Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Budgeting fail

So...how did my big price increase go? Great...and not so great. I'm still at a loss as to whether I need to worry or if it's all ok once adjusted. This time of year the bills and deposits come so fast and loose it's pretty much impossible to keep track. Things look a lot better when I realize this time last year I had an $8000 credit card bill and my bill this year is only $800...until I remember it will be $8000 next month when I have to order all the printable t shirts. So just putting off the expenses doesn't help. It all still has to be paid.

In the end, I needed to have $40,000 in the bank. I have $29,000. Not good, right? I know. Ironically I actually made more money yesterday than I did last year - so more people signed up, which is great. BUT I had no money in the bank to begin with, whereas last year I had $17,000 to start. So, yeah. That only means one thing. That I WAY over spent this year so far, and kind of screwed myself.

What did I spend that extra $11,000 on, exactly? Well, an extra month of living, for one, since the event dates were pushed back. Add to that child care, doubled grocery bills, diapers, you name it. That can make an $11,000 a year difference. Absolutely. And somehow I just didn't think it would make that much of a difference. But the proof is in the bank account. I'm kind of broke.

I'm not panicking because, again, I'm having a successful year with the event, which means more people signing up earlier and more people signing up later, which means more people to buy t shirts and jackets and CDs and everything else I sell. It's all good. So the good news is the event is on track for a successful future. The bad news is I may have to live really close to the bone until next summer. And so it goes, huh?

So what do I do? Hope that once the dust settles in two months that it'll all even out and I'll have the money I need. And if it doesn't...well...I have my line of credit to live off of for a few months. And next year will be better. I'll have medical bills, yes, but won't have that insane sewer bill hanging over me. And I won't have an extra month of expenses to tackle to make it. So many variables...and no way to predict! I have a bit of a heavy heart at the moment, but am trying to cling to the fact that everything always works out. 

Kind of like pregnancy fears, huh? Still feeling zero symptoms. I swear, if this is how pregnancy feels for some women - YOU ARE SO FRIGGING LUCKY. It's impossible for me to not associate early pregnancy with soul-crushing all the time nausea; every day I wake up and wonder if this is the day I'll be too sick to even get out of bed - and every day I get up and feel just great. And every day I worry that this can only mean the pregnancy is about to end. Nobody gets lucky enough to get pregnant on the first try, at my age, AND have it work out, AND not be glued to her bathroom floor with sickness for months??? Nobody gets that!!! The universe is supposed to constantly kick my ass, right? Because I never get the good things, I always get the bad things? Isn't this the World Order I discovered when I was seven? That everything, pretty much, sucks? 

Took my final Dollar Store test today. Positive test line practically leapt off the paper and slapped me in the face, urine droplets splashing to the floor. "Shut up and stop worrying, woman. You're still pregnant. Now go stuff your feelings with peanut butter and watch something stupid on Bravo. It's all going to work out." 

It seemed to say.

5 comments:

  1. So glad you got another strong positive! And I am so relieved you aren't sick (even with twins I didn't have much nausea outside of my migraines - so it's possible, I promise).

    I hope lots of people continue to register and come with full pocketbooks to buy all your goodies up. I hate the financial worry game.

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  2. I am very hopeful that this pregnancy is just totally different! I hear it from women with two kids all the time. Do you remember when you started getting so sick with B?

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    1. It was 10 dpo with B! Also the same with the brief pregnancy before. So by now I would have been really really sick for a week and a half.

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    2. Well that's very promising!

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  3. my fingers and toes are crossed for you. i have a very good feeling that all is going to work out well! :)

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