Family Vacations

I have avoided going in debt up until the time I got married. I didn't want to be poor or obligated to pay someone else for what I needed. I wanted to be financially independent. However, that means that there is not much leftover after paying for the necessities to go and do things. I chose to try to graduate from college debt free rather than take an exotic vacation.

Then I got married and I tried to maintain the same perspective. We gave up going on a honeymoon beyond a couple of nights at a local motel and bed and breakfast.

We gave up using any of my vacation time from my full time job in order to make sure I recieved a full paycheck when I had to take 5 weeks maternity leave after graduating from our two year school.

After that, I quit my full time job and we had to take out student loans to survive in order to complete our bachelor's degrees and have another baby. In order to try to limit our debt, we avoided any family vacations beyond going to visit either set of parents or grandparents. We thought we were doing pretty good on trying to limit our debts and were elated when Michael finally received a well paying, full time job that would mean we could do more things. Again, instead of going on vacation we invested in a home.

Then we tenatively planned a vacation with some friends for last fall and what happens, I fall and break my elbow needing surgery. No family vacation then either. So we shoot for late winter when the medical bills should be paid off and what happens? My sister decides to get married and have her receptions a month apart. No family vacation, two trips for two receptions reduced our travel budget. So we put it off for early spring.

I've always wanted to go to Disneyland. I was excited when a friend's husband started working for Disneyland and she said that if we come to visit they can get us in for a reduced rate. Having never been on a real family vacation (not even with my parents and siblings, I'm the oldest of five and my dad is a school teacher so vacations were unaffordable growing up), I was very excited at the possibility of going some place as exciting as Disneyland with my little family. Low and behold, three days before we were suppose to leave my friend emails me with some confusion over sleeping arrangements while we were to be in town to visit them and go to Disneyland. She thought we were going to stay in a motel and we thought we were going to stay with them. With no explanation whatsoever, she tells us that she talked to her husband and we can't stay with them but there are cheap hotels on priceline.com. What a blow! Had we known sooner we could have made other arrangements or budgeted for such an expense, but with three days notice and a variety of other large expense coming up in the next couple of months we had to cancel our trip. Yep, no family vacation.

I'm tired of not having any vacations that do not include visiting family, but I am still struggling with trying to minimize our debt, live within our means, and save for a rainy day. I think I've too rigid of ideals, but I am hoping that someday we will go on a real family vacation, no if I can just stop having surgery (I'm going on my third one in less than a year, even if one of them was only oral surgery) . . . . .