II Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Day in and Day out

It's Wednesday-hump day. I'm feeling extraordinarly bored today. Not bored in the sense that I don't have anything to do...I haven't had that feeling in YEARS. But bored in the sense that this every day routine is totally boring me. I do almost the exact same thing every. single. day. I would list it all out for you...but then I'd bore you all too and you'd probably stop reading this...so I just won't. Matt keeps saying it's "time for a vacation" and it's true...we usually do take our vacations around this time every year. Our anniversary is March 28th and I can't remember a time that we didn't do at least SOMETHING that week or weekend. But-this year is different. For one, that date is right around the corner and it would be really last minute to try to plan anything now. And secondly....I am so focused on getting out of debt and getting a savings built up that I can't imagine spending (or wasting) any money right now on hotels/food/entertainment/extras. Matt has been on board with me and this whole "getting out of debt thing" all along...until this past week or so when he made the comment "you know, getting out of debt is great and all but what good is it if you can't ever have any fun and enjoy life."
My thought at the beginning of this year was "if we can just stick it out for one full year--not spending any extra--then we can probably be close to if not totally out of debt by this time next year." And...we are well on our way. So far we've already paid off 3 big debts and are whittling away at the others with every penny we have.
But now I'm thinking "are we going to be able to do this? Are we going to be able to go a whole year without getting out of here for a while? Are we going to go stir-crazy and drive each other nuts if we don't get a break from the daily routine? Is Matt going to go bezerk at his job if he doesn't get some time off?"
AUGH!
I've always considered it an asset that I am such an all-or-nothin' kind of girl. When I do something, I really DO it. I give it 100%. So for me to concede and "allow" us to spend a thousand on a vacation...just feels like I've given up. Like I'm saying "to heck with it". I don't want to stop the track we're on...but I also don't want to be so SERIOUS that I can't have ANY fun either.
What do you all say?

4 comments:

Kuckie said...

I'm struggling with this exact same thing right now! We have my mom here tomorrow thru Sunday, and she offered to stay with the kiddos so B and I could get a long weekend away. But after looking (for days!) for something fun, relaxing, and inexpensive to do...I just can't get on board. It feels wrong to spend the money right now. So, we've decided to let mom come, and we will take of to Cincinnati on Friday, spend the day seeing the sights, going to IKEA, dinner, maybe visiting some friends. Then we'll come back and stay here, at our house, and get back up and do all the same things in Columbus on Saturday. I know it's not exciting, but he still gets a day off from work, and we get to hang out, just the two of us. It's all good... :)

Rock Chef said...

We are doing something similar - working hard to wipe out things that have been hanging around for too long. Dull, but it is so nice to see those balances going down!

Teresa said...

You have to think ahead. We did all the 'hard work' of getting out of debt a few years back and now are reaping the benefits of being able to go on an extravagent vacation right in the middle of an "economic crisis" no less and pay cash for everything AND still have a savings left over...all because we did the hard part a while ago. YOu will get there...the hard work does pay off in the end. You owe it to yourself to be financially stable in this time of uncertainty especially if you have a family to take care of.

I'm not saying don't get away from the mundane routine of things...not at all but you don't have to spend a lot to do it either. Visit some friends in another state...they'll provide the food and you can relax and play games while the kids play and then get out to do something fun in another city a few times and in the end probably only spend a couple hundred dollars. We do that all the time with our friends and you still feel like it was a vacation. AND your rested when you get home too instead of being exhausted from contanst go go go'ing.

So...in a nutshell...keep on your "getting rid of debt AND building up a savings" plan...don't abandon it...BUT do gon on a small, simple vacation for a couple hundred and that will refresh you in time for the spring weather to come again!

:)

amanda said...

i'll join you on vaca as well. let's google hawaii and spend a few min. there. :0) props to you and your hubby on your debt free way. that is so awesome. i NEED TO DO THAT. it's way easy to whip out the plastic...and i fall time and time again. so i'll be praying. and take a small vaca for real. like i dunno what...but i'm sure you could find something. and i had this totally funny dream awhile back about you. i got to visit you and we had a blast together and your house was beautiful. that's all i truly remember, but it was fun to 'meet' you. lol. i'm excited about jillian being the bach. too. now i think i'm hooked. yikes. and ohhhhh six more days til bl. :0)