Choosing responsibility

Husband and I have been talking for awhile about taking a winter vacation somewhere warm (see "Can we afford a winter vacation"). In a strange turn of events, Husband has been the one saying we should not go anywhere and instead save our money. Or rather, put the money towards something more responsible, like the credit card, or winter tires, or house stuff. Me, on the other hand... I've been staring at pictures of beaches, researching hotels and trying to find a cheap last minute deal. Every few days I'd mention the winter vacation idea to Husband and we'd debate whether or not we should go.

But finally, we decided last week... no winter holiday this year. I withdrew the vacation savings and instead we bought winter tires. Not nearly as sexy or fun, but very much needed where we live.

And then a couple days later, I was looking at last minute vacation deals again. Ugh! But last night I finally admitted to myself that we just couldn't travel any more this year. Not only is the vacation money now gone, but we have way more important things to do with our money. Namely:

• Pay off the credit card (there's not much on here and the interest is almost nothing, but having any bit of debt drives me insane)
• Christmas shopping
• Home repairs (we're still waiting to hear if the previous owner's are going to pay for the big stuff, but in the meantime we should save our money as we may have to pay up front for now)

Not to mention the fact that in the past year we've been to Hawaii, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa.

So the new plan is to start saving again and go on nice trip next year. I would love to do a road trip to Chicago and Pittsburgh (I have a crazy obsession with Pittsburgh, although I've never been). Or a trip to the Maritimes so we can continue seeing more of Canada.

Being responsible sucks sometimes, but in a few months when winter is over, I know we'll be happy with our decision.