We made it another trip around the sun! I haven't quite figured out what that's going to mean for us this year, but this is not normal and we aren't gonna do this again for a third year. A third year of my kids wilting away inside the house because our idiot governor has said we have to wear masks inside and outside, we'll be fined for gathering in places, and there is no fun to be had EVER! There have been so many changes in life, for so many of us, that I thought that it was time to return to One Cheap Mother, largely because I've had to learn to be REAL CHEAP and thought maybe it could be helpful to some of y'all too.
In trying to keep my head afloat the last two years, I've come to realize that writing helped keep me somewhat grounded. It helped me to get shit out of my head so that I don't have to make space for it in the long list of other things that still have to be dealt with, something that will constantly be a reminder as it loops through in my mental video of my check list. And if I'm being really real, writing things down gives me the space to work things out in my head and make sense of things, not that they always make sense, and be honest with whatever scary issue is at hand. Not to mention the actual remembering part.
Like many of you, my main income, which has always come from doing street fairs, bazaars, and farmer's markets primarily as well as my website, were dashed with the unavailability of public gatherings. I feel like I've lived a constant episode of "Friends" when Ross, Rachel, and Chandler are trying to move the couch up the stairs. I have pivoted so many times the last couple years, between how to make money, how to become a teacher, how to make my special needs kids keep masks on, how to get school to respect their special needs in regard to their abilities in what they can do in school that isn't at their grade level, getting my car registered, even some of the simplest things that you wouldn't think of have become a HUGE complication. So many changes- especially to my income and how I'm able to earn it, that like many, I often wonder now I'm going to make ends meet, which bills I can eliminate, or pay later if I pay it late, it's a dumpster fire.
The last couple years I've also learned a lot about myself, my kids, and our likes and dislikes. We've grown as people- as one hopes to when you're forced to spend immense time with yourself when you're not used to. We learned what matters most to our hearts, that when your houseplants die, sometimes you can revive them, and that not everyone that we thought were friends, were only acquaintances that wanted to feel a bit more important or better people to us than they truly were.
So, to say that I've learned to live cheaper than I was before, is the understatement of a century. I've learned to love deeper, and bigger, and the love you get isn't always equal to the love you give- and it's okay to be disappointed with that. "No" should be your favorite word and you should use it often. And that just because you're broke doesn't mean that you still can't have fun. I've learned to accept that I AM a hot mess. But I'm a fun hot mess, and I'll teach you to be a fun hot mess, too.
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