Oh my. I’ve been awful at keeping A Dime at a Time updated. Shame on me! I’m still alive and plugging away at our debt. Hubs came home for eight days, and that kept me busier. When he is home, my own life tends to take a backseat. I’m more than okay with that, especially considering how little he is home.
We had a fun week together. I took two vacation days at my office job. These days corresponded well with my baby job as they were out of town and didn’t need me. Woohoo, four entire days off! I’ll likely get some wet noodles for what I’m going to share next, but so be it. We went out of town for a night!
That’s right. We took two entire days that were all about us. We drove about four hours away and did some (mostly free) touristry stuff. We checked out some state parks, saw some waterfalls, went to a bear sanctuary ($20 entrance fee/per car), and drove through many towns we had not yet seen, or at least not that we could remember! Our reason? It was our 25th wedding anniversary, and we had camped at many of these places on our honeymoon. This time for convenience, we stayed in a hotel for a night. We spent less than $30 on food, opting instead to have picnic lunches. Our hotel came with a *free* breakfast. Yes, I’m well aware they factor this into the bill. Stuff like this really isn’t ever free. When all was said and done, we spent $300 on this impromptu trip. A silver anniversary is a milestone, and I have no regrets about the money we spent.
While Hubs was home, he also went to the dentist for a free cleaning. Well, it is a benefit of our dental insurance so we may as well take advantage of it. Lol The appointment was actually mine but being the sharing wife that I am, I graciously let him take my place. Far easier for me to reschedule than it is for him. He also saw his doctor and was put on two blood pressure medications. Not weight related (Hubs is super skinny) but more of an age thing. Getting older sucks. Sigh. On the bright side, I was able to cash in for two $25 off your next in-store purchase coupons for filling these new prescriptions. The doctor’s visit and meds come out of our FSA so no money out of pocket with those. I also asked the pharmacy to fill these prescriptions with a 30 day supply (rather than the 90 it was written for) as when it is refilled, you get another $10 in-store coupon. Another bonus is that the doctor didn’t give any refills on that initial 90 day supply, so when it is renewed, it will again be a new Rx. Another timely offer arrived in the mail (good through November) for the $25 deal on new prescriptions. Did I make your head spin yet? And this is why I handle picking up our meds, and not Hubs!
Hubs and I are now both back to our daily grinds. He flew out super early Monday morning (as in that we had to leave the house at 5 AM to be at the airport by 6). No, I’m not a morning person! Thankfully Monday was one of the days I had taken off. I used the day to work on my business as that doesn’t take me a lot of brain power. I fell into bed before 8 PM.
As for our debt reduction, not a lot going on in that department. At best, August will be a month of paying minimums. This post has already gotten far too long, so I’ll write a debt related post in a day or so. For now I’ll keep plugging away, A Dime at a Time.
Priscilla Bettis says
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS! Congratulations! I’m glad you could take off two days and enjoy your anniversary. It sounds like you had a fun celebration but also kept it under control cost-wise.
Lucy says
Thank you. I do feel that we kept the spending under control.
Vesta says
Happy 25th to you and Hubs!
Lucy says
Thank you!
Sluggy says
Happy Anniversary! You are allowed some me time/me money for these sorts of special occasions. I don’t think anybody would fault you that.
Ours is next Friday, 36 years. Gosh I feel old now….lol
Lucy says
That’s what we thought too! Happy early anniversary to you!
kim says
During debt pay off you need to take time and money to have fun or you will stop all together. Happy anniversary!
Lucy says
Thanks. It truly did us good to take this time for ourselves.
Marybeth says
Congrats on 25 years. We are also married 25. I think $300 for an anniversary trip is extremely frugal. I hope you had a wonderful time.
Lucy says
Thank you! Still hard to believe it has been 25 years. Where did the time go? We did have a wonderful time and made some great memories.
Lucy says
Thanks and ongrats with your 25th too! Did you do anything to celebrate?
Sue says
Congrats – so glad you went and had a great time together!!!! We just had out 35th this month too – like I told dh – whoda thunk it? We have had some SERIOUS setbacks in our debt repayment, but are throwing everything we have into it and will keep fighting the fight!!!!
Lucy says
Congrats on your 35th! I hear you about the setbacks. No matter what, though, there is NO giving up. We WILL WIN this battle!
Michelle says
Happy 25th to you and your Hubby! I think a trip was well deserved for that milestone. Great job keeping the costs down.
Lucy says
Thank you! Our mini-celebration just goes to show that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time. By far, this will be remembered as one of our favorite trips.
Lucy says
Thank you. I think we did very well.
The 76K Project says
So glad you and hubs got to have some quality time!
Right there with you: August was a month of minimum payments for us, too. I *think* we will be back to larger payments next month, but it kind of depends on some other factors. We’ll see.
Lucy says
Thanks! We will still be playing a little more catch-up in September, but at least the month shouldn’t be near as bad as August has been.
Maisie says
Happy 25 years!!! Glad you were able to get some time together and enjoy yourselves.
Lucy says
Thank you. We really did have a great time!
Rhitter says
Happy 25th Anniversary! And I echo Sluggy’s comment…. It’s okay to spend a little extra for that.
Lucy says
Thank you! Had it not been a milestone anniversary, we wouldn’t have celebrated in this way. But, since it was…we sure had fun!
Practical Parsimony says
Happy Anniversary! This is why we are frugal–so that a little fun will not break the bank.
Practical Parsimony recently posted…Laughing at myself
Lucy says
Thank you! Even though we could have used that money to pay off debt, I feel no guilt as our celebration was done frugally.
OneFamily says
Congratulations on your 25th anniversary! You deserved that little splurge and getaway 🙂
Lucy says
Thank you! We felt it was well warranted.
Patti in ca says
Congratulations!
Well done. A celebration was in order and you kept to a reasonable budget.
You got this.
Lucy says
Thank you! We will keep plugging away at it!