Things have spiraled out of control financially this month. The summer is slower at tutoring to begin with, but to make matters worse I had a small chain of rotten situations take place. I had two parents bounce checks, which is really awful considering I live in a fairly wealthy area. I also had a teacher of all people not pay me at all. I am really angry at myself over that one. I always take payments up front, but since it was a teacher and her tutoring situation was unique (help with the new version of the Praxis test) I had to decide what to charge her and how many hours she would be tutored. Therefore, I told her she could pay at the end. In the end, I gave her a very fair price figuring she could recommend our services at school. I sent her an invoice and left her voice mails and she has ignored me completely. On her last day of tutoring, she was so grateful for how much I helped her. Oh well, live and learn I guess.
Anyhow, all of this has forced me to dip into my personal emergency fund to pay for overhead the last two weeks. In summary, I didn't have a lot of savings for the business because it was started last year as a last minute decision after the tutoring company I worked for shut down with nearly no warning. It's been a good year overall, but our first one. Many yearly costs (insurance, LLC, etc) renew this month. I also had to give up taking a paycheck this month.
Adding to the issues, my hubby and I already had separate vacations planned and paid for this month. His son bought him a ticket to see him in Seattle. However, he will still need bus fare to get back and forth from the Boston airport (our trips overlap and is flying at odd hours so a local ride from friends or family won't work) and money for eating on the trip. I had bought a plane ticket to go to see family in Michigan Labor Day weekend (I literally got notice of the two bounced checks two days after paying for my plane ticket). Fortunately, my costs will be nearly nil. I will stay with family and most of my meals will be paid for. I picked up a couple of mystery shops for restaurants while I am there too.
I really need to update all my financials here. I am embarrassed to do so because it won't be pretty. I will wait until I return from Michigan to see exactly where everything stands at that point.
Spiraling Out of Control Financially
August 15th, 2014 at 12:06 pm
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Is there any possibility the teacher is away or has school commenced in your community?
I think I'd phone relative who is a lawyer to check before...e-mailing these deadbeats and tell them you'd be reluctant to embarrass them but this sum owed is important to you. If they don't fix the problem in the next 24 hrs, you'll go to social media [Twitter, FB etc.] to out them for financial irresponsibility. Alternatively, I'd say something like...ask your employer for their assistance in collecting the sum owed.
I wouldn't actually do it, but they'd likely believe you.
August 15th, 2014 at 05:27 pm 1408120051
August 16th, 2014 at 11:55 am 1408186526
The bank did put each of those checks through a second time, but they bounced again. My lawyer relative said she could type up a letter demanding payment. Hopefully that will do the trick. Thank you all for your support. I feel a lot better.