by Beks
My husband was scheduled to finish one last remodel job in California and then head out to meet me in Texas. We hoped the job would be complete by November 18th but knew it might drag on through the end of the month as remodels sometimes do. It was a pretty big job with a nice payday and I was excited to have a financial course correction after the craziness of the last two months.
Then things went wrong with my health.
Without going into the details (no, not COVID), I ran into some crummy stuff that I couldn’t manage well on my own. I called my husband and completely fell apart talking about it and he immediately cancelled the job. He packed up the kids and hit the road the next day. They are now in Texas.
I’m disappointed with myself and I’m disappointed with the situation. I’m frustrated. I’m super happy to have my kids, super happy to have some help with the health stuff, but I’m really stressed about the status of my checking account.
Our California house went on the market last weekend. We have multiple offers but our agent hasn’t shared the numbers yet which makes me think they are under asking price. Ugh. We’ve be warned not to go too close to Thanksgiving since buyers dry up over the holidays so we may have to take one of the offers that isn’t quite what we hoped.
We knew this year was going to be a hit to the finances and we’ve got to find ways to crack down on spending over the next 12 months BUT have you ever tried to move to a new city and not see it!? This is going to be a rough go.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
You’ve been running on adrenaline and stress for weeks now at this point. I’m not surprised at all that this has resulted in health problems. I sincerely hope your health issues are relieved soon. I’m glad to hear you are reunited with your family.
Take a step back and realize that the low in your checking account is just temporary. You will be getting the money back on the sale of your house. So really you’re just “prepaying” expenses of selling your house. It’s not fair to consider this spending on the same page as debt due to excessive luxury spending. It’s a necessary expense especially since I believe you got a huge raise by changing jobs. Relax and enjoy your family. Slow down and go with the flow a little bit. Life is more than $$$$ and penny pinching.
This is such a great reminder. Thank you!
My family has made a similar move and had similar set backs. I can tell you 3 years in that it all worked out. Everything turned out ok and it was worth the stress.
Good to know!
Well first off, kudos to your husband!
And secondly, maybe you could google some free or low-cost things to do in your area and save the more expensive stuff for when you get back on your feet financially. Hopefully things will get better now emotionally at least now!
Beks,
You are a great blogger and have such a gift for writing. Faith and family is what’s important. All the money in the world won’t compensate for the lost family time.
Every time in my life that I’ve put money over family ended up being a disaster.
Be well and thanks for being you!
Aw! Thanks!
You have gas $$ right ? Jump in the car and drive around and do whatever is cheapest/free. Maybe because of everything else going on, you not exploring Texas for the first year seems a bigger deal than it truly is. It is not a big deal, and you will be making the money back 🙂