Sorry in advance for the super long post!

This last week was EXPENSIVE! We were on spring break, and I feel like we were hemorrhaging money!

During spring break, our whole family had eye appointments. The Kids had never been to see the eye doctor prior to this appointment and had only had their vision checked at their yearly physical. I haven’t had my eyes checked since before our daughter was born about 18 years ago and The Husband went about 4 years ago. 3 out of the 4 of us are getting glasses. The Daughter is getting glasses to see far. She has been having a difficult time seeing the board at school, which is actually what prompted us to go to the optometrist. The Husband is getting a pair of sunglasses and a pair of glasses to use when he is on the computer. I need glasses to see far. At least at the beginning, I am only going to wear them for driving (especially at night). Our son has perfect vision and is very proud to not need glasses! We do have vision insurance and are, in fact, double covered, but we still had to pay about $415 out of pocket for the 4 pairs of glasses.

We had to buy 4 new bathroom faucets as 3 out of 4 were leaking. (Technically, we could have only bought 3 but we have a double vanity in both bathrooms, and I did want the faucets to match.) In our master bath, my faucet started leaking just a few months after we moved in, on the cold side only. The Husband turned off water to the cold and I just used the hot side for years. But about 6 months ago, that started leaking too. Since then, we have just used one faucet. However, unfortunately, about 4 weeks ago, The Husband’s faucet started leaking too. In our kids’ bathroom, our daughter’s faucet has a leak when she turns it on. Some seal must be broken. That was $400 for four new faucets. (2 at $110 and 2 at $80). We chose faucets that were a little over the middle of the road price. We could have chosen cheaper faucets but figured if we were going to spend the money, we might as well get something we liked and that would (hopefully) last. Luckily, The Husband is very handy and is able to install them all himself!

Yesterday, The Husband went to get a new battery, air filter, and spark plugs for one of our cars. That was another $200. It’s money well spent, as we do try to maintain our cars well, but still another expense! Again, The Husband will be able to do all the work. He already changed the battery and air filter and will get to the spark plugs next weekend (we think). Our son is the primary driver of this car and said he can already tell a difference in how the car starts!

Tonight, The Husband and Son are heading to America’s Tires for new tires for our truck… to the tune of $600. We have a 1960 Chevy Truck. The Husband has been working on it nights and weekends for the last couple of months to get it running again (new radiator, cleaned out gas tank, new hoses, new battery, rewired the electrical, new seatbelts, etc.). It’s this close to being drivable, but it needs new tires. We have had this truck since before we were married, for almost 25 years, so I am happy he is working on it and getting it running! I’m just not happy about the timing of it all.

Our last super pricey expense is not a necessity, but it is worth it to us! Our niece is getting married next month out of state, and we are traveling to the wedding. We booked our hotel today and the final price was $468 for three nights, including taxes and fees. We are staying in a 2 queen-bed room. Our daughter is in the wedding, so she is staying at the house of the bride. Staying in the hotel will be my husband and me, our son, and our daughter’s boyfriend. Gas is already budgeted for. Food shouldn’t be too expensive because we will be eating many meals with the wedding party. We will spend the day before the wedding at my brother’s house (his daughter is getting married) as it’s my daughter’s birthday. We will have breakfast and lunch at their home. Dinner on Friday will be at the rehearsal dinner. Saturday is the wedding. We will be on our own for breakfast and then the wedding will be a late lunch/early dinner. And then we will have to worry about Sunday breakfast before we head home. Because most of the weekend will be taken up with wedding related events, other than the hotel room, it shouldn’t be too expensive.

I pray that our expenses level out and we don’t have to keep shelling out so much money! Our savings have taken a huge hit this week and we need to build it back up a little before we can start tackling our debt again!