Things have been dark at Midlife Beginnings for three weeks now. I’ve been out of town and off the grid. Well, not quite off the grid, but off the Internet, that’s for sure. My partner M. and I took a nice long vacation in rural New Brunswick Canada, of all places. My parents have a place on the Bay of Fundy, just over the border from Maine (and not far from the rocky shoreline in the picture to the left of this paragraph), so we spent a few days with them, and then camped in the Fundy Provincial Park. I had thought that I would do some blogging, but after trying a few times to hook my laptop up to the internet without success, I decided an Internet vacation would be a good thing, and the laptop sat in the trunk of the car. I didn’t even think about any entrepreneurial opportunities. I really needed the break.
We got back last Sunday, but work has been the usual whirlwind that it is after a vacation, and it’s only now that I’m getting a chance to catch up on my personal life here in Brooklyn.
I’m also catching up on my finances, and the news is not good. I put my book-selling business on vacation for almost a month. And even though we camped / stayed with relatives, our vacation cost a LOT more than I expected it to. Three weeks on the road is expensive no matter how frugal you try to be.
The cost of my vacation, along with the Vespa I bought in July, has caused my debt to rise above $30,000 again. This is only half of what it was at the peak a couple years ago, but is almost $10k more than it was in July. Not the direction I want to be going in. Two steps forward and one step back, as they say, but for the first time in a while I’m feeling the pressure of my debts again.
M. came back home a week before I did, and is now in Brazil. He doesn’t make much money, but damn does he ever get good benefits: 8 weeks vacation per year. What I would give for that! Long-time readers of my blog (before I managed to delete a couple years history) will remember that the last time I wrote about our relationship things were not going well at all. Well, he’s done a lot to make up for the money issues he caused between us last Winter, and I’m happy to say that our relationship is one area of my life that has improved immensely over the past year.
But I am not happy wtih the direction of my debt over the past three months. It is time to re-double my spending discipline. I’ve missed blogging and have looked forward to getting back into the habit. This blog did a lot to help me confront my debt and keep myself honest. I guess now I have a reason to put some focus back on it again.
I’m glad things are going well with M. Life is much better when relations are going well.
I can identify getting behind in unexpected ways. Some of these I should have known like painting the house, but some of them were a little more unexpected such as car repairs and a professional tree trimming (Did I really need it done?) and I’ll need new tires before the winter sets in. I’ve cut back on some stuff (no yoga at $12.50 to $15.00 per session) bringing lunch to work. and I’m trying to pay more with cash (I keep reading that you spend more when using a credit card). I’ve watched you make great progress in the past, you’ll do it again.
Thanks Paul, I am also not using my credit cards. Instead I’m taking out $200 each Friday and making it last for the next week. Rather draconian for me, but I find that if I cook a lot I can do it. 2 or 3 months of this and I’ll have made it back to where I was in June, and I’ll have my Vespa paid off to boot!