Stretch Goals
Photo courtesy of Gratisography
Friday, September 25th, 2026
I knew when I bought the house, it was going to be a stretch, financially. I was cognizant that I was spending a significant amount of money on creating the vibe I wanted. Decorating and furnishing a house isn’t cheap - even a small one. I had a lot of things to buy and I wanted what I wanted. I have no regrets on my purchases. I love my house and how it looks and it makes me happy just to be here.
I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately, and I feel like I’m spinning a lot of plates. Every time I make a list of things I need to do - on my phone, on a post-it, on a scrap of paper - it mostly feels like taking a small sip of water so that I can have some additional space to refill the glass. Nothing gets done, but lists upon lists keep getting made in various places and moved to various others in the hopes of clearing some space in my brain to keep thinking.
It’s not working.
This week, I set aside time to write down a master list of things that needed to get done, or that I wanted to do, or that I promised someone else I would do… and, as one might expect, I couldn’t think of a single thing. Some things came to me after a minute, then in a rushing flood. I had to break the torrent down into categories, but I finally got somewhere.
It is absolutely incomplete and I am still managing to find other things to do that are not on that list - tonight I baked rhubarb zucchini muffins in the name of not letting the rhubarb go bad - but, nonetheless, it’s a start with more than 75 things to be addressed.
A full one third of those include either taking steps to cancel various subscriptions or a non-comprehensive list of things that need to be included in a monthly budget.
Like I said, I knew when I bought the house that it was going to be a stretch. I also knew that it wouldn’t be one of those fun little, “lets try to cut back and curtail spending” situations. This is a legit, strategic culling of every extraneous expense, some of them factored to be cut closely to their renewal date.
Here’s the thing: I have a long held belief that the Universe doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle. And if the Universe wanted me to have a brand new house, 15 minutes from the office, with just the right amount of square footage and a tiny yard for the pups to run around in that can be mowed in 20 minutes with a push mower, then who am I to say no?
If the universe trusts that I can make it happen, then it’s up to me to step the fuck up and actually put in the work to do that.
For the last 15+ years, I haven't really needed to worry about money much - I gotta be honest, it’s been nice! But the time has come to get my shit together, fo’ realz. I’ve dug myself out of debt before with a lot less income. I can figure out how to create and manage a budget and curtail extraneous spending.
I have a tendency to avoid paying attention to money until the last possible moment. I’m doing that right now. I’ve never had to create the monthly budget/ bill paying/ 401k contributing/ saving for future repairs/ property tax increases/ emergency slush fund/ financial infrastructure that this entails.
That’s never stopped me before. I can do hard things.
Once I finally choose to dive into the financial black hole that I’ve been ignoring, I’ll have such a confidence boost when I come out the other side knowing exactly where I stand!
My horoscope told me it was going to be a rough few years ahead.
either it’s talking about a lack of funds, or it’s talking about the failure of my limbs - that’s what the birthday astrology book Suggested.
Cue the ankle sprain! Bring on the budget!
Stay Gritty