Dave Ramseying to Disney!Some final thoughts 8/18

[999ghostslover]

LL,
Maybe your trip can be like one last hurrah before you get serious about debt-repayment. We are doing the online course and it is great. Without fail we sit down on Saturday nights and do our lesson and then look over our budget, talk about future plans etc. Last week we did the lesson on insurance and realized we really needed to increase our insurance and so we did. When Dave talks it makes sense. Usually money stuff goes in one ear and out the other with me--my sister is a VP at a large bank in America and I can't balance a checkbook!
It is the best gift you can give your kids. I grew up on a house where we did not dare discuss money. My parents controlled it and never really explained credit cards and stuff. Well, I went hogwild in college and had to work really hard to pay that off in my 20s. Now in my 30s I need a plan to retire with, pay for college, and to know that if my husband were disabled we could continue to live.

 

[Lady Lallie]

LL,
Maybe your trip can be like one last hurrah before you get serious about debt-repayment. We are doing the online course and it is great. Without fail we sit down on Saturday nights and do our lesson and then look over our budget, talk about future plans etc. Last week we did the lesson on insurance and realized we really needed to increase our insurance and so we did. When Dave talks it makes sense. Usually money stuff goes in one ear and out the other with me--my sister is a VP at a large bank in America and I can't balance a checkbook!
It is the best gift you can give your kids. I grew up on a house where we did not dare discuss money. My parents controlled it and never really explained credit cards and stuff. Well, I went hogwild in college and had to work really hard to pay that off in my 20s. Now in my 30s I need a plan to retire with, pay for college, and to know that if my husband were disabled we could continue to live.

That all totally makes sense. We have a lot of things coming up that we want to do, Move to Maine, change careers, have a baby and we really need to get serious about money. I'm going to check out Dave Ramsey for sure to see what he is all about.

 

[999ghostslover]

It has been a few days and I am have been very busy. May always needs one more weekend in it. Don't you agree? Well, we had my mom in town for the weekend. Abby had her big dance recital. Three years of dance. She did great and looked beautiful of course. I got to be the backstage mom which was okay. Some of those girls were so hyper and nightmarish! And being the backstage mom means that I don't get to watch the whole show, just Abby's dance from the wings. But I got to see how the show works. It is a very big deal and at our big civic center. Here are some pics. I don't have any of her on stage.

We also have our big family trip coming up in a few days. We will be driving to Front Royal, VA from AL on Thursday and staying in a hotel overnight. On Friday we will continue on to Rehobeth Beach, DE to spend 2 nights with my family as we celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. On Sunday we will travel on to Easton, MA (right outside of Boston) to spend a week with my DH's family. We will get to go to the Boston Aquarium and take a duck tour in Boston (I have always wanted to do that) and maybe a whale watch. It may be too long of a day trip away from the baby so we have to see. My next post will cover this trip's budget and some money-saving ways to really enjoy yourself on a family vacation.

 

[Lady Lallie]

You are going to be right up near me!! I live in Massachusetts. I have never been on a duck tour but it looks like so much fun.

You have yourself a cute little dancer!

 

[999ghostslover]

where in Massachussetts do you live? I can't believe you haven't done a duck tour. They look so much fun. I would suggest a Dis meet but we will be there only weeknights and I know you have school.

 

[Lady Lallie]

where in Massachussetts do you live? I can't believe you haven't done a duck tour. They look so much fun. I would suggest a Dis meet but we will be there only weeknights and I know you have school.

That stinks you'll only be here on weeknights. I live out near Natick, so not far from Boston at all.

I actually don't like going into Boston all that much. City life doesn't do it for me so I rarely go in. Mostly for shows and stuff but I haven't done that for a couple of years now.

 

[moparop]

Hi! I am joining in! I am also a SAHM to 3 and am planning our first family of 5 trip to Disney. While we are not following Dave, after the birth of our third child we had a long hard look at our life and realized we did not like the path we were going down. We have tightened our bootstraps and strategically planned for our next trip - CR in November!

I can't wait to read more from you guys!

