Transition costs and coming up with the $$$

[Alaia]

So transition can be hella expensive. With HRT, therapy, electrolysis, and various surgeries you may feel are needed it can easily reach up over 50 K. Even if insurance covers some of it, it often doesn't cover all of it because of the presumed 'cosmetic' nature, still leaving a huge amount to save up for.

I guess the purpose of this post is to provide examples for or to brainstorm ways in which your average person can come up with this money in a reasonable amount of time without having to go into debt for it. What have you done? What works for you? What were your challenges and how profitable has it been (if you don't mind sharing)?

If you are one of those that are struggling to find an answer on how to pay for things and would like some suggestions from others here, please post the following:

1) Introduction - A little about yourself, your skills and interests.
2) Goals - What / how much are you trying to save up for?
3) Time - How much time you have to devote each week, and how much time do you feel is reasonable to accomplish your goals in?
4) What do you feel has been or will be the biggest obstacles in reaching your goals?
5) Any ideas you've had bouncing around in your head that you're not sure about and would like feedback on?


** FYI, network marketing schemes are not welcome in this thread. This is not a place to try and convince people to get in your downline. Nor is it a place to try and rack up referral bonuses.

[Alaia]

For myself:

1) Intro: I'm 38 yo and currently have a decent FT job that pays ~85K a year. Which would probably be great if I were single, but I have a family to support still. I'm looking at a divorce in the near future and the numbers show there's going to be next to nothing left over after paying for the needs of both households. My career has been in computers, specifically in technical support for software and hardware appliances. I have over 15 years experience in the industry, but no college degree. I do have some interest and skill in art/drawing that may be marketable as well.
2) Goals: Looking to save up for FFS and VFS whilst also paying for electro. I figure roughly $50,000 combined.
3) Time: My FT job has me busy from 8-7 each day (including commute), so I have roughly 4-5 hours a day I could devote to something else. However, I'm still going to want to spend time with kids, so maybe 2-3 hours a day is more reasonable. I'd like to be able to able to afford everything after saving up a few years, but that'll take approx $1400 / month to do.
4) Obstacles: Finding the time, indecisiveness/being unsure of what's going to pan out, staying focused on something until it's complete, burnout.
5) Ideas:

• 2nd job - I recently looked into doing a graveyard shift at a datacenter, but after carefully thinking about it I declined as I just don't think I could do it for more than a few months without severe burnout and being constantly exhausted.
• Selling comics or illustrated novels - I've thought about maybe selling some comics or illustrated novels online. It would certainly match up with my interests. But I'm worried that my art skills are still lacking and anything I produce wouldn't be that marketable. There's a huge time investment here and no guarantee of compensation.
• Selling art locally - I don't know, I just don't think my art is good enough to make this very profitable.
• Making a videogame - I've toyed with this as well, but you really need a team if you want to pull it off in a reasonable amount of time. Also need a great concept to be successful and sell a lot. Requires major time investment and ability to stay focused with clearly set goals and deadlines. For me would also require more investment in developing programming skills or art skills or both if I'm going it alone.
• House flipping - Something I've wanted to try, could even replace a FT job from what I've heard if you are good enough at it. The downside is I have no up front cash to invest in it and financing one would be difficult as I already have a mortgage.

[Jenna Marie]

My transition, excluding bottom surgery, probably cost about $8000 so far. I was also fortunate that my insurance covered a lot of it.

I took a couple of freelance long-term jobs in various writing fields to pay for GRS, which worked out to take about 2 years from when we started saving aggressively.

(I prefer not to go into too many specifics about my career/job skills b/c in certain public circles I'm pretty recognizable by the details.)