Home from vacation

We had an incredible vacation last week! I was so sad to leave the beach and get back to reality.
We took $500 in cash with us to spend.
We had a bit of culture (tourist) shock when we arrived... I sent B out for pizza with a 20 dollar bill. Two pizzas were 34 bucks! Whoa! He had to hit the atm and we got slammed with a FOUR dollar atm charge AND 1.50 charge from our bank. We usually try to avoid these charges. I let it slide. After pizza we went out for ice cream. It cost 16.50 for ice cream for the family. Eek.
We just weren't prepared for those tourist prices.

I had to hit the grocery store early in the week for some essentials. We brought most of our food from home. I planned meals out ahead of time, knowing that we wouldn't be going out to eat too much. I was appalled at the grocery store prices! Everything was nearly twice the price of what it was at home! However, the sale prices were nothing to complain about. I bought 2 cartons of ice cream and we enjoyed ice cream at home most nights instead of at the boardwalk.
We went out to breakfast mid week, which was a nice treat and much cheaper than going out to dinner. Bobby and I had a nice date (alone!) early in the week as well. The 34 dollar pizza ended up being our first and last night's dinner (I froze the leftovers and heated them up on Friday)

We came home with $75. Not bad, if you ask me. Vacationing on a budget is not as hard as we thought! We stretched every dollar, but didn't feel deprived. I've reconciled all purchases and I don't think I'd change a thing - except maybe that darn atm fee!
I realize that as the kids get older, it won't be as easy to cut corners. Knowing how expensive vacation can be, we'll just have to save a few extra bucks to take with us next year!