Survivor Saturdays: Vacationing on Vouchers

I don't know about the rest of your husbands, but my husband was never good at pinching pennies. We jokingly say that it's a good thing he became a doctor because not many careers could support his spending. The man even likes shoes!

Anyway, for years I was on him to be more conscious about spending, wasting, etc. I had to take care of the finances so we could save for our first house. I would hide away money and not tell him and then when we needed something, I would pull it out. He was so excited and amused. Well, the day came that I was sooo done taking care of the finances and I dumped it in his lap. I swore I wasn't going to worry about it anymore. That would be his job.

Now five years later, he just surprised me with an anniversary vacation to Costa Rica (our 20th!). While I was excited to go, I was also worried that he had just committed us to a hefty balance on our credit card. Yes, we make good money but we recently moved to a area where houses cost twice as much. We also have three boys headed for college in the next couple of years... one is already there.

I was pleasantly surprised when he said he had been saving up his frequent flier miles to pay for our plane tickets, his hotel points were covering our hotel the night before we flew out, and although he chose to go to Costa Rica in off-season to save money, the owners of the rental home let him have it for free as their gift!

So if you think a nice vacation is out of reach, think again. If my husband can get us there on the cheap... anyone can do it. Just make sure you're taking advantage of all those hotel and airfare points programs. If you're interested in reading my blog post about our week together, here it is: