Beach again!

I just got back from my family vacation at the beach. It was so much fun, and it was really nice to relax and not have to work (or do anything really). Plus, I absolutely love the beach! We did all kinds of cool things too, besides fry on the beach- wing night, bbq's, shopping, and going to see Dark Knight. That's the second time I've seen it actually, and I do recommend it. The movie is everything amazing- intense, scary, funny, etc. And Christian Bale makes one dashing Bruce Wayne.

Anyways, now that I'm done with my Batman lovefest, it's time to break down the finances for my vacation. It's not looking good- I spent about 80 bucks total. My parents paid for everything else, which was nice (and one of the perks of a family vacation!), but I found all kinds of pretty/unique/heavily desired items to decorate my new apartment with. You can tell I'm getting old when I get excited about house decorations and kitchen tools. I feel kind of bad spending so much in one shot, but I need to decorate my new grad apartment with something. So now I have some very special touches that will take the apartment from boring to awesome!

I Love Florida <3

Well, I'm officially back from vacation. The best vacation ever, I might add. We had the best time- beautiful beaches, fun bars, amazing restaurants, and crazy wildlife. I fell in love with St. Petersburg during this trip- someday I want to live there. Seriously- after grad school, I'm so there. It is a great city with a town-like atmosphere, wonderful weather, crazy fun people, and tons of things to do!

As far as the budget goes, I did better than I thought. Not spectacular, but at least under budget!
Hotels: $142
Gas: $150
Food/Entertainment/Souvenirs: $263
Clothes: $33
Total: $588

Ok, I know I shouldn't have bought clothes, but I really didn't anticipate how many times a day I would have to change due to humidity, freak rainstorms, etc. I only bought two tops and a pair of underwear though, so it's all good.

So basically I'm really proud of myself because I got a whole week's vacation in Florida for under $600! Plus we even threw in a few extra activities that weren't expected, like a visit to the Dali Museum and a mini-trip to Savannah on the way back home. And I got the best souvenir- a crape myrtle tree that is now living in my back yard. :)

Florida, here I come!

In just 2 days (!!!), I will be going on a road trip to Florida with my best friend from college. I'm so excited! We’ve been planning this trip for awhile, and I figured I will just use my reimbursement check from the government to pay for it, plus a little from my travel fund. The good thing is that we will be spending part of the time with her brother who lives there, so we can save some money on the hotel. Plus, he'll show us around to the best bars and restaurants that aren't expensive tourist traps.

This is the budget I have laid out for the trip:

-Hotel in SC (one night driving down, one night driving home): $100/2= $50
-Hotel in FL (3 nights): $180/2 = $90
-Gas and tolls: $170
-Food and Entertainment: $300

All of that added up is about $610 for the week. I hope that we don’t get carried away and spend too much over that. I think that we can do it though, since neither of us are too keen on spending lots of money right now. I know I just have to remember to think, instead of just spending like crazy and worrying about it later. That's what I tend to do when I travel- the whole “experience is worth the price” idea. Which is partly true, but that doesn’t mean I can forget everything and go around dropping big bucks on things just because I’m not at home.

See you when I get back!

Payday

It's payday today. :) I got my last check for May, and it was a couple dollars more than the first one, which is nice. Mostly I have everything for the month paid, except for my dentist appointment tomorrow, so I think most of it will go to savings! Anyway, I'll give you all the run-down of my budget at the end of the month, so we can see how well I did.

One thing I did notice though, is that I have wayyyyy too much vacation time. Right now I have 127 hours, which is enough for three whole weeks of vacation! The stash will take a big dent from my two week-long vacations (one in June and one in July), but I'm still not sure if I can use it all before August. I earn 11 hours each paycheck, which is kind of ridiculous, and we can only cash out up to 80 hours when we leave. I'm a little nervous to schedule too much time off, (even though it is my time to use), but I guess I'd better start taking some vacation days!