by Hope
Ever since History Buff announced his plan to move in May, my mind has been focused on the big roadtrip. But now I’m back and it’s time to buckle down again – focus on getting more work and grinding out my debt payments.
Current Debt
My current student loan balance (my only remaining debt) is now: $14,806.65
Current Income
My income still varies greatly. And it’s nowhere close to my goal of $6,000 take home right now.
Thankfully, the new business I started this year is slowly gaining traction, and should break even as of June (pay me back for the overhead invested to start it.) It’s set up well and requires less than 10 hours a month of my time to produce what is slowly becoming a pretty steady passive income stream. My goal is to add a couple more products this summer since my first two have proven to be relatively successfully thusfar.
Summer Plan
Both of my daughters already have plans to visit this summer. Yeah.
History Buff will start his new job and hopes to get his own place within a couple of months. (He is living with my sister as he gets his feet under him here in Texas.) I’m looking forward to having a hiking buddy on the weekends.
My dad has requested some project work from me.
And I’m hoping to fill most weekends with Rover gigs.
Outside of that, I plan to buckle down and focus on gaining more steady work. Building my passive income stream. And spending time at the neighborhood pool with my sister.
Last year this time, I was nervous about what moving to Texas would look like. This year, I’m ready to embrace being here. I still don’t think it’s my forever home, but I really don’t know where that might be.
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.
