Stuck in our starter home......WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

[DisMom1981]

Just wondering if anyone is planning their trip in vain of the awful economy? I love Disney, but this coming trip (April 2013) and the last one (DCL, summer 2012) were both not going to happen because we were 'selling our starter house' and needed every last dime since we are so underwater. Our house didn't sell, and the sale prices are so low beyond what we owe that it didn't seem to matter anymore so I finally said- we can afford to vacation- we are vacationing!!!!

Just curious - anyone else planning in vain of the economy????

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm not sure what you mean by "in vain of the economy." Did you mean to say something like, "despite the state of the economy?"

Not everyone is struggling!

Personally, I think it is financially irresponsible to spend money you don't have on a completely nonessential thing like an expensive vacation. This type of poor decision making is what can get people into financial difficulties. So to answer your question, no, if I were in a situation like yours, I would not be taking a vacation to WDW.

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by lost*in*cyberspace

I'm not sure what you mean by "in vain of the economy." Did you mean to say something like, "despite the state of the economy?"

Not everyone is struggling!

Personally, I think it is financially irresponsible to spend money you don't have on a completely nonessential thing like an expensive vacation. This type of poor decision making is what can get people into financial difficulties. So to answer your question, no, if I were in a situation like yours, I would not be taking a vacation to WDW.

Woops. Sorry to give the wrong impression. We are working and paying all of our bills and always have. Our home is not worth what it was worth when we bought it 5 years ago, so we can't sell it. I'm not sure if the market will come back enough to help us anytime soon- so, we choose not to miss out on vacation....again....that we pay for, in full along with all of our other bills. Thought there might be someone who can relate. Apparently not.

[Elleshoodat]

Originally Posted by DisMom1981

Just wondering if anyone is planning their trip in vain of the awful economy? I love Disney, but this coming trip (April 2013) and the last one (DCL, summer 2012) were both not going to happen because we were 'selling our starter house' and needed every last dime since we are so underwater. Our house didn't sell, and the sale prices are so low beyond what we owe that it didn't seem to matter anymore so I finally said- we can afford to vacation- we are vacationing!!!!

Just curious - anyone else planning in vain of the economy????

We are "stuck" in our starter home, too, but recently were able to refinance, which gave us even more money to save.

Yes, we save ... and we pay all of our bills on time ... and we take vacations.

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by Elleshoodat

We are "stuck" in our starter home, too, but recently were able to refinance, which gave us even more money to save.

Yes, we save ... and we pay all of our bills on time ... and we take vacations.

Thank you! PP made me scramble looking for delete thread options. Did not mean to give the wrong impression or start a war. Dumb post. My bad!!!

[marmalade]

Originally Posted by DisMom1981

Thank you! PP made me scramble looking for delete thread options. Did not mean to give the wrong impression or start a war. Dumb post. My bad!!!

Don't let one post bring you down. No matter what you say, there will always be people who don't agree with you. Some people are perfect and do everything perfectly, so don't let the negative posts bother you.

Enjoy your trip!

[Sugar Jones]

I wish we were still in our starter home! I guess technically we are since we chose to renovate instead of move. If we hadn't renovated we would have the house paid for. Don't get me wrong I love my new kitchen and the extra room, but some days I wish we had held off a few more years

So enjoy your home and your vacations

[kck182]

Yep we can relate. I totally get where you are coming from and it is not worth it to me to move right now. We figure we will be here a few more years and then I will have finished graduate school and will be looking for a different job. We will move then. Until then we split the difference between our extra income with paying extra principal on our mortgage and going on vacation. And we pay cash too.

Have fun!

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by Sugar Jones

I wish we were still in our starter home! I guess technically we are since we chose to renovate instead of move. If we hadn't renovated we would have the house paid for. Don't get me wrong I love my new kitchen and the extra room, but some days I wish we had held off a few more years

So enjoy your home and your vacations

I hear you . We have considered renovating but that would be in place of moving and we aren't ready to make that decision yet! Thanks for the post.

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by kck182

Yep we can relate. I totally get where you are coming from and it is not worth it to me to move right now. We figure we will be here a few more years and then I will have finished graduate school and will be looking for a different job. We will move then. Until then we split the difference between our extra income with paying extra principal on our mortgage and going on vacation. And we pay cash too.

Have fun!

Yes! I go back and forth. One day I am ok with waiting.....the next day I'm ready to sell everything we own and completely stop spending all money to move on. It is crazy!! We've worked so hard so I know it will all work out eventually! It could be so much worse. Good luck to you.

[DisMom1981]

Originally Posted by marmalade

Some people are perfect and do everything perfectly, so don't let the negative posts bother you.

Enjoy your trip!

Ha! Thank you!

[mm1971]

Originally Posted by DisMom1981

Just wondering if anyone is planning their trip in vain of the awful economy? I love Disney, but this coming trip (April 2013) and the last one (DCL, summer 2012) were both not going to happen because we were 'selling our starter house' and needed every last dime since we are so underwater. Our house didn't sell, and the sale prices are so low beyond what we owe that it didn't seem to matter anymore so I finally said- we can afford to vacation- we are vacationing!!!!

Just curious - anyone else planning in vain of the economy????

I guess I would have questions before giving a full opinion. Is your starter home sufficient for your needs or is there a reason you need to move? Kind of a want vs. needs thing. I can say that we are in our second house, but it is smaller and less extravangant than a lot in our community. We have discussed moving and what we would "like", but we always seem to get back to "our home meets our needs, and even a little more". So, we end up staying. We vacation, own a boat and use the extra money that would be spent on a higher mortgage to enrich our lives in other ways.

My opinion based on your original information is take the vacation and enjoy your time together. A house is a possession, time spent with loved ones is so much more important. FWIW

[blueferral]

I wanted to sell our starter home and move to Orlando. Get a job in the first aid center at MK. My wife said "NO!!!!!!!!!!". So we are staying in the house. She did let my buy into DVC though.

If you can pay your bills, fully fund that 401k or what ever your using, save some for the kids college and you are not eating Ramen every night DO IT, go on vacation, have fun, you actually deserve to have some fun. (wow that's a long run on, almost a sentence)

[Deffenm]

I understand where you are coming from. We thought about stopping all vacations and putting money into fixing up house to sell and increase savings so we could sell ours and move into something larger. We have a 3 bedroom home and there are 5 of us. It is small. Our oldest son sleeps in a partially finished basement and I don't really like it (he on the other hand loves it). We thought a while about it and made the decision to stay where we are based on the fact that houses are selling for around what we owe so we would just break even, our oldest is already 13 and will be moving out in 5 short years. Our house will be paid for in 10 years.

So we are staying put and I took the kids to WDW in April for Spring Break and DH and I did a cruise to Canada, just the two of us. We pay all of our bills on time, have money in savings, and have a house that will be paid for by the time I am 45. I do not feel guilty taking my vacations.

[garjanjones]

In your boat!! We are in our starter house (but we plan on staying forever, until we inherit a bigger house and rent this one - I'm an only child and my parents have a huge house...no use to move a lot)...but we have definately put off big items, like a pool, pool house, etc. in order to take vacations, and I am very satisfied with those decisions. Sometimes I feel like the walls could close in on me, but I look at our family vacation pics and realize that they don't stay young forever. Those moments can't be put off!