You don't have to keep up with the Jones's

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I try to keep up with them. If we're walking down Mainstreet toward the castle and I spot another family walking faster, I hurry my family up. First we draft them, then we pass them on the inside of turn #2 at the hub.

When I enter the grocery store checkout line I take notice of the people standing in the lines to the left and right of me. It becomes my mission to be handed my receipt before their cashier hands them theirs. Doesn't always work though because sometimes my efforts are sabotaged by a slow clerk. I swear sometimes I think they're in on it!!!

Kidding!!!
No not at all. My fondest memories of Disney when I was a child were the one day trips (we lived in FL for a short time) and the bologna sandwiches for lunch. We knew to not ask for souvenirs. Best days at Disney EVER!!!!

 

[calypso726]

I'm afraid we might be the Jones's now among our circle of friends and family Granted, we do travel hack in order to mitigate our vacation costs. That said, I have met others while on Adventures by Disney trips that are able to vacation more frequently, for a longer period of time and in far greater luxury than we do. I'm happy for them but I don't envy them. I'm still thrilled over the fact we get to do the vacations we are doing. Heck, I recall being in my 20's and wanting to experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We drove there from Florida with no plan and very little money. We slept in a van with the seats taken out in the parking garage of a Holiday Inn. We couldn't afford a room, but we could afford the parking. We stayed for 5 days and showered in the changing rooms by the swimming pool of the hotel

As for Disney trips, I can remember driving 3 hours to the park at 4 am and 3 hours back after they closed because we couldn't afford to stay the night in a hotel. Then we moved up to cramming a bunch of us in a cheap off site motel. From there we graduated into All Star resorts, then the moderates and now we have DVC. I consider us to be very fortunate in the fact that we are able to experience the vacations we take and travel as often as we do. If the Jones's are taking some amazing vacation that interests me, I'm more likely to try and figure out how to do what they did and pay for it with points and miles.

 

[bbak30]

Unfortunately the Jones' in my group ended up divorced, incredibly in debt and bitter about everything. Thank goodness my husband and I never felt the need to keep up with them.

This. We are fortunate that our only debt is our house, one car and my student loan. I know several couples who play that game, and they sure don't seem happy. We work for what we have and appreciate what we do have.
Besides, the things that are truly worth having can't be bought.

 

[arminnie]

i grew up in extreme poverty - the concept of having a vacation was unknown. Even having enough to eat and having basic hygiene toiletries were often questionable. So I grew up never ever ever expecting to have even a half of what other people had.

So I never worried about keeping up with the Joneses. I've always appreciated anything that I was able to have.

I went to WDW on an extreme budget in the 80s - stayed off site with 4 to a room. I wanted to go back for years and years but could not afford it. I was fortunate to have SEVEN business trips in one year in the 90s. (I spoke at a lot of conventions). On those trips I could stay anywhere I wanted - and I stayed at some of the best hotels on property. But I didn't care about the hotel - I loved being able to go spend time doing what I enjoyed.

I ended up getting an education from a top notch university. Many of my classmates are wealthy beyond belief. I'm happy for them - but not the least bit jealous. No one should get their self worth from their possessions or purchases.

 

[Toon crazy]

Any trip or vacation for that matter, I always am blessed to have that opportunity with my family.

Absolutely.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I don't understand the concept of keeping up with anyone else's possessions/car/vacation. Do/buy what makes you happy. Sometimes I watch TV shows with elaborate vacations and think, I couldn't enjoy that, because I would find it a big, fat waste of money. OTOH, I can understand saving for a huge splurge, if it means a lot to you--an African safari, backpacking through Europe, getting the whole family together for a once-in-a-lifetime Disney family reunion. Heck, driving an RV around the US might be someone's idea of a dream trip--if so, go for it!

Personally, when we go to WDW, we usually strike a happy medium--we don't stay in the fanciest hotels or do every signature dining venue. But we might splurge on a couple extras that are meaningful to us--like doing the Dessert Party on my son's birthday. If someone else wants to hit BBB and then Cinderella's for lunch--that's fine for them.

