Stop by and have a beer

[aryoung1980]

Seriously, stop on by if you're around Milwaukee for a beer. We can have whatever is on tap at that time or something store bought.

What prompted this post was my wife and I went in for a mortgage pre-approval this morning and were denied. I wasn't overly shocked by this for a few reasons; mainly we have almost no savings left for a down payment after the birth of our twin daughters back in February. Couple that with the fact that this was the second pregnancy in which my wife did not receive any short term disability pay while on maternity (we also have a two year old daughter) and that we are both public school teachers who have had zero income over summer, I would've been more shocked to have been approved for a mortgage.

Anyways, last night my wife joked about starting a blog to ask people for $1 each to help us purchase our first home. It turns out she was dead serious. She put up a blog today called The House Your Dollar Built and set up a YouCaring Fundraiser

I am a bit hesitant about asking people for money but my wife has reminded me of the pay it forward motto. Whatever we raise will be going towards our down payment. After that we will continue to try and raise money to donate for other people to get a home.

As I read my wife's blog, I noticed that she volunteered me to give out my homebrew for anyone that donates towards the fundraiser. I don't feel like getting myself in trouble with the law because money and homebrew can become a bit of a grey area, if not outright illegal. So I am offering up the chance to have a beer with my HBT community and anybody else regardless of a donation. Currently I have a Rhubarb Blonde and American Lager on tap with a Vienna lager fermenting.

She will be updating the blog on a daily basis so check back often if you're so inclined. Feel free to share our story on any social media sites directly from the YouCaring page or the blog.

Now I am going to go brew a chocolate rye robust porter.

 

[C-Rider]

Do you have a teachers union? I taught in Hawai`i for 30 years and some time before I began the union got the state to pay us over a 12 month period instead of 9 months. Back then we had June, July and Aug off. Really improves the quality of life if you don't have to save money for the summer.

PS If I was "up" there I'd stop by for one or two.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Donated. Best of luck. I really like this idea... I'l be following..

 

[BGBC]

Donated, hope it helps and best of luck.

 

[joe_four_strings]

Donated, and shared. Wish you and your family the best!

 

[Psylocide]

Have you considered getting a job in the summer? Unless you just skipped it this summer because of the twins.

Either way, I have a few teacher friends that do just that... one tends bar part time and makes a killing, another works at the zoo, etc.

I've always wondered why more teachers don't get summer jobs, most people work 12 months a year.

Good luck with the house.

 

[aryoung1980]

Have you considered getting a job in the summer? Unless you just skipped it this summer because of the twins.

Either way, I have a few teacher friends that do just that... one tends bar part time and makes a killing, another works at the zoo, etc.

I've always wondered why more teachers don't get summer jobs, most people work 12 months a year.

Good luck with the house.

I was teaching summer school but was excessed for low attendance. My wife bartends whenever shifts are available and I bounce at a bar and drive Uber. It's just enough to barely keep us afloat. Summer is no vacation.

 

[aryoung1980]

Thanks everybody for checking out her blog. She's really excited about it. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the generosity of people but extremely grateful too. Every penny is going towards our down payment.

 

[Spartan300man]

Would there be a lot of Packer talk? If not, I would swing by on my frequent trips between Chicago and Door County/Neenah. If there was a lot of Packer talk, I would pay extra to change the subject.

(edit) I wish this thing accepted paypal....maybe I'm old fashioned....

 

[aryoung1980]

Do you have a teachers union? I taught in Hawai`i for 30 years and some time before I began the union got the state to pay us over a 12 month period instead of 9 months. Back then we had June, July and Aug off. Really improves the quality of life if you don't have to save money for the summer.

PS If I was "up" there I'd stop by for one or two.

We do have a union but our collective bargaining rights were attacked a few years ago. We had a vote for the 12-month pay two years ago but it was rejected.

We're usually able to save enough to comfortably get through summer but this year we had some large, unexpected bills come our way.

