Travel/Gifts are killing me!

[phunluvin82]

This is mostly just a vent...but we just got back from a family wedding, have another in Oct, and planning to travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas also. The traveling and the gifts for these various occasions are killing our budget!!

I feel like we could be doing so much better if we weren't burning up so much money to travel for family obligations...but neither DH nor I can say no to our family, so it's our own fault!

H is best man in his bro's wedding so that's kind of a must, then my fam is visiting my very aging grandparents for Thanksgiving, and H's only surviving grandparent happens to live within an hour of mine...so I feel like we can't say no to that either. We probably don't have many years left with them.

Then Christmas, we agreed to alternate years and my family got last Christmas, so if we didn't go see his fam this Christmas, I know they would be all pissed about it.

Our family is helping out with some of the costs here and there (i.e. his parents paying our hotel for the bro's wedding, etc), but it's still going to strain our finances, even with the help.

Ugh. I guess this is what we get for living so far away from everyone! :-(

/End vent

[belovedbride07]

I hear ya. :-(

We waaay under-budgeted on travel this year, and possibly gifts as well but we won't know until Christmas. We budgeted $1200 for travel; we've already spent $1500 and have an OOT wedding to go to (driving, but need hotel) and are going out of state for Thanksgiving (luckily, my stepdad bought us tickets with his frequent flier miles). It's hard when all of the travel feel obligatory!