we shared everything we had with them freely. Some came to escape being homeless, some came to learn new skills, some came just to hang out for a while, but help we did, when and how we could. We also always had extra eggs and goats milk there from which we gave the extra to anyone who wanted it. 

We even had a tiny one room cabin with loft that we let people use when they were there. It wasn't fancy, but it was better than a tent, which is what some of them came with. 

I've also been rescuing animals since I can remember. I've taken in many different animals and either kept them til they passed or found them permamnet homes with other people who love animals. 

I never did any of these things in order to get help back, I did them simple because I could at the time.

I hope to continue these things and even expand on the animals part as much as possible here. As we get proper fences and buildings set up for them, we will actively seek any animals that people need a new home for. We will keep them, help them recover their health and sanity (if needed) and find them permanent homes with loving people. We have the room to be able to have a couple of horses or cows plus smaller animals. We just need to get set up for it. 

In terms of helping people. We always have and always will have an open door to someone who needs a place to stay. The only requirement is they help out while here in whatever way they can. Well, that and they be non-aggressive of course.

How you can help.

1.  First and foremost: Like, Love, Favorite, Share, Tweet, Instagram, etc, etc, this fundraiser and ask people to help out however they can. 
2. Donate to the campaign. Seriously, unless you are starving or in need of medical attention yourself, how much is a single dollar going to bother you? It will mean the world to us. Not just in terms of every little bit counting, although there is that point, but in terms of the more people who donate, even a small amount like a dollar, the more attention this campaign will get. It's a double bonus for us. 
3. Go to our store and buy something. Maybe for yourself, perhaps as a gift.Take a picture of it and share it on social media. Tell people where you got it and how much you love it. 
4. If you are close enough to come visit, send us an email and see if it's a good time to visit. Chances are, it will be and we'd love to have a coffee or tea and chat with someone new. 

How we will help you.

Check out the perks to the campaign. We will be adding a bunch shortly. 

Besides the perks themselves, if you need help, send us a message and ask. If we can help you, we will. Obviously, requests for money or such won't get very far right now lol. However, just to be clear, if we ever do hit our goal and get to where we are getting ahead, we will look for other's to help when we can.

Want to know more about us?

Check out one of our sites/pages below. 

Our Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/crinstam.acres

Tom's (me) Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/thomashenry.crinstam

My blog: Warning: Can be personal, raw and emotional

http://www.thcrinstam.com/

My Twitter; Warning: Can be personal, raw and emotional

https://twitter.com/THCrinstam

Nicole's Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/nicole.todd.73550