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Hope’s Spending Plan – November, 2022

I’m really behind on my planning and tracking so I’m certain this change this month. But here is what currently remains in my spending plan for the month of November.

Utilities – Gas, Water, Trash	11/4/2021	-100
Counseling	11/10/2021	-60
Princess – monthly allowance	11/15/2021	-150
Car Payment Savings	11/15/2021	-250
Christmas Money	11/15/2021	-500
Auto Insurance	11/15/2021	-1021
Counseling	11/17/2021	-60
Thanksgiving	11/19/2021	-500
Counseling	11/20/2021	-60
Storage	11/21/2021	-65
Kennel	11/26/2021	-380
Dad – Flights	11/26/2021	-1000
Counseling	11/27/2021	-60
Netflix	11/30/2021	-18
Adobe	11/30/2021	-20
Amazon	11/30/2021	-150
Mortgage	11/30/2021	-661

There are quite a few unique things about this months spending.

Counseling – It won’t be a long term commitment, but I knew we needed help to get through some personal challenges. The counselor does not take insurance, but works on a sliding scale.
My dad helped us with the Thanksgiving flights, but the twins’ girlfriends paid for their own tickets. And I’m planning to give dad some money towards them as well. This is my plan. Whether he accepts it or not is a whole other matter, but I will be prepared.
I can’t remember if I told you that I told you all that I’ve rented a storage unit. This will be a monthly charge for the next few months.
Thanksgiving trip money is just an estimate. I typically have little to no expenses when I’m at my parents.
Kenneling a dog is EXPENSIVE! I’ve thought of having one of the kids’ friends stay at our home and watch her but I’m just no comfortable with the idea.
My car insurance is high because…I didn’t pay it last month. Ugh!

I’m catching up. Slowly. Just been a mess emotionally so I’ve kind of slacked off in my planning and record keeping.

Incidentally, I found a wonderful little blog called Our Debt Free Family. If you get a chance, check it out. It’s well worth reading.

Hope

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.

Mental Health & Money

by Hope

My mental well-being has been challenged in ways that I have never experienced before and I am struggling on every front as a result. It has affected my parenting, my work, my finances, my decision making…my whole entire existence. (Yes, it is related to my now 4 year old relationship.)

As a result, I have spent money I had no plans to spend…two trips out of town. One literally decided and planned the same day.

I am fighting to keep my faith and joy in a relationship that has been so strong and such a pivotal turn in my life, but I am drowning at the same time.

Emotions overwhelm me and I’m so isolated when it comes to “adult” stuff. This has been really, really hard. Like walking through a fog all the time.

I can relate so well to Beks recent posts on stress spending, aloneness and such. While I haven’t really shopped, I have certainly spent money that I didn’t plan on and more than that, without any type of planning.

Every day I feel like I’m going to bounce back and be myself again, take on my to do list that is so far behind and catch up at work. And every day, I fail. Like miserably.

I’ve cut my hair off (see picture above), thanks to my daughter who is in cosmetology school.

I cancelled the unused gym membership.

I’ve opened and closed my budget worksheet so many times that it’s just stupid.

I’m floundering, big time.

But I’ll get through this too. Just wanted to jump on and let you know the reason for my MIA status. Prayers appreciated. I’m slowly making my way back to being me again.

Hope

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

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.