SiouzQ.
4-3-23, 11:03am
So far this year, three months in, I am about $1100 in the hole between earnings and expenses. Unexpected expenses have come up, such as a $400 ER bill in early February, then six months of auto insurance due at the end of February ($328), $100 more than I expected to pay at H &R Block to get my taxes done ($391), another $100 towards an ever-mounting past medical debt, and on and on.
The problem started when I lost my full-time, 35 hour per week job back in the fall of 2021. Ever since then I have been piecing together local employment and relying on jewelry sales to get me through. This past winter, starting in late December has been incredibly slow in the galleries compared to the year before when people still had extra money and were excited to be out traveling. They are still traveling, but just not pulling out their wallets to buy things with the ease I got used to. The other problem is in the past few years I have gotten very used to having lots of money coming in - when I moved in 2016 to take the gallery position I got a rent-free little apartment in the back for three years, and also got 100% of my jewelry sales in that gallery, on top of a monthly salary. Add the commissions from the other galleries I was in, plus a little bit extra I used to make playing gigs with my guitar, I was riding high on the hog! I was able to save most of it, but then we bought the house - no regrets there, but fixer-uppers can be expensive. Plus, add in all the furnishings, artwork, etc...
Sometimes I miss how simple my old life was. But I am happily married, my husband has a great job working remotely, and we don't want for anything for our immediate needs. I feel like I am losing the frugal reflexive muscle I had honed to a sharp point for all those years being a single mom. I try to always shop carefully and look for deals, but I am spending money on things that I don't *really* need sometimes and then I start feeling guilty about it. On the flip side though is that since I no longer have an heir to leave my money to, then maybe it's okay to enjoy having some money and spending it. But that is not solving my immediate problem of more of my personal money is going out than coming in these days and I don't like how that feels.
I need to work at least one more day in the week, and I need to sell more of my jewelry than I have been. At least I finally had a busy day in the gallery yesterday and had a great sale right at the end in which I will make 5% commission on. I also got a special order for a sterling ring in which the guy paid for up front. In addition I am in the process of resurrecting the jewelry repair business I used to do on the side back when I lived in Michigan and two different shops have offered to let me leave my repair business contact info there.
So for the last three months I've been trying this little mantra when I feel uncomfortable about the money thing - in my head, I silently say "money always comes and goes, it flows in and out, sometimes at different rates, and sometimes the balance is tipped one way or another; the point is, I won't starve, I have a roof over my head, and it all works out in the end."
The problem started when I lost my full-time, 35 hour per week job back in the fall of 2021. Ever since then I have been piecing together local employment and relying on jewelry sales to get me through. This past winter, starting in late December has been incredibly slow in the galleries compared to the year before when people still had extra money and were excited to be out traveling. They are still traveling, but just not pulling out their wallets to buy things with the ease I got used to. The other problem is in the past few years I have gotten very used to having lots of money coming in - when I moved in 2016 to take the gallery position I got a rent-free little apartment in the back for three years, and also got 100% of my jewelry sales in that gallery, on top of a monthly salary. Add the commissions from the other galleries I was in, plus a little bit extra I used to make playing gigs with my guitar, I was riding high on the hog! I was able to save most of it, but then we bought the house - no regrets there, but fixer-uppers can be expensive. Plus, add in all the furnishings, artwork, etc...
Sometimes I miss how simple my old life was. But I am happily married, my husband has a great job working remotely, and we don't want for anything for our immediate needs. I feel like I am losing the frugal reflexive muscle I had honed to a sharp point for all those years being a single mom. I try to always shop carefully and look for deals, but I am spending money on things that I don't *really* need sometimes and then I start feeling guilty about it. On the flip side though is that since I no longer have an heir to leave my money to, then maybe it's okay to enjoy having some money and spending it. But that is not solving my immediate problem of more of my personal money is going out than coming in these days and I don't like how that feels.
I need to work at least one more day in the week, and I need to sell more of my jewelry than I have been. At least I finally had a busy day in the gallery yesterday and had a great sale right at the end in which I will make 5% commission on. I also got a special order for a sterling ring in which the guy paid for up front. In addition I am in the process of resurrecting the jewelry repair business I used to do on the side back when I lived in Michigan and two different shops have offered to let me leave my repair business contact info there.
So for the last three months I've been trying this little mantra when I feel uncomfortable about the money thing - in my head, I silently say "money always comes and goes, it flows in and out, sometimes at different rates, and sometimes the balance is tipped one way or another; the point is, I won't starve, I have a roof over my head, and it all works out in the end."