Would you stay in debt over a Disney Trip?

[jenwimett]

I recently ran into a friend of mine who is a mother of 2. She was casually talking about how her house will be paid off in 4 years. I said she was really lucky to be able to do that! She then got this sad look in her eyes and said "Yes, I am lucky, but at what cost?"

She began to explain that I was the lucky one to be able to take my son on vacations every year, and do a lot of weekend trips with him. This is something she has not been able to do with her children because they stretch every penny. The good news is they will have no debt by the time their son is 10 bad news is they never do anything.

This conversation made me realize, Yes I do have a mortgage and I do have some debt but I have many memories of special moments in our lives and he is only six. I have never charged my vacations and always save up the money to make sure they are paid in full. I think I would keep my mortgage and debt knowing that I am spending the best years of my life experiencing them with my child while I can. Before I know it he will be 20 and out of the nest!

What would you do debt free or Disney?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I know someone like that. I personally would rather vacation. As my Dad always say- "You can't take it with you." I want my kids to have every experience possible. Disney is our special place. We don't go into hock over it and we pay cash. I agree that the kids are only young once.

 

[ilovejack02]

I have a friend that is almost completely debt free. They have got about a yr left on a 15 yr mortgage paying it off 5 yrs early and her cars are paid for and saving TONS of money which is GREAT, but they dont take trips, she very rarely gets new clothes etc and her DH is very anal about where every dime gets spent. Makes for a not so fun life she says. It would be great she thinks if they could go on a trip with out her hubby being freaked out because he couldnt pay triple on the house note. I would never ever finance a vacation. If we dont have the cash for it, it wont go a credit card, thats just silly. BUT im not going to not go on trips ever just because im trying to get the house paid off or i want to make double payments on the car every month.

 

[Barbers2005]

As far as dh and I are concerned, there's debt and then there's debt. We don't sweat debt that's an investment, like student loans, mortgage or car payment. We do pay more on them when we can, but we don't kill ourselves trying to pay them off early. However, we don't carry any other sources of debt, like credit cards or medical bills. If we owed those kinds of debt we would pay them before we took a vacation.

 

[CowboyCO]

I think you have to find balance. Could I pay off my mortgage in 10 years if we did nothing? Yes!

Would I want to deprive myself and my family the occasional joy of DisneyWorld, Yellowstone, camping, etc.? No.

I think putting debt 100% ahead of childhood experiences is the same as putting work ahead of family. My family rowing up, my parents worked 6 -7 dyas a week on the family business and I don't remember taking a real family vacation, ever. We'd go camping late on Saturday and come back late Sunday (instead of going to church).

My house will be paid off by the time I retire, my retirement fund will be secure for what I have planned and my kids college will be mostly paid for (Hey-- they're gonna have to work a little and earn it!)


My greatest memories of vacations are reflected in the eyes of my children.

IMHO, pinching so tight you can never take vacations until your kids are older is all about YOU.

 

[2Pirates_1Princess]

Let's just say we could of paid off a credit card with the income tax return ,but decided instead to take the 3 kids to disney. The credit card will still be there, but in a couple of years the magic just won't be the same for my DS10. We are excited and have no regretts about our decision.

 

[NY Disney fan]

She was casually talking about how her house will be paid off in 4 years.

If I could have my mortgage paid off in 4 years you better believe I would skip every Disney trip from here to Kingdom Come. The quality of your family's memories come in other forms, not just in Disney form.

When he mortgage is paid off she could choose to pay for private high school and college for her children or ramp up her retirement as well as all those wonderful future Disney trips down the road.

 

[jenwimett]

If I could have my mortgage paid off in 4 years you better believe I would skip every Disney trip from here to Kingdom Come. The quality of your family's memories come in other forms, not just in Disney form.

When he mortgage is paid off she could choose to pay for private high school and college for her children or ramp up her retirement as well as all those wonderful future Disney trips down the road.

I think you might misunderstand what I am trying to say. I use Disney as an example because these are our most expensive trips. What I am saying is they do nothing at all. No small camping trips, No day at the movies or the local theme park, No birthday parties for their children (maybe a homemade cake at home, but nothing where friends would be invited). She appeared to be very sad about this.

Granted having bills paid off is a great thing! I can only imagine the possibilities. In fact DH and I are on a 4 year plan to have both cars paid off and any remaining debt so all we have is a mortgage. But this plan is not at the cost of allowing my family to do our summer camping trips, weekends at the water park, hockey for my son ($$$$). I spend almost $2000-$3000 a year just on DS's after school activities.

I guess I want to live through my sons memories. I never had what he had and although we do not spoil him with material things we do spend money on activities we do as a family.

Oh, I did leave out this part of the conversation with my friend. It all started because she wants to build a house. She explained she will have her $70,000 mortgage paid off in 4 years so she can plan to build a $300,000 house. Imagine being strapped to a $250,000 mortgage in an area where property taxes are sound $7000 year on a house that price! $2500 a month mortgage payment Isn't that one Disney trip for some? Isn't NY great!

