Vacation Box

SHE SAID:

Every year around this time when summer is on the horizon, I get the itch to plan a vacation. I absolutely LOVE searching out hotels and attractions and planning a whole trip itinerary, even if I don’t have the money to bring it to fruition. Brad is the complete opposite. The man would be perfectly content to have 5 minutes notice to go anywhere in the world.

That being said, it is nice to take an evening to talk and research any and all the places you’ve ever thought of visiting. You may surprise each other with the places you suggest. Keep the list of locations handy to refer back to in the future when you’re getting the itch to get away.

Since we already went on a little winter escape this year, the vacation funds are a little low. However, to keep the hope alive, we decided to make a vacation box where we could throw loose change and make more significant contributions once in a while. Once summer hits, we’ll open the box and see where our savings can take us. Here’s hoping we make it farther than the next town over. I only wish we had started saving sooner…

HE SAID:

Having a place to throw spare change is nothing new for me. Up until now I have always kept it in an empty jam jar tucked away in the closet of my office. I love the feeling of emptying out the jar full of coins and being pleasantly surprised at how much it all adds up to.

So why mess with a good thing? Well, I personally believe that a husband and wife should not keep secrets from each other unless Christmas or a birthday is involved. Until recently, I thought my wonderful wife felt the same way. Then she revealed to me that she has been secretly dipping into my jam jar fund in order to buy snacks at work. The nerve! From the ashes of my disappointment in her stealing ways came the idea for a new spare change savings system (say that 5 times fast!), one that we both contribute to but neither of us can dip into until vacation time.

We had some fun making a little cover for the shoebox that is now our Vacation Box. We found pictures of four places we’d like to visit, or in one case revisit, both to inspire us to keep adding to the box, but also to keep from stealing from it. But we didn’t stop there, oh no. Once the cover was on the box, I took some masking tape and taped the you-know-what out of it. There were also holes in the bottom of the box, so I taped those up too so no coins could fall out. There is no way anyone is getting at that money without it being very obvious.

Though this isn’t much of a date idea in itself, it was a lot of fun to put together, and to dream up ideas of where we’d love to go someday. It’s a great way to plan for some fun dates in other parts of the world, whether in a different country, or just a few hours from home.