I'm Frugal Husband is SPENDER

[nmanning19]

So I have been planning our trip to Disney (3 of us) and have spent lots of time finding low price airfare, offsite condo and rental car. I was talking with husband last night about what we are going to do about food for the vacation. He said, just make some reservations at some of our favorite places (we went 3 years ago) and also said we will probably spend $1,000 on food!!!! I almost choked on that. Here I am trying to find us ways to save and getting a condo so we will have a refrigerator and stove to cook and he wants to spend all kinds of money on food. We have different eating habits, he likes a full meal for lunch and dinner and I would be happy with a salad and pretzel for lunch and something small for dinner. Help me with this situation!!!

 

[worm761]

Honestly? It is his vacation too. It is called compromise. Do breakfasts at the condo and lunch and dinner at Disney. If it will make you feel better, check out onsite prices with the dining plans so you don't have to look at prices. It might come out to about the same. You might be happy with a salad for lunch but obviously, he is not. You can still order your salad at a table service restaurant and he can get his full meal.

 

[rn4val]

I think since you are opposites you are going to have to sit down together before you go and decide about each meal. Make a plan and compromise. Eat out some and then cook in some. If you don't decide before you go one or both of you are going to get mad during your vacation. I am the more frugal one too but you should enjoy a few nice meals but that means being more careful on others.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Maybe you two could work out a compromise that you eat out for half the vacation and have meals at the condo for the other half? Spending a boatload of money of food also freaks me out but at Disney we get the dining plan so having it pre-paid makes me feel more relaxed about going out to eat. Good luck and let us know what you work out.

 

[juliebean]

I would definately try to do breakfast in - call this your victory and compromise by eating lunch and dinner according to his needs. My husband and I fall along the same lines, and it will drive you or him nutty if you try to make him eat according to how you want or if you have a running total as he orders. We are doing the dining plan and I'm bringing the tips in an envelope so it doesn't drive me crazy this time. Good luck!

PS - It really adds up to buy everything you need to cook a couple of good meals...our condo had NOTHING, so even something simple like hotdogs involved buying ketchup & mustard. Toast - butter, pb and jelly...you get the idea. I have to admit it was not as much savings for us to make lunch and a couple of dinners at the condo as I had hoped...

 

[4luv2cdisney]

If paying for food OOP I'd suggest:

breakfast in the room
lunch at a sit down restaurant (cheaper at lunch)
let him eat at counter service for dinner, you can have a snack if needed

I think you can do that for less than 1K for 3 people. Especially if 1 is a child.


Or I would seriously consider onsite with dining plan, no rental car. Depending on how good a deal the condo and rental car are, you may save $. You could still have breakfast in the room (buy cereal and milk), CS lunch and TS dinner. Or sometimes we use our counter service for a big breakfast, a snack credit for some fruit midday, and have a TS dinner. You could also use the snack credits for small "meals" for yourself and let your DH have 3 meals a day by using your CS credits to balance out your different eating habits.

 

[mdsoccermom]

Honestly? It is his vacation too. It is called compromise. Do breakfasts at the condo and lunch and dinner at Disney. If it will make you feel better, check out onsite prices with the dining plans so you don't have to look at prices. It might come out to about the same. You might be happy with a salad for lunch but obviously, he is not. You can still order your salad at a table service restaurant and he can get his full meal.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Frankly, I think eating out is one of the joys of vacation.

I hope the OP wasn't planning to schlep back to the condo for every meal.

 

[livie1205]

If I told my dh we were going to cook everyday on vacation he would stay home!This is his vacation also,let him eat out if he likes..I dont know about anyone else but I dont want to cook on vacation...maybe you should check out a value wdw resort with the ddp.If its paid for ahead of time you wont think of the cost every night.

 

[Marionnette]

So I have been planning our trip to Disney (3 of us) and have spent lots of time finding low price airfare, offsite condo and rental car. I was talking with husband last night about what we are going to do about food for the vacation. He said, just make some reservations at some of our favorite places (we went 3 years ago) and also said we will probably spend $1,000 on food!!!! I almost choked on that. Here I am trying to find us ways to save and getting a condo so we will have a refrigerator and stove to cook and he wants to spend all kinds of money on food. We have different eating habits, he likes a full meal for lunch and dinner and I would be happy with a salad and pretzel for lunch and something small for dinner. Help me with this situation!!!

I'm all about cooking meals when we vacation at the beach. But Disney is another story. I can see doing a quick breakfast before heading to the parks and maybe doing one or two dinners. But those dinners wouldn't be anything elaborate and they would be on a non-park day. I say continue to find ways to trim costs in other areas but let your husband enjoy eating out while he's on vacation.

 

[lisaross]

I can understand ur point BUT its ur husbands vacation too. I would suggest definitly eating breakfast in the room and perhaps lunch someplace nice - let ur husband pick and dinner u can switch - sometimes back in the room as u might be in early anyway tired from the day or counter service -

Enjoy!

 

[Acklander]

I'm not big on cooking while on vacation, though we usually go the condo route for space/kitchen. At Disney we usually do breakfast at the condo, a late lunch at a sit down restaurant in the parks and dinner being a mixture of both - sometimes back to the condo for beer & pizza or Chinese food, sometimes at the parks for quick service. Or, if we're eating at one of the hotels (i.e. Buma or Ohana's) then we'll do the quick service during lunch time.

In our family I'm the scrounge for savings, and dh is the spender. He's there to make sure we have a good time and get to enjoy the moment, I'm there to make sure we're not eating cat food when we retire. We compliment each other.

 

[ilovejack02]

Help you with this situation ? Don't give the man a hard time about wanting to eat out on his vacation . : )

Eat breakfast in the condo , lunch in parks and combo dinner at condo and out.

 

[Nicolepa]

My husband's motto is "You don't go on vacation to save money." Man I love that guy.

That being said we obviously try to save on airfare. We are DVC and always have a full kitchen. We always eat breakfast in the room. We tried cooking dinner in the room one trip. My husband said never again. First, by the time we bought everything we needed it was expensive. You know having to buy a whole jar of something you will only use 1/4 of etc. Second having to schlep back to the room (can't imagine an offsite condo) and take the time to prepare the meal. I didn't mind too much because I had two small children that needed to nap, but I will say it's much more enjoyable not having to cook, clean up etc.

 

[Promomx2]

I can totally understand your frustration. I, too spend lots of time researching and getting the cheapest airfare, condo and then dh and ds want to blow $$$$ on a meal. I've learned to sit them down during the planning stages and explain that I've allotted a certain amount for food so we can do all these extra things. And then as a added incentive I explain the less we spend on food the more they get to spend at the arcade.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I agree that you should compromise.. Frugal is fine, but some people cross over into being cheap. When you're old someday, you're not going to regret not clipping enough coupons. Family memories are what you'll cherish. You can't take money with you when you die. My goal is to have money for retirement, enough to bury me. Then I'll die broke.

 

[mikehn]

I dont see anything wrong with the situation. Nothing wrong with doing both. Be frugal on some things and splurge on other things.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Maybe the real question you and your DH need to answer first is "what can we afford"?

If it is really a difference of opinion and not a real money issue - compromise with some meals in some out.

If the real discussion is we can only go if we eat in / or if we eat all these meals out we will come home with debt -then be sure everyone knows the real picture before you book the trip.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I'm there to make sure we're not eating cat food when we retire. .

tag fairy!!!