The Boat - A Symbol of Our Philosophy

Over the past several weeks I have talked about my Frap Fund. You know the one where I don’t go to Starbuck and put the money away. Or the money we save with coupons goes into a savings account.

I kind of fell off the wagon this week and was only able to save a little bit but @TheDeeView and I had a realization which will amount to a tremendous savings.

As summer is approaching, faster than I thought, I started the search for a boat for us to use over the summer in our mountain escape. I even took the 10yr old boat shopping one Saturday a couple of weeks ago, only for the 2 of us to be overwhelmed.

The onto Craig’s List and Boattrader.

I was determined to find the best boat and a great deal (you know, being a great saver that I am).

Then @TheDeeView and I started talking about the money to own a boat and get it in the water this summer. What started out as a boat in the $9,000 range quickly became double that by the time we added servicing, dock fees, equipment, skis, wakeboards etc. Oh my God. It became crazy.

Halt! Slam on the breaks, stop this crazy nonsense and smell the roses. We both decided at that moment a boat was not the great idea it had been!

We decided to save the money, get rid of one of our credit cards and find different ways to enjoy the summer in the mountains.

At the end of the day, I ended up buying a portable tetherball set for kids, which I can play and guess what we will get more enjoyment out of that by playing together and getting exercise. We’ve added biking to the mountains and walking hiking and just hanging out.

My god we’ve saved $17,000 just by doing this one thing!!!

Now that’s a FRAP FUND contribution!!!

Oh and by the way we were able to find a great sleep away camp for the kids for one week and we are still ahead.

What the boat purchase made us do was to stop and really consider our own lives, spending habits and ways for which we can spend money more efficiently and save money.

We are now assessing other strategic cuts in our lifestyle that will actually give us a better quality of life and at the same time boost our savings.

Now that is not to say we won’t buy the boat next year, but for now we are about filing our Frap Fund.

Work this in with my other #BudgetBuddy tips and have fun saving.

Saving money should be about fun and not a chore. I love seeing my Frap Fund grow.

When I am done with this blog I will actually be transferring money to the Frap Fund because we decided not to go out to dinner this weekend which would have cost us, family of 4 an easy $120, instead we BBQed and saved an excess of $80 for the Frap Fund baby!

That’s what I’m talking about!