Lady Kelly
Senior Guinea Pig
This is more an appeal to people whose income has not been affected by this pandemic. Services that you usually rely on and enjoy are being stopped and this is causing stress to a great number of small businesses which may or may not survive depending on how long this continues for.
So if your income has not been affected then I urge you to consider to continue paying for services from self employed people that you usually enjoy, if you can afford to, even if they are not providing a service.
For example, we have the following self employed people that usually help us out:
Cleaner once a week
Window cleaner once a month
Dog daycare twice a week
Doggy daycare is cancelled for the time being. We have paid for this month but plan to continue paying for the usual days next month if she accepts this.
Our cleaner is in her late 60s and we were worried about her and know she can't afford to lose pay. We asked her not to come for now and offered to pay her usual rate while this is going on. She has refused the pay so far but we will keep offering.
Our window cleaner sent a message saying they were coming today. We have asked them not to as keeping the country safe is more important than us having clean windows right now. Again we have offered to pay for the clean but it has so far been refused.
I expect the longer this goes on the more likely it is that these people will accept the offer of being paid but time will tell.
Another thing to consider is gift vouchers especially for small, local businesses. For mother's Day I purchased a voucher for a local salon. This gives the salon some money right before lockdown and something for mum to look forward to when this is all over. Vouchers can often be purchased for local restaurants and garden centres as well. It may just be what they need to tide them over in these difficult times.
So if your income has not been affected then I urge you to consider to continue paying for services from self employed people that you usually enjoy, if you can afford to, even if they are not providing a service.
For example, we have the following self employed people that usually help us out:
Cleaner once a week
Window cleaner once a month
Dog daycare twice a week
Doggy daycare is cancelled for the time being. We have paid for this month but plan to continue paying for the usual days next month if she accepts this.
Our cleaner is in her late 60s and we were worried about her and know she can't afford to lose pay. We asked her not to come for now and offered to pay her usual rate while this is going on. She has refused the pay so far but we will keep offering.
Our window cleaner sent a message saying they were coming today. We have asked them not to as keeping the country safe is more important than us having clean windows right now. Again we have offered to pay for the clean but it has so far been refused.
I expect the longer this goes on the more likely it is that these people will accept the offer of being paid but time will tell.
Another thing to consider is gift vouchers especially for small, local businesses. For mother's Day I purchased a voucher for a local salon. This gives the salon some money right before lockdown and something for mum to look forward to when this is all over. Vouchers can often be purchased for local restaurants and garden centres as well. It may just be what they need to tide them over in these difficult times.
