Travelingjen's Personal Finance Blog

After being out of town for five days for Christmas and getting back home last night, we awoke this morning to find about two inches of water in the bathroom, closet, and office of our house and more water just appearing from nowhere.

I called my insurance and home warranty companies, and a few hours later had the leak fixed and a dozen fans in the rooms trying to dry them out, as well as most of our belongings now sitting in the living room. I'm not sure how much this is going to end up costing us, although I'm sure the repairs will be more than the deductible.

This house has brought so many problems since we moved in six months ago, but I still love it anyway. And I'm thankful that the water spill started while we were home and not five days ago when we were out of town. That could have been disastrous.

And I'm thankful that we had our emergency fund to take care of this since we just started Dave Ramsey's plan December 1st.

I've had a pretty hectic month. I just finished one marketing tour and have been home for the first time in months. I'm never content to stay in one place too long, and I needed steady work again, so I've accepted another tour that'll have me on the road for the next 5-7 months.

I'll be in the Seattle area for a few weeks this summer for events, so I'm hoping to use that time to clear out my belongings and sell everything that I don't plan to move. I'd like to get everything down to Dallas by late summer so that I'm not paying rent in two places. My current roommate is great and doesn't need the rent money, so she's told me she'll do anything she can to help me out, but I don't want to impose.

The good thing about traveling is that it's easier to convince myself not to go shopping when I'd have to carry all of my purchases around in a suitcase for months. So I hope to save a lot of money in the next few months in case it takes me awhile to find steady work after I move.

I had planned to treat myself to a new hairstyle and conditioning treatment, so I lucked out by running into a student at one of the top hair salons in the area and will have her working on me for about a forth of the usual price. Even with a big tip I'll be spending a lot less than I usually do on just a haircut. And it looks good for her to be getting referrals so I'm helping her out too.

Sorry to ramble on so much, but I've got so much going on that I just had to write it down.

This week I'm in New Orleans and had a chance to tour uptown and the Tulane University area. I went to college here, but haven't been back in about three years, so it was strange to see all of the improvements since I'd left and all of the destruction since Katrina.

After driving for a few hours, I stopped by Target (a new addition since I'd lived here) and was able to walk out buying only the toothpaste I'd gone in for and some cute magnets from the dollar spot. I used a gift card I'd received for Christmas, so spent no money out of pocket today. I'm usually a sucker for the clearance items, but I just kept reminding myself that I'll be going home in a month and have to fit everything I've been traveling with for the past year into two suitcases!

A little about myself-

I'm in my late twenties and travel 100% for work on a marketing tour. My current contract ends in about a month, so I'm trying to decide whether to continue touring or eventually get an office job.

I have no debt, other than a car loan, but I should have that paid off within the next few years. Ideally, I'd like to own a house or condo of my own by the time I'm 30. The Seattle is outrageously expensive, so I'm seriously considering moving to the Dallas area in the next few months so that I'll be able to afford more than a shoebox sized condo.

I've been lurking on this site for a few months now and finally decided to commit to my own blog.