Welcome to weeks 29 and 30!
First, a disclosure…
The secret mission I never talked about during week 18 had to do with family.
It was my grandmother’s 100th birthday! Of course I was not going to let a milestone like this go by and not visit her to celebrate her birthday. 🎂
Well, there was no way we could have paid for that with our Social Security budget. So, we came out of pocket for the trip.
 |  |  |  |  |
And this week, I learned my grandmother went into hospice care.
I booked a flight immediately to go see her. My mother-in-law graciously also went with me.
Thankfully, my grandmother turned a big corner!
And my mother-in-law had never seen the west coast. Her favorite thing was watching the sun set.
So, we are not including either of these trips in the Social Security experiment. As I discovered earlier in the year, sadly, we would not be able to travel and live on a Social Security budget.
Free resort stay
Once we realized grandma was stable and improving, we headed back home.
The next weekend, we redeemed our resort credit we won back in week 11.
It was an amazing time!! I thought about the best, most fun way to use the certificate. And so I invited my girlfriends the first night for a sleepover and Justin and I enjoyed the next night.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
It was such a fun weekend!! And we did include our meals in our experiment for the month.
So though we wouldn’t be able to travel and stay somewhere on a Social Security budget, occasionally we could go to a special place to eat, so long as I am working the side hustle.
90% off, BOGO fruit & YouTube TV deal
I got MORE deals at Hobby Lobby, this time for 90% off! I also got a BOGO deal on watermelon at the grocery store. And Justin is ready to watch football, so we started a YouTube TV subscription. (Ugh, this means another full day of side hustle for me! Worth it if he is happy. 😊)
 |  |  |  |  |
It’s now the pumpkin explosion time of year. 🎃 Hope you have a great week! 🌻
ALT MONEY CHOICES 