Travel Archives - Page 27 of 29 - Making Sense Of Cents

Spending, Life, Income and Food Updates…

Last Updated: July 18, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! I’m finally getting back to my regular posting. I flew back home yesterday and I’m very happy to be back since I’ve been gone for nearly 2 weeks. I’m glad that today I can finally update you all on my life (since you are all so interested).

Life is definitely going great by the way. Now that my MBA is done, my designation exams are all done and everything is going great in other areas, I’m pretty happy.

Vegas was a ton of fun. I will have to post some headless pictures soon (since I am mostly an anonymous blogger).

And from last Wednesday until last night I was in DC for work. I took a test on Sunday (a 36 page test!) and I’m really hoping that I passed. This is my last work test and then I can submit my finals items in and then should be getting my designation. WOOHOOO!

Also, lately I’ve been writing on a couple of blogs. Check out the posts that I have so far on My Multiple Incomes about Negotiating for a Higher Salary, Why You’re Not Saving Money, and Why Multiple Income Streams are Important.

This is a picture from our DC trip last year.

Didn’t take any pictures this time around.

My updates:

Spending: Spending hasn’t been the greatest, but this was expected. Everything was planned though. I didn’t spend too much in Vegas, as almost everything was free (WOOHOO on being a girl in Vegas). Also, all the food in DC and the super nice hotel was paid for as well, so it was just a free trip that was very relaxing (except for the studying for 12 hours a day).

However, yesterday when we got home, we hopped into the Jeep (yes the new one that we just bought). And it wouldn’t start. Turns out that I left the dome light on since last Tuesday and it completely killed and drained the battery. We had to buy a new battery last night for $130.

Extra Monthly Income: I haven’t been making as much as I’d like so far this month, but that’s mainly been because I’ve been gone. But I also haven’t been doing terrible. I finally got paid for my purse and I made around $400 from online income so far this month.

Budget Cutting: Now that I’m done with my MBA, I can finally start cooking at home more. I plan on analyzing our food budget again to see where we should go with this.

Food: I made dinner last night, but besides that I haven’t cooked in probably 2 weeks. That’s because I’ve been gone so I’m not really at fault for that :)I do plan on going grocery shopping today. We still have some items in our fridge/freezer that are still good. I’ll probably spend around $75 today to stock the fridge back up. We are good on meats and milk, so that will save some money right there.

Being healthy: I haven’t worked out much in 2 weeks, but that’s only because of the vacations and not having time. It’s hard to work out when you’re at a week-long bachelorette party, and then the very next week having work meetings in DC for 9 hours and then studying for a work test for 12 hours a day, with this being a work test that will cause you to lose your entire career if you fail. I will definitely get back into the routine though! And I’m still on the hunt for some good kickboxing classes around my house.

How’s your spending, working out and extra income going?

I’m in VEGAS!

Last Updated: May 18, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Wish me luck while I’m here! Hopefully I come back home in one piece. I’m meeting up with some other lovely ladies while I’m here (Katy and Athena) for my very first blates (blogger + date of course).

I’ll try posting some headless outfit posts, since I am still an anonymous blogger :), when I come back, because I bought some cute dresses.

Today I also am participating in a Buying vs. Renting debate on Ready For Zero. Check it out! Also check out the renting side of the debate, as written by Carrie, right here. There are positives and negatives to both sides of course, but I took the stand of buying is better, due to where I live and how my life is.

Here’s an excerpt from my post:

“While some people downplay the benefits of homeownership, I believe that the positives of owning a house outweigh the negatives. Of course, my opinion is based on my own experiences and my own city. So keep in mind that some factors can change depending on where you live.”

Which do you think is better, buying or renting?

Summer Bucket List

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve been liking all of these personal “get to know me” posts, because here comes another one. I’m not all about personal finance as you can see 🙂

I noticed quite a few other bloggers have a summer bucket list (check Determined To Be’s here) and I thought this was a great idea! I also saw this blog and I love what they did with their pictures as they completed each one.

I’ve never had just a summer bucket list, but I’d like to see what I can accomplish and make it a fun summer. And yes I do realize that it’s already the end of June, but technically Summer has just started!

Here’s my Bucket List:

1. Go on at least 1 weekend trip with the boy. Last year we went on a ton of trips. Miami, San Juan, DC, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Key West, etc. I think weekend trips are definitely needed. Yes, it’ll hurt the wallet, but that’s what my vacation fund is for.

2. Go to at least 1 concert. I don’t go to a ton of concerts. Maybe 1 or 2 a year (if that even). We were going to see Red Hot Chili Peppers but that failed on us.

