A Vacation, Working Poor Style

I really haven't put much writing time in this month. I do feel guilty but we are in the midst of changes. My husband and I are currently on a little vacation, a much needed break. We can't really afford the typical vacation so we are doing this working poor style.

One way to trim costs on a vacation is to skip eating out all the time. Yes, we brought a cooler to save money, although we aren't perfect so we are eating out a little bit. One of the biggest costs beside transportation are hotel fees. We opted for a rustic cabin rental in a KOA campground instead. I stayed at one before and really enjoyed it. The cabin has two bunk beds, a full sized bed, a desk and a chair, and a window unit air conditioner. There is electricity and WIFI. You can't be severely addicted to television when you stay in one. There is no television and the WIFI isn't fast enough to HULU.

The last cabin I rented was about fifteen feet away from the restrooms and showers. I was slightly irritated this morning when I had to walk all the way around the pond for the restroom. The Canadian geese attempted to cheer me up with a hearty greeting But I was still in a foul mood. (Horrible pun intended.)

Last night when we checked in there was a giant mutant wasp/hornet/bee thing on the window shade. I used to raise tarantulas, and am kind to all creatures. I even carry spiders out of the house for my husband. He wanted it out of the room. I told him it was in a difficult spot to catch because of the window shade and we would most likely get stung trying to get out or damage something in the room. We made the bed, walked all the way around the pond to the restrooms, and came back. I sat down on the edge of the bed and bolted up immediately.

We turned on the porch light and the inside light and I stood in the doorway to our little cabin rubbing my butt furiously while my husband tried to get the injured mutant wasp/hornet/bee thing out of the room. After a tussle with the mutant my husband lost track of him and we couldn't find him again. I slept lightly, jumping at every small noise, certain he was going to find me in the middle of the night to finish the job. It was a rough start for our all too short vacation.

Like always it is a dual purpose vacation. We can have a bit of fun each day, but then we also have to look for jobs and rental properties because I am thinking of moving up here. It looks promising so far, now if I can only get my husband to stop singing the Bumble Bee Tuna theme song and referring to me as his little bumble bee. He also opened the door to the cabin this morning and said there was someone to see me. I thought one of the geese had wandered up to the porch but no it was a giant mutant wasp/hornet/bee thing. If I could only train one to bite him on the butt too...

Pennies, Nickels, and Dimes, Oh My!

I'm thinking of vacations again and couldn't afford even a weekend getaway so I will tell you how I managed to take my family on a weekend trip using one simple saving strategy. My eldest daughter was about to have a birthday and instead of presents she wanted to have a beach trip. It was all she talked about. I had to make it happen.

I made a bit more money then but it still wasn't much. We were still leading pretty much a hand to mouth existence. Was I going to get my credit card and rent an expensive room, and eat out every day, and pay for it for years? Nope, not me. I called around and did some research and places were very high and we had a dog who had to come with. (The dog story will come eventually in another post.) We had to save a lot in about six months for this to happen and we would definitely have to economize.

I already had a change jar but we decided to really kick it into high gear and start saving a lot more. We got into the habit of not using exact change ever. All change was placed in a pocket or change purse which was emptied into the jar every night. If we found a penny we picked it up. It may be too much of a bother for some but they really do add up eventually. When the jar was full instead of taking them to a coin machine which charges almost ten percent of your money (a real rip-off) we rolled them ourselves and took them to the bank.

We didn't collect enough for a fabulous beach hotel and all the trimmings but we did manage a few small presents, a dog friendly camping spot right on the beach, food for the whole weekend, gas for the vehicle, and we managed not to short any household bills to make this happen. We had our three kids and our dog and my daughters two friends with us. It may not have been perfect. We had three tents instead of two hotel rooms, and we had to grill ribs and chicken and eat salad instead of having fast food burgers.

I think we did pretty well taking a weekend trip using money gathered solely from our spare change. Its a great way to save and anyone can do it. Some people just have to get past their dislike of pennies. This is some "change" we can all agree to embrace.

Lesbian Road Adventures

My husband and I both worked extra hours last week. The slightly bigger paychecks enabled me to pay all but two of the January bills. With the breathing room and the positive energy I have a bit of time for reflection today. I am dreaming of a real vacation. I have never been out of this country and long to one day have the extra money to see the world. At this time I would settle for a week in a ratty motel in a state I've never been to before.

Don't get me wrong we have traveled before, however they are usually brief dual purpose trips that put us into debt. We have taken a brief vacation to find housing before an out of state move. We have gone on weekend camping trips that we counted as vacations. We have traveled to see relatives with failing health. That's it. We have never taken a real vacation just for pleasure and without an extra agenda such as job or housing searches. I have joked with my husband that moving is the poor mans vacation. And let me tell you, I am ALWAYS up for a move.

I have a friend who is in a similar boat financially as myself. Years ago we were working for the same company and living two counties away. We were always busy and got together infrequently. She called one day and said that she was planning to visit her mother in Wisconsin and asked if I would like to come along. She said she would be driving and we would stay at her mothers house so all I had to take care of was food. I thought about it (for two seconds) and replied "Woohoo! girls road trip it will be like Thelma and Louise, well, without driving off a cliff, or killing anybody, or getting busy with Brad Pitt."

Later that week she called and asked whether I was Thelma or Louise. I told her she could have Brad Pitt and I'd do the killin' hey, what can I say other than she asked after a bad day at work.

We filled a cooler with deli meat, drinks and yogurt. A bag in the backseat bubbled over with a plethora of snacks as we each did our separate shopping. We were ready to go, so before we said goodbye to our husbands she grabbed a gift box from her room. She worked for a video store so she used one of the old advertisements for the pictures and comments and quotes from movie reviewers to decorate the box with a Thelma and Louise theme. Inside was my very own "Louise" shirt. She had gone to the flea market and had Thelma spray painted on one shirt and Louise on another for herself. She said the foreign man who had painted them kept asking which one was her name. "You Thelma? You Louise?"

We had a blast on the way up, stopping for gas and snack breaks along the way, having long conversations, and playing all kinds of music. It was nice to get away from the struggle of everyday existence for a brief period. We stopped at state lines taking pictures there and at any odd sites along our route. Wisconsin itself was a whole other world to me. Every three miles there was another whole entire store devoted to nothing but cheese. Luckily, I'm quite fond of cheese.

My friend told me I would be amazed once I was out of the South and heard some people speaking because they didn't have accents in Wisconsin. I managed to make it into the parking lot before bursting into hysterical laughter after speaking with a sales clerk in a store. "Ya ye betcha," I said,"There were no accents there."

One morning on the way up we stopped for breakfast at a truck stop diner where we realized people were giving us strange looks. Some stared as if shocked by looking at a strange insect. Some men outright leered at us. It finally occurred to me why we were getting the extra attention.

"Thelma."

"Yes Louise."

"Um, I believe people think we're lesbians because of our matching t-shirts."

We had a big laugh, enjoyed the rest of the trip, and filled the cooler with cheese, before making our way home. Hope everyone out there is finding joy and laughter in their lives. If you were intrigued by the title and are now disappointed by reading through my story ha ha ha you dirty pervert. ;)