 

[jodim]

Your vacation is what you make of it... doesn't matter how much money you have or don't. Obviously some things afford you a bit more luxury but at the end of the day the kids will remember the trip, not the amount of crap they got inside the parks or not. My kids work for their $$ for souvenirs. What they buy is on them. We give them $50 a trip, period... how they spend that is their choice. We both own businesses and my parents were beyond comfortable when I was growing up and that's how we were taught and I'm so glad. My mom is one of the cheapest people I've ever met... true Joneses don't spend money frivolously, they save it..

 

[LSchrow]

We have never noticed how much money the Joneses (nor the Smiths - both lovely families that we often see on vacation ) spend their money, & I'm pretty darn certain that they find our company much more interesting than our spending habits.

just remember: there will always be someone to whom you are the joneses

 

[ellie05]

I just wanted to add that the Joneses probably don't stay at any hotels because the Joneses either own a house in golden oaks or have friends that do. When you are in circles with people that have lots of money they usually have various vacations homes.

My aunt I would consider the Joneses and she took a two month Europe vacation this past summer and her friends insisted that she stays in their Paris apartment and her other friends in their 7 bedroom home in the French Riviera (both are vacations homes). She did stay in hotels for part of her stay too. Not only that but they usually have full staff for this houses. Of course you then have to buy a very nice and expensive thank you gift.

 

[Dakota731]

As you get older, you worry less about what everyone else is doing or what anyone else thinks. I just don't have time for that stuff any more - life is too short!!

 

[WDWNY]

My close friend has never been able to afford a trip to Disney, so has never been even though she wishes she could go. Knowing someone who isn't able to afford a single trip to Disney makes me appreciate them more. That being said I do envy people who have/are staying at the GF. It's a dream of mine. But I realize there are a lot more people in this world who can't afford to take a step on Disney property, so I don't make a big deal about it

 

[katie111]

I don't really care where other people are staying or what experiences they are having. I have no desire to do a behind the scenes tour nor has my DD ever wanted to do BBB. Paying $800 to rent a boat to watch fireworks seems like a complete waste of $$ to me, but for someone else it's a dream come true. We've stayed on property on most trips and they've ranged from the All Stars to the Dolphin to the Beach Club. My two favorite trips ever were when we left DH at home (he's a Disney hater). One was at the All Stars and one was at the Wilderness Lodge. The kids just seemed to be at the perfect ages on those trips and we had a blast. Our last trip was at the Beach Club & it was pretty bad. Two of my kids were tweens and they fought most of the time. On that trip I did envy the "Jones's" whose kids all seemed to be getting along.

 

[usnuzuloose]

When I first began taking my family to the parks, we were not doing as financially well, as we are now. We stayed in good neighbor/offsite hotels, and limited our food and souvenir purchases. We saved every penny and budgeted for everything we wanted to do.
But even with this kind of penny pinching vacation planning, I never envied or was jealous of someone else who could afford a different type of vacation. Yes I saw things and I planned how to do them the next time. I didn't think my families vacations were any less, because we couldn't do them at the time though.
We are making a little more money now, so the trips are a little more frequent and the hotels are onsite. But even if we were still staying off site and bringing sandwiches into the park, our vacation would be magical.
What about you? Are you the type of person who feels they need to keep up with the Jones's to have a good vacation? Or do you focus on your vacation and not worry about other people who may have more than you?

I don't need to keep up with anyone. I need to be happy with what I have and what we can do. I have only been to WDW once, we can't afford to go. No reason for me to be upset. The family needs come first. We have a roof over our head, groceries and vehicles that do the job for our needs. I choose to be happy with what I have, not what I do or do have or what I can do or not do. If other people can vacation then I am happy they can do so.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I'd be lying if I said that what the Joneses are doing never occurred to me or that I never felt pressure to do as much as others, but overall I agree with what other posters have said. We work hard to have the ideal vacation for us, which is different than what someone else would want to do or can do. I try not to worry about what other people have or don't have, but I'm also human and am not always perfect! I think not worrying about the Joneses are doing is something that comes to everyone as they get older- perhaps for me a little earlier than most because of my life and the path it took- but every time we go to Disney I am blown away by how much fun we have no matter what our budget.