3. Have a picnic. We never have picnics. I will blame it on pure laziness. Bringing some food, a blanket and maybe even the dogs sounds like a wonderful and relaxing way to spend a day.

4. Have a BLAST in Vegas. Told you I was obsessed. Maybe you guys will be lucky enough and I will post pictures from my trip. Or just maybe more headless pictures? Hmmm…

5. Run/work out with just a sports bra and shorts. I’m copying one of hers, because this is truly something that I need to do. It’ll force me to become more toned. I would like to be comfortable to do this soon! And it’s so hot here that it definitely is possible.
6. Go to a Cardinals game with the boy. We’ve been together for over 6 years and haven’t managed this yet! CARDS! We always seem to go separately with our friends.

7. Camp with the boy. I’ve NEVER been camping! We always talk about doing this but it just never happens. We do have a float trip that should happen in July! I’m excited. The boy is making me go, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun.

8. Visit my grandma. I don’t see my grandma very often. She lives in Chicago (about 5 hours away). I’ve been so busy with work and classes these past 5 or 6 years and that it has made it hard to see her more. Hopefully we can plan a weekend trip soon!

9. Visit my grandpa. This is my dad’s dad. I haven’t seen my grandfather in years. I don’t think I’ve seen him since I was about 5 or 6. Yes I know very sad. I also haven’t talked to him since my dad passed as well. It was very hard on him. I would like to either talk to him on the phone or visit him soon.

10. Have a BBQ. When we first moved into our house 3 years ago, we had the occasional party and BBQ, but it has been awhile. I’m ready for people to start coming over for fun again!

11. Go to the lake. As you remember (of course you remember, right?), I am TERRIFIED of water that I cannot see through. A lot of you also told me that you have this fear, so no one can make fun of me (even though my friends make fun of me all the time for this). However, I do want to go!

12. Find a place to cliff jump. The boy’s aunt and uncle have a huge lake with a big cliff that the family always goes to to jump off. I’ve never been though, I would love to go! Or there are also a couple of other places we could go to.

13. Paddleboat. I like the thought of paddleboating, but I always end up regretting it when I’m there. I tend to always wear a dress by accident (and that makes this impossible unless you want to show everyone everything you have). It’s pretty cheap where I live. At Forest Park you can do this for around $15 to $20 an hour and it’s super pretty.

14. Swim as much as I can. I wish I had a pool, this would make it easier. Thankfully my friends have either pools in their backyards or in their subdivisions. Maybe I should start saving for a pool? Ha that won’t happen for awhile…

16. Graduate! I received my graduation papers in the mail the other day. I’m super excited! I don’t think I could talk about this anymore on my blog, could I?

17. Skydive. I’ve been putting this off for awhile. Finally the boy’s friend and I have a day planned for the end of June. So, as long as I don’t come back extremely poor from Vegas, then this is a GO!

18. Go on a road trip. And just drive! Yes I don’t have too many vacation days left, but it’s still possible 🙂

19. Go to a carnival. I haven’t been to one in FOREVER. I wish they would post more signs so that I would know when they come.

20. Have fun! This one is the most important of course.

What’s on your summer bucket list?

Saving While on Vacations

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Kauai

Many people are going on vacation this weekend for Memorial Day, and many people are also planning a summer vacation, so I made a vacation savings post for today (and also to enter the Budgets are Sexy contest)! I also love talking about vacations and dreaming about them, so of course that’s another reason.

I’ve been thinking about vacations a lot lately. Who doesn’t? I would love to travel everyday for the rest of my life, but of course that’s not very realistic (at least not at the age of 23!).

We spent a lot of money on our last vacation, that is a fact. However, we saved money in many ways on this vacation as well. This vacation could have easily cost around $5,000, but we spent much less due to me looking for deals.

Our greatest savings was with our airfare. It’s nice that I’m able to travel for nearly free (and sit in first class nearly every time) because of my dad’s retirement benefits. I know not everyone can do this so I won’t go too in depth on this. [Read more…]

More Kauai Pictures

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What I’m Lovin’

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Waimea Canyon. Super pretty!

Short post today (unless I think of something interesting later) because I’m off and I’m starting my weekend early. Maybe I’ll surprise the heck out of you all later and post something exciting.

I’m off today and have a 3 day weekend. Excited! I have a lot planned and a lot of homework. Not looking forward to that. I have 16 pages to write for one paper and around 5 or 6 for another. Hopefully I can finish both of those today or tomorrow. Doubt that will happen though.

