Alright, so maybe I should have built up to that, but I think that's almost all there is to say. Some money I was expecting to get didn't come in, so now going to France looks to be in jeopardy. To start, I got my security deposit back...but only $159 of the the $350 I put down. There were various deductions (some with merit), but the head scratcher to the deductions was $117 for carpet cleaning. This I found strange because when I moved out the carpet WAS clean, with no stains or real dirt of any kind! Not to mention I was renting half a room, and $117 will clean most HOUSES, not rooms! Not only that, but the landlord was tearing down the roof to the house the next day, so I'm doubtful there would even BE a cleaning even if it WAS dirty! So...yeah, I'll be pushing her for a receipt on that one.
The second setback is that I was supposed to be getting three days of Bereavement pay from my job. They already paid me for two, but they wanted an altered doctor's note before they could give me the other three. Well, after many delays they finally came back with an answer: Sister-in-laws don't count towards Bereavement because they are not "immediate family." Yeah, I was blown away by that statement too. While they aren't taking the money for the two days back, getting the other three days looks unlikely. My manager promised to give me eight hours of overtime if I need it though, so I guess I'll pull in some of that $200 I was supposed to get. Where this leaves me, basically, is a few hundred shy and only a couple of weeks left in the month before I should buy the plane ticket.
I'm sure I can make up the few hundred within a week past the due date, but by then I take a HUGE risk that the plane tickets will go up in price! Part of me wants to write the trip off right now. It was never something that HAD to be done, and right now I'm not even sure if one of the two people that's over there right now even wants to be friends with me anymore, so it's not like it's urgent to go! However, I could use this fun time. My brother is definitely set on going, and having some quality brother time still sounds very appealing at this stage. So I'm pressing forward for the time being. You never know, there are still a few things that could happen.
First, I'm selling stuff on Amazon.com again. I made over $200 last week alone, and over $400 in the past month since getting back on. Yeah, I have to refund two orders worth $110, but if this keeps up this can more than make up the difference. Secondly, I'm pretty sure I can get that $117 for the carpet cleaning back, since I'm 95% positive there was no cleaning, thus no receipt, thus a legal reason to get that back. Whether it would be before the 1st of November or not is the real question. I could also take a loan out on my 401k to fund the rest of the trip. I don't really want to do that if I can help it, but the interest IS only 7%, and the good thing about these loans is that you ultimately pay yourself back, so it's not as big a deal as it could be!
I guess the Kickstarter project is also still up. Granted, it hasn't moved for weeks, but there are two weeks left. I've been surprised before, and maybe I'll be surprised again. The bottom line is this is far from over. There are still some options open. It's just frustrating because I was so close to be done with this, and now I have "options" to look at. Isn't saving for world traveling fun?
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