Anonymous wrote:Many of us didn't travel as kids, but now have the means to take amazing adventures as adults. If your kids complain, then they should work hard and choose careers that will afford them the income to travel. It's motivating. I'm more worried about my kids who are totally spoiled with amazing trips. They don't even know how good they have it.

Yeah - OP trust us - my 3rd grade daughter wrote me a note beginning with “I dissent” regarding our spring break trip. Kids complain no matter what you do. As soon as you realize that, the second part of your life begins.

Many of us didn't travel as kids, but now have the means to take amazing adventures as adults. If your kids complain, then they should work hard and choose careers that will afford them the income to travel. It's motivating. I'm more worried about my kids who are totally spoiled with amazing trips. They don't even know how good they have it.

As a family we prioritize travel over all other splurges. I find it so awkward when another parent I know brings it up a lot and always says something self-deprecating about their trips or how they don't travel. She clearly has a complex and it makes it awkward. So just don't be that person.

Grow a self esteem.

When our kids were 12 and under almost every trip was to visit grandparents, none of whom lived nearby. When our oldest hit HS age we decided that spring break would be our just immediate family trip so we went to Europe and other places.

I remind myself that I'm in the middle and comparing won't get me anywhere productive. I could be jealous of you that you have grandparents to visit - all mine are dead. But I have zero debt, and not many people can say that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really like YNAB and I will teach you to be rich book by Ramit Sethi. You can take control of your finances and save for what you want to do.

And don’t knock cheaper things like camping - kids don’t care - they have fun etc.

I feel like my fiscal plan includes refusing to pay $15 for a recurring billed budgeting app …

You can read the book, use the principles, and do it yourself on an Excel but I like the software. And I don’t pay $15 a month. I pay $99 for the year and I could 2 friends to join so I got two free months for that too.

The important thing is to really track your expenses and like Ramit Sethi says: Spend extravagantly on the things you love, but cut mercilessly on the things you don’t.

I don’t have social media but I understand it’s hard for kids to be different.

Last year we couldn’t travel for spring break because we had a family wedding. We rented bunnies from a nearby farm, bought some bunny and spring shaped cookies, and had a little spring picnic in the backyard for neighbors and other friends who weren’t traveling. We hired a photographer because we wanted some cute spring family photos anyway. Kids in my daughter’s class who had gone to the Caribbean asked why their parents “made” them miss the bunny party.

Which is a long, long way to say, no matter what, kids compare to each other. And there are options for you without leaving if you reframe it that travel doesn’t inherently “win” over other activities.

Anonymous wrote:I really like YNAB and I will teach you to be rich book by Ramit Sethi. You can take control of your finances and save for what you want to do.

And don’t knock cheaper things like camping - kids don’t care - they have fun etc.

I feel like my fiscal plan includes refusing to pay $15 for a recurring billed budgeting app …

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids much prefer to visit grandparents over break than to go on any fancy vacation thatcweve done in the past

Same

We see grandparents on non breaks. We see them for holidays and summer. They visit us. I don’t think you have to choose between family and vacations.

Anonymous wrote:I want to travel with my kid more than we can, but we do take trips: camping, long weekends in other cities, farm stays, train trips. We don't ski or go to Europe but we do cool things.

We also try to travel with grandparents or meet them somewhere fun. I know that's not possible for everyone but two birds / one stone.

Same here. We also sometimes visit places along the way while driving to/from where the grandparents live.

Do you want to travel more, OP, or do you just wish you could keep up? I personally love to travel (and so do my kids), and we make it a priority and all love it. But it's clear from this thread that not everyone feels the same. If you want to travel more -- have you looked into budget friendly options? You don't need to ski in Vail or stay at a resort in the Caribbean to have a great family vacation!! Driving instead of flying? Staying in airbnbs or going with friends or family and sharing the cost of accommodations? Going at off times (if your kids are still in ES then who cares about pulling them out of school for a few days!). CC that give you points, etc.. There is so much in the US.

My 4 and 10 year olds are happy to be in nature, hiking, anywhere near water, anything with a beach or pool...being active. They also like sightseeing in a new city --museums, zoos, city parks. Not every trip needs to be to see the grandparents...they should understand.

Anonymous wrote:I really like YNAB and I will teach you to be rich book by Ramit Sethi. You can take control of your finances and save for what you want to do.

And don’t knock cheaper things like camping - kids don’t care - they have fun etc.

Me again - but other ideas is lots of free stuff in the dmv area to add in fun things to your local week of spring break here so you feel like you’ve still done some fun things. And, also - tacking in some touristy type stuff to visiting grandparents. My ILs live in Miami and I basically DO consider visiting them to be an actual vacation. My grandmother lived in Pittsburgh and if you do touristy stuff while there it could be a mini vacation too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, that sounds utterly exhausting. I can afford all this but I get tired of so much travel.

Same here. Money not an issue but won't travel just to impress someone else.

We travel a lot. I don’t travel to impress others. I love to travel.

Me too!

Me too, it’s a priority for me, but I also don’t post on social media anymore.

I really like YNAB and I will teach you to be rich book by Ramit Sethi. You can take control of your finances and save for what you want to do.

And don’t knock cheaper things like camping - kids don’t care - they have fun etc.