Making Cents Of It All

Hubby and I went away for a long weekend with another couple. We would walk down to the lake everyday. It was so quiet. The only noise was the ice cracking. It was so peaceful. I can't wait to go back.

We were away most of the week. We had a great time. I think Hubby's favorite park was that he got to sleep until when ever he wanted. One of my favorite parts was the views. I love the mountains so I am always happy whenever I get to go see some. We were able to keep the entire vacation to $800 which is really amazing. Our budget was $1000 so we came in under by $200. So we already have a jump start on our next trip to see OD. We did lots of fun things. The kids did an aerial adventure park. We got the afternoon passes and ordered them online saving us $30. They were both sore the next few days. Thank goodness for the hot tubs.  We did eat out twice. Both times were lunch. We were able to have 2 nice meals and not pay dinner prices. One of the restaurants is a historic location. It was The Red Lion Inn. We were able to throw some history into the vacation. We looked all around the inn and were reading about it online.  We did shop around the town but the...

Sorry this is late but that is what happens when you are on vacation. We were traveling home yesterday so it was busy. We had to pick up Oreo, unpack , do laundry, and pick veggies from the garden so there just wasn't time to do a post.   My best freebie of the week was the time share. It is my sister's and she doesn't use it often. She refuses to take anything from us to use it since we watch her dog for her. It is very generous of her and we appreciate it. It makes it very affordable for us to travel by using it. This time we went to Vacation Village in the Berkshires. It was a beautiful resort. We had a 2 bedroom unit with 2 living areas, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies and a full kitchen and mini kitchen. It can be used as 2 separate units so the kids had kind of their own place which they liked. It sleeps 8 so there was a ton of room for the 4 of us.  There were lots of things to do at the resort. We did have to pay a $25 fee when checking in for WiFi a...

We are away for the week at my sister's time share. She rarely uses it and if you don't use the weeks you lose them. So we are happy to use them. It is a very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit with a full kitchen, dining room and 2 living areas as well as 2 balconies. The views are amazing!  I brought some food with us and we cook most meals in the time share. I plan ahead to make it as easy as possible. There is a movie theater, 2 pools, hut tub, ping pong, pool table, horse shoes, bocce ball, basketball, volleyball and a playground. There are several free activities every day as well as some that charge a fee.  Last week I made a huge pot of chili so I froze some of that and brought it with us. All I have to do is cook some rice and dinner is done. Hubby also made a big pot of sauce during the week with meatballs and I froze half of that to bring too. That is 2 nights that I barely have to cook. We also ate banana chocolate chip pancakes, omelettes, waffles, ste...

We love to travel but we live on a  budget .  We have traveled to some wonderful places and made some great memories. And we didn't break the bank doing it. Here are some of our tips and tricks for a low cost vacation.  Part 1  is here.  * Cook. We always try to cook some of our meals when we go away. When we stay with family or friends this is never a problem. One of the great things about time shares and Airbnbs is that they have kitchens. Most hotels have rooms with a kitchen too. It may cost a little more up front but it is worth it. Dinner for 4 people at a decent restaurant is easily $60 a night. The room never costs that much more. If we can't get a kitchen, I bring my crock pot. I have never had a problem doing that. I just have to plan ahead. We also always try to stay at a hotel that offers some type of breakfast included. It all adds up. Worst comes to worst I bring easy foods with us in a cooler. PB&J, hard boiled eggs, tuna, cold cut sandwi...

We just returned from visiting our oldest daughter in Baltimore. We love to visit her often but it can get expensive fast. We also enjoy traveling. However, paying for college and saving for retirement are important to us so we try to do it as affordable as possible.  So these are some of the ways that we do a low cost vacation. There are so many different options out there. You just have to be open minded. Don't just think hotel. Go outside that box. * Staying with family or friends. OD lives out of state. We like to go see her every few months. She shares a small 2 bedroom apartment in Baltimore. A hotel is easily $200 a night. We would not be able to visit often if we had to pay for a hotel. So we make it work. Hubby and I sleep in the small second room. It is a full bed but we deal with it. OD has a couch and a cot. We used to bring an air mattress before she got the cot. We usually only go for 3 nights max so we can deal with it. We have also stayed at our friend's c...