I really thought I’d have a more relaxing and easy-going summer than I did. But alas, I did not. If you’ve been paying attention, the blog posts took a STEEP decline in July and August. No, I’m not abandoning the blog. I just needed to put some things on pause. I can only do so much.
Here’s a crash course life update….
A waaaaaay back recap, if you weren’t already aware…
I filed for divorce at the end of 2021. You can read my full story of that nightmare (including the nightmare that was my marriage) here.
This drastically changed our lives. I went from stay-at-home, supplemental-income-earning-mom, to only-source-of-income mom. The blog was great in 2022, 2023, and 2024. My returns for the time I spent on it were great. The income really helped.
This year has not been so great for the blog. I don’t know exactly what it is, but it can probably be traced back to Facebook algorithms and changes in Google search engine results, but my blog traffic tanked. I’ve also noticed a decline in engagement because all social media favors video content and I don’t like making video content. So it became hard to justify the time spent on making posts for the blog when my traffic and reach were down causing my income from it to decrease 85-90% a month over last year. Especially when I had other things I could be doing with that time that is bringing in money to the household.
Check out Mother Hustle | Unconventional Ways to Make Money in Today’s World – the post is a few years old and it needs a good update (that’s on my to-do list) but it’s still got some good information in it!
I’ve had some time to rest from it and brainstorm some new things to try to hopefully build back up. How can you help? I’m glad you asked.
You can sign up for my newsletter if you like getting email updates. It’s always been called The Daily Save but I need to find a new name for it because it doesn’t not go out daily anymore. But when I do have new posts and new information, I send out an email.
Saving Toward a Better Life is on Facebook and Instagram. Follows and engagement there would be huge. That’s the best way to increase blog traffic is to be seen and interacted with on social media.
If you’re at all interested in homeschooling content, I have a blog at Life, Learning, Homeschool and it has a Facebook page and I have a homeschooling Instagram account.
Now back to the life update…
We took a big trip in May that I had been saving for and planning for a LONG time. I won’t bog down this post with too many details. But G got on a plane for the first time since he was 5 and we spent 9 days away from home seeing some really cool stuff. And we’re already planning another trip!
When we got home from our trip, we had a rescue kitten waiting on us. A friend of mine rescued her from Louisiana and kept her safe for us until we got past our trip. We brought her home mid-May and introduced her to the rest of the crazy crew here and it was rocky at first – she was an energetic kitten and the rest of the cat crew thought they were going to enjoy their retirement age! But it’s all good now and we love her like crazy.
Her name is Daisy May. And if following cats on the internet is your jam, you can check her out on Instagram at Oopsie_Daisy_May.
It’s coming up on a year since I lost one of my sweet cats – taking us from a four cat to a three cat household. And I’ve never been a three cat household – we went from one to four in 2018, to five in 2020. And then from five to four when we lost Lady in 2023. But going from four to three, things just didn’t feel right. Daisy has filled a hole in our household and we are happy to have her.
So another reason things were so crazy over the summer and the blog got put on the back burner was because I decided to run for City Council.
It was really weird going to vote and seeing your name on the ballot! I thought things would be settled weeks ago because the election was August 26th. But now I’m in a run-off! So I’ll be on ANOTHER ballot on September 23rd. So I didn’t quite get the breather I thought I would get after August 26th.
And lastly, THIS is happening – SENIOR YEAR.
That’s another reason I decided to spend less time on the blog this summer – because I wanted to do some fun things with G. Going from stay-at-home/work-at-home mom to two-jobs-plus-gig-work-outside-the-home mom has really taken it’s toll over the last few years and although we have been able to do some fun things, we’ve missed out on some stuff. I didn’t want to take this last summer for granted and tried to be really intentional about it. Because next year, he’ll be starting a new chapter in his life!
So here’s hoping that you’re still here and that I can carve out time to still be here as well. I started this blog in 2009 and I don’t intend on giving it up any time soon!
See you around!
Follow Me!