Home Again!

We have returned from our trip to visit family.  Our primary reason for going was to visit our aging parents.  At their ages (my dad is 90, and my MIL is 91) putting it off until we pay off our debt isn’t a good option.  I last saw my dad in July.  Sadly, I noticed a considerable decline in his cognition.  We stayed at his condo for two nights, and there were many times it was almost as if he was unaware we were even there.  More and more, he is retreating into his own little world.  As difficult as it was to see these changes, I am happy that for his sake he is so unaware.  Of course, this will present its own set of challenges when we do move him to assisted living.  When I brought up the subject, he was adamantly opposed.  Unfortunately for us as a family, we will need to cross that bridge sooner than later.   On a brighter note, given his age, physically he is doing exceptionally well.  Although we strongly discourage it, he even navigates stairs with relative ease.  

Having three different cities to travel to, we did a fair amount of driving this visit.  The trip set was just 7 miles shy of 1200 when we pulled back into our driveway.  Although a little out of the way, we also wanted to see my son and his family before heading back home.  Additionally, we checked on my MIL’s vacant house as she now lives 3+ hours away from it.  Especially for Hubs, going into his mom’s still semi-furnished home was a mixed bag of emotion.  Even though no one has lived there in at least five years, so much remains untouched.  The house felt sad.

Spendwise, we didn’t break the bank.  It helped that gas prices were down from what they had been.  In our remote area, we had been paying almost $3.00/gallon.  Downstate (as we call it), the prices averaged around $2.28/gallon.  We did end up getting a hotel for our last night.  We were still four hours from home and decided to stop for the night.  With the pet fees for our two dogs, the room added $110 to our trip.  It was worth it as driving when overly tired is never smart.

As for other spending, I did take advantage of being in the big city and picked up a few things for my business.  Traveling with two dogs, we were a bit limited on space, so this also curtailed what I was able to buy.  These items have already been inventoried, boxed up and will get shipped out today.

Citi will likely not receive a 5th payment this month.  Although the money is in our account, I feel that we might be cutting it too close.  We’ve already made a $1,200 dent in that debt this month, so we are still on track with getting it paid off well before the 0% promo rate expires in June.  The balance is currently $4,800, so if we can continue reducing it by $1,200/month, it will be history by the end of March.  I’m still waiting on the bill for our Visa.

I’ll be dropping Hubs off at the airport again today.  Time always seems to go fast when he is home.  With our trip to see family, this week felt like it went by even quicker.  Sigh.