Financial Update – January 29, 2026
How Far Behind We Are With Rent (And What We’re Trying to Do About It)
Maybe somebody will still come.
Every so often we feel it’s important to share a transparent update about our situation. This post is one of those updates.
The reality is simple but stressful: we are currently behind on our rent, and the uncertainty of what might happen next weighs heavily on us every day.
As of 29 January 2026, our rent situation looks like this:
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December 2025 rent still owed: R1330
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January 2026 rent: R4500
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February 2026 rent (due in 3 days): R4500
That means the pressure is building quickly.
Our only consistent monthly income is Tony’s government pension of R2320, which we expect to receive again in about five days.
For readers outside South Africa, that means roughly:
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R4500 ≈ $287 USD
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R2320 ≈ $148 USD
Clearly, the pension alone does not cover the rent, let alone food, utilities, or other basic living costs.
Why This Home Matters So Much to Us
We have lived in this home for more than nine years. Over that time, it has truly become our safe place and our base for everything we do.
This house isn’t just a roof over our heads. It is home to:
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us
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our two dogs
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our one cat
The thought of losing this home is incredibly stressful.
Moving somewhere else is not financially possible for us at the moment, and starting fresh in a new rental would be even more difficult than maintaining our current place.
We also don’t want to become a burden to friends or family by asking to stay with them, even if that were an option, which we think it is. The reality is that we may end up on the street.
For now, we simply don’t know how far behind we could fall before we might be asked to leave, and that uncertainty is one of the hardest parts of our daily life – we are currently struggling to catch up.
Why We Can’t “Just Get a Job”
Sometimes people suggest that the solution is simply to go out and get a traditional job.
Unfortunately, that’s not realistic for us (and for many in South Africa, actually).
For several reasons our circumstances mean we need to work from home or be based from home, and ideally most of our work needs to be online rather than physical or location-based.
We explain more about this in several places online, but the short version is that traditional employment simply is no longer a workable path for us.
Because of this, we are trying to build sustainable online income streams instead.
Where Our Income Currently Comes From
At the moment, aside from the pension, our income is very unpredictable and inconsistent.
Here are the small sources that occasionally help us get by.
Help From Friends and Family
From time to time, friends or family members help a little financially when they are able to. We are incredibly grateful for that help, but understandably it cannot happen all the time.
Handmade Craft Sales
We occasionally sell craft items that we make ourselves, but, besides there not being a great amount of support for handmade crafts in our town (other than
in late December when there are visitors from other towns who seem to like and appreciate handmade crafts), the number of items we can produce has been decreasing
rapidly due to health issues and lack of finances for necessary materials, so this income has become less reliable.
Selling Pre-Loved Items
We sometimes sell pre-loved belongings to raise money. However, we are slowly running out of things we can sell.
Second-Hand Book Sales
Some people kindly give us used books that we try to sell at very low prices. We have only a small number of regular buyers, so this provides only limited income.
Redbubble Earnings
About twice a year, we might receive a payment of around $20 from design sales on Redbubble.
Google AdSense
Very occasionally — perhaps once every three years — we receive a payment of roughly $50 from Google AdSense.
As you can see, none of these sources provide stable monthly income.
What We Are Doing to Try to Improve Our Situation
Even though things are difficult, we are actively working on ways to improve our financial situation.
Here are some of the things we’re focusing on.
Creating Digital Products
We are working on digital products that we hope to sell online. These could eventually become an income stream that does not rely on physical materials or shipping costs.
Growing Our Audience
We are trying to grow our audience on:
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YouTube
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Facebook
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our website
A larger audience means more people who might enjoy our content and potentially support what we create.
Monetizing Our YouTube Channel
One of our goals is to qualify for YouTube monetization, which requires a certain number of subscribers and watch hours before ads can be enabled on a channel.
We still need many more subscribers and watch hours before we reach that point. Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@beachy-south-africa
Building Our Website
We are also working to grow our website beachy.co.za by adding more content.
More content can help bring:
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more readers
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more Google search traffic
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more potential AdSense income
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more people who may be interested in anything we create or sell
It’s a slow process, but we are committed to continuing.
Our Idea: Monthly Financial Updates
We’re thinking of posting updates like this once a month, somewhere between:
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5 days before the end of a month, and
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5 days into the next month
The idea is to create a transparent record so we can look back later and see whether things are improving or getting worse over time.
It may also help people understand our situation more clearly.
If You’d Like to Help (Free Ways and Small Ways)
We know that not everyone can help financially, and we completely understand that.
But there are two simple ways people can help, including one that costs absolutely nothing.
Free Way to Help no.1: Share our Content
You can share pages of this site, our YouTube videos, our Facebook posts, our Facebook ad-posts.
Sharing our content increases our exposure. Increased exposure means more traffic to our content, thus more subscribers, more watch time of our videos, more followers, more sales.
Free Way to Help no.2: Watch and Subscribe on YouTube
Many people underestimate how much watching videos and subscribing to a channel can help a creator.
Both of these actions are completely free, but they make a real difference.
More subscribers and watch hours move us closer to being able to monetize our channel with ads, which would provide a small but meaningful income stream.
If you enjoy our content, simply watching videos, liking them, and subscribing helps more than you might realize.
Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@beachy-south-africa
Small Way to Help: PayPal Donations and our own “Buy Us a Coffee”
Right now, we don’t yet qualify for YouTube’s “Thanks” feature, which allows viewers to donate directly on videos.
Also, platforms like “Buy Me a Coffee” are unfortunately not available for creators living in South Africa.
However, we do have a PayPal link if anyone would like to help in that way:
https://paypal.me/beachysouthafrica
And our own “Buy Us a Coffee” (for R45/$2.70) page is here: https://beachy.co.za/product/buy-us-a-coffee/
Even small contributions — $2 or $5, for example — can add up when several people help. Every bit truly makes a difference, and we appreciate it more than we can easily express.
Final Thoughts
Sharing this kind of update isn’t always easy. But we believe that honesty and transparency are important.
We are doing everything we can to build sustainable online income through creativity, persistence, and the support of our community.
If you’re reading this, thank you for taking the time to learn about our situation.
Your support — whether it’s watching, sharing, subscribing, following, or simply reading — means more to us than you might think.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you post financial updates publicly?
We share occasional financial updates so that our audience understands our situation and the challenges we’re facing. Transparency helps build trust and allows people to follow our progress over time.
Why can’t you simply get a regular job?
Due to personal circumstances and health issues, we need work that can be done from home or based from home. That’s why we focus on online work such as content and video creation, and digital products.
How can I help without spending money?
Watching our YouTube videos, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and sharing our content (pages of this site, our YouTube videos, our Facebook posts, our Facebook ad-posts, our beachy Facebook page posts and ad-posts), are completely free ways to help. These actions help increase our reach and bring us closer to earning, or once it starts, increases our earnings.
What kind of digital products are you creating?
We are working on various digital products that can be delivered online. These may include downloadable content, guides, and creative items that fit the theme of our brand and website.- see our shop of digital products so far: https://beachy.co.za/our-shop/
Do small donations really help?
Yes. Even very small donations can make a difference, especially when several people contribute. Every bit helps us keep going and continue creating content.