Sometimes you have to scrape the bottom before you can climb up…

So, I’m going to be honest. Money is tight for my family right now. Thanks to incompetence with the new company holding my federal student loan, as of today, our bank accounts will be the lowest they’ve ever been til Friday. This past weekend, we had to put groceries on the credit card, which makes us carry a debt now as we also put some vet bills on there towards the end of last year. We should be fine, cross my fingers and hold my breath, but I had a mini freakout yesterday. Nothing like I used to get when financial stress used to hit, but it was bad enough.

My husband has taken a temp job and is looking for full-time work. I have a contract lined up for 4-5 weeks starting the end of February, and the hope is that we can pull in double income to replenish our savings. But the temp work isn’t guaranteed to last. And the job market here is dubious at best. It’s nerve-wracking to think – just get through the next few weeks, just get through the next few weeks. I even contemplated getting back into the financial industry as an assistant, which I could probably do fairly easily (I was a receptionist/op admin before), but my husband said to not jump into anything that would be so unhealthy for me except as an absolute last ditch effort.

After my freakout, when my husband got home from his temp job, I went and cold-called at a nearby shop to see if they had any freelance work that I could do from home. And they do have potential work, starting April-ish. The catch is that I would have to carry my own liability insurance and do a test, and they want proof of the insurance before they bother issuing the test. Also, I may have work in such volume that I would need to rent an actual studio/office space rather than work out of the room I have. The income potential is high. I asked if she could tell me what the average take-home was, and the salary they paid the person they used last year (who is no longer available) was more than my husband and I have ever made combined, even when we both worked full-time. If I could make even 1/3 that amount (I assume I wouldn’t work as fast), we would be right where I want us to be savings-wise by the end of the summer, even after accounting for taxes and potential rent and machine/tool maintenance and supplies.

I can’t even begin to explain how I feel, to be staring at having so little money and then to have such a high figure named, to be considering jumping back into office work in an environment I know to be unhealthy for me and then to suddenly be able to maybe plan work around my own hours making potentially more money than I ever could in an office support position. I was a little shell-shocked, to say the least. And still am, honestly.

It’s not work that I’ll necessarily love doing, but it will be a challenge and will make me more skilled at the work I do love doing. Obviously I can’t decide right away because purchasing liability insurance is out for a few weeks, and I am already questioning whether or not my technical skills are up to snuff or if I want to handle the pressure of the kind of deadlines I’d be working with, but I’m considering it. My interview that I was prepping my portfolio for got pushed back til Friday this week, and even if it is fruitful, I can still take a freelance job with that company while working for the shop. I’ll potentially be stressing myself big time, and I’ll definitely be slipping back into sleep deprivation, but if the end result is having the savings and security to step in whatever direction we choose come fall, it may be worth it?

EDIT: After doing some research, the shop has HORRIBLE online reviews from irate customers, and not just a few. I need to think about whether I want to be involved in that kind of business.