Bumps in the road

I am incredibly blessed to have the childcare situation that I do. Without Dawn, I am at a complete loss, in many ways. So when she is out of town, I am scrambling to get people to hang out with Char baby. Thankfully now I do have a wonderful man in my life who is happy to help out when needed. I try not to fall back on him too much though, because I know it is hard on him, not being a parent himself. On the flip side, I do my best not to rely on any one person or only a few people (though truthfully, there are only a few that I know will/can watch her). I always worry that these friends of mine will feel like they are being taken advantage of, simply because I don't have much to offer in return. I bake!!! And I can provide knit goods at some point in the future! Also, I will trade childcare if you also have kids! I know, for the most part, that those individuals that I rely on do not feel like I'm only using them for their willingness to put up with a ridiculously smart toddler, but I still want them to know they are very much appreciated.

As much as I can afford, I find "regular" daycare/ professional babysitters. But let me tell ya, it is spendy. I can't believe it sometimes. I can't imagine having to pay for all day care 5 days a week at the rate a traditional place is asking. Even one week is about 25% of my budget after bills. Yikes. I wouldn't eat. Seriously. There would be no money to buy food or anything else for myself. Jesus. How do people do this?? I looked into assistance, just to see what my outlook is in case there comes a day where Dawn is no longer available, and dammit but I don't qualify. Story of my life. I make just enough money (like by $100/mo) to be deemed above the line. Shucks. Too bad day care costs something like $1000/mo. Who the hell thought up this math?

This adventure is really just renewing my pledge to get myself financially independent of "the system". Building whatever income sources I can. I have a plan for doTerra that I am about to implement, and I think tomorrow I will be ordering my starter kit for Tupperware. If my wrists will hold up through the build and tech, I will hopefully be knitting more, and maybe some of those items can be passed along through Etsy. I also want to start making my own skin care products for myself, and again, maybe if that is easy and reasonable to share, I can either put those on Etsy, or just go word of mouth. There is alot of opportunity out there. Not all of it is monetary either. It's about building a support system and a market; connecting with people who want to serve each other.