 

[aryoung1980]

Edit: double post

 

[aryoung1980]

Would there be a lot of Packer talk? If not, I would swing by on my frequent trips between Chicago and Door County/Neenah. If there was a lot of Packer talk, I would pay extra to change the subject.

(edit) I wish this thing accepted paypal....maybe I'm old fashioned....

I'm a Packer fan but I don't talk about it unless you bring it up. I'm more of baseball guy. I wish PayPal would've been used too but my input was not asked for; this was all my wife's doing.

Stop on by sometime. PM and I'll give you the address if you decide to.

 

[Rhumbline]

I think you might have broken the site. I tried several times and it hangs up.

I'll try again tonight. It's a cool idea, I wish you the best.

Also, have you looked into programs in your area? I'm pretty sure there are some around here to help out public school teachers, police, firemen, etc. with financing.

Some even offer great deals on foreclosed houses.

anyway, best of luck.

 

[Homercidal]

Donation site seemed to work fine for me. Good luck with finding a place and raising a downpayment. It's tough with young ones.

 

[aryoung1980]

Also, have you looked into programs in your area? I'm pretty sure there are some around here to help out public school teachers, police, firemen, etc. with financing.

We've been looking into a lot of programs but we haven't qualified for much yet. Our biggest set back for us was using the savings we had for a down payment to pay the NICU. Two premature daughters spending 6 weeks in NICU is expensive even with insurance.

 

[brick_haus]

Pardon me and call me old school, but internet panhandling? We just kept plugging away, trying to make good decisions and living within our means. We had setbacks, sure, but we overcame them and never had to go to the streets for money. We never felt entitled to anything that we didn't earn ourselves and pride would have prevented us from asking strangers for money.

I don't like participation trophies either!

 

[Rhumbline]

I finally got it to work with Chrome.

Best of luck!

 

[Homercidal]

Pardon me and call me old school, but internet panhandling? We just kept plugging away, trying to make good decisions and living within our means. We had setbacks, sure, but we overcame them and never had to go to the streets for money. We never felt entitled to anything that we didn't earn ourselves and pride would have prevented us from asking strangers for money.

I don't like participation trophies either!

No worries, Old School, I got you covered!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Reading your story, reminds me that in many places teachers aren't really getting a living wage, for the education they have and the important job they do. I kicked in a few bucks, and I'll take you up on that beer, if I ever pass through.

 

[Psylocide]

Reading your story, reminds me that in many places teachers aren't really getting a living wage, for the education they have and the important job they do. I kicked in a few bucks, and I'll take you up on that beer, if I ever pass through.

Well... that's the thing, it's a 9 month salary.

But that's a discussion for a whole different section.

 

[Homercidal]

Well... that's the thing, it's a 9 month salary.

But that's a discussion for a whole different section.

Thank you. Feel free to discuss where it's allowed.

 

[Gavin C]

How is this homebrew related?

I want something I can't afford. Please give me money. ($150,000 is one hell of a down payment)

Rules in blue from the Admin.

So back by popular demand is the Homebrew Crowdfunding forum.

Rules:

1. The item being promoted must be homebrew related.

That's it.

No more subscriptions, no more approval. If your crowdfunding campaign is not homebrew related your submission will be removed. Whether or not it's homebrew related will be left to the discretion of the mods and admins

 

[aryoung1980]

If I'm doing something wrong, I'm sorry. All I did was invite everyone over for a free beer and told everyone about my wife's blog.

 

[passedpawn]

There it is folks. If you want to donate, the link's in the first post. If you want to comment, I guess PM the OP. Good luck to him BTW.

As pointed out above, this isn't really the type of crowdfunding that this forum was intended for. And, as is often the case, it's a train about to derail.

 

[Homercidal]

My apologies. I felt the offer to share a homebrew on the OP was a valid (tenuous, but valid) connection to homebrewing.

And I naively believed that anyone who was offended by someone asking for $1 could simply ignore the thread. I was wrong.