In Happier News

I finally got paid after weeks of negotiating post negotiating my fees with the one company. I might not have made as much as I expected, but at the very least it pretty much directly covers the extra $500 I had to spend today on my dental care that I didn't expect.

It was nice to see that paycheck in the mail today, especially since today I also got my first iPhone bill statement which is $134 (for about 1.5 months.)

So I have $1050 worth of checks in my purse that I need to cash. My current credit card balance is $1700 (yikes) so all my side income this month is going directly to jail and not passing go, I mean, to the credit card company.

I had some old invoices I had to send out so I'm expecting a backlog of paychecks including the two I just got...

$550: company A blogs for October
$500: company B blogs, press release, etc for November
$450: company C illustration and copyedits
$475: company A blogs for November
>=$100: company A blogs for Dec (I've written 4 so far at $25 / blog)
>=$120: company B blogs for Dec (two written so far)

So my "side job" income from October to December will be at least $2195 and if I can get my act together and write 16 more blog posts this month it may be $2595 or $863 a month. Not bad... if I could keep that up I will be able to hit my goal of $10k side income in 2010... but it's unlikely I will make this much every month next year (and this year's income doesn't count.) I just had some really good months for my freelance business.

If only my freelance income could add up to enough where I could quit my job. I'd give anything to have a flexible schedule again... I just want to be able to work when I want and take classes when I want. I want to take a painting class and a few web programming / design courses at the community college but they're only offered in the middle of the afternoon or all morning, which is not possible right now. If my company goes under the first thing I'm going to do is see about building my freelance career again and taking some classes.