 

[DLgal]

It's not about keeping up with anyone else. When I vacation, I like what I like, and I want what I like. We splurge on good food and nice hotels, but cut costs on airfare, souvenirs, etc. I don't care how other people spend their money on vacation because that isn't MY vacation.

 

[FINFAN]

I can enjoy a trip Jones' style or otherwise...'cause it's a trip, AWAY from IL!I have had tips and tricks posted here by both Jone's types and non, because they were nice enough to share. Those tips, added some magic to our trips. We have done all different combo styles of vacations..we seem to have the best times when we allow at least half of the days to be "wing it" time. Maybe Jones' do that, maybe not...so maybe we are keeping up with them? lol

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm afraid we might be the Jones's now among our circle of friends and family Granted, we do travel hack in order to mitigate our vacation costs. That said, I have met others while on Adventures by Disney trips that are able to vacation more frequently, for a longer period of time and in far greater luxury than we do. I'm happy for them but I don't envy them. I'm still thrilled over the fact we get to do the vacations we are doing. Heck, I recall being in my 20's and wanting to experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We drove there from Florida with no plan and very little money. We slept in a van with the seats taken out in the parking garage of a Holiday Inn. We couldn't afford a room, but we could afford the parking. We stayed for 5 days and showered in the changing rooms by the swimming pool of the hotel

As for Disney trips, I can remember driving 3 hours to the park at 4 am and 3 hours back after they closed because we couldn't afford to stay the night in a hotel. Then we moved up to cramming a bunch of us in a cheap off site motel. From there we graduated into All Star resorts, then the moderates and now we have DVC. I consider us to be very fortunate in the fact that we are able to experience the vacations we take and travel as often as we do. If the Jones's are taking some amazing vacation that interests me, I'm more likely to try and figure out how to do what they did and pay for it with points and miles.

I LOVE this!!! I feel like I could have written this post (minus the DVC ownership lol,tho I used to help my mom manage/use hers) I don't envy the richer folks...but I sometimes think we may be "The Joneses" in some other peoples' eyes....even those who I know are making much more income than we are! We travel (quite a bit now) and hack it all.... making it extremely affordable, I am open and will share any advice or help others want if they want to do the same, but at the same time I have heard a few comments about how we must be millionaires to travel as much as we do... I have no desire to "be the Joneses",and I keep a strict 'fun budget'.....yes, my budget has grown over many years of marriage, but it's still pretty strict.

 

[hsmamato2]

We have never noticed how much money the Joneses (nor the Smiths - both lovely families that we often see on vacation ) spend their money, & I'm pretty darn certain that they find our company much more interesting than our spending habits.

just remember: there will always be someone to whom you are the joneses

Oh this is SO true!

 

[BigredNole]

I grew up in an area of FL where certain groups did the "Keeping up with the Jones's". Their position within their social circles had to be maintained no matter how much debt the incurred. When I was a kid, going to their parties were extravagant but boring. The same thing continues now. When visiting resorts or going to one for a cocktail, you can spot these people from a mile away. I'll take my 2BR offsite resort from the price of 1.5 nights at your GF and be able to take 3-4 trips for less than you spend. I have some very well to do friends I met through my daughter's soccer team. They ask how I get such great deals. One was spending 2 weeks at Disney over XMas. The room alone was almost $4,000 for a studio. I hooked them up through someone that was able to get them a 2BR unit at WBC for $2,400. The difference covered most of their APs and they had the best time ever.

 

[havaneselover]

Just because people stay at deluxes (and my last stay was at Pop) doesn't mean they are keeping up with the Jones'. Judging how others spend money is a slippery slope and can get a bit sanctimonious. Now that I'm 40 I try not to as I realize we all value things differently. Going through a divorce and having to worry about putting food on my table for a few years really put things in perspective for me.