August 2019 Recap

What happened to August? How is it September already? In fact, where did the entire summer go? I don’t have the answers to that, but I am looking forward to all the potential shoulder-season travel opportunities!

Work and Saving

I didn’t reach my normal savings goal this month. I try to save $200 per month through couponing, but the past two months have only netted me $336.80. I’m partly blaming that on working more. I had less time to save, but ultimately made more money. In addition to more work hours, I also got to work promoting my new travel book, Uncommon Adventures, as well as putting together my next two books. But I also saved up some coupons and other offers that I’m already putting into use in September.

I think my favorite savings experience in August was seeing The Lion King in theaters. Since I got three General Mills cereal boxes (which I got a good deal on for 99 cents each), I could submit my receipt to Fandango, and ended up getting to see this movie in 3D… just for the cost of the cereal!

Although I got the base cost of my Bahamas cruise and shore excursions for free, I’m trying to lower the cost of all the other expenses, such as the taxes, port fees, and insurance. I’m saving some of that money buy buying discounted Carnival gift cards from AARP of all places! They don’t even care that I’m not even close to retirement age! (Though with all this saving and investing I’ve been doing, I want to figure out how to retire early.)

One way I’m saving money that won’t affect this trip, but will allow me to have more travel money in the future, is I’m getting more involved in investing. I opened a CD and have been watching videos and reading articles on how to have my money make money.

Travel Experience

Working not only affected my time for couponing, but also my travel time. But I did finally get an overnight summer road trip! It was a whirlwind trip to Multnomah Falls, Washington’s Stonehenge, and Crater Lake National Park. I also went day hiking at Mill Creek Falls and kayaked at Applegate Lake.

September Goals

Summer sometimes is more synonymous with stress than it is relaxation. That can be true for me. However, in the past, I could mark the end of summer with the start of school or the end of summer camp work. Without those timekeeping devices, it’s hard to tell when summer is really over for me. Will the pace slow down soon, or speed up more? Or will it stay the same awhile longer? I’m not sure, which makes it hard to set goals for this month.

Some things I do know about September: I’ve got my hiking club’s final trip of the year, I’ll do some housesitting, and I may be going on another quick overnight trip. I did just find out that the flight we were supposed to take to our cruise was cancelled, so we got a flight a day earlier. That means one more day in November that will be spent in Florida, so I’ll need to research fun things to do there.

Professionally, I’ve been busy putting the final touches on a book that’s releasing October 1st. Girls Who Change the World isn’t specifically my book; it’s a compilation of inspirational interviews that Girlz 4 Christ has done over the years. But I’m also working on a book that IS mine; The Ultimate Survival Guide to Working at Camp releases in November.

QUESTION: This isn’t really related to this post, but which book cover is your favorite? Although I’m partial to the Girls Who Change the World cover, there is still time to make minor adjustments to that and the camp book cover. If you have any suggestions, let me know!