Vacation

Have you ever noticed that I don't spend much time blogging about our many fantastic travels? That is because we haven't gone on a family vacation since I started this blog years and years ago! Yes, there was a 3 day trip last summer with my entire family but I don't consider them vacations, they are more work than just staying home and working.

Tomorrow starts our very first family vacation! We are all really excited and have been talking about it every day. If you will recall, we don't have a car. That doesn't mean we are homebodies that can't have fun though. We are leaving tomorrow to go camping at a campground 6 miles away with my Moms in Step group. We are staying 2 nights, then biking home. We will be home for 2 days, to allow our bottoms to heal up and to do a huge remodel, reprice, and refill of thecrazyelephantboutique.com. On Wednesday we will bike to the larger town next to us, about 15 mile, to stay in a hotel, shop, and generally relax. Followed by 2 days to recoup before getting back to normal.

It isn't a big trip by anyone's standards, but it will include all the things we want most from a vacation, relaxation, not working, and not being at home. Plus we have lots of options at both of the mini stays. The campground has a pool, petting zoo, and hiking. The town has art and children's museums, a huge craft show that 2 streets are closed for, and a pool too. I can't wait to share some of the highlights when we come back (and maybe in the middle too), but right now I have to get the house work done and the packing finished!

Stretch it: Gas

This is a series I am going to call stretch it! Adam and I have people ask us about ways to cut spending all the time. I thought this would be a great way to share with everyone at once and get in depth with each topic. If you remember a ways back, we did a year without spending. While we didn't end spending as little as we started, we learned a lot of things about how we spend our money and why. I want to share what we learned with all of our readers. I would love to hear what area you would like to learn about, too!

I don't usually fill up the gas tank, but a couple weeks ago I did and saw the cost...STICKER SHOCK! We already had some gas saving measures in place, but I can tell you that it made me want to do as much as I could! So here are some areas that We have worked our money saving magic...

-Make your trip worth the while. We live in a small town and drive to the nearby city for many things. We used to go in several times a week and now it is a maximum of 1. We keep a note pad on the fridge that write the things we need to do on. We think about the item that we need. Is it essential to have the item now? Not usually. So we add it to the list. When we go into town we make sure that it is not just for 1 stop and we plan the most efficient way to get them all done.

-Use your feet. We walk when we can. We are lucky enough to live close to things like the library, post office, and small stores. We walk to them, always, no exceptions. When we can we find a central location to park our car and walk to all the stores. You get some extra exercise, and you save money on small drives from store to store.

-Bike it. For longer trips, not walking distance, we bike. We bike for quick trips to the grocery store, Adam bikes to work, and we even bike 10 miles to go to the free movies in town, that's 10 miles back too. Not only do you save money on gas, it can help you save by not having a gym membership/driving to the gym if you walk/bike everywhere you can. If you aren't going to be carrying much, you don't need your car to haul it. When you don't use your car, you don't use your money. It is all about weighing the options.

-Stretch your gas. Do some research on your car to find out what the highest speed is that continues to get you the best mileage. For our car that is 55 mph. Yes, everyone passes me at 65 mph on the highway, but It makes my gas last longer and only adds about 2 minutes to my drive to work. Give it a try some time and see how much longer it really takes you to slow down a little. Sometimes being in a hurry can cost you money when you least expect it.

Bicycle

The first thing I thought of when I saw the illustration Friday topic for the week was the Sticks: 32 Mile animation we did a few years ago. It was based on our Tour de Cure ride the first year we rode (sticks the stick man was the leading man). Let's just say it was eventful. So here is a sketch of sticks climbing a very tall and long hill.

We are riding again this year, 32 miles again. If you would like to help us with our fundraising goal, you can make a tax deductible donation to The American Diabetes Association here: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/MinnesotaArea?px=6679453&pg=personal&fr_id=7583 .

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