Relocating Isn’t All Bad: Pt. 5 – Seeing Friends and Family and June Update

If you’re not caught up, you can read about my getting a job offer, negotiating my salary, finding a new place to live, distributing my relocation funds, discovering my husband no longer qualifies for student loans, and then finding out my rent went up by $300/mo.  Relocating has been tough, but it hasn’t been all bad.

SEEING EVERYONE BEFORE LEAVING

I know I’ll be back in NOLA about once a month, but as it was when I was coming in from Houston, the weekends are super brief and fly by in a flash. And so before moving away from New Orleans, I made plans to see all of my friends and family.

My dear friend Ms. Chris treated me and Michael, and our friend Erika to lunch and ordered us a bottle of champagne to celebrate! They were on their lunch break from work! Hahaha! My Nanny Cathy had the whole family over for lunch twice before I left, and she gave me a “snowman kit” for decorating my first snowman when the time comes. My Nanny Beth took us out to lunch and promised to come visit soon. My former coworkers and dear friends Marvin, Grace, and Mindy and I went to dinner one night and laughed and reminisced about old times in the store. My other friends Andrew, Rachael, and Danielle and I went out to dinner and got to celebrate everyone’s upcoming new jobs and life changes.

Normally, I see all these friends from time to time, but to have seen them all in the span of a week or so was just like happiness-overload, and it was great.

A NEW COMPUTER

I also got to see my mom almost every day, and I love spending time with her. Before I left, she gifted me with a MUCH needed new laptop (on which I am writing this right now!). I had been thinking about a new computer for a long time, but couldn’t bring myself to do it, since my old laptop was FINE, just um… slow. Very slow.

I’m not the type who gets new computers often. My very first laptop was a Dell, a gift from my grandpa that lasted me all 4 years of high school. Then, as part of my scholarship, my University gave me an HP laptop upon starting college. That one lasted me my 4 collegiate years. Then, after graduating, by chance, my Aunt Barbara had bought herself a new little Gateway netbook she hated… so she gave it to me. That’s the one I had been using until last week. Though it was small and slow, it lasted me 6 years.

So I had had my eye out for a new one for a long time. I remember Christine writing about the same dilemma I was in. And more recently, Femme wrote about getting a second household laptop so she and her husband wouldn’t have to share. My thing is, I don’t need a powerhouse monster computer with a mega graphics card, awesome audio, intense processing power, etc, etc. I just need it to not be super slow. I’m not editing video or gaming or doing anything really high-powered.  I just browse the web, blog, use Office.  That’s it.  So I happened to be browsing in a Windows Store in the mall, and I saw an HP for $229 that looked really nice. My mom wanted to get it for me, but I was still on the fence about if I needed a new one. I mentioned it to Femme, and she ended up getting it!

My mom finally convinced me she was going to get me a new laptop, so when I looked at that HP again, I happened to notice a Dell on sale. The only thing I didn’t like about the HP was that it didn’t come with much memory on board, but the Dell on sale did, and it was $249 for only a couple of days (originally $599!) and we snatched it up! It’s beautiful and wonderful and I love it.

MY FIRST FLOAT, AND A MASSAGE

It kind of felt like I was stepping into the belly of a whale.

When I told you guys about my relo money and all the things I wanted to do with the money, Abigail mentioned it’d be good to get a massage, especially since we had a long road trip coming up. And so I looked around the Groupons and found one for a float and massage combo for $60. I was beyond excited! Ever since Cait wrote about her love of floating, it was on my list of things to someday try. It was incredible. Her description of it was exactly right, but until you try it, you can’t fully imagine the sensation. I had an hour float and then an hour massage, and it was great.

FUN ROADTRIP

So we drove on up from NOLA to NJ this week, and it was fun and easy. Michael and I talked, sang songs, listened to music, played games, and the two days in the car passed like nothing. We didn’t hit any snafoos except for a 2 hour traffic delay south of Lexington, VA. Other than that, we were right on schedule and made it here just fine. We made it in about 22 hours, over the course of 2 days.  I met the Sarah lady yesterday and am moving into the new house today. All is well!

JUNE UPDATE

Without further ado, here’s my June report card. I thought it would be more wonky, but I think next month we’ll see the big changes. Despite all the craziness in my life, financially this month was pretty good.

DEBT	BALANCE	CHANGE
gas card	$2,239.40	$364.83
CC2	$2,835.87	$139.15
CC3	$4,727.22	-$165.13
CC4	$7,602.51	-$260.18
car	$7,111.70	$43.25
unsub3	$5,250.00	$0.00
unsub2	$5,250.00	$0.00
401k 1	$8,530.91	-$378.46
401k 2	$3,617.52	-$824.14
sub	$3,500.00	$0.00
unsub1	$6,000.00	$0.00
TOTAL	$56,665.13	-$1,080.68
	SAVINGS	CHANGE
401k	$45,954.19	$2,050.56
emergency savings	$279.19	$279.19
TOTAL	$46,233.38	$2,329.75

So the good news here is that my net worth increased by $3,410.43 this month, and is now -$10,431.75.  I’ve increased my net worth by $21,431.12 this year, and that feels pretty good.  We’re just going to keep on climbing.  🙂

How are you?  How are you spending the 4th?  How was June for you?  Have you ever floated?  How often do you buy new laptops, and when you do, do you go all out?  Do you mind road-tripping?  Happy weekend!