Fancy But Frugal

I have two short and sweet updates for y'all. Read on to see what I was up to for my #monthlydoseof challenges for September and October! September  My monthly challenge for September was to keep a gratitude journal (a #monthlydoseof gratitude). Gratitude is a powerful thing, and with all the negativity and craziness that comes with living in NYC, I (read: we all) could benefit from being more thankful.  This challenge was very simple: once a day I wrote in my journal (aka the Notes app on my iPhone) a few things I felt grateful for. The themes were largely around my husband, safety when traveling 🛪, my cat 😻, my job, and friends.  Things were mostly smooth sailing, except for one weird thing. For one week, from September 17-24, I completely forgot to do my gratitude journal. I don't have a reason or excuse - it's not like I was stressed or traveling or extra busy. I just straight up forgot, which perfectly shows how easy it is to slip into a mindset o...

I'm going to try something new and write devotions, as they come to me and as the Lord leads. Welcome to my first one, as featured on my dear friend ' s  website:     http://www.holygroundsonline.com/devotions _________________________________________________________________________________ What is your cup full of?  Life was alright: my job was going well, my marriage was great, and I had just started a well-known ministry program at my church. Then, out of the blue, my faith was rocked. I got a call on my lunch break that my hard working and faithful Dad’s business was robbed… while he was there. He blocked them into a small area while police arrived, and they were arrested. No one was hurt, but they did get away with some of his belongings before the arrest. I was devastated. You see, my mom passed away when I was 15 and he’s all I’ve got. He’s always been healthy and in my eyes, he’s invincible. He got saved a few years ago and watching his d...

Hi fellow travelers! Today I have another guest blogger. Meet Emma and her boyfriend, Liam! Aren't they cute? Jon and I met Emma and Liam while traveling in New Zealand. They were involved  in many of the shenanigans in my NZ blog ! They're originally from England and had just finished a year of working abroad in Australia. They put off the best vibes: care-free, friendly, happy ,  and fun! They are so in lov e and lovey-dovey, I actually questioned my love with Jon when we were around them. SPOILER ALERT: Jon and I made it, are happily married, and I have no doubts whatsoever. I’ve always been inspired by how they left their lives behind in the UK and headed out for a wild adventure. My kind of people! On the way to Australia, they stopped in Thailand! Emma will share a bit more about this wonderful country! They hit so many epic and classic Thai things! It’s a great plan to follow! She has the cutest accent, so I wish she could tell you this story in person, but...

Hola! Welcome to our Costa Rican honeymoon adventure. I can't believe its been over a year ago already! ❤ A little background (and budget trick): Jon and I got married right after moving back to the US from Singapore. We traveled across the world, bought a house, 2 cars, some furniture, etc. It was a crazy-exciting time in our lives, but what we really needed to fully enjoy this time was funds! So, instead of traditional gift registries, we did a Honeyfund ( link ). It was on Shark Tank ( link ) and basically is an online registry that allows people to pay for specific things on your honeymoon. It can help pay for anything you want: flights, excursions, meals, hotels, activities, etc! The Honeyfund is more personal than just giving cash, and it allows others to be excited and involved (from afar) in your honeymoon! It was the best idea ever and covered the majority of our costs.  💰💰💰   We are still so grateful! The trip : We flew United Airlines to Liberia, the s...

I get asked various questions about travel and planning, so I thought I'd answer a few of them here, grouped into categories. I've also included tons of handy-dandy links to make it even easier for you! I tested out some of these tips on friends the last couple months and have gotten good feedback, so hopefully they'll help you too! Flights: There are a ton of resources out there to find affordable flights. I generally use sites like Orbitz ( link ) or just plain Google flights to get a feel for prices and the best dates, and then I’ll go through the actual airline... whatever's cheaper! We recently used Kayak ( link ) which did something really cool. They have a system where they search different airlines and allow you to book with different currencies. Depending on the exchange rate, this can save you alot (we saved about $100)! I was also recently told about secretflying.com (link here  - thanks Adam & MK!). This website exposes airlines mistakes...

This week on my Facebook page, pictures/memories popped up from a very special trip we took exactly two years ago. It was our first vacation as a couple and we went to…(drum roll please)… Maldives . Talk about setting the bar high! Panaroma. All pictures copyrighted and mine. Disclaimer: This is not going to seem “budget” to most of you, but trust me, it is. A family could easily spend $20k+ on a vacation there, but that's not feasible for us, so we did the trip our way. **Also, leaving from Singapore (where we were living at the time) cut out one major expense: flights. That alone saved us a couple thousand dollars.  💲💲💲 As I mentioned, this was our first real vacation as a couple, 6 months into our relationship. It was Chinese New Year weekend, so we knew most of our local friends would be busy with family gatherings and most local shops would be closed. We decided it was time to leave for the holiday! We went for 4 (but ...

For Christmas 2016, we decided we needed a warm , relaxing, and affordable vacation, so we chose Cancun. This trip surprised me in many ways. I was totally off my game that week and we forgot our GoPro, so we don’t have many pictures. 🙁 I like to think we were just living in the moment and enjoying ourselves. I don't come empty-handed though; I have a ton of tips about cheap accommodation, tours, and food! The first decision to make was “ Should we stay at an all-inclusive ”? All-inclusives are tricky. I know people who swear by them and stay at them for every vacation. I think there’s a time and place for all-inclusives, and you just have to decide what kind of trip you want. If you want to veg out with friends or you are on your honeymoon and don’t plan to leave the resort at all, then yes by all means, an all-inclusive is the way to go. Food, drinks, and bed all in one place. No judgment here. BUT , me and my husband usually aren’t that type of vacatio...