Dumps

I'm a bit down in the dumps lately.

It's no secret that I took a pretty good pay cut when I went from my insurance job into freelancing. I figured I'd accept the pay cut as a brief sacrifice that, eventually, I'd be able to make up, give myself a nice little raise, and be back in action within a few months. Well, it's been 8, and so far I've had some really successful months, some less successful, but I've succeeded in keeping bills paid without any major sacrifices in living standards.

I'm a bit dumpy right now because, although March was great as far as my billable time went, most of my work in March has not yet been paid for. So I'm just sort of wasting away here watching my bank account dwindle as the invoices sit on my client's desks. I am hesitant to start emailing everyone, gently reminding them that I need my money, although I'm not sure why the thought of that is so horrifying to me. I guess I need to swallow my pride and ask for the cash.

In the meantime, we're also trying to streamline our lives, getting rid of things we don't need and minimizing our monthly expenses. The one that actually really excites me is cutting the cable, which we actually just did today. Obviously internet will remain since I can't do my job without it, but so-long to the TV we've come to grow and love. It's good because it will hopefully encourage me to not just plop down and watch TV, and it saves a good amount of money. Other small sacrifices include unplugging our secondary 'fridge, which means I have to go upstairs often for my soda addiction, and soon we'll be married and able to combine things like insurance and cell phone plans, hopefully saving even more.

Anyway, enough dumpiness. Despite the state of things financially (which isn't even "bad", it's just not "great"), life is fantastic. I'm productive, I'm doing what I want to do, and I'm making my own way in the world. I certainly don't regret my career choice but, like everything else, some days are easier than others.