How to afford it?

[suezyq50]

Etoile, It would be cheaper for you to do coffee at home. There are so many choices on coffee. Lots of brands, flavored coffees, flavored creams, etc. Have you ever looked into kopycats or similair sites to make your own lattes, mochas, or what ever you like? It is really easy.

[LuvMyVette]

Hi:

 

DH/I love to travel but in order to do so we cut back on other things. It's a matter of "how much do you want to do this" attitude.

Currently there's only one income so money has been tight. We've sacrificed a lot to go on cruises and other vacations but we make one vacation (usually the cruise) the "let's have a ball" vacation and the other's we are very careful with spending. I'm happy to go away, relax, read, check out the scenery, go out to eat once or twice and take it easy. We don't fly so that saves us a lot of money. Granted it's not easy to do but being able to go on a cruise, being in the middle of the ocean with nothing around you, having fun, etc. is well worth it.

DH puts money aside every month for our vacations which is a tremendous help. Also part of the tax return goes toward a vacation as well.

I'm constantly searching for cheap cruises on RCI, discounts, specials, etc. Once the cruise is booked, I'm still checking to see if the price drops so I can get the cheaper price. I used the coupons that are sent to me since I'm part of the RCI Crown & Anchor society. My work has paid off.

For a few cruises, we've done the "guaranteed" inside/outside cabin. It's cheaper but you don't know where you'll end up on the ship. The three times we've done it... no problem. Inside cabins are the cheapest. Also depends what time of year you want to cruise. Certain times (summer, holidays, etc.) are more expensive. Hurricane season seems to be cheaper. Due to all of this we've been able to cruise more. A few years ago, RCI had some fantastic bargains on cruises so we started to cruise more. As of this year, there are barely any bargains so that is hurting us a little bit. More to sacrifice but to us it's well worth it.

Overall, it's how much do you want to cruise, what are you willing to sacrifice to go on one, your current life style/expenses, etc.

[dyslexic pirate]

Etoile: Where do we get our coffee now? We don't! I was really using the caffeine to keep me going each day. (I have to get up at 3am for work)

It was really tough to quit, now I know how smokers must feel when they try to give up nicotine. The headaches were incredible when I said good bye to Starbucks. But I feel healthier now that I'm not consuming so much coffee.

 

For the record: I own 2 home cappachino machines and a HomeCafe. Since I love flavored lattes I figured all the extra calories weren't doing me any favors either.

 

I still splurge every now and then but never more than once a week.

 

Tea is alot cheaper than fancy coffee.

 

We also don't eat out or do the drive up windows like we used to. Since I'm the one who usually cooks I miss this the most but as unusual as it sounds the kids are the ones who say "no" when I ask if anyone wants to order pizza. They always remind me that we're trying to save up cruise money.

 

We had two homecomings in our house in two weeks. I was very proud of my daughter and one of my son's girlfriends. Each girl wore the same dress to the dance that they wore last year. Both girls grinned from ear to ear as the dresses were also the same dresses they'd worn on a formal night on our last cruise and they knew that the moeny they'd saved by not running to the mall for a new dress was going to their cruise in January. By the way the dress re-run idea was totally their own I didn't have anything to do with it!:)

[bbnbama]

Also, (and this one hurt) we cut out all Starbucks. It was costing us a little over $300 :eek: bucks a month!! When I multiplied that by 12 months = $3600 I realized I was drinking away a really good cruise for two or more each year!!

 

I'm thankful that we are probably one of the last few cities on God's green Earth that doesn't have a Starbucks because I know when I go on trips if there is a Starbucks in a 20 mile radius from where I am, my nose can sniff that baby out and between there and Jamba Juice most of my $$ goes right to 'em!!!! :D

Starbucks and Jamba Juice are my "vacation" hot spots! I'd be in serious financial trouble if either of those were near me!!!