California, Here We Come.....In Two Weeks

We did it. Today, we booked our last minute flight to California for $108 on Frontier. We leave in two weeks. Three days after coming back from our cruise and coming back one day before Hawaii!

Our itinerary won't be any traveler's normal trip to California. We aren't doing the main cities tourist attraction. We are going to the theme parks and the San Diego Zoo. Our hit list is made up of Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Magic Mountain and Disneyland. It will be a busy four days.

I'm looking forward to a quick inexpensive trip!

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Last Minute Trip Across the Country isn't so Crazy!

As I sit here reading a few part-time travel and budget blogs, my phone vibrates. I looked down and saw I had a text message from my boyfriend who is currently at work. I picked up the phone and read the following message:

"I'm thinking of going to California in two weeks. Interested? Fly out Wednesday the 27th at night and fly back Sunday on a red eye. I got permission to do an interview. Work will pay for part of it. Airfare $110 RT"

I was shocked. I stared at the text message and read it again. And Again. And Again. Over and Over. I couldn't believe what I was reading.

What was he thinking!? We already have two vacations planned in three weeks. One in which was flying 10 hours to visit my parents in Hawaii. We can't afford that with my job lacking hours and pay. I just formed a budget. Financial Fridays would be ruined before it even started. He's crazy for thinking we could fly on such short notice.

I paused.

Then the devil appeared on my shoulder with the opposite point of view. $110 RT across the country!? Who won't do it? I would go to San Diego for a day where I haven't been. It is on my check list. Plus, a friend could get us tickets to Disneyland and I love Disneyland. He said his work would pay for some of it. Probably part of the hotel. Maybe all of it. Depending on what time the plane is I might be able to work on Wednesday. Exhausted yes but that won't hurt my budget too much. Plus, our Hawaii trip is pretty much covered by my parents. I mean we are seeing them so that trip won't cost much. This might be possible.

I started crunching the numbers. $110 RT Airfare. $120 for the car split two ways. $400 for hotel room but he said his work will pay for some so lets say $200. That's $100 each. Plus gas to drive to Disneyland. I can't say no to Disneyland when in California. That's roughly four tanks of gas at $25 a tank split between the two of us is $50. Plus $40 a day for food. That's $160......

now add it together....

carry the one....

giving a total of $480!!!

$480 is not bad for a fours day across the country. I am now thinking he isn't as crazy as I thought. I'm actually considering of going. Why not right? Who needs to be able to pay rent? Now just to see if I can get the time off approved.


Adventure might win this one!

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Financial Fridays - Where I stand

One of my goal has always been to be financial stable. It is quite hard with the job I have which I love but I have learn to sacrifice things to make ends meat.

Since I was little I have always loved crushing numbers. Every week since my first job, I would take out a calculator and determine how much money I will have (or owe) at the end of the week. Even though I love crushing the numbers and looking at budgets I have never been great of tracking the numbers as I go.

I went to a college that was completely cover by an in-state tuition. I always paid at least the minimum owed on my bills. I also have never had more than two credit cards. Currently holding only one with reward points.

One thing you need to know is I have always been afraid of debt. Deathly afraid. I have seen numerous family members refinance their house or declared bankruptcy. I never want to be like that.

So what is my current status? While my biggest investment is a townhouse. I owe a house. Therefore, I have a mortgage. $1,265 a month which is split evenly between me and my boyfriend who makes about $4,000 more than me. I am okay with this as it was my choice between mortgage or rent. Plus I know if I can't paid he will help with my half as I would help with his.

My one and only credit card is at $660 mostly due to the cruise has not been paid off yet and my Texas vacation. My saving account is split between my vacation funds as well as emergency funds. This account sits about $3,280. My retirement fund has been made up with my tax refunds from the last three years: $2850. I don't let my checking account go below $1,000.

My financial goals are to have $5,000 in my emergency fund, put at least $1,300 in a retirement each year and to have $0 credit card balance at the end of each month.

How will I achieve this? By patience. I will have good weeks and fail at some weeks. I will learn from those failures. Hopefully by blogging every week and trying to spend a total of $1250 ($950 in Mortgage and utilizes) I will achieve financial freedom.

