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There are other changes as well.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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That's my DH . We're remodeling our upstairs bathroom next year and taking a break from Disney for a while I promised that I wouldn't plan another Disney trip until 2014 That's ok because by the time we go back Fantasyland wil be completed and Zoey will still only be 5. Plus, we may try to have another baby during that time. We'll see...
This thread and another active one on the boards has gotten me re-thinking our trips. How often is too often? And does it have to be Disney? Is there some place closer we could go to get the same relaxation? The list of stuff the house needs is long, and some have been outstanding since the day we bought the house 10 years ago.
On the other hand, the only other thing we do as family is our yearly camping trip in June to Maryland. We don't take family vacations, even back when DB had paid vacation time. We'd use it visiting family or other things, but not that often on ourselves really.
I'm in a position this year (meaning the next 12 months) to do multiple trips to Disney because we will be getting APs in Sept. How many trips are too many? (I wish air fare was cheaper)
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I'll have to say this is one area where I am very fortunate as DH is a carpenter. So, while we love to improve things around the house, we only have to consider the costs of the products alone however, we've been renting for the past 3+ years and DH is sick of putting alot of time and effort into a place that isn't "ours".... but we're closing on a new house in a few weeks (and its a big move - from IL to FL!!!!!!)
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"With kids the days are long - but the years are short."
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I'm sure I could come up with a million things we could do with the $$ instead of going to WDW. But we have put off plenty of trips because we just don't have it. And next month, all of my debt will be paid off and by this time next year, my husband's last loan will be paid off so we are planning our next trip as a celebration.
Sure, we could just take that money and save it to be used as a down payment on our own home, but I think we've earned this trip with the sacrifices we have made. And lately I find myself remembering how all through my childhood my mother would say how much she wanted to go to Hawaii. She's now in her 60's and after her battle with lung cancer and the fact that her body isn't up for long car rides, nevermind a flight of that distance, she'll never get to make that trip. It makes me sad to realize that this dream she talked about so much will never come true now. I don't want that to be my life.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kelleigh1
I'm sure I could come up with a million things we could do with the $$ instead of going to WDW. But we have put off plenty of trips because we just don't have it. And next month, all of my debt will be paid off and by this time next year, my husband's last loan will be paid off so we are planning our next trip as a celebration.
Sure, we could just take that money and save it to be used as a down payment on our own home, but I think we've earned this trip with the sacrifices we have made. And lately I find myself remembering how all through my childhood my mother would say how much she wanted to go to Hawaii. She's now in her 60's and after her battle with lung cancer and the fact that her body isn't up for long car rides, nevermind a flight of that distance, she'll never get to make that trip. It makes me sad to realize that this dream she talked about so much will never come true now. I don't want that to be my life.
First, big congrats on paying off all the debt/loans
As for your mom, thanks for sharing that story. It really touched me and I feel the same as you - if you keep putting certain things off you do run the chance that it may never happen. And that's just
I've had to justify some of our trips in the past to people. I'm a SAHM and my husband's job can be unpredictable as he's a carpenter/contractor so certain family members always have an opinion on us spending to the money for vacation. Yes, it's true that we sometimes have to watch our money very carefully... but another reason that we do that is so that can we can be able to take a vacation.
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"With kids the days are long - but the years are short."
This thread and another active one on the boards has gotten me re-thinking our trips. How often is too often? And does it have to be Disney? Is there some place closer we could go to get the same relaxation? The list of stuff the house needs is long, and some have been outstanding since the day we bought the house 10 years ago....I'm in a position this year (meaning the next 12 months) to do multiple trips to Disney because we will be getting APs in Sept. How many trips are too many? (I wish air fare was cheaper)
It just depends. On what's important to you, priorities, etc. Everyone is different. I've been to WDW every year of my life from the time I was 3 years old, and I'm 41 now. That's a lot of Disney. My kids, the oldest 20 and youngest 13, have been every year of their lives too. They are the ones who requested someplace different this year. They've done everything there is to do at Disney multiple times and they were (sorry to say) a little tired of it.
We started thinking about someplace else to vacation and I have always wanted to see the Outer Banks. We priced rental houses and when we found out that we could rent a 3 bed house on the beach for a week for just under $1200 (3 nights in a Jr. Suite at CSR last year cost us just over $1500) our decision was made. It was honestly the best vacation I've had in a long time and I cannot wait to go back. I think we're going to alternate years now, one at WDW and one at OBX.
