by Hope
We FINALLY have the windows and doors open and the air conditioning OFF! And at this point, based on the weather forecast, I have no plans to turn it back on. I am praying this tolerably warm/cooler weather lasts at least a month.
I look forward to that electric bill!
How about your area of the country? Are you dealing with a hotter than normal October? Or is it starting to cool down for you as well. I LOVE FALL WEATHER!
Sweatshirts and shorts, pants and sweatshirts, anything and sweatshirts…this is my kind of weather! And I’m so thankful that I have NO ONE I have to buy fall clothes for! Princess uniform covers the colder weather. (I did break down and add a sweatshirt to the uniform I had already purchased her, but she doesn’t know it yet.)
We are just in a completely different place this year with the private school, the uniform and only one younger child at home. As much as I knew in my head that this year would be different financially, I didn’t realize just how different it would feel. And look to my bottom line!
I definitely have moments that I look back to having all four kids at home, the daily 2 hour commutes to gymnastics training and weekend travels to competitions and miss that adventure filled life. But then I return to this time, the quiet, the steady, slower schedule and am grateful for where we are today.
Volleyball ends this week. And it’s a short school week. So I’m looking forward to some breathing time this coming weekend. Sometime to take a good hard look at my finances and consider my options.
Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.
But life has a way of rewriting your plans.
A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.
Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.
Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.
She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.
So, what do you think ?