Its Hard, Damnit!

Its really hard. I know people do it. I know that I'm “not supposed to write about financial hardship” but I don't think I'm the only one out there who is experiencing this. I want to write it down, because I know I'm going to make it through, but I don't ever want to forget surviving this. I don't want other people who think its too hard to give up.

So I'm going to talk about it. The shoulder seasons are still hard. I'm much better at managing cash flow, but when you are managing between $6 and $120 at any given time, its hard to accumulate enough to pay rent in the shoulder season. I had followed some sage advice and put a portion of my tips away.

That very small egg is gone, to the extra large phone bill that came from splitting my phone and being on my own plan, finally.

My massage business is growing, I just got hired at O2 in Aspen, which is wonderful, that's more massage work. I'm on call for them, so we will see how that goes, it depends on how much work they get, and how they split it with all the massage therapists that they have.

I'm making enough to pay for groceries, which is nice, we aren't living on Ramen right now. The kids are eating healthy, and for that, I'm grateful.

I know that I can get there, I know already that next year will be better than this one, with more clients to work with, rolling over from this year, as that grows, and more massage, as that grows, and possibly some opportunities to work as a trainer, filling in some hours in the tough months of November and February.

I have some articles coming out and some big projects cooking that are really exciting that should help. But all of that is coming, coming coming. Right now, May 9, is the issue. I keep booking massage, which is wonderful. But who knows how long it will last, who knows how much I'll make.

Our house is for sale in Bozeman, which is great, when it sells, I may walk away with enough to pay two months rent in advance. That's the economy! OW!

I don't mind. If we can hang in there, I can clean houses again, I can keep working hard to get more massage work, and hopefully, I'll make it to the southern hemisphere to teach skiing this summer for at least a month.

I'm just looking forward to the day, and its getting closer as I live here longer and get more established slowly, to having more than six bucks in my wallet in April, May, June, September, October and November.