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Posts tagged with: year end

Hope’s March Summary

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I just logged on here for the first time and saw all the comments from my last two posts. And will wade through them and reply shortly. I appreciate your patience. (No, I don’t get notified of comments.)

That being said, this month has been a doozy…so here’s just a summary of updates:

The Kids

  • Beauty and Redhead were planning to move here. She spent 7 weeks here, got a job, worked a few weeks. And then decided they didn’t want to move. So in just a few short days, she quit her new job and drove home.
  • History Buff was planning to move here in August. His timeline got unexpectedly moved up when his roommate got transferred. So he is moving here, in with my dad and I while he job searches, in May.
  • Princess has decided that she would like to move here. However, she is under contract with her job so the reality of that or timeline is not clear. But she has now expressed a desire to move to Texas. I was shocked.
  • Sea Cadet also wants to move here. He’s been saying that, but is in school. So we have talked and decided that his move should wait until he completes school so he doesn’t have to deal with out of state tuition.

The Finances

  • Work continues to be slow, but I am making enough to cover my bills. No new debt.
  • My first month of cash only has been AWESOME. Life changing. Just from a stress and mental health level, it’s been really good.
  • I’m continuing to apply for remote work both full time and project based. Caretaking is my primary role for the foreseeable future.

What’s Next

  • In three weeks, I leave on a 3 week road trip. It was planned as a weekend with my youngest daughter, Princess. We were meeting for a weekend in Branson. But then with History’s looming move, it was extended so I will go straight from my weekend with Princess out to Vegas to help him move.
  • When I return, I will be house/dog sitting for a week. (I signed up for Rover as a house sitter and dog walker and have two week long bookings here locally.)

No other travel plans for now. But I am beginning to consider a visit to Georgia sometime in the fall and combine it with relocating my storage unit here to Texas. That’s just a thought for now, no firm.

Sides Notes

Before you jump on me for being gone for 3 weeks, my siblings will be covering my parents while I’m gone. I’m leaving cooked meals, etc. This has been planned, scheduled, and agreed upon as a family. I’m super excited for History Buff to be here.

And when I take house/pet sitting assignments, I will continue to do my daily caretaking for my parents, just have to commute here to do it. That is actually spelled out in my profile so that people know that I won’t just be sitting at their homes.

 

Book to Read: Psycholoy of Money

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Thank you, Susan, for recommending I read the Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel when I requested book recommendations back in January. I fully appreciate the knowledge gained even though it is an older book. It is evidently pretty popular around here as I got on the wait list for it at the library on the day (1/20/26) you recommended and just got access a week ago (3/15/26). I just finished reading it today (3/22/26).

My favorite quote of the entire book was this:

“We should use past surprises as an admission that we have no idea what might happen next.”

Truly the story of my life, and profoud in it’s simplicity. It really made me evaluate in a different light, why my “forecasting” hasn’t worked as well as I always think it should. Because if nothing else, my life has been a true roller coaster of surprises – personal, professional, financial and every other which way.

If you have not read it, definitely recommend.

I’ve now got pages worth of notes to review and think through. But I enjoyed all the real life examples the author shared, the analogies for financial fundamentals using related stories, people and subject matter, and especially how easy it was to read. It didn’t bog me down, and there were few sections that I had to re-read to understand and grasp the implications. That has rarely been the case with personal finance books.

And I definitely appreciated that the author was very clear that personal finance is very personal. All of our histories, life experiences, culture, education, and our perspectives is going to lend itself to each of us prioritizing different things, make different decisions with our financial assets. Truly emphasizing the true psychology of money versus the math of money.

Finally, I loved the recognition that happiness is not from having money. It’s ultimately in the freedom that money gives us. Money gives us control our time and how we spend it. Now that’s a concept I fully agree with and appreciate!

 

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