How on earth does someone have a NEGATIVE balance on their $20 challenge? Read on to find out ...

For my 2007 $20 challenge, I have challenged myself to take $20 cash to start up my first-ever vegetable garden. Once I start harvesting, I will add the value of what I grow based on what it would cost if I bought it at the store.

I started herbs & grape tomato seeds inside, and planted rainbow chard seeds directly outside. [I may also plant some lettuce blend seeds ... still trying to make up my mind.] I scrounged up as many found containers as I could; since my last update I got six 5-gallon pails through Freecycle which I think will be good for the tomatoes.

I'm doing all container gardening because I'm a newbie and it forces me to keep this small-scale and because I'm in a rental house so that limits my options. [I don't think my friend / landlord would be thrilled if I tore up his yard!]

What I realized since my last update was that I did not have nearly enough
potting soil to plant all of my starts! I had bought a huge bag at Costco and thought it would be enough ... but I was wrong, wrong, wrong! Go ahead and laugh you experienced gardeners ... I do realize it was a total newbie mistake.

So, I thought long and hard about what I would do. I came up with a couple options such as:
- Add more cash to my challenge money [For example, I am now doing Pinecone surveys and have made $15 already this year. I could have added that money to my challenge and used it to buy more soil.]
- Just plant as many starts as I could with the soil I had and consider those my "$20 Challenge Plants" --- Then buy some more soil out of my pocket, keep them separate, and consider them the "non-challenge plants."
- Give away the extra starts and just not bother with them at all.

I thought about this dilema for several days. I really wanted to make my decision in the spirit of my original challenge to myself which was: "How would a new vegetable gardening entrepreneur start up a little gardening 'business' with only $20 in cash?" So I decided to do what so many small-time entrepreneurs have done when they find themselves strapped for cash but still believing in themselves and their product: I decided to figuratively "whip out the credit card and charge it!" So, I bought a 2nd big bag of soil which put me over the $20 amount, and I am now charging myself interest at the rate of 8.66% until I have harvested enough veggies to get out of the red. Hence, the NEGATIVE $10.89 balance on my $20 challenge. That number is just going to get worse until I actually harvest something, and if my crops fail, I may bankrupt my challenge. [So, it really is like starting a little business!]

Now, if you're interested, here are a couple points for clarification:
1. The 8.66% rate is the average rate on my credit cards. I am not actually carrying a balance on my cards (I pay them off in full every month) so I am not actually paying any interest on that soil, but because I want to "keep it real," I decided to charge myself interest.

2. I really am a small business owner, as is my husband. I am definitely not advocating "whipping out the credit card and charging it" as a way to start up a business!!! But I do realize that is what many folks who start businesses have to do. I most strongly advise that if you really want to start up a business you do your darndest to not only come up with the start-up cash and enough to keep the business going for as long as you think it will take to see a profit, but that you also have many many months of living expenses and a generous emergency fund set aside before you actually go out on your own. [Maybe someday I'll write an entry about the years of planning, preparing, and sacrificing my husband and I did before taking the plunge and going out on our own ...]

Well ... Here's hoping for good weather until my next update!