Renting out parking space helps cut costs
LINCOLN PARK | She also gave up cable and Netflix
For Kathy Schubert, parking her car on the street is helping her deal with tougher economic times.
"I gave up my garage space, and I'm getting $200 a month from somebody who has an expensive car," said 66-year-old Schubert, who resides in the Lincoln Park/Sheridan neighborhood.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
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"I'm parking my 19-year-old car on the street. I have to be careful not to get ticketed, but my Alderman sent out a notice of street cleaning days, and I have them marked on my calendar."
Schubert owns and runs Kangaroo Connection, a store that sells Australian souvenirs, including items shaped like or decorated with a kangaroo or koala as well as chinchilla and ferret collectibles.
"Business has been terrible," she said. "I guess nobody has extra income to spend on silly things like kangaroos and koalas, even at 50 percent off."
She gets the bulk of her income from renting out a building she owns that houses two stores and four apartments.
"My expenses are going up but my ability to make more is not," she said.
To help make ends meet she gave up Netflix and instead borrows movies from the Chicago Public Library. She also dropped cable.
"It keeps going up and up," she said. "No matter how many offers came in the mail for new people to get a bargain, mine went up."
She said she doesn't watch much television anyway.
"I read books in the library," she said. "They're free. You go there once a month and talk about the chosen book and they even give you free refreshments."
She enjoys going to the movies and the theater, but has found ways to avoid paying.
"I volunteer for ushering through Saints of Chicago, so I don't pay for theater," she said.
The Saints is a non-profit made up of volunteers for the performing arts.
"The amount of money it costs to join the Saints is what you could spend on one ticket at Orchestra Hall," she said, adding she sees a play about once a week.
Schubert also joined Cinema/Chicago, parent of the Chicago International Film Festival.
"For 50, 60 bucks a year, I get free (movie) tickets right and left," she said.
Tougher economic times call for creativity, she added.
"I donated to Sen. Obama's campaign by having a staff member stay in my house instead of sending cash, which I don't have," she said.
Schubert largely relies on her bike for transportation, cycling 7,000 miles a year -- "so I don't need a gym membership."
"My car of 19 years has only 70,000 miles on it," she said of her Plymouth Voyager. "I'm getting really close to giving up that automobile," she added. "I shudder at the thought of filling the tank even once more. It's over $50."
What are you doing to make ends meet? Write to psmith@suntimes.com.
