![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgToday I did something I should have done a long time ago. It reminded me a bit of formally quitting my gym membership after I realised that it was just becoming a huge expense.
Today I deregistered for the GST. I've still got my ABN and will continue to do writing work (and now maybe even make some small income from print sales) but it's time to acknowledge that it's very unlikely I'll ever earn enough income to be required by law to charge GST. If I could work full time I'd be rolling in cash and tax obligations, but I can't and so I'm not. Time to put all that behind me. It's not entirely irrevocable of course, but I think it's time. As a bonus, no more embarrassingly small BAS statements every quarter.
It hurt. I'm surprised how much it hurt. I may have to remind myself a few times that I still contribute to society in other ways now. At least the household just squeaks in enough earnings that we don't qualify for any kind of government benefit, so I'm not an actual burden on society. We couldn't survive on our income--we dip into savings every year--so I'm not surprised many people are doing it tough.
In brighter news I did one of my After Swancon tasks and went looking for my rubber exercise bands. These are large rubber bands of various weights used for resistance training, and I had them for physio of various kinds. They haven't seen the light of day for I don't know how many years - it could be 10 or more. Much to my pleased surprise I found them in the first place I looked, which wasn't even a sensible place to store them. (The draw in our old coffee table, which now does duty as a TV stand.) Quite a few interesting bits and pieces in there, and I was pleased to throw a few out. I'm sure more could be purged without trouble. Also found an absolute treasure trove of pens and pencils of unknown vintage.
I'm pleased with initial experiments with the bands and think I'll be able to work up some exercises that might give me a little strength without too much damage. So much easier to control than weights, and simple to do a few bits here and there. Of course I overdid it as I'm now discovering, but there's hope, and I need hope. I'm pretty sure everyone does.
I have a massage tomorrow. Thank heavens for that.
In even brighter news I've started stocking my Redbubble shop with pretty rock pictures for print sales. I'll wait until I've a decent number in stock before making any grand opening announcements, but you can be sure I'll be pushing the boundaries of friendship and spam when the time comes. It takes a little while to do each one because I have to scale them up in small increments and smooth as I go, but the process is reasonably straightforward. The posters I prepared for Swancon will only print at small sizes so I'm conentrating on individual shots for now, unless I get specific requests. The posters take a bit more work to scale up because of the text and file format issues - I have to destroy them to save them. It's so *very* satisfying to put each image on the market, and I've a fair library of pictures to choose from and new rocks to photograph so this will keep me out of mischief for a good while. I think my deadline of "in time for Christmas shopping" is looking very doable.
When I've got enough of a portfolio I'll start submitting them to Redbubble groups for comment and possible featuring. I shall have to gird my loins for the comment process! I wonder if anyone will actively accuse me of lying about my technique? I'm almost looking forward to that. Almost.
Today I deregistered for the GST. I've still got my ABN and will continue to do writing work (and now maybe even make some small income from print sales) but it's time to acknowledge that it's very unlikely I'll ever earn enough income to be required by law to charge GST. If I could work full time I'd be rolling in cash and tax obligations, but I can't and so I'm not. Time to put all that behind me. It's not entirely irrevocable of course, but I think it's time. As a bonus, no more embarrassingly small BAS statements every quarter.
It hurt. I'm surprised how much it hurt. I may have to remind myself a few times that I still contribute to society in other ways now. At least the household just squeaks in enough earnings that we don't qualify for any kind of government benefit, so I'm not an actual burden on society. We couldn't survive on our income--we dip into savings every year--so I'm not surprised many people are doing it tough.
In brighter news I did one of my After Swancon tasks and went looking for my rubber exercise bands. These are large rubber bands of various weights used for resistance training, and I had them for physio of various kinds. They haven't seen the light of day for I don't know how many years - it could be 10 or more. Much to my pleased surprise I found them in the first place I looked, which wasn't even a sensible place to store them. (The draw in our old coffee table, which now does duty as a TV stand.) Quite a few interesting bits and pieces in there, and I was pleased to throw a few out. I'm sure more could be purged without trouble. Also found an absolute treasure trove of pens and pencils of unknown vintage.
I'm pleased with initial experiments with the bands and think I'll be able to work up some exercises that might give me a little strength without too much damage. So much easier to control than weights, and simple to do a few bits here and there. Of course I overdid it as I'm now discovering, but there's hope, and I need hope. I'm pretty sure everyone does.
I have a massage tomorrow. Thank heavens for that.
In even brighter news I've started stocking my Redbubble shop with pretty rock pictures for print sales. I'll wait until I've a decent number in stock before making any grand opening announcements, but you can be sure I'll be pushing the boundaries of friendship and spam when the time comes. It takes a little while to do each one because I have to scale them up in small increments and smooth as I go, but the process is reasonably straightforward. The posters I prepared for Swancon will only print at small sizes so I'm conentrating on individual shots for now, unless I get specific requests. The posters take a bit more work to scale up because of the text and file format issues - I have to destroy them to save them. It's so *very* satisfying to put each image on the market, and I've a fair library of pictures to choose from and new rocks to photograph so this will keep me out of mischief for a good while. I think my deadline of "in time for Christmas shopping" is looking very doable.
When I've got enough of a portfolio I'll start submitting them to Redbubble groups for comment and possible featuring. I shall have to gird my loins for the comment process! I wonder if anyone will actively accuse me of lying about my technique? I'm almost looking forward to that. Almost.
