Despite the cost of everything shooting through the roof, we know someone making money. Even better, we are related to him.
He is our grandson, which should be a close enough bloodline to provide some comfort in our old age.
He's only 9, but I just read about three kids under the age of 10 making millions on YouTube. They wow viewers by partying on yachts, riding in Ferraris and traveling the world.
Our grandson isn't on the internet, nor does he party on yachts, or ride in Ferraris, or throw big parties. He floats on a pond in an inflatable raft, rides in a four-wheeler with his dad and grandpa and prefers being alone to big gatherings.
And he's making money hand over fist. Well, make that hand over hot pad.
People usually have a dream in mind when they set out to make money. This boy was no different. His dream was a jigsaw. Aisle 22 at Harbor Freight Tools.
Jigsaws aren't cheap, especially quality ones, which the boy is sure will last longer. He has long shadowed his dad in the wood shop, watching, helping, sweeping up and working on his own projects, most recently a guitar.
The base is a rectangle of two-by-four blocks stacked two deep and bolted together. His dad helped him cut a face for the guitar with the appropriate curves. The boy attached a neck, also made from two-by-fours, carved frets into the fret wood and attached tuning pegs someone gave him. It is a nice-looking guitar, albeit on the heavy side and still needing strings.
In any case, he wanted to buy his own jigsaw. He saved allowance money, birthday money and asked for extra chores. The cash began adding up, but he was still short.
Then his oldest sister was selling frozen cookie dough for a fundraiser. He saw how much his brother and sisters wanted them, so he bought a box of 48 mounds of frozen dough for $17. That's a big capital investment when you're 9.
He baked a tray and "let them sit out for a minute because they smelled super good." His four siblings quickly materialized, all clamoring for a cookie fresh from the oven.
He said, sure — for 50 cents.
A few days later, he baked some more. Not long after that, he began running a "special": two for a dollar. His dad paid a full dollar for a cookie.
Next thing you know, the kid was purchasing a jigsaw.
He's already made lot of things with the jigsaw but can't reveal what because they are Christmas gifts.
With the leftover cookie dough, he bakes a few at a time for himself and eats one a day for Advent, which in his mind is something like the opposite of Lent.
The family is on their own for cookies.
Meanwhile, he has found a hollow log in the woods and plans on using the jigsaw to create a bird feeder. The birds will eat at no charge.
