Reflection: Another Month Comes to a Close — What's Next?

And so, we bring another month to a close.

May was always one of my favorite months of the year, and in most of my previous businesses it was one of the financially most prosperous.

However, times have changed. I suppose that holds true for most self-employed people. Due to the general slowdown in the economy, just about all my small businesses that we run from home I've seen a reduction in income this year.

Meanwhile, we're dealing with inflation that effectively seems a lot higher than the "official numbers" released by the government. 10%? Doesn't feel quite right... when I stand in line to pay at the supermarket, it seems more like 30%.

We continue to scrape by as best we can, and I'm grateful that we have an expanding garden where we're growing a lot of our own vegetables this year as we have been for the past decade now. Hopefully we will have a good harvest!

This year we expanded the garden by adding another potato bed, which is a nice easy to grow plant that usually yields quite a bit of bulk that is not only tasty and fresh, but also saves really well into the winter.

This year, we're also growing rutabaga for the first year... those supposedly also store well for winter. We'll see how they do... so far they are just small sprouts.

It feels a bit strange to live in the USA considered by many one of the wealthiest countries on the planet and be talking about having to save up food for winter that we've grown ourselves. Of course, it's not entirely the country's fault, some of it also has to do with the fact that we chose to be self-employed. Maybe life would be much different if I had just become a civil servant, instead!

The persistent weakness in the crypto markets hasn't helped our cause much this year. And, at the moment, many of us continue to be worried about the fact that the government deal on raising the US debt ceiling is still a little bit up in the air. It sounds like they have reached a resolution, but I fear to trust any of that until the ink on the final document is actually dry!

So now we look forward to June!

I'd like to feel hopeful that we're going to have a good month with at least a couple of our businesses, especially our artwork which tends to go across pretty well during the summer months when they're outdoor festivals and arts and crafts shows that we go to as vendors.

It's not much, but these days will take every penny we can get. Our version of the American dream may not be the one you see in movies with luxury cars and mansions, But ultimately we are quite grateful to have the life that we do!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great remainder of your week!

How about you? How did YOUR May work out? Was it a good months for you? Are you much dependent on cryptocurrency? Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2023.06.01 00:30 PST
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