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Financial Fridays - The Start

As I sit in my hotel room, I have decided to start logging my spending through blogging. A brand new goal of tracking all my money. Okay probably not a new goal but I am going to try to write down my budget and get a hold of my spending.

What is this Goal?

My goal is to spend $300 or less on groceries, gas, entertainment, and other spending per month. That comes out to $10 a day. This does not include my mortgage or utilities as I pay roughly $930 a month.

Yes, if you have read some of my other blogs you know I make $11 an hour. After taxes, I make $1,400 a month working 40 hours a week. Leaving $500 after my mortgage for expensive.

Since February, my company started massive budgets cuts. I went from having overtime every week to not even having 40 hours in a week. I went from making $350-$430 a week to $250-$300 a week. For debt and traveling, it is a huge difference.

Oh and for those of you that say "get a new job" Fuck off.  I love my job. It allows me time off to travel. It allows me to meet people from all over. Great hours and amazing health benefits.

Anyway back to my budget, I plan to cut back slowly on my spending. Track every purchase at least week by week hint of the name. Maybe even more. I want to build up my vacation fund, Emergency fund, retirement fund as well as not into big debt for living the adventurous life.

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Setting Sail Again

Giant news!! We decided not to cancel our time off for Gatlinburg but to find another adventure! I bet from the subject you can guess what we booked. Go on now, guess.

That is right! We booked a 3 day cruise on the Carnival Magic for the end of April. The price was a little higher than our budget for Gatlinburg but still hard to pass up on such a lovely, newer ship.

The Carnival Magic had its maiden voyage in 2011 holding 4,675 passengers. Part of the Dream class, it usually only sails longer 7 day cruises (those on a budget can't afford). However, the ship is repositioning from Texas to Florida. Therefore to get back on desired days for cruises, the ship has one short 3 day cruise and we just booked it!

I promised this blog would talk about budget travel so this is how we decided it was the right time and price to book. We started looking the day Gatlinburg was cancelled. A few cruises were a possibility. Norwegian Sky ($345), Carnival Victory ($290) , Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Sea ($399) and this one, Carnival Magic ($310). However, all the prices were higher than we wanted to pay and much higher than our Gatlinburg budget.

We started to watch the ship's prices daily. Actually to be more accurate, I watched it hourly. Okay you got me, not every hour but close to it. Two of the ships prices stayed the same. One of the prices sky rocketed. I was beginning to loose hope when the Magic dropped to the Carnival Victory price. Should we book?

We debated and debated for a few days as the price held at $290 per person. It was more than we wanted to spend but as I stated above the Carnival Magic never has short affordable cruises. We were just about to pass and cancel our time off when I received this beauty in my email.

Could it be for the Magic? I logged on and found that the cruise was now at $269 for loyalty program members. My boyfriend and I discussed it over. It had dropped $41. We agreed we would skip the drink package and expensive shore excursions. We won't buy more than a few drinks and we wouldn't go money crazy. With a head node to each other, we booked.

The total per person with Taxes, Fees and Gratuities: $353.50. Not bad for a 3 day cruise on a new ship. I take that as a win for a budget vacation.

Can't not wait to set Sail again.

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Gatlinburg on Hold

Sadly due to unseen situations, we had to cancel our Gatlinburg, TN weekend road trip.

It is sad as I miss the mountains and cabin life that remind me of my childhood in the Rockies. I could of really used a vacation like this. I looked forward to our relaxing week with evenings in a outside hot tub looking into the pitch black. I can taste the moonshine I crave. Exploring the town and riding the ski lift up the mountain. Now it is all gone.

Hopefully later in the summer, I can still make it up there. For now, Do I cancel my time off for work or do I replace Gatlinburg with another adventure?

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Gatlinburg Cabin Found

Every time I stay in the Smokey Mountains, I feel like I need to stay in a cabin. It makes the trip feel so much more relaxed and peaceful. It just feels like vacation.

As we have started planning our April trip which is roughly a month away, we were debating on rather renting a Cabin or doing a cheaper more romantic hotel room. I say more romantic cause the cabin would be filled with 15 of our friends. We debated and decided this time looks like it will be no different than every other stay.

As this trip is a bunch of friends getting together, we are probably renting a huge cabin that can sleep up to 20 people! We are just working out the plans and finial details.

Once we book, I will let you know our budget for the trip.

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