Tag: Becoming A Jack Of All Trades

Becoming A Jack Of All Trades 013 – July 2026

July was hot, humid and busy. Not busy with fun mind you but the thankless stuff that needs to get done or else something dies due to the negligence of other people. I’ll leave it at that.

This month I collected $47.75 worth of bottles and cans. I did less canning this month but it’s high season for people getting plastered so it didn’t matter.

My canning earnings of $47.75 for July 2026.

I also sold some stuff I found in the trash this month. First the stuff sold on eBay.

An AMD Crossfire ribbon cable to connect two graphics cards netted me $4.94.

A set of 15 postcards (1 missing) from the Lord of the Rings movies netted me $6.32.

A pair of Nike Zoom Alphafly Next% 2 in pink and yellow colorway netted me $13.00. This was a tough sale because I actually wanted to keep them (as they were my size) but they were thrown out by someone on my street that I am familiar with and I didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle if he recognized me wearing his shoes. The consolation was that they were ugly as fuck anyway.

I also found a pair of women’s running shoes in my mom’s size. She saw them cleaned up and then seemed more eager to have them once if I told her they came out of a dumpster. They were a pair of Lululemon Blissfeel shoes and she gave me $10 for them despite me just wanting to give them to her again.

The Tools

The only thing I bought this month was a Norco Bush Pilot for $25 from a thrift store.

My thrift store $25 Norco Bush Pilot

The reason I wanted a bicycle was simple. Sometimes I have to go places that would take too long to walk to but I don’t feel like using money on public transportation either. Having a bike would solve that problem. It’s an idea that’s been knocking about in my mind for awhile now but I finally got pissed off enough this month to act on it. I haven’t ridden a bike since I was about 11 years old so I’m working up my nerve to actually get on the thing. I need to do some basic maintenance on the bike and find a helmet before I do though.

I chose the Norco Bush pilot for a couple of reasons. Norco isn’t a department store quality brand and would be an entry level offering you might be sold in a specialized bike shop for several hundred dollars. Even if it’s from the late 1990’s to early 2000’s a hardtail mountain bike from a reputable brand is league’s ahead of the junk that rolls out of the Canadian Tire’s or Walmart’s of the world at $150 a pop currently. I also wanted an angled frame because at 40 years old and fat I can’t swing my leg consistently high over the bar of a normal frame anymore (at least right now anyway).

Assets

Cash (on hand): $7.85

Revenue

Cans/Bottles: $47.75

Sold Items

  • AMD Ribbon Cable $4.94
  • Lord of the Rings postcard set $6.32
  • Nike Shoes $13.00
  • Lululemon Shoes $10.00

Total Amount: $82.01

Expenses

  1. Norco Bush Pilot $25.00

Total Expenses: $25.00

Net Revenue: $57.01

Summary

That’s all folks!

Becoming A Jack Of All Trades 005- November 2025

I had big plans for November. The month started off well by changing a dryer hose that wasn’t working anymore. It was at this point the good part of the month ended and the rest of the month began. Without going into too much detail November turned into the “critter” month. Perhaps I should say “critters”. Every amount of spare time I had in November went to dealing with that problem and while the situation is better it’s still an ongoing endeavor for hopefully not too much longer.

Canning still bizarrely went well despite dreadful weather and the snow finally arriving in earnest. I earned $37.40 by canning in November.

My canning earnings of $37.40 for November 2025.

November did have a bright spot however. At the very beginning of the month while checking out a dumpster on my route I found a working Erikkson ratchet tie down. There were more in the dumpster but the rest were too far in the back for me to reach. In addition to that ratchet I found a bag full of Coleman lantern mantles that I thought someone may want because they were still new old stock despite having a fair bit of age on them.

The Erickkson Ratchet Tie Down
The bag of Coleman lantern mantles.

I detest camping so know next to nothing about this stuff besides the fact that they attach to oil lanterns. To my surprise when I got home and I checked them out on Ebay I found they still command money. Over the course of the month I sold every one of them and netted $64.20. I know last month I said I didn’t want to sell tools on Ebay which is still technically true but I figured trash I find for free is fair game.

The Tools

The first tool I bought this month was 4 1 inch metal spring clamps from Home Depot for $4.60 (with free shipping). I had seen plastic clamps at Dollarama but I have seen those break easily so opted for these Anvil branded ones instead. I was pleasantly surprised because they are sturdy as hell.

The 4 Anvil branded 1 inch metal spring clamps

The second tool I bought was a thrift store find. It was a small Klein branded zip bag for $1. With further investigation it turned out to be a multimeter bag that sells for $20-$25 at places like Amazon and Home Depot. Klein is a well know manufacturer of electrical tools but I don’t own anything from them. I did the next best thing though and put my cheapo oriental multimeter in it. In the reviews of the bag on Amazon there were lots of pictures of people putting their expensive Klein or Fluke branded multimeters in it. A younger me would have uploaded my blasphemous pictures to fuck with people but I’m far too old for that shit now.

$1 thrifted Klein Multimeter Bag
The blasphemy is committed.

The third tool I bought came from another thrift store. It’s a Rigid branded drive kit (43 pieces) for $6. I was on the fence here because they normally sell for about $20 at Home Depot but it was in good condition with no missing pieces or significant wear. I don’t have many drill accessories so they will come in handy.

The fourth and fifth tools I bought was two sets of Japanese/Taiwanese unbranded ratchets from the same thrift store. It looks like all the pieces were basically just thrown into bags to sell because I saw sockets from Powerbilt and Crescent in there as well (some of which don’t even fit the ratchets). The ratchets need to be serviced and the rust removed from some of the sockets but I think for $7.00 I could have done worst.

The last bunch of stuff all came from Aliexpress and has to do with soldering. There was a tip cleaning ball for $5.29, a set of 6 anti static tweezers for $4.19, 2 flush cutters for $4.29, 2 sets of flux for $5.64 and some thermal tape for $2.19.

Besides wanting/needing the soldering stuff it went with the the last thing I found this month. In a recycle bin I found a “Stash Box” .

It’s basically a zippered bag with adjustable walls to fit whatever. I’ve seen them advertised as “Stash Box”, travel case or makeup case but for my purpose it’s going to hold all my soldering stuff.

My new soldering equipment box.

The box was a bit dirty but with a some cleaning it is now an upgrade from the shoebox I had previously been using to hold everything.

Financial Summary for November 2025

Revenue

  1. Amount carried over from previous month: $43.31
  2. Cans/Bottles: $37.40
  3. Other: $64.20

Total Revenue: $144.91

Expenses

  1. 4 Anvil 1 Inch Spring Clamps: $4.60
  2. Klein Multimeter Bag : $1.00
  3. Ridgid Drive Kit: $6.00
  4. Ratchet Set 01: $3.50
  5. Ratchet Set 02: $3.50
  6. Soldering Iron Tip Cleaning Ball: $5.29
  7. Flux: $5.64
  8. Anti Static Tweezers: $4.19
  9. Thermal Tape: $2.19
  10. Flush Cutters x 2: $4.29

Total Expenses: 40.20

Summary

November was November. The End.