by Hope
I gave myself a financial task list last week to prepare for my impending departure (tomorrow!) Nothing got done. Rather, nothing got completely done.
I feel like my gazelle like intensity has come to a grinding halt, and has been there for a while now. And for a few weeks, I couldn’t seem to function because of it, just felt too overwhelmed. Well, I’m happy to report that this is not the case now.
I made baby steps towards all of these goals. And I feel good about where I leave them as I head out of town. But with that in mind, I’ve already got a long task list to accomplish once I return.
So here are some updates for you…
- The trip – housing will cost a big, fat $0 – woohoo for the entire 2 week, 4 day trip. The route is planned, the food is planned.
- The jewelry – I’ve registered with a site, but because of timing I didn’t want to start the process and not be here to finish it, so the listings will actually go up on my return.
- Side jobs – I completed one of the side jobs and now await payment, the other one I will need to work on while I’m traveling.
- Purge – Whoa, mama! I have made some serious progress here with large piles going to donation centers today, trash going out tomorrow and items all ready to list for sale on my return.
- Fall plans – I haven’t really had time to spend on this one, but it’s something else I can do while on the road. All that drive time, gives me lots of “in my head” time so I should return with lots of things worked out, at least in my head.
In addition, I have been so blessed with a week long visit from my friend (and her children) who is a great sounding board for me as I work out BIG financial decisions in my head and subsequently head to Texas where my dad and I will have serious conversations about my housing situation and near future of that. I am EXTREMELY stressed out about my options and these discussions with my dad so if you pray, please pray for me to be open and willing to listen as well as capable of making good sound decisions for my family’s future. And help me not to cry, that always just gets in the way, and I cry really easily.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I wish you good luck with your conversation with your dad. If I were you I would be very open about my budget, my income and discuss with dad his opinion. If you are still not at a place to buy your home budge wise, I am sure he will see that and he may suggest something else.I do not know why you would cry since I think your dad has already proven that he loves you and he wants to help you. I looked back at the first post you have explained your housing situation and confirmed my impression about your dad.
It is a blessing to have a dad around to help out. I have lost mine when I was 27 and there hasn’t been a single day without missing him. Good Luck!
You are very right, TPol. I am confident of my dad’s love and am so grateful for it. I think the crying and emotion stem from the stress of debt in general and the guilt of even being in this situation…the psychology of money, I’m sure that’s a whole topic of it’s own.
Thank you for the encouragement! I’m sorry you lost your own father, I can’t imagine a life without my parents.
Hope! You can’t say, “nothing got done” – you accomplished quite a bit. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.
Ha, you’re right, Walnut! I’m actually in a good space in my head regarding what I got done so maybe that wasn’t the best way to word it, but there is something so satisfying about actually marking something off the list…so I guess that’s what I was referring to in not getting anything done. But you’re right, I got quite alot done. Thanks for the encouragement.
Good luck Hope!!
Thanks, Downstairs…love your name!
I cry easily, too. Whether it’s called for or not. Something good happens? I’m likely to cry. I see a funeral procession on the road? I’m going to cry for that family’s loss. I get mad? I cry. That one is a given. I can’t just get mad and be mad, I have to cry like a baby. Anyway, crying can be good. It gets emotions out (much better than holding them in!) and helps you to get over it. A good cry does so much. There’s a quote that says something like, ‘all of life’s problems are solved with salt water: whether tears, sweat or time at the ocean’.
Have a great trip.
I love that quote, Alice! I’m glad someone can relate to my teary disposition. My ex-husband always got angry when I cried, accusing me of using the tears to manipulate him, but I truly have found no way to stop when they come.
And I”m like you, it is both happy and sad events that set me off. It’s the empathy in us which I think we both know can be such a strength but also has it’s downsides. It’s nice to know there’s a fellow crier out there.
Your dad sounds like a very loving and helpful person (based on what you’ve said about him helping you with your housing and finances in the past). I wish you luck on your discussion with him and I’m sure it’ll go well since he’s so supportive of you. Sending positive thoughts your way!