 

[999ghostslover]

Hi! I am joining in! I am also a SAHM to 3 and am planning our first family of 5 trip to Disney. While we are not following Dave, after the birth of our third child we had a long hard look at our life and realized we did not like the path we were going down. We have tightened our bootstraps and strategically planned for our next trip - CR in November!

I can't wait to read more from you guys!

Welcome! You PTR sounds really intriguing. Thanks for joining. Your kids are so cute. With their red hair they look like they could be mine! But I only have 1 redhead. Don't know how the other two turned out blond.

 

[999ghostslover]

LL-Yeah, we are leaving Mass on Friday to start driving. We are toying with the idea of stopping at Hershey, PA. We went there when I was a kid and it is pretty neat. But we may just keep going and do the drive home in two days. We'll see. My DH worked in Natick on base one summer during college.

 

[moparop]

Welcome! You PTR sounds really intriguing. Thanks for joining. Your kids are so cute. With their red hair they look like they could be mine! But I only have 1 redhead. Don't know how the other two turned out blond.

Thanks for the comments on my kiddos. Yours are darling too! I am both looking forward to and freaking out about taking a family of 5 to Disney this time, how about you? You've got the road trip coming up this weekend, how do the kids travel?

Oh and I see your WISH ticker, way to go!!! Are you following a program/specific diet, or just being more careful with your choices? Either way, keep up the great work!

 

[999ghostslover]

I am following WW. I love it. I think it is the best plan when you have to cook for others. My DH has lost 45 and at his goal weight. Jerk. Just kidding. Doing Dave Ramsey has helped with the weight stuff too though b/c we are eating out a lot less and really a lot of it is impulse control and not living like a child who wants an ice cream and gets an ice cream. I say no to my kids all day and now I just say no to myself a lot too.

 

[999ghostslover]

We are back from our great trek up north. It was a drama-filled grueling tip BUT it was still fun and totally worth it. And the next time we get in the car for a really really long drive we will be Disney bound. How cool is that? So here is a little mini-TR of our trip to Massachusetts:
Here is what was supposed to happen.
We were to drive to Front Royal, VA on Thursday. Check out in the AM and drive to the Rehoboth Beach area of DE for a big family reunion/grandmother's 80th birthday celebration. Spend a couple of days there and then drive to Easton, MA to spend time with the in-laws and then drive home in two days stopping in VA on the way home.
What really happened.
House before we got in the car my grandmother had a stroke. She is doing great and we are BLESSED that she will recover fully but the timing was terrible. My aunt and my parents worked so hard planning this weekend. My parents rented a big beach house for themselves, my 5, my sister and her husband and my brother and his fiancée. They lost $1700. My aunt had prepared tons and tons of food for everyone and a lot went to waste. I am still really sad that we did not get to have our big family party but I am thankful that my grandmother will be okay. She lives alone and thank God this happened when my uncle was there. He had driven up to NJ to pick her up for the party. So maybe the timing was perfect. So with only a couple of hours notice our plans changed pretty drastically. We decided to wait a day to leave which was great b/c I would have been up until 3am packing for 5. My husband stayed home that day and Abby was able to go to her last day of pre-K and Brady was able to go to his last day of MMO. It was much less stressful. We left Friday made it to VA with the hope that the next day we would go to NJ and see my grandmother in the hospital. Well, we sat in 2 hours of standstill traffic in TN and did not get to our hotel until close to 10 pm. We could tell the kids were coming down with colds so we skipped NJ and drove though Manhattan as we continued our trek north. We got to see all of the great sites and it was really fun. My brave county-road driving husband drove our minivan though midtown Manhattan like a pro. I think Abby will still tell you her favorite part of the trip was seeing real Yellow cabs in NYC. A quick call to my travel agent (my dad ) and we were booked to stay in Groton, CT that night. The drive went great that day. We were there in time to get in a swim at the hotel. The next day’s drive was less than 2 hours to the in-laws.
The kids were such troopers in the car. They did great especially for getting sick. They were coughing runny-nosed messes by the time we got to Massachusetts but they were still all in great spirits. And bonus I can now recite all the words to Pixar's Cars from start to finish because I "listened" to it no less than 10 times this trip.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm sorry about your grandmother but so happy to hear that she will recover.

