Budgets Are Sexy

How y’all been?  Anything juicy going on in your end?  I was only away for a week, but I felt like I was missing out on some good action :)  And since I cheated and did a little work while I was away (Bad J. Money, bad!) I know for a fact some of y’all were movin’ and shakin’.  So spill the beans, baby!

As for the vacation – it was DEFINITELY needed.  And definitely fun, too ;)  Every year at this point I feel like I’m in overdrive and if someone doesn’t stop me and give me a major reality check (*ahem* my mom), I’ll just work myself right into the deep end and totally forget to have a life.  Like, one outside of the internets. Which, in reality IS my new life – you all understand and relate to me much better than any of my “real” friends at this point – but if I continue staring into the computer screen 16 hours a day I’m afraid something bad will start happening to my eyeballs.  And no amount of money could get me new ones ;)

Speaking of money, wanna know the total amount we spent this week?  $400!  Not too shabby, huh?  The Bank of Mom & Dad took care of the lodging and most food for the trip, but once we got there we had to spend a few hundys on play time and outlet shopping, of course ;) It’s not a vacation without it!

Here’s how our spending broke down:

• Food & Snacks: $150 — Most meals were covered by the ‘rents, but a few times we ventured off into the towns for some restaurant food and occasional date night dinners.  Mix in TONS of drinks and snacks throughout beach and pool time (yes, more water bottles, sorry), and you’ve racked up a few Andrew Jacksons to boot.
• Outlet Shopping:  $130 — We were in Delaware, queen of the outlets and no sales tax! :)  It wouldn’t be right to skip over these in the least.  I think I picked up about 8 pairs of boxers, 2 t-shirts, a dress shirt, a new bathing suit, and a fancy looking tie to rock at my next wedding.  I haven’t added up all the retail prices yet (not that I’d ever buy them at those prices anyways), but I’d venture to say I got about $300 worth all for a little over $100.  And I only made it to about 40% of the stores!
• Random Goodies: $120 — My favorite category ;)  The one where all your little items here and there add up to a large amount! Haha… which you don’t hold yourself accountable for! ;) But seriously – we got some good stuff.  Round-trip tickets to the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, sexy looking $10 bills, a bunch of arcade and boardwalk games, and then a little gas to get us from here to there.  I’m probably missing some other fun stuff too, but those were definitely my faves.

Oh!  And I also brought in some REVENUE!  Yup, I went metal detecting for two whole nights and brought back a ton of goodies, haha…  and by “ton” I mean “1/10th of minimum wage.”  But it sure was entertaining!

• Day #1:  3 quarters, 3 dimes, 9 pennies, a fishing weight, G.I. Joe, some foil, and a matchbox car.  All in an hour’s hard work ;)  (that’s $1.14 in total for those who don’t feel like doing the math).  But the funniest part here is that my nephew fell in love w/ the car and G. I. Joe, and actually the weight too, and he took them everywhere we went for the next 3 days! Haha… so really, that alone was worth the expedition to keep him busy.
• Day #2: A nickel and a monopoly house.  These findings took 1 1/2 hours and almost drove me bonkers.  You know when you’re just not feeling it?  I should have quit after 15 mins and just called it a night… but then again, I only get to do it once a year :(

So there you have it.  A typical J$ vacation.  One week with the fam, and a looooot of down time to just sit back and contemplate life.  It would have been a bit better w/out putting in some work here and there, but as it stands I currently have about 200 emails to sort through (no joke), which is a lot better than the 600 it would have been!  At the end of the day though, I’d much rather come home to that than a pissed off boss at a company I could care less about :)  If only I could fix my schedule and rid myself of Mr. Workaholic now…

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PS: More info on metal detecting:
—  Metal Detecting is Cool, Damn it. @ Budgets Are Sexy
—  Metal Detecting for Beginners: Patience and Profit @ Wisebread

(Photos by jmoneyyyyyy)

Originally published at budgetsaresexy.com.