She might be able to go for a year while she gets the money together for the furnace but during that time she does take a deluxe trip, puts in on a CC and still does not have the money for the furnace. That is not how many of us got to a point we can prepay for our vacations.
I would never take a deluxe WDW vacation, that we all know cost thousands, when I needed a new heater. Was her plan to hope we had a warm winter?
That vacation could have paid for 50% or more of that furnace.
She asks how many of us do it, well THIS is NOT how we do it.
Funny thing is she completely ignored my first post. I told her I never look for what I cannot afford. I guess she does not want to hear that but wants to know that we think she should just go again, damn that furnace.
It's errand day, but I'm at the library and I have to respond before this gets out of hand, people get nasty and my thread gets shut down...
First, the furnace...when the guy came out to inspect the a/c, he said that the pilot light was dancing on the furnace, which indicated a cracked heat exchanger, which would have a CO2 leak, which would be dangerous. We haven't had the furnace itself checked yet. We live in the Houston area, moved here from Kansas and Colorado, and so we don't really miss the furnace. We don't need it. As an air handler (running the a/c, it works fine). The deal is that we may or may not be selling our house in the near or not so near future based on my husband's work (remember the 120+ mile commute) and so what we would spend on a furnace, features we would look for, efficiency level, etc, would vary greatly based on whether or not I was buying the furnace for the future owner or for myself. Since I don't have enough info to make an informed decision on who will ultimately benefit from the furnace, I haven't bought one. The furnace is in a hallway in the middle of the upstairs. It's loud. If we were to be the ones benefitting, I would put more work into the whole project to help sound proof the furnace closet so that we could have a quieter climate control system in the house. We ran the fireplace. We dressed for the weather. We slept like the dead in a beautifully cool house with the weight of glorious blankets that we actually appreciated covering us and we had the best nasal conditions in the winter than we had in years all thanks to being forced to make alternative decisions in keeping more COMFORTABLE during what some call winter in Houston. I never said I didn't have the money for a furnace. I said that because of situations like the furnace, there aren't funds for another Disney vacation.
That said.
Also. I budgeted money for our last trip. There's the pay off plan from the booking date through the time of same as cash financing offered through the Disney card. And yay for Disney Reward dollars and the 4/3 deal. The pay off is in December. Then we'll be done.
Meanwhile. It isn't paid off and I am dreaming of a Disney vacation. Whoever talked about the planning being a big part of it was right on. It's a major part of the whole vacation for me.
But I know that we can't afford it. Old habits would just have me slapping the thing on a cc and dealing with the consequences later.
However. The plan is to at least not INCREASE debt as we do our best to pay it off while still maintaining a 21 year old house and getting it ready for market, whenever the market may be do-able considering our mortgage, real estate commissions, etc, and also trying to budget in aspects of life (soccer teams for DS, etc).
So I can't budget in Disney next year.
I'm not good with planning other events. But I figured that the Dis had plenty of people who were like me (not able to go to Disney) and also living on a budget, and I wondered what in the world they do to satisfy themselves so that they don't just slap a big ole Dis trip on their cc.
I never said I wanted to hear permission from anyone to go on another trip.
And I read what you said about not looking at what you can't afford. I agree. It's why my cars are paid for a 2001 truck and a 2006 car. Why my tv is over 8 years old, the VCR/DVD combo is even older. I don't have cable or satelite. I'm wearing clothes that I've worn for years. I don't window shop. I only go shopping when I have to buy something. Disney is a weakness, I admit, and so I'm just asking for some help in ideas for overcoming, because I am struggling on my own. Don't look. Good advice. Not to easy to do for me. Still would appreciate more ideas than that.
I'd like to respond to some posts individually, because I have appreciated the ideas in them, but as I said, I'm doing errands and it's time to move on from the library...