Well.. I did it. I asked for more work. So now if I get too much, I only have myself to blame. I’d like to target 25 hours a week. I’ve seriously been number crunching daily and looking at all my bills and accounts. I’m spending less than I have for years and for the first time ever, I’m on a budget.

I actually opened a second account that I have a debit card for and that’s what I’m carrying instead of my credit card. My visa still has $$$ On it from Hawaii and Christmas and I’m now only using it for emergencies. My target is to have that paid off by April and then I’ll be in a better spot.

I’m not yet making enough to cover my monthly expenses, but IF I put in 25 hours a week, I should be able to do that. That, of course, does not include medicine for my travel itch.

That’s the one variable that’s tough to factor in. Vacations and road trips are an expense that typically is a larger bundle all at once. It’s plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and more on food all in a short timeframe. I have not gone through the trouble of adding all that up and averaging it out over 12 months.

That would be a waste of time anyhow, as last year was so atypical. I travelled more than any other year of my life which included two “Dream” destinations.. Hawaii AND touring the Pacific North West. I won’t be doing that again, at least for a while.

Even with that being said, I’m already itching to plan something for this year. I just need to keep it small and do more road trips and visits to friends where it’s free for me to stay.

I’ve already told Princess KK I would come visit her this winter, but once I got my job I decided to try and wrap that into my first company trip. If they are going to pay for me to go to San Fran, San Diego is a short hop from there and a beautiful costal drive. I just hope they decide to do that sooner rather than later. I’d love to get the F out of the Midwest when the weather is still gross and not when things start to get better.

I’m also jones-ing for an Austin trip and currently holding my breath waiting to hear if the typical crew is all converging there at the end of March or not. Of course I’ve got Summer Residency in July, but I’m not exactly counting that in my list of travels.

For one, it’s Nebraska City and 40 minutes from my house. And secondly, the last one didn’t exactly feel like a vacation. It was lots of work and not a lot of play. The good news on that is the cost is added onto what I owe for tuition for the semester, so the expense is not draining my bank account.

In any case, I’m a planner and I always have the future in mind and I need that “something” to look forward to. I think that’s part of the reason I can’t help but evaluate every relationship early on and continuously question whether or not it has a viable future. That whole “Futuristic” thing is one of my top five “strengths” according to the Gallup Strengths-finder quiz. When I first got my results (in 2012 when I took the test), I wondered what the heck that meant and how it could possibly be a strength, but as time passes, I’m more and more aware that someone who is mindful of the future, typically has a pretty good definition of a path to get there. It goes hand in hand with one of my other top five strengths, “Strategic”.

Wow. Somehow I got from asking for more work to finances to traveling and now personality profiling. That’s quite a meandering. In truth, I could really go on and see where else that leads, but that’s not gonna pay my bills or for that next big trip I want to take. 😜 I should probably get to work.

One more digression sparked by observation before I call it quits… the Man in Black is wearing white today. How bizarre.

Happy FriYay!
~Miss SugarCookie