Ryan and I have been married 2 years as of Friday. This year, of course, our budget didn't allow a costly celebration. I would have liked to take a trip (even just out of town) over night or for the weekend. The budget, however, did not agree. In fact the budget really didn't want us to do anything that could cost anything.
The thing about a budget is that there are fluid parts of it and hard and fast parts of if. There are bills that have to be paid and there is no wiggle room whatsoever. Then there are things like the food budget and even the gas budget. If I refrain from running around town, I'll save on gas. I try to lump all errands on the same day and make them happen to or from a destination to where I am already going, such as dropping kids off at school. As for the food budget, I can start with what I already have in the cupboards and build from there sometimes choosing canned chicken over fresh or making breakfast for dinner because eggs and pancakes are cheap.
These are all great ideas but when it comes down to it, there is only so much savings I can squeeze out and with dental bills and medical bills, there wasn't much left for a weekend let alone a night away this year. That didn't stop us from celebrating!
For three years now, we have been blessed to celebrate with our friends Beth and Wes. We share an anniversary weekend, ours is the 9th and theirs is the 11th. We even went on our honeymoon with them to Las Vegas so they could renew their vows (it was their 10th anniversary that year). This is something I look forward to every year. Busy lives do not always make it so we can get together as often as we would like. Beth and I talk pretty regularly and our families get together here and there but there isn't a lot of time as couples. I always know we'll have once a year to sit down for dinner as couples and just catch up.
This year we decided to go to HuHot for dinner. None of us had been and we'd heard some great things about it. What was really nice is that if fit the budget. Dinner was nice, conversation was wonderful and we all overate. Then Ryan and I went to Itopit for frozen yogurt (being another couple got us hooked-thanks Sam & Troy). We enjoyed a nice dessert and then we went home. The kids were at his parents for the evening so we just watch movies and had alone time. Ryan had the next day off and so we slept in the following morning.
Later that day we went shopping, just the two of us. I used a gift card to get a little something for me and he had a gift card to get a little something for him. We ending up spending less than $15 for both items! It was nice to spend time together and get something we wanted and not needed because when you're living on a tight budget, wants are the first thing to go.
It was low key and mostly uneventful but as parents of a large family, it was just what we needed. I hope there is a little more in the budget next year to leave our house but truly enjoyed staying home this year. Honestly, I'm not the big celebration kind of girl and it was nice to just sit.
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