It’s been three months since I started this blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far.

When I wrote my first post, I was looking forward to starting to save (and to making up for all that I didn’t put away in my 20s). But then a project I was working on didn’t pan out and left me trying to quickly drum up some new income.

It’s tough to be in my 30s and thinking about making coffee at home because spending $2 at the deli isn’t in my budget. I’ve already been through this phase (a few times)!

In a bittersweet twist, I’ll make my final payment to the company managing my credit card debt – which started around $15,000 – on Monday. I always thought this would be a huge celebratory moment for me, but it’s more of a sigh of relief: One less payment to worry about.

I know I’ll get back on track, but in the meantime all I can think about is the amount of money I have in the bank and whether or not it’s enough. I know many of you can relate—according to a government report today, new jobless claims in the U.S. hit 500,000 last week, the highest level since November. So next week I’m going to write about some ways (conventional and not-so) to get through times of un- or under- employment.