Budgeting Your Way to a More Enjoyable Vacation

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Over the weekend I had a guest post published on Money Saving Mom. I wanted to share it with you all today. It deals with how budgeting (and using cash) made vacationing a much more enjoyable experience for me and 5 steps to budgeting your way to a more enjoyable vacation.

Budgeting Your Way to a More Enjoyable Vacation | How budgeting and using cash made vacations way more fun for this tightwad

Here’s a portion of it:

I tend to be a tightwad — in fact, spending money can cause me pain! This means I can be a difficult person to vacation with. I see dollar signs if we consider doing certain activities on a trip or want treat ourselves to something as simple as ice cream sundaes. Thoughts about what we aren’t going to be able to do with our money come to mind.

However, budgeting has helped me enjoy vacationing so much more. I even get excited about doing activities that cost money. How does that work? Isn’t budgeting supposed to help you not spend money?

Budgeting is about making your money work for you and having it go where you tell it. I’m going to share how our vacation budget works for us and allows me to get away for a few days with my family while actually enjoying myself.

Read the rest on Money Saving Mom!

After you read it, I’d love to know if spending money, even if you’ve budgeted for it, is difficult? Does having the cash in your wallet make it easier to splurge on things or am I the only one? I know it’s illogical, since swiping the card will take the money from the same place the cash already came from, but goodness, mentally it’s way easier for me!

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Menu Plan and Goals

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March came in like a Lion. Sitting on the couch covered in a blanket as freezing rain comes down outside. Brrr. It’s a good time to get my fill of soups on the menu.

My husband works for a Christian radio station and their annual pledge drive starts next week. He’s the production director and has been working long hours the past week getting everything ready to go and will be working a little later than usual during the drive. At least these these long days are only once a year. Another positive is that local business and restaurants donate food to feed the staff and volunteers during this time, so I just have to worry about food for my daughter and me. Hooray. I foresee a supper of guacamole in our future.

The local concert series association, of which I’m on the board, is also ramping up for their membership drive. I’m the secretary so this is the most time intensive part of the year for me. Combine that with other projects and let’s just say, we have no lack of things to do in our house.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Both soups were different and fantastic!

Suppers:

  • Dinner with friends
  • Small groups (homemade pizzas)
  • Bible Study (taco salad)
  • Black Bean Burgers
  • Gaucamole, leftovers, snacky suppers with stuff in the fridge

Lunches:

Breakfasts:

Goals:

  • Input memberships/checks for the concert series
  • Keep plugging away in Mansfield Park and start another book from this list. (Read a little from Mansfield Park but didn’t get another one started last week)
  • Call the Herb Fest contact (e-mail and no response last week)
  • Really finish 3 scripture cards (this has been on the list for weeks now and I still haven’t done it)
  • Exercise. Plan to at least do the video from the 28 days of Pilates every day. Today is day number 15, so I’ve been keeping up with it. Good thing since they are only 5-10 minutes.
  • Submit a guest post
  • Fill out business registration paperwork

Eeek, that list looks a little daunting especially considering Shaun will be working late every night once again. I’ll tackle what I can.

What’s on your menu? Any goals you are hoping to tackle?

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Garlic Breadsticks

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Garlic breadsticks are amazing! We found this recipe in a magazine that’s no longer in print many years ago and they have become a family favorite. I’ve brought them to serve with supper with friends and they all love them as well.

Garlic Breadsticks that are easy and delicious!

Shape them as thick, thin, short or long as you’d like. It’s a great project to get the kids involved on. My daughter loves rolling snakes and shaping dough anytime we make something with yeast.

In the winter when my house is cool, I always allow for longer raising times or place in a warm location.

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Print
Garlic Breadsticks
 
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cup warm water
  • 1¼ Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1¼ Tablespoon sugar
  • 1¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3¼ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons yeast
  • Melted butter or oil
  • Garlic Salt
Instructions
  1. Place flour, salt, sugar, yeast, and olive oil in a bowl (or mixer bowl).
  2. Add the warm water an mix/knead until smooth.
  3. Cover bowl with a towel and raise for 30 minutes.
  4. Shape in to bread sticks.
  5. Raise 30 minutes.
  6. Brush with oil or melted butter.
  7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.
  8. Remove and brush with oil or butter and sprinkle with garlic salt and return to oven for 2-5 more minutes.
  9. Taste best straight from the oven.
Notes
Makes around 16

 

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5 Minute Pick Up

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It’s easy enough for two adults to have piles of belongings out that need put away. Then when you add kids to the mix, there is always something not where it belongs. Most of the time, there are a lot of somethings not where they belong.

Everywhere I look, I see toys, paper, coloring stuff, mail, laundry and on and on. It stresses me out and puts me on edge. The blanket that our daughter has to have to go to sleep is harder to find. Even when you don’t have a ton of toys, goodness, can they ever get spread out.

The 5 minute pick up is a quick, easy, and painless way to keep mass amounts of stuff from being strewn around your house. 5 minutes, seriously! Who doesn’t have time for that?

5 Minute Pick Up - a simple way to keep toys and clutter from taking over your house. We love doing this after supper each night.

 

Each night after the supper dishes are done, we set the timer for 5 minutes and have at it. Mom, Dad, and the 3 year old. With a little direction and finding things for her to put away, our daughter is more than capable of cleaning for 5 minutes. Little brother just crawls around and wonders what is going on. In a few months, when he’s able to follow basic commands, he’ll be able to participate by placing his ball in the toy box.

You’d be surprised what a difference just 5 minutes can make. Things can go from looking like a tornado has gone through to being relatively put together. Depending on how messy your house gets during the day, you might want to make a few 5 minute pick ups a part of your routine: once before lunch, once in the afternoon, and once after dinner. On a night our house is especially destroyed, we’ve been known to have a 10 minute pick up. Do what works best for your family.

It’s way more relaxing to go to bed not worrying that you might trip and fall when you are up with the kids in the middle of night and knowing that you don’t have a disaster to tackle in the morning because it’s already taken care of!

What do you do to try and keep the toys and clutter picked up in your house?

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