I never ever thought that we would stray from Disney (that's why we bought into DVC 14 years ago), but we have and I'm glad we did.
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When you find yourself boxed into this corner you will have to share with your better half the findings of Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. In his study among other things he found Experiences led to more happiness in others than purchases did
Sooooooo (in my words) isn't the experience of the Disney Vacation and the lifetime of memories that get better with age much more important that the purchase of some old bathroom that won't be appreciated in 3 months.....
Ok.....I know .......... grasping at straws..... but ya gotta hold out hope.
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Last edited by Professor_Whistleteeth; 01-25-2012 at 10:43 AM..
I always think there is a balance to be found, and trade offs to be considered. I know people who never go on vacation in order to pay off their house in half the time, or do some big upgrade to their house, because it makes the value higher etc., then there are tired, miserable and over stressed with no breaks, because all their vacation time is spent working at home and other who vacation multiple time every year, never save any money and their house is falling apart. We try for somewhere in the middle. Do the work in the house that needs to be done and those changes that we really want or that really enhances our lives, but we still take at least 1 week per year and have a family vacation. Sometimes close to home and sometimes farther away. When we decide to go to Disney, we make other cuts at home during the year to make that happen.
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I saw a great quote earlier today that read something along the lines of "It's YOUR life. You only get one. Do what makes you happy and do it often...."
I think that relates to this... while we all have to have a realistic balance in life- don't forget that balance does mean including a bit of splurging on things like vacation. (very much like the previous post stated)
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It's frustrating when life gets in the way of Disney! DH and the kids know how important Disney is to me especially, but also to us as a family, so there's not too much question about it any more. We may take shorter trips some years, but we'll always be going. Some of my most cherished family memories are at Disney - priceless.
Just the other day, when our second car FINALLY died (frankly surprised it lasted this long) and we decided not to replace it, but to try and be a one car family for a while, one of DH's co workers asked him why we don't take our vacation money and buy a new car instead? I loved DH's response! He said "you don't seem to understand me. In my one and only lifetime, I would so much rather DO things than HAVE things". I knew I could count on him to OK my plans for Paris next year at that point!
My DH and I both have said that, but fortunately, we are both WDW addicts and couldn't imagine missing a year of our family trip to our happy place. We think about it, very briefly, and let out a big "NAAHHH!!" And when we arrive every year to Disney, we just look at each other and say that this place is worth a whole lot more than anything else we could do with our money..thank goodness we're both addicted!!
I'm glad I came across this thread today. We have a room only booked for the end of August (the kids don't know). We got a puppy a couple of weeks ago so now DH and I are thinking we should cancel our trip. We're thinking it wouldn't be fair to board the puppy for a week and it would be a lot to ask someone to take care of her for a week. To me it's not worth it to go to WDW for less than a week because of what we pay for airfare. So DH and I were thinking we should spend some of our vacation money on getting the yard fixed up. It's a muddy mess. Though I would love to have beautiful flowers and landscaping we don't want to spend that much money so we're thinking just what we have to do to make the yard look decent. This thread has me thinking though. My DH works a lot so a week of family time away from everything is great. If we decide to definitely cancel, that will be one hard call for me to make to the TA. I did mention to the kids yesterday we were thinking about not taking vaca this year. They took it really well. I was proud of them. Now if only I can take it as well as they did. DH will still take a week off so we can do fun things around home and we can look forward to a trip in 2013.
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. We're remodeling our upstairs bathroom next year and taking a break from Disney for a while 
I promised that I wouldn't plan another Disney trip until 2014 
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however, we've been renting for the past 3+ years and DH is sick of putting alot of time and effort into a place that isn't "ours".... but we're closing on a new house in a few weeks (and its a big move - from IL to FL!!!!!!)
DH and the kids know how important Disney is to me especially, but also to us as a family, so there's not too much question about it any more. We may take shorter trips some years, but we'll always be going. Some of my most cherished family memories are at Disney - priceless
JulieB 
" And when we arrive every year to Disney, we just look at each other and say that this place is worth a whole lot more than anything else we could do with our money..thank goodness we're both addicted!!
My DH works a lot so a week of family time away from everything is great. If we decide to definitely cancel, that will be one hard call for me to make to the TA. I did mention to the kids yesterday we were thinking about not taking vaca this year. They took it really well. I was proud of them. Now if only I can take it as well as they did. 
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