Money Matters Monday

Can you believe it has been a year since I won some crazy budget contest? My year of weekly blog-writing and work with mentor, Cristie Richards, is winding down with Imagine a Happier You and I find myself a little sad. It has been a great experience and a great blessing to my family. I feel like I am more solid ground and have a better head on my shoulders. Here is this week's blog post for IAHY and your Money Matters Monday:

My family returned home Sunday from a week-long vacation in California, only to find 14 credit card applications in our mailbox. Fourteen! We get them often, but never do I add them up over the course of a week. Disgusting. Another thing that felt entirely wrong was how many times I swiped the one credit card we own on said vacation.

Now, before you discredit everything I've ever said over the past year, let me explain myself. Do you remember my aunt and uncle I wrote about a while back? You know, the ones who have paid off two houses already? They swear by the use-the-credit-card-but-pay-it-all-off-every-month method. In fact they have taken numerous trips for FREE, using only the points they have accumulated from their card. My uncle suggests to make a budget, then make a register and deduct what you spend, just as if it were a checkbook. Please note that I don't want to promote the use of credit cards in any way, however I had heard about this method working for several people and have been terrified to try it. Why? Well, in order to keep your credit card balance from sky-rocketing, you had to be extremely disciplined, something we had failed at in the past. I was hoping we could attempt this method for the one week of our summer vacation since we had been practicing discipline over the past year.

The credit card we have gives cash back rewards and because I'm all about saving money, I decided to try it. We had been planning and saving for this vacation for nearly a year and had already set aside a chunk of money. I knew we could pay it off once we returned home, so after letting Cristie know of the plan, I set up our system.

At the dollar store I found a pocket file with four tabs, small enough to fit into my purse. I labeled the tabs "Fun", "Food", "Gas" and "Souvenirs". Everything we bought on the trip should fall under one of those categories, so to keep track of each purchase I put the receipt in their designated slot. At the back of my pocket file, I put a small notebook and pen. On the first page I wrote down our beginning total (what we had budgeted and saved for the trip) and with each purchase, I subtracted that amount. Like I said, I was terrified of losing control and going over on our budget, so I was meticulous about deducting every penny.

Those who have followed my blogs will know I am a believer of vacations. There is nothing that can replace the quality time with children, isolated away from the busy routines of home-life. The memories we made were truly priceless, but didn't need to be pricey. We went to Legoland and Sea World (both with heavily-discounted coupons of course!), visited several museums and spent a lot of time on the beach, which was by far the family-favorite activity.

One shining money moment came from a comment from my oldest daughter. Each child had earned their own souvenir money prior to the trip and each had a different amount, depending on how dedicated they were to their chores. Kendra, my oldest, had worked the hardest and therefore had the most to spend. As we walked around the shops at Downtown Disney, her eyes got big and anxiety grew as she realized how difficult the decision would be on which memento to bring home. She was holding a cute scarf (that cost a whopping $20!) when suddenly she dropped it and exclaimed, "I'm going to be wise with my money!" Not only a great money moment, but a proud Mommy moment as well.

I'm pleased to report that we stayed within our budget! In fact, we came out slightly under. Yay! As soon as we got home, we got online and paid off our credit card. Sigh. The anxiety that had been building with each swipe of the card quickly dispersed once I clicked the "confirm payment" button. I'm so glad that for once, our vacation isn't following us home. It took a lot of planning and prep work, but knowing we had the money to make the zero balance on our credit card is a great feeling.

With the cash-back rewards I will get, I plan on tucking the amount away for Christmas because it will be here in two shakes of a lamb's tail. After the holidays, it will be time to plan and save up for next year's vacation. Until then, it is back to the cash method for me! Seems to have worked great for us thus far, plus it keeps my panic levels to a minimum.