Travel Plan

We had an AWESOME weekend in San Antonio--see James' blog entry about it here. I can't top what he wrote (or the pictures he included!), so I won't try. But here's what was on my mind the entire time:

Through the years, we've traveled often. But, until this year, we never traveled on a cash budget (because we didn't live on a budget). Like everything else, we spent until we ran out of money and then pulled out the Discover card. Or, more honestly, probably, we just assumed we'd put vacations, etc. on the Discover card and let Future James and Future Kristi figure out how to pay them off. Well, Past James and Past Kristi can suck it...we're still paying for those vacations. And all the other stuff we thought it would be okay to charge. Just this once. Whatever. So here we are, living on a cash budget, on track to be debt-free here in about 10 months. Really! But I'm constantly in awe of what life costs, and what I've taken for granted over the years.

We did very well with our budget when we went to Kansas a couple of weeks ago, until we got to the auction and I made some impulse purchases (which I don't regret!) that cut into our cushion from James' raise and therefore our cash budget going into our San Antonio weekend. We thought we were fine going in, and we were, but when you're paying cash it just hurts a LOT more to shell out $50 for lunch, $15 for parking, etc. etc. We had a blast and were very frugal, but we still spent--in 2 days--$500. And that WASN'T trips to SeaWorld, Fiesta Texas, etc. or even shopping...that was just hanging out, doing low-rent things and eating. We stayed at a nice hotel, but we had a great rate so that doesn't count. We ate great food, but we didn't go wild and order drinks, desserts, appetizers at every meal. How is it that I have been so out of touch with our spending--and what things cost--all of these years? I feel like I'm waking up from a long winter's nap...and I alternate between being totally pissed at myself for all of the money I've wasted over the years and proud of myself for finally wising up and being fiscally responsible. In the past, we would have done a fair amount of shopping (and buying) this weekend, whether we made a special trip to the outlets or just loaded up at Jake's Place because really, how awesome is that? A whole store full of things we love? And we would have bought souvenirs and other crap to commemorate our trip. Seriously--to San Antonio. Like the pictures and memories aren't enough? But we would have, because that's what we did. And don't get me started on the restaurants...hungry or no, we would have ordered like kings because it's part of what you do on vacation. Blecch. Not anymore, I'm happy to say...this weekend we had a blast but we did it with our eyes wide open. I don't regret a single dime that we saved and spent this weekend, but I couldn't help thinking of all those other families who were using rent $$ to get into the mirror maze, or putting that McDonald's on a credit card. There but for the grace of God...