I never did an August update.  I thought we might be in the black in August.  We were, but it was a close breakeven month.  (Technically, +$400 in the black).  Looking through the details, this is clearly mostly because it was a one-income month.  But other budget busters were a $300 office chair purchase (long overdue) and $1,200 in impromptu vacation spending (priceless; taking advantage of some calm during a very terrible year.)  Though we almost had to cancel those plans because my Dad was in the ER.  But I can't imagine I would pre-pay for anything at this point.  My Dad's thing was 'nothing' (what else is new; just very stressful but nothing to report) and vacation went on as planned.  

MH also took care of my tire sensors in August, things like that.

September is on track to be a big savings month.  Will see what the next 5 days bring...  Even with MH's travel plans, he has income to offset.  Definitely a 'too busy to spend money' vibe.  Less impromptu vacations and less taking care of things 'because we have the time.'   MH & I haven't made the time to eat out together this month, but he's done a bunch of eating out with friends.  (But because he is doing that, I have just been eating at home?  I don't know.)  In August we were spending more time together, which made every extra expense a x2.

I personally budget on an annual basis, but it's nice to see more 'in the black' at the end of every month, after a very red start to the year (re: several expensive emergencies).  & I suppose secondarily, I expect to mostly be in the black when the college expenses are gone.  So it's nice to see the savings number increase as kids' expenses start to fall off.  

Progress on spending money on myself...

I used the $1K I had set aside from my last bonus, to book my 50th birthday trip by the college.  It's somewhat moot as I should have another bonus by then, but it will be nice to not spend the money right when I get it.  

We used to go the central CA coast after Thanksgiving.  The weather was always divine and we had the hotel to ourselves.  I hadn't thought much about it before but I can see this trip became far less practical when MM(23) was living there.  It made little sense to go visit him right after he came home for break.  So at first I was just thinking I wanted to do something nice for the big 5-0.  But now I am thinking that I want to make this an annual tradition. 

I suppose overall my household is in travel mode.

MH is in Tucson for a film festival.

I guess MM(23) has been doing some of the heavy lifting re: my parents.  I don't think I've been back since I cared for my mom in July.  & not that he is doing anything 'hard' but my parents are just delighting in spending long chunks of time with him on the weekends.  So I feel a little less need to be there as my mom's only source of joy.  I was thinking of going to visit my parents this weekend but I guess MM(23) won't even be there!  He is planning a Nevada car camping trip.

MH & I are going to Reno the following weekend.  A belated anniversary trip.  We both roughly planned the trip and asked for work time off a long time ago, but I only got around to booking the hotel and checking the EV charger situation, a few days ago.  Phew!  This is a weird dichotomy to both MH & I's personalities.  In our life we plan to overly plan things.  But we are also both extremely go with the flow.  & when it comes to vacations that don't require flights and things like that, we don't plan much.  I think that's what I like about simpler road trips.  I do not personally get any joy out of planning a trip.  The less work and planning ahead, the better.

Our plan is to go to a light festival and then to a ghost town called Bodie.  I am a little wary of the long gravel/dirt road for the ghost town.  Which is about 99%, "It's fine.  Even my small sedan was fine."  But there's a handful of people who are like, "It sounded like my small car was going to fall apart at 5 MPH, so I turned around."  I do think it's easier to set a steady 3 or 4 MPH pace in the EV (as opposed to a gas car) so maybe I am overthinking it.  If going slow is the name of the game.  But I did tell MH, "Maybe we should just rent a SUV sometime and make that trip."  Something fun to look forward to in the future.  I left it that we would see how we feel that day (very 'go with the flow') and came up with a Plan B.  We will see something touristy and cool looking, just not sure what yet.  Plan B gets extra points for being a much shorter drive.

The weekend after that, TM(21) and his GF will be going to Florida for a wedding.  The GF has some family there.  It's a very frugal trip.  I think TM(21) spent something like $400 and the GF got some money from her mom to pay for her half of the hotel.  & her family can give them rides.

I hadn't thought too much about it before, but I suppose while they are gone, I would like to luxuriate in the empty house.  😁 A very rare weekend of quiet.