Saturday, June 8, 2013

What to do with the yard sale money

We participated in a neighborhood-wide yard sale today and ended up selling enough to make it worth using the morning for it rather than for packing.  The whole time I was thinking about what the extra money could mean for vacation.  I posed the question to the online groups we participate in and got quite a varied response.

Some people thought putting the money towards a special souvenir, perhaps even "upgrading" a planned souvenir purchase, would be worthwhile. Others thought of splurging on a spa treatment (mani-pedi, massage, facial, even just a hair-do).  Some suggested just applying it to the onboard bill.

We follow Dave Ramsey's principles, and one of the main ideas that allows people to be successful in managing their budgets is to give every dollar a name.  In other words, when you find yourself with extra money coming in, rather than letting it slip through your fingers, figure out what you'd like it to do for you and name it. 

So I was thinking of some possible names for our yard sale money:
  • Laundry service:  we plan to do our laundry ourselves, but it might be nice to send some of it out for the ship's laundry service to do for us! Or at least for the pressing portion.
  • Arcade cards:  each boy could be given a specific amount to be used for the onboard arcade
  • Bingo: we've never played onboard before, but Z has watched it a few times. We thought we might have a go for something different to do
  • Palo (brunch or dinner): The onboard fancy restaurant requires fancy clothes and a coveted advance reservation.  DH isn't interested, but I could still try to book a solo table for brunch or pair up with another person who also has an uninterested partner.  There's an upcharge for brunch and dinner.
  • Gelato in every port: we have plans for gelato in some of the ports, having been given recommendations for Cinque Terre, Florence, and Civitavecchia, so we could expand our gelato-itinerary to include other ports as well.
Whatever we end up naming it, it's nice to have cleared some things from our house, and the process for gathering items to sell has resulted in improved organization of closets, drawers, and shelves, so it's a win-win for sure!  What would you do with your extra??

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