 

[Atchley]

Using tax check to pay off credit card debt, then charging vacation on card. We still are charging less than what we are paying and eventually will be credit card debt free, but it is not worth missing vacations with my kids to be debt free. I am happy with my decision.
(When I was young we NEVER went on vacation. My Father had cancer 3 times as I was growing up-the first of which when he was 26--I was 5. My parents never had the money to take us which they hated and I always swore to myself that if I had the means, I would take my kids on vacations.)

 

[DeeDeeDis]

Cowboy I couldn't have say any of it better!!.

 

[NY Disney fan]

I
Oh, I did leave out this part of the conversation with my friend. It all started because she wants to build a house. She explained she will have her $70,000 mortgage paid off in 4 years so she can plan to build a $300,000 house. Imagine being strapped to a $250,000 mortgage in an area where property taxes are sound $7000 year on a house that price! $2500 a month mortgage payment Isn't that one Disney trip for some? Isn't NY great!

 

[Perditamarie]

I think it is also a quality of life issue...you could have all kinds of money in the bank, but if you never spend it, you might as well not have any. By focusing on remaining debt free, at the cost of all else, you will be poor. It's like that old saying, if you wait until you can afford kids, you never will have them. CowboyCo is right...it is about balancing obligations and practicality with a sense of fun and not missing the moment..especially a fleeting childhood.

 

[Forevryoung]

My parents were about $200,000 in debt when they had me (yea I typed that correctly).

Dad worked 7 days a week and mom stayed home with me because she couldn't find anyone to take care of me to make it worth it. They only had one car so that would have been an added expense as well (would have had to buy a second one for her to work).

I know we went on small family vacations and as my sister and I got older and Dad made more money and Mom started working again, we went on bigger and bigger ones. Nope, first disney trip wasn't till I was 8 (first airplane ride as well) but I remember it clearly.

My parents still have a large amount of debt (my dad's school loans were paid off when I was 11, I remember mom writing the last check and crying) but they have a house in a nice neighborhood on Long Island.

You have to find that balance- If you ask my parents, the trip to Hershey/Lancaster when I was 2 is one of their fondest memories (we still talk about it)- and they had absolutely no money at the time, they just needed to get away from life.

 

[Lauralee131]

Honey, I'm in debt BECAUSE of Disney!!!

Yep - we're in debt...not drowning, but not overly comfortable either, but I've got lots of photos and memories that we wouldn't otherwise have if we said we wouldn't do anything unless we could pay cash, or we thought it was too expensive, etc...

Heck - we wouldn't even have our DS if that was the case...and thinking back, we wouldn't have even gotten married if we waited till we could afford it!

In closing, I have this to offer....

If money were meant to hang on to, it'd have come with handles!!!!

 

[Lauralee131]

I just remembered one of the old anti-drug commercials - remember this commercial?

I do drugs
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To buy more drugs
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To buy more drugs


and it made me think of this....



Hmmmmm....let's see....Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but....

I work more hours
To get more money
So I can get more Disney
I work more hours
To get more money
To pay off Disney
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To go back to Disney

 

[crisi]

We've done both. Paid off the house and taken vacations. Balance is really vital.

 

[jenwimett]

I just remembered one of the old anti-drug commercials - remember this commercial?

I do drugs
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To buy more drugs
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To buy more drugs


and it made me think of this....



Hmmmmm....let's see....Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but....

I work more hours
To get more money
So I can get more Disney
I work more hours
To get more money
To pay off Disney
So I can work more hours
To get more money
To go back to Disney

This is so true for me! I took a second part time job to make sure our vacations get paid for!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have some debt--house payment, car payment. We also enjoy our vacations, and they do not add to our debt, they don't go on the credit card. Our house won't be paid off for several more years, and I will probably never drive a car that is paid off. I like to trade cars every couple of years, and if we can afford it, why not?

I don't think you should let your bills go unpaid to go to Disney, that's not the same thing. Like the people (in my family) that go all out at Christmas and spend their bill money for present, and wonder why in February, their utilities are shut off.

 

[starbox]

I agree, balance is the key. I do think putting vacations on credit cards is a bad idea.

We've managed to visit Disney every few years since the kids were small, and we've always done what we could afford at the time. I was a SAHM for about 8 years, so money was very tight.

Our first trip was one day - our son saw the Magic Kingdom and that was it. Our second trip, we did a time-share presentation to get tickets, price-lined hotels and did four nights. We ate our meals off-site at McDonalds or Perkins.

The next trip, we saved 80$ a month for a year and got a two-bedroom off-property timeshare rental. I think we had four-day tickets again and spent our "off" days at DTD. We always had a big garage sale right before we left to get some extra spending money.

Once I went back to work, we started staying on-site with packages, and with a promotion for me and the decision to not have more children, we became DVC members.

Thinking back on it, we had REALLY great visits and memories doing just what we could afford, even without all the "bells and whistles" of the vacations we take now. You don't have to go into debt to create family memories and enjoy Disney while your family is young and expenses are high.

 

[meeskamouska]

UHHH, YEAH!!!!

I have a plan to pay off debt and that does not include not enjoying my life!!!