 

[moparop]

I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother and the lost vacation. That would toally bum me out too. I can't imagine having to do the drive with sick kids too. ICK! I hope the kids are 100% now!

 

[999ghostslover]

I'm sorry about your grandmother but so happy to hear that she will recover.

I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother and the lost vacation. That would totally bum me out too. I can't imagine having to do the drive with sick kids too. ICK! I hope the kids are 100% now!

Thank you so much. That lady has got 9 lives I tell you. She had a massive brain aneurysm about 7 years ago and the doctors told us there was almost no hope of full-recovery and that we needed to find a home for her to live in a vegetative state. Well, she was having none of that. She woke up from her coma a few days later and was back to 100% within a couple of weeks. And took us all to Italy to celebrate a year later. We love our Mema!!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Hi there! Saw your title, and I had to join in! My husband and I are big Dave Ramsey fans. We discovered him right after we got married in 97. We had just moved to Nashville and heard him on the radio. What a big impact its had on our lives!

We decided to stay at Pop last year, after doing the moderates for a few years. It was a last minute trip (well, planned two months in advance instead of 12), so we didn't have as long to save. I was pretty set on the Wilderness Lodge, but my husband asked me what Dave would do, and well, I think Dave would have liked paying cash for Pop much more than having to pay off a credit card balance for a few months to stay at WL. We did like Pop, but not anymore than the Allstars. We stayed at Movies on our first trip in 2005. Honestly, I felt that the bus service at Pop left something to be desired. Always really long lines. I stood more on the buses that trip than any other. Would I stay there again? Yes, if Dave told me too I'm actually really looking forward to staying at the new value resort in 2012 when it opens!

Glad you came to a decision about using / not using a TA. My advice would have been biased, since I am a TA I am curious what discounts you have been told about for that time frame next year - since package prices haven't been released for anything later than January yet

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

They say everything happens for a reason, if the trip was never booked she might of been alone. I am glad to hear she is doing okay. My soon to be MIL had a stroke on June 20th last year and oh most didnt make it. She is slowly getting better

I am glad your grandma is doing ok

 

[999ghostslover]

Glad you came to a decision about using / not using a TA. My advice would have been biased, since I am a TA I am curious what discounts you have been told about for that time frame next year - since package prices haven't been released for anything later than January yet

Hello Fellow Dave Fan! I love it...WWDD? What would Dave do? Definitely a value, that's for. I am also really excited about the new value hotel. We will for sure take advantage of that in the future with 3 kids! It turns out the discounts wee for a different date than we wanted. She was confused and apologized a million times. When she called and told me she would email me a quote I was so excited but when I received it I saw it was for a different time period. Oh well. She answered a lot of questions and when the time comes I think she will work out great. There is the possibility that we end up doing Swan or Dolphin as I can get a good discount as a nurse and my dad has tons and tons of Westin points so if they end up coming that is what we will do.

They say everything happens for a reason, if the trip was never booked she might of been alone. I am glad to hear she is doing okay. My soon to be MIL had a stroke on June 20th last year and oh most didnt make it. She is slowly getting better

I am glad your grandma is doing ok

Thank you. Yes, it was a mild stroke. Now we are trying to convince her to get one of those life alert necklaces with the button you press but she is having none of that. I remind myself that her stubbornness is why she has recovered so well from two scary things but sometimes she is too much! i'm glad that your F MIL is recovering. I'm sure seeing you get married is very important to her!

 

[Disneychix]

Sorry to hear about your Grandma but I'm happy that she will be ok. My Grandma does wear one of those life-alerts. She wears the bracelet (it's like a watch) as she didn't like the necklace.

Sounds like a nice trip otherwise. Glad you got to go through the city. My DS would've loved seeing all the cabs too!

 

[999ghostslover]

It seems like she is coming around to the watch/bracelet idea. I have a feeling she will wear it awhile nad then it will go in a drawer. She is so fiercely independent. But I probably will be too.