By Theresa
I recently took a two week vacation with Charlie who was one month at the time, and Ayla at the very trying age of 19 months. Along for the ride was my husband, and my two parents who fulfilled their roles as doting grandparents. Our destination? Hawaii. Namely the Big Island and Maui. Although the mere mention of Hawaii conjures up images of a tropical paradise, our vacation was anything but.
Was our vacation horrible? No, but it definitely was not paradise. Let’s just say that on the long flight from our wintry home in Canada, a very kind stewardess slipped my husband a complimentary bottle of vodka to go with his orange juice. She said, “Here, I think you’ll need this.” Boy, did he ever.
By Theresa
Some people spend their money on fancy cars, designer clothing, and the latest gadgets. My husband and I prefer to spend our money on travelling. This is evident in one of our cars: a black ’98 Chevrolet Cavalier. Others see this as a “lemon” while we see this as one tough cookie as it’s still reliable and has weathered its way through many a winter storm. My husband bought this car more than a decade ago with cold, hard cash that he saved up and hasn’t looked back since he sped out of the car lot.
Some friends and family are flabbergasted that we haven’t “upgraded” our car. People will think you’re poor, they tell us. While we have the means to drive a nicer car, we just don’t want to. Why? We both believe in living frugally and not throwing things out until they’re broken. The money we would get if we sold the car would be around $1000; but since the car is still in great condition, we figure we could get a few more years out of it which is definitely cost-effective in our books. And besides, anyone who judges us by the car we drive is probably not someone we’d like very much anyway.
But the biggest reason why we don’t buy a nicer car is probably because we don’t value vehicles very much. We both are of the mind that a vehicle is meant to transport you from one place to another safely. Period. Everything else is just a “nice to have.”
