I have encountered a fair share of financial crises this year. The hard part to swallow is that most of these situations would have been avoided completely or handled with much less panic if Greg and I didn't have such horrendous spending habits.
Neither of us make a lot of money, but we both work full time. We have a small, modest house which means a very reasonable mortgage payment. Our mortgage payment is actually less than the current rent rate of our first (500 sq. ft., one bedroom) apartment. Small house + central air/heat equal pretty modest utility bills. Cooper has family daycare, so that is a huge expense saved. We don't have cable, we have basic internet, and we downgraded our phones to pay-as-you-go phones several months ago.
My point is-the reason we are so over our heads with our finances isn't because of necessities. It's from making terrible decisions. It is from spending too much money on dining out, on buying unnecessary things, and taking too many damn trips to Target.
Have I mentioned that we don't even have a budget set up? At nearly-30, that is incredibly embarrassing. I bit the bullet and bought YNAB (You Need a Budget) last week. It felt a bit wrong spending $ on something that helps with saving money, but at 75% off with great reviews, it seemed worth it.
So far it has been great. I am working on finalizing the budget and Greg and I are going to have weekly "meetings" about our budget, where we go over our receipts/spending habits, etc. Is this what being an adult feels like?
Okay, one problem with all of this. Before we got serious about the budget, we started planning a trip to Walt Disney World. As in, we put deposits down, asked (and received) Disney gift cards for Christmas, etc. The trip is almost paid for and the gift cards are non-refundable, so we are going to go ahead with the trip. I am going to try to spend as little as possible while we are there.
Ways we have saved/are planning to save on the trip to Disney:
*Cooper's park admission is free because he will be under 3.
*We are bringing his stroller so we won't have to pay to rent one.
*We are driving instead of flying.
*We are getting a huge corporate discount on a rental car through Greg's work.
*I have saved up enough Swagbucks to redeem gas gift cards to help pay for the gas.
*We are staying in a cabin at Disney's Fort Wilderness. Their cabins include a full kitchen. I am making freezer breakfast burritos, english muffin sandwiches, and pancakes to freeze (brought down in a cooler) for easy, cheap breakfasts so we don't have to eat breakfast in the park. I am also bringing a crockpot to throw dinner in before we leave for the parks in the morning. It will be ready when we get back that night. You are allowed to bring snacks in the park so we will be bringing those as well. Ideally, we will only need to eat 1 meal/day in the parks.
*I am making our own t-shirts for the trip so I won't be tempted to buy Cooper clothes while we are there. I have bought a few shirts for $1.50 on clearance and have all the other materials on-hand to make his shirts.
*We will bring our own alcohol for the cabin. I doubt we will end up drinking much (Disney is seriously exhausting) but if the mood strikes, we will have drinks at the cabin instead of paying a ton in the parks.
Hopefully all of the above will help cut down on vacation costs. Greg and I agreed that this will be the last big vacation until our financial situation is more stable. Being a grownup is hard, isn't it?
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