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Going To Texas

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The decision has been made. The plans have been made. I am headed to Texas in a couple of weeks for an open ended stay with my parents.

I wrote about the tug I’d been feeling to go. And I have decided to heed it. Addy and I will drive down in a couple of weeks.

Not sure when we will return exactly, but I will be back by mid-October because Princess will have her wisdom teeth extracted and I will stay with her while she recovers.

My son is thrilled. My sister is excited. My dad is excited. And I think they all have lists of things they’d like me to get done while I’m there, in addition to spending time with them.

Hope and her dad - Spring, 2024

But the number one goal is to see what I can do to help my dad on a day to day with my mom’s care with a focus on taking care of him too. My siblings do an AMAZING job of supporting him. He just seems to respond differently to me. (We have always been very, very close.) And his health has definitely suffered in the last couple of years. With cancer treatment, emergency gallbladder removal, and consistent pain that has yet to be diagnosed, we just all believe he needs some added support. So I can go and stay and help.

Work and Travel

I am SO GRATEFUL that I am able to make this trip and be there as needed. The costs will be minimal. Addie and I will car camp on our way there and back (or stay with friends and family along the way.) So just gas really.

My boss has already been informed and is 100% supportive of me working from wherever I want too. This is one of the big factors of choosing to remain a contractor at this juncture. I have complete freedom to travel, move, live wherever and not affect the corporate taxes, etc.

I also alluded to some big decisions have been made in the last couple of weeks. This trip will also help me flesh some of those decisions out. More on that in coming weeks or months…

 

Hope’s Actual Spend – August, 2024

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I posted my forecasted spend for August back in July here.

And now that we are at the end of the month, this is my report on actual spend.

DatePayee/CategoryAnticipated AmountActual Spending
08-01-2024Groceries / Hygiene / Dogs / Gas-590-514
08-01-2024Income79257950
08-02-2024Auto Insurance-1460-1460
08-02-2024Credit One 2-50-1,102
08-02-2024Personal Loan 2-500-500
08-02-2024Pest Control-80-80
08-03-2024Mortgage ($200 principal only)-1215-1015
08-03-2024TX to Savings-790-188
08-03-2024Investments-350-280
08-03-2024TX to TRV SAV 1387-5000
08-03-2024Taxes, SS, Medicare (30%)-2550-2550
08-04-2024Amazon CC-60-54
08-04-2024City Utilities - varies-150-95
08-07-2024Auto - Maintenance-1000
08-09-2024Electric - varies-250-358
08-10-2024Income - varies440242
08-14-2024Verizon-350-365
08-15-2024House (estimated)-350-637
08-20-2024Kids Payments1215115
08-20-2024Frontier CC-130-124
08-26-2024Windstream-71-71
Unplanned
Incomesold an old iPad300
Princess Tuition-1,071
Oral Surgeon for Princess-400

Notes

I will explain the large difference in the kids’ contributions in a future post. But I anticipate receiving several hundred more dollars of that in the next week. Beauty’s car purchase came with some unplanned expenses so she needed to delay her payment.

Unplanned Expenses

There were a couple unplanned items like Princess school costs. She received far less in financial aid grants due to my increased income in 2022. So rather than have her take a loan for that, I just covered it. I am so grateful that I was in a position to do so.

We did visit a oral surgeon with the goal of getting Princess’ wisdom teeth out this fall. We’ve known this was needed for some years, but she’s not prioritized taking the time to get it done. It is now made itself a priority with the pain caused by their growth. All 4 are impacted, coming in sideways and none have broken through the gums. All of my kids have had this done except for History Buff.

Varying Utilities + Heat

My electric bill was WAY HIGHER than expected. But then again, the heat has been merciless. We are on month two of $350+ electric bill. Praying that it drop considerably in September. It’s definitely been a little bit cooler here lately.

Lower Part Time Income

You will see that my part time income was even lower than expected. The manager has been struggling with controlling labor costs so she specifically asked me to have regularly scheduled staff handle many of my typical in store duties. That was fine with me, but did result in less income.

But I was able to sell an old iPad for $300 so that helped offset that drop. I continue to identify things to sell and have a list of things that I plan to list in the next couple of weeks. It’s just taking the time to get photos and do the research on what price to list them at.

I have plans to sell my inherited collection of antique cameras and some furniture next. (The kids have all had ample opportunities to express their interest in having or inheriting anything, but other than that, I am still very much in purge, minimalist mode.)

I don’t think there was anything else unexpected here. I already wrote about how I decided to pull my savings and pay off the credit card instead.