I’m also hoping to sell some clothes today also. I doubt I’ll sell that much but I want to at least try and get rid of stuff. My goal for today? 15 items. Wish me luck!

Blog posts and blogs I love:

Newlyweds on a Budget talks about how she wants to blog for fun. A lot of bloggers saw their PR decrease last month, which caused lots of them to realize that text links, etc, is not a stable source of income. Blogging for fun is good. I blog for fun. Yes, while I do make a little extra money from my blog, I talk about my life and the things that are in my life.
Frugal Portland blogs about why she’s happy renting. Where I live, it’s better to buy, but of course in different areas and different people are happier with other things. I think if I lived anywhere else, I’d probably rent.
Over at Serendipity’s Guide to Saving, she posted about how people think she must have a ton of money. I’ve been told this before to, and it lead to people taking advantage of me. Not good!
Frugal and Thankful talks about ways to save money on clothes. Me and my friends talked about having a clothing swap. We borrow each others’ clothes a lot, but we have never actually had a swap. We need to do this though. We’re all the same size and always love each others’ clothes more.

Our Kauai Vacation Recap – Costs and Pictures

Last Updated: August 27, 2013 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Were you expecting pictures of me? HA! Of course I include mysterious pictures of my boyfriend but none of me. Sorry guys. I guess you’ll just have to follow me on Pinterest to see what I look like.

Here’s a short recap. I still have a TON more pictures (I took around 400 altogether) and I’ll put more up over the weekend. I’m sure everyone is getting sick and tired of my vacation posts anyways.

We did a lot of “adventurous” type things. At least it was adventurous to me. We looked for “secret” places, places to cliff dive and pretty beaches. It was a lot of fun. The cliff on top is Shipwrecks Beach, and he jumped off of it. I was way too terrified.

Everyone was super nice in Kauai, it was great! The locals always gave us good tips on which restaurants to go to and where the best beaches are.

The power went out on the whole island for a couple of hours. And that was interesting. We drove around everywhere but it was out everywhere.

Hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Kauai Resort. The hotel was very nice. I loved it. The pool wasn’t HUGE like at other resorts, but it was nice. The bartenders were nice and the location was great! It was definitely on the more expensive side of the island, which kind of stunk because we had to go for quite a drive in order to get food within our budget.

Total for the hotel: $750

Our flight. Our airfare was cheap (practically free) and we flew first class nearly the entire time (we had to fly coach on our connecting flight to Kauai from LAX) but first class on 3 other flights is of course GREAT!

Rental Car. We spent more on our rental car than I wanted to. Our original quote was around $250, but once we got to Kauai, we decided that we wanted to rent a Jeep instead. Well the Jeep was $600 with everything included (including insurance).

We weren’t going to get insurance on the smaller economy car, but with the Jeep, I was just a little afraid of it getting hit. I’ve had rental cars in the past and every single time they were hit while it was parked and I was inside a store and the person always drove away (I’ve been involved in over 16 hit and runs, I hate people by the way). Luckily I never had to pay (the person who hit my own car and thus forced me to get a rental car had to front all of these costs). But I do know that rental car companies do usually charge a “time out of use” fee on top of the repair costs for the car being unable to be rented out. And your own insurance usually does not cover this charge.

So for an extra $100, I got peace of mind for 6 days that our car can be smashed in. We also took it off-roading and drove the heck out of it. We added around 700 miles to it, so we definitely got good use out fit. I am ashamed of the amount we spent though. AH!

Total for the rental car: $600

Food/Miscellaneous. We ate a LOT. Food was pretty expensive on the island. We tried to eat at fast food places for breakfast on some days, but that didn’t help much since the drive to a fast food place was usually quite a distance.

We spent around $400 altogether on food. We saved a lot on alcohol by buying lots of 12 packs at the grocery store. Our fridge was packed full of them the entire time.

We ended up buying another suitcase while we were there so that we could check a bag full of things that we wanted to bring home. We bought a 12 pack of Hawaiian beer (yes a couple of bottles busted as well and that was horrible to clean), a Poipu blanket (that’s super soft!), some shirts, and gifts for friends. We spent around $200 on souvenirs when you add the suitcase, souvenirs, etc altogether.

Total for food/miscellaneous: $600

Total ACTUAL cost for the vacation:

$1,950

This was definitely our most expensive vacation yet. And it’s still a little hard for me not to beat myself up over the costs, but in the end, I had a GREAT time. It was nice to get away for a week and just relax.

So what do you think? Did I spend too much? Where do you try and save while on vacation (car, hotel, food, etc)?

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