by Hope
As you know, we are going hardcore on a tight budget for the next few months as we work toward living on last month’s income and a July payoff date for consumer debt. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have some fun planned. If you will recall, we played hooky from life last May to attend the twin’s homeschool prom and enjoy a mini-vacation at Great Wolf Lodge here locally. As we as a family discussed what the new budget would mean over the next few months and then on past the July date, we were all very clear that we wanted to attend this event again. But we were all aware that we would need to plan for it ahead of time to stick to our budget and be able to do all the things we want to do.
So we’ve taken a vote and all the budget Misc money for April and May will go to that event, primarily the cost of the hotel, extra food and dog care. The twins have already purchased their tickets with their own money – proud mama here. I was able to reserve the room and pay for the first night with the remaining monies from the Kid’s Activities money.
So we are all excited and looking forward to a mini-vacation. But that does mean is that for the next two months, we have no play money at all. It’s going to be interesting how the kids handle this, okay, how I handle this. But I think it’s going to be a great exercise for us all.
And most exciting to me is that if we are able to do this, stick to it…at the end of May, I will be down to one consumer debt….ONE…and living on last month’s income!
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
That sounds like an awesome family vacation Hope! In our pursuit of shedding the debt in our lives we tend to lose focus on what makes life enjoyable. Getting your entire family to buy in to the budget makes it a bit easier. My wife and I just had our son last year and we want to instill in him the
Having a reward and something to look forward to will make your sacrifice much more bearable in the months ahead. Keep up the great work.
I’m trying to wrap my head around your back-to-back posts. The first saying you were not going to take a trip in order to stay on track for your debt payoff. And now you are taking a trip, albeit different than the first. I understand that you are planning to use already budgeted funds, but in my mind it negates the intent of the earlier post. I also think it’s probably unrealistic to use every penny of your miscellaneous account and expect that to hold, but I wish you the best as you give it a try.
I don’t get this…..its okay to take a family vacation because you can, but not okay to take the gymnastics trip? What type of message is that giving your son other than his hard work means nothing? I am disappointed in this decision. Could these same funds not be applied towards the gymnastics trip? Would it not be a great opportunity for your little guy as well as a great opportunity for your other children to learn sacrifice? The twins got to do prom last year.
i think my comment never got posted on the last article.
Hope, i think you need to consistency and start thinking big picture like somone said in the comments on the last post. Are you in the sacrifice everything mode? If so, stick to that . Are you willing to have exceptions to the sacrifice everything mindset? If so, clearly define them. Stop making decisions as events occur. This leads to these inconsistencies that readers are noticing.
The way you have decided homeschooling is non-negotiable for you, is how you have to have some fixed parameters within which you attack your goal. Your goal-posts keep changing. And while life will do that, it’s not to this effect.
How are you going to reach the end of the journey if your destination changes so rapidly? You just spoke of the neccessity of not taking that trip – i personally don’t believe that anyone deserves anything except love and shelter so I’m not on the “you scarred your child for life bandwagom” but I don’t really think it’s fair to say, that’s not ok, but this is ok in such an arbitrary (it seems) manner.
I think it’s great how you involve your kids in the decision making process on finances. You are teaching them more than you can imagine just doing that. My comment is more on the note that I told Ashley once. Stick to a plan – ANY PLAN.
Take the time up front and figure out what works for you. And stick with it. you have to invest the time upfront because this is a plan that will span years, so you want it to be as robust as possible…and also reasonable for YOU.
I think deciding as events occur is not a very strong payoff strategy – life throws too many curveballs, emotions fluctuate wildly – but at least if you have a solid plan to fall back on, you can always come back to that.
I will commend you for being so open and sharing – even when folks criticize choices you make (heaven knows, nobody is out there yelling at me for spending $60 on takeout). Just remember, that it’s harder to point out issues without sounding harsh when it’s written than when you talk to the person.
Debtor, you spend $60 bucks on take-out?!?!?!? Shame, shame
But seriously…Hope, while I do think the two decisions were made under entirely different circumstances, I think posting them back to back is going to cause a lot of confusion for readers who just heard that you want to teach your kids that sometimes you can’t always do the things that you want….but wait, we all want this vacation, so it’s okay.
Just curious, did you give the kids the chance to decide whether they wanted to contribute the miscellaneous funds to Little Gymnasts’ ambitions? When I was growing up, we participated in academic competitions. Often, all 3 kids would make it to the national level which usually involved a flight and several day trip. One year, not all of us could go. My older bro and I decided to let the little one go as he’d never had the experience and it was important to him.
I agree with amy.
I don’t think this is the same as the regionals competition. This is planned ahead and they can prepare for it. The trip to regionals isn’t – it’s an unexpected event. Also, it wouldn’t have involved the entire family.
Also, the sense I get from this post is that they, as a family, decided on this trip a while ago. Taking the gymnast to regionals could have jeopardized the family vacation as there’s only so mych to go around. Would that have been fair to her other children?
Agree! This is a shared goal for the whole family to enjoy and . The timing of the posts may cause some confusion but I don’t believe Faith deserves the way people talk to her – or talk down to her.
Hope maybe?
Or did you me Love 🙂 ?
haha! sorry HOPE 🙂
Fun! Do the boys have dates this year? What will you and the littles do during the dance?