Alright, I know everyone is wondering how I can possibly have the audacity to put a weekend getaway under the Frugally Fabulous category. Well, I'm frugal and I'm having a getaway, which I think is fabulous
Actually, it could possibly pay for itself and then some, so I'll share. DH and I are going from upstate SC to western NC Saturday morning to meet my parents, aunt, and uncle at the
* We're taking DH's van (aka the company van) there and back, so we don't have to pay for gas
* We're sharing a hotel room with my parents rather thang etting our own (OK, yeah, this might be get a little weird)
* Instead of paying $10-$30 per person for one little pre-salted bucket of dirt that's gone in an hour, we're going for the $25 per person deal where you haul your own dirt and get to search all day long (in our experience, the most enjoyable way to go about it).
And other than the room and the gas, how is this frugal you say? Well, there will likely be a Shoney's buffet involved, but I digress.
This weekend is Frugally Fabulous because previous trips have always netted a hundred dollars worth of stones or more. My aunt & uncle go about 2x per year and have turned around and sold their stones back to the mine on several occasions. Others they've kept, had cut, and then made into jewelry (also profitable).
So, this weekend I'll be hauling backbreaking loads of 50lb buckets of dirt and sitting hunched over a sluce of cold water in 50 degree weather for anywhere from 6-9 hours. Sounds like fun, hm?
Don't worry, if I strike it rich, the proceeds will be broken into 3rds: EF, high debt, and WOOHOO!
October 13th, 2006 at 07:13 am 1160720025
October 13th, 2006 at 12:37 pm 1160739441
October 13th, 2006 at 07:42 pm 1160764925
PS I love the smell of real dirt too! one day I would like to take DD to a mine thing, I thik she would love it, od you know the frequency of finding a small gem? I would like her to have a souvenere, but not sure if I need to budget the gem in addition to a bucket of dirt or not...
October 13th, 2006 at 07:51 pm 1160765475
October 14th, 2006 at 11:00 pm 1160863247