Freaked now

[hankhill]

My wife and I took a three-day trip to the beach. We stayed at a moderately priced motel. We only take one trip during the summer, and always stay at a place that is inexpensive. Last year we paid for it with credit cards. This year, I saved some cash and was able to pay for it. Was that a big mistake? Are we going to be regretting this soon? We haven't filed yet, so I wonder if we'll have to put it off just because I spent $330 on a room and had burgers and pizza while we were down there.
I know this seems like a luxury, but my wife has a fullt-ime job and is part time caregiver for her mother. This is the one time to get away and she doesn't have to think about being "on call" for her mom.
Selfish? Perhaps. But needed, for sure.

[empowered]

Your expenses include a bit of an allotment for entertainment, and though it's apparently best to keep the monthly entertainment at $100, your vacation sounds like an economy trip.

I wouldn't sweat it. In my own case, the trustee wants to see the account statement for the billing cycle that includes the filing. If yours has a similar practice it's possible that your vacation won't even be included in that time frame.

Try not to worry too much.

[empowered]

BTW, in my own district, the trustee requirements for this documentation are shown on the local district website. Though it's possible the trustee will request more extensive documentation of expenses, including receipts, you may be able to find the starting point that your district employs. I think that at least in some districts requests for further documentation are likely to occur when there are large sums involved.

[keepmine]

Nobody is going to worry about a $300 cash expenditure.
If you still had the cash when you filed it could very likely be exempted and if it wasn't exempted it would be a drop in the proverbal bucket if used to pay creditors.
No need to freak out. You didn't use credit and you did nothing to deplete the potential bk estate.

[tay666]

Don't worry about it.
And it wasn't selfish, or a luxury.

BK is not about cutting everything to bare bones.
It's about clearing old debts that you can no longer afford and giving you a fresh start to do things better this time.

We went on a weekend trip in May. Which was on our June bank statement that was files with our BK on July 1st.
Trustee never asked about it.

It was about like yours.
$300 + for a 3 night stay at a hotel.
Pretty sure some of the gas charges were on the statement as well. (8 hour drive)
It was nothing extravegant or luxurious.
It was just a weekend away.
You are not expected to put your life on hold leading up to a BK.
And with something with that small a price tag, the trustee isn't going to care. If it's not over $1,000, then it isn't even worth a second look for most trustees.

[drowning123]

What about withdrawing money at a casino? Over $1,000. Didn't win anything either.

[hankhill]

OK, will stop worrying about it. I was just reading some of the other posts and got a little stressed. I figured that we were being pretty economical. We don't take luxury vacations, since we have to take our dogs with us (and we've never been luxurious people, I guess).
Thanks for the info.