I’ve been avoiding posts of any real substance lately. I’ve been putting this milestone post off for days as well. This is Momma’s 200th post, and I can assure you that I didn’t expect to still be writing this blog as long as I have.

Any of you who have been reading this blog for very long can tell that the tone has changed over time. I haven’t been able to write too much about our financial path recently because, well really, it’s been a damned tough path.

When I started writing, we were on our way up. It was a stressful and exciting time. Mark was starting a business and things were moving along very well. We had an emergency fund of 3 months worth of living expenses in savings, and we were paying extra toward our debts. We pared down our expenses, but not too much. After all, business was looking up and things were going mostly according to plan.

Since then, business has dried up for Mark. We’ve cut all but the essentials from our spending and become very dependent on the magic I work every week at the grocery stores and CVS for our household needs. We’ve also grown incredibly thankful that gas prices have dropped as low as they have.

Although we aren’t behind on our bills and our basic needs are met for now, and we’ve managed to stretch that 3 months worth of living expenses for 6 months, there’s a dark spot at the end of the tunnel instead of a light. We’re hoping like hell that it’s just a sharp turn toward the light and not a dead end.

So, rather than share my worries and stresses with everyone, I’ve been drifting away from the blog. My friends know that I don’t really do well with the sugar coating, so I just haven’t written about it at all. I keep the upbeat fluff pieces going (or try to), but you can get that anywhere and I’ve never been too much into fluff.

If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it’s this: Without this blog, this blogging community, and everything that I’ve learned over the last few years about household finance matters, we’d have never made it for an entire year without a steady job for Mark. We’ve learned to communicate about money in healthy ways as a family. We’ve learned to pull together and conserve what we have. We’ve even gotten the fulfillment of sharing what we’ve learned with all of you.

So, thank you for reading. I’m glad to have you here, and hope you’ll continue sharing this journey with me. Who knows, it may even look up soon.

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