Template 41 and Financial Confessions

It's been almost a week since I posted anything here. And what a week it's been. I've been sick off and on. And totally drained. Hopefully I'll feel better soon! But I do have a template today. It may look familiar, as it's the LO I made a QP for ValerieN Designs. She said it's ok to make templates out of my QP LOs:)

But first, I have some confessions to make. I hate admitting this, especially in such a public setting, but...we need help. We're poor. And it sucks. We THINK we'll have enough for June's rent, but we won't have enough to cover our utilities or any other necessary expenses like diapers (which we're running low on) or toilet paper, etc. We try to live as frugally as possible, but we just don't have enough. John is working as many hours as he can get, but retail is getting hit SO hard in this economy that hours are hard to come by. He's going to look into donating plasma (there's a plasma bank RIGHT behind his work, and there's also one down the street from us) and we're contemplating the possibility of him getting a second job. We want to avoid me having to work outside our home. Right now, me working really isn't a good idea. Plus, there really aren't any decent paying jobs around here anyway. I can't donate plasma for health reasons.

Normally, my parents would help us out, but this economy is putting a huge strain on them financially. The software company my dad works for had to lay off half the employees awhile back. They then cut Dad's hours down to 2 days a week and everyone remaining got a 10% cut in pay. He's still there, but he's not making what he used to. Not to mention how the economy has affected his stocks/retirement fund. Mom said they probably COULD help us if need be, but I hate to ask it of them when they're under so much strain. They've already done so much to help us. John's family would love to help, too, but I don't think any of them are currently in a position to do so, either.

This economy sucks. I hope there's a stimulus package coming out - that would help us SOOOO much. We'll get student aid and loans come September, but until then, we're essentially on our own. We'll likely have to get help from our church in the meantime. Thankfully, we already get help with food, so we don't have to worry much about that. We just need to learn to budget our food expenses better.

But I AM looking into legitimate ways to earn money online. John and I recently signed up at YouData (after some friends verified their legitimacy), where we can earn a little bit by viewing ads. So far (since last night), between the 2 of us, we've earned over $3 in just minutes. If you're interested in signing up, feel free to use me as a reference - I get $1 for each person who uses me as a referral;) Click here to sign up with me as your reference:)

I've also added a PayPal donation box here on my blog. Feel free to donate!! We'd REALLY appreciate it. Even if it's only $1. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every download I've had, I'd be in great financial shape. I give all the digiscrap stuff I make away for free. I'd hate to have to charge money for the stuff I make. Plus I don't think I'm store-quality yet anyway LOL (though I've seen some pretty ugly stuff in stores...). I LIKE giving things away for free because the only digiscrap stuff I can get right now are the freebies. It seems more fair that way, if that makes sense. But with our finances the way they are, I might have to look into charging for stuff. I want to avoid that if at all possible. Which is one of the reasons why I put up a donation box. If I get enough donations, I won't feel compelled to sell my work.

I also added Google's AdSense to my blog. I doubt I'll make much (or anything) through that one, but hey, every little bit helps, right?

I'm trying not to stress about our financial status, but it's SOOOO hard not to. Especially since there are some things we'll need that I have no idea how we'll be able to pay for. But we have plenty of time to worry about that.

Anyway, now that I've thoroughly depressed everyone and made everyone feel sorry for me, I've got a template to share! No new pages today; maybe later tonight I'll get to one. But at least I have a template, right?

Template 41 is a single page LO in PSD format. As always, I'd love to hear back from you and see your pages. And donations are always welcome and appreciated:) Here's the preview:



You can download it here.

That's it for now! I MIGHT make another page and/or template tonight, but we'll see. It really depends on how I'm feeling. Anyway, time to get Emma ready for bed!