Should I Pay $110 to protect the blog? Should I Pay $50K to be buried in Westchester?
June 8, 2022
by Dr. Plastic Picker
Savings the earth and picking up plastic is my hobby. I don’t get paid to plog (picking up plastic and jogging), and I don’t get paid to be a climate and health advocate. I get paid to take care of patients in clinic, and that is it. This blog is non-monetized and purposefully so. I remember back when this all started and Mr. Money Mustache’s blog people approached me about monetizing things, and I stuck with my origianl purpose. I’m an environmental hobbyist and I’m totally into it.
But like most hobbies, it cost money but I want to make sure it doesn’t break the bank. I try to mostly donate money to other environmental organizations like Rainforest Trust, Eden Projects, EDF and want to make it cost effective. The blog cost $25 a year for the domain name. Blogging is fun for me. It’s my environmental journal. But now my silliness is under brute force attack. Not sure what they are looking for on the blog? But it is, and I hadn’t realized it’s sometimes 800K attacks a day. There is an option for $110 a year to install a plug-in to protect this site. I’m not sure how much protection it will provide. I’m going to ask around, but it just brought up the issue of finances.
Money and climate are linked. The reason why we are in this mess, is a bunch of people made and continue to make money off fossil fuel extraction and pollution. Climate work and environmental stewardship is not financially rewarded right now. This is why it’s important to have environmental hobbyist like me. Waiting for funding will take forever. I’m waiting for my funding in heaven.
Which brings me to the next thing on my mind (thank you for listening to my non-sequitors and tangential thoughts in my early morning blogs), is it worth 50K to buy a burial plot in Westchester New York? Mr. Plastic Picker’s family is in the New York area and recently all the sisters-in-laws took the parents-in-laws to discuss family burial plots. There is a perfectly fine burtial plot in Korea, which I wouldn’t mind being part of the cool burial mounds and having descendents pour soju on me. But Westchester New York? I’m a fairly traditional daughter-in-law, and realized when I married into Mr. Plastic Picker’s family – it came with certain expectations. When I found out our first child was a boy, I breathed a sigh of relief. I lavish love on them both, but I honestly enjoy our youngest daughter more since I know I did my filial duty by enabling their family to carry on their name with our oldest. These are somewhat I realize outdated notions, but I’m a few decades behind everyone. I’ve lived with my family-in-law for over a decade and a half, and our lives forever will be a shared household. We are a unit, Mr. Plastic Picker, our children, his parents and me. My family realizes that. His family appreciates that. Perhaps that is why they want me to be buried with them.
But I’m not sure. I was planning to have my body encased in one of those cool mushroom/fungi shrouds that help your body decompose and return as nutrients to the earth. I had thought about being cremated and than you can have your ashes made part of a concrete pillar and sunk into an artificial reef called “ever reef.” I have thought about scattering my ashes within the timber forest of our Oregon property. I had not planned ever to be buried with the in-law family. So I’m torn right now. I believe our souls are recycled, there is no way they aren’t. Watching our Aerobin400 composter and being an environmental advocate now, there is nothing in this world that is not reborn. My soul. My body. Just thoughts of if it’s worth it to buy a burial plot together with the extended in-law family now. 50K is a lot of money especially for something that I might not use.
Just thoughts of a physician personal finance blogger who is frugal. $110 to protect my hobby website. $50K to ensure I get a final resting place in Westchester? I’m sure I’m not the only one struggling with these decisions. Well, back to climate work. I have a bunch of emails to send to help save the earth.