Travel — Beating Broke

Reasons To Continue Family Outings and Vacations While Paying Down Debt

December 16, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

If you listen to Dave Ramsey, you may have heard his admonishment that you should put all extras and luxuries in your life on hold until your debt is paid off. “Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else” is his mantra. I would agree with him if you can pay off your debt in a year or less. However, I disagree with him if it will take you several years to pay down your debt. There are many reasons to continue family outings and vacations while paying down debt.

Your Children Are Growing

My husband and I dug ourselves out of consumer debt about five years ago. Then, three years ago when one of our children started suddenly having medical and behavioral issues, we found ourselves back in debt thanks to doctor and psychiatrist visits. There were a good 18 months where we were seeing specialists and searching for answers, and we went back into consumer debt. There is also still student loan debt we’re working on.

We stopped taking any vacations and going on family outings because we thought that all of our money should go on our debt. We did this for about two years, and then we realized that our kids are growing up. Our teenager will soon be an adult and out of the house. We only get this time with our kids once!

Reasons to Continue Family Outings and Vacations When Paying Down Debt — Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Of course, we do our best to save money on family outings, but spending time with our children is now more of a priority, even if we still have debt.

Your Family Is Aging

Our families live far from where we do, so when we started focusing heavily on paying down our debt, we stopped traveling. We went 3.5 years without seeing my extended family. During that time, one uncle died and another got lung cancer. My uncles and aunts are all in their 70s and 80s now. I know there won’t be many times left when we can visit with them.

This fall, my daughters and I made the 2,000 mile trek to visit my extended family, doing what we could to save money. We drove instead of flying; we packed our own food on the trip so we wouldn’t have to eat out; and we stayed at hotels where we could save 20% or more. I’m very glad we made the trip, and we plan to do it again next year.

You Are Creating Memories

As I get older and see my extended family age and my children grow up, I see the importance of making memories with those I love.

I belong to several financial groups on Facebook, and recently on one, a man posted that for the last four years, even though he had debt, he and his family made the decision to take a vacation once a year. They always included the man’s mother. She passed away this Thanksgiving. He wrote that he’s so glad he took the time to vacation with his family and his mother. He’ll always have those memories, even if it will take him about a year longer to pay down his debt.

Of course, you should pay off your debt as quickly as possible to improve your finances. However, keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed in life. There are very good reasons to continue family outings and vacations when paying down debt.

4 Alternative Spring Break Vacation Options

March 5, 2017 By MelissaB 1 Comment

Spring is right around the corner, and for many, that means spring break. However, if you are a college student or you have a child who is one, know that spring break for many kids doesn’t mean traipsing off to a beach location to spend the week drinking and partying. For many others, spring break can be a time to help others.

The best of both worlds is traveling to new locations AND helping others. There are plenty of spring break options to let you do just that, and the opportunities aren’t just for college students.

While there are many reputable companies that you can choose from, these are a few to get you started.

International Spring Break Options

Alternative spring break vacation — Original img: Kristin Klein on Flickr

GoVoluntouring. This company lets you choose your volunteer opportunity based on age, the amount you can spend, duration, and what attractions and countries interest you. GoVoluntouring has projects in many, many different countries from Croatia to Fiji to Iceland, just to name a few, and has opportunities from teaching abroad to environmental programs to wildlife programs.

Earthwatch Institute. Earthwatch Institute’s focus is on environmental trips including climate change, ocean health, and wildlife expeditions. They have trips available in every continent. Another nice feature of Earthwatch is that if you spread the news about the company via social media and other avenues, you can receive a discount on your own travel. Just sign up to be an Earthwatch Ambassador to take advantage of this program.

National Spring Break Options

American Hiking Association. If you’d like to volunteer without getting a passport, you might consider the American Hiking Association’s opportunities to travel within the U.S. and volunteer. You can search by the state you’re interested in traveling to. Then, you’ll see how difficult the volunteer opportunity is, ranging from Easy to Very Strenuous, with three additional grades in between. A moderate project (one step up from easy) might be performing trail maintenance at Fort Pickens in Florida. A very strenuous project might be one that requires 6 to 10 miles of hiking a day in addition to trail clearing and maintenance including removing dead trees and repairing or installing turnpikes on the trails.

If you want to serve here, be aware that each trip generally only has 6 to 13 participants, so space is limited. They currently still have openings in their program.

The United Way. The most cost-effective alternative spring break program is with the United Way. For a cost of approximately $275 to $395, you’ll have the chance to volunteer for a week and work on projects such as building houses, maintaining gardens, and assisting youth.

Of course, you don’t have to go with one of these companies. There are likely plenty of opportunities to volunteer in your own community or to take a trip to a foreign country to help others through your church.

If you’re going to spend money on a spring break getaway, why not also do good while you’re there? You’ll likely experience the country and its people more than if you just sat on a beach as a tourist watching the sunset.

Have you ever taken a volunteer vacation? If so, where did you go and what did you do? If not, would you consider taking one?

Our Cross Country Move: One Year Later

July 13, 2015 By MelissaB 4 Comments

Almost one year ago, our family made the move from Chicago to Tucson, Arizona. Honestly, I wasn’t that excited to be moving so far away from my family in the Midwest, but we thought the move would only be for two or three years. The move was a smart choice for my husband’s career (something we still believe), so I tried to make the best out of it.

Now, a year later, I’ve found that a cross country move can evoke a wide range of positives and negatives.

The Positives

Keeping in touch with relatives is easy, thanks to technology. My mom has made the trip out to Tucson three times in the year we’ve been here, so we’ve been lucky to see her so frequently. Because of the cost of taking our family of five such a distance, we only expect to be able to travel to see her once a year. She’ll likely cut her trips down to once or twice a year to see us from now on. However, thanks to Skype, keeping in touch is easier than ever. Whenever the kids miss grandma, we just Skype with her.

Having a back yard is priceless. In the Chicago suburbs where we lived, we just had a tiny patch of yard. Since we were renting, we couldn’t do anything with it. Now, we have a full back yard for the kids to play in and we have three garden beds (though we’re still learning how to grow anything in this crazy desert).

A cheaper cost of living rocks. No surprise, Chicago was expensive. We could never own a house because property taxes alone were $12,000+ a year, and starter homes in less than ideal conditions were easily $350,000 as a starting price. In Tucson, we’re able to own our own home, and the property taxes are a fifth or less of what they were in Chicago.

The Negatives

All health insurance policies are not the same. My husband’s health insurance policy in Chicago was generous, but we always found it very annoying that medical bills were not paid until 9 to 12 months AFTER the appointment. (Illinois’ tight budget was the reason.) When we moved here, I was impressed that our bills were paid within a few weeks. However, we pay more to insure our family here, and fewer expenses are covered. We did not estimate just how deeply medical bills would impact our bottom line, and right now we’re recovering financially from the nearly $5,000 we had to pay out of pocket for the first four months of medical expenses in 2015. (These expense would have likely been much less with our Illinois insurance.)

Moving is SO expensive. We originally hoped to only be out here for two to three years, but moving cross country is so expensive. Now I find myself hoping we stay here five years so we don’t have to spend so much money to relocate so quickly after relocating here. We need time to recoup our expenses.

Moving cross country has been an experience, but despite the expenses, we’re still glad we did it.

Have you made a large move? What did you learn a year or so into relocating? Would you do it again if you had the choice?