break-even summer.

I hate to be cliched about it, but it really does remind me of the Rolling Stones song:

"You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want,
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need"

Going into May, we'd beaten the previous year month by month for seven straight months. I thought a modest goal would be to match last year's total's through summer. Instead, we fell a full 10K below last year over those four months.

And, as a result, the store broke EXACTLY even. Which is kind of weird, even if it does happen a lot.

It felt like there were quite a few tourists, but it felt like they weren't spending as much money.

Hard to know. I don't have anyone else to compare it to.

Still, with the kind of slowdown we've had, I have to figure that getting through with all bills paid and no debt, is accomplishment enough -- after the initial disappointment.

I'm going to try to go about saving money in a different way. I've arranged to have an automatic withdrawal from my business checking account on the same day every month. It's a substantial number, an even number, and one that I'm pretty sure I can reach though it won't be easy.

We'll see how THAT works.