My husband and I are getting ready to take our kids on a 10 day family vacation. To be honest, this is the first real week long family vacation we have taken that isn't connected to moving or looking at a graduate school. Therefore, we are incredibly, crazily excited, perhaps even more excited than our poor children who have had to listen to us discuss our plans at excruciating length.
Now "planning for a trip" for me includes making a detailed packing list and researching the restaurants that I want to eat at while on the trip. To Matt, however, it includes making a detailed budget on Excel, replete with pie charts and purchasing many things ahead of time so that we are not forced to spend extra money on, say, expensive beverages and ponchos. Twice this week I have met him after work to go to Wal-Mart and Target to buy these things. As I write, I can look over to the side of my living room and see 2 24-packs of water, 1 24-pack of Coke, 1 24-pack of Diet Coke (my guilty, guilty pleasure), a package of swim diapers, four new pairs of aqua shoes, two new memory cards, and 3 full bottles of sunscreen. And that is just a start. Matt is currently at a comic book festival with Sam, carrying around his two lists which are written on index cards for easy access, ready to pounce on anything extra that he could possibly need and that he might find on sale.
I love my husband, and besides that, I really admire him for his ability to do this kind of thing. As I have said before, I am simply wretched with money. Yes, I have gotten better over the years, but I still tend to spend much, much too much. My husband knows when to indulge me, but also knows when to tell me to just can it. I am thankful for that. I often jokingly call him the "Budget Bitch" because of his ability to keep me in line and his even more honed ability to decipher a supermarket price tag.
A little while ago, we were looking at the budget he has created for the trip. Our biggest expense is going to be food, as we are staying in a suite with no kitchen and will thus be eating every meal out (although a full breakfast is free at the hotel). We made a couple of good decisions--using Trader Joe's and our small refrigerator for lunches and cheap picnics--but then I got a couple of great ideas: Restaurant.com and Groupon!
I managed to get 2 $25 gift cards for a Thai restaurant for $4. We all LOVE Thai, and it is incredibly hard to get around our home in the sticks. I checked out the menu, and it looks great, plus it is relatively close to our hotel. SCORE. Then, the other night, I bought a $100 gift certificate to Shabby Apple (clothing, not, er, fruit) for $40 from Groupon. I started checking out the site and found our vacation spot. Sure enough, yesterday they ran a deal for a restaurant that is near a zoo we will be visiting. $25 for a $50 gift certificate. Yes, it is more than $4. BUT...feeding my group for $25 is awesome. I was exceedingly proud of myself, and I believe that my husband was amazed at my abilities. He even called his mother to tell her about what I had done. That night as we were closing everything down, he remarked loudly, "Looks like there are two budget bitches in this house!"
Little does he know that I have one thing in mind: discretionary fund. Matt builds a discretionary fund into all his budgets, and he had already told me that anything we don't spend on food goes straight into that. I am wanting to hit up the bookstore at my alma mater (yup, we are visiting where I went to school) and buy some new gear, as my beloved college sweatshirt is now miles too big and only ok to wear around the house. Plus, there is a new Loft that I am wanting to visit. Ulterior motives, as you see.
So check out groupon.com and check out your city and anywhere you would like to visit. It is a different deal everyday, but you may just find something for a future trip. And restaurant.com is available everyday and right now, $25 gift certificates are $2 with promo code "PLATE".
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