How to Travel on a Budget: 3 Tips I Use
What makes travel so grand? Is it the new location? A different culture? Or just the possibility of getting away from the day to day stress. Read on to discover how to travel on a budget.
Photo by Oleksandr P on Pexels.com Tip #1: Create a budget.
When planning a trip, sit down with yourself or your significant other and determine how much money can be spent on your trip. Give yourself some time to consider: transportation, hotels, clothing, food, etc. Be sure to include how many people are traveling with you. You might learn what a ticket cost for one person but then you will need to multiply that cost by how many are in your travel party.
As I will state later in the post, research will be a big help to your planning. I found this article during my recent research for our upcoming trip to Greece. I love that the author gave a variety of budget levels for traveling to Greece. Once you have created your budget number, now it’s time to list out all your wants.
I love to travel! You can find other tips and advice I have given on a previous post, here.
Tip #2: List your wants.
While considering your travel budget, make a list of all your top wants in a trip. What is the most important to you? Great food or a great hotel? Which would you prefer to do more of: lounge in your hotel or be out and about with the locals? Write your travel priorities in 1, 2, 3 format and allocate the most funds to your top priority.
For me, I want my family to have as many experiences as they can while on a trip. As far as money goes, I am willing to eat cheaper or reserve a standard hotel room if it means we can rent a sailboat and tour an island or if we can take an old fashioned train ride up the mountainside. For others, having a grandeose suite is the hilight of their trip. Only you can determine which part of a trip is the most important to you and therefore, deserves the greatest allotment of your budget.
Greece is our travel destination for the summer and I cannot wait! After you have listed your wants, now begins the research. Research allows you to match your wants with your budget.
Tip #3: Research, research, research.
With the world wide web at our fingertips, you have ample oportunities to research any travel destination. Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and blogs offer a plethera of ideas for where to stay, what to do, and what to eat. Depend on the real life experiences bloggers or friends and family share with you regarding your desired travel destination. Please do not rely on only one person’s review. Spend time reading or viewing several reviews of a restaurant, resort, or travel experience.
Once you have completed your research, create a travel ititnerary that list where you will go each day, where you will eat, and where you will stay. An itinerary can help reduce impulse spending and keeps your entire travel crew on track. For our trip to Wales, I used Rough Guides travel guide to Wales. Here is one for Greece. (As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission off any viable links. This is at no extra cost to you.) My travel guide book gave me an abundance of information and really was beneficial during my trip and I needed a quick reference to an area or a recommendation for food.
With careful study of reviews, I have utilized the following sites for hotels and overnight stays: Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com Google can offer great reviews on restaurants and experiences. Yelp is also another review site for restaurants; however, blog reviews of restaurants for overseas trips might be most beneficial.
For more tips on how to travel on a budget, check out this link.
How to Start a Daily Quiet Time
Craving a word from the Lord? Or simply wanting moments to center yourself? Let me share with you how to start a daily quiet time.
1. Designate a purpose.
This blog post is for individuals who feel a strong desire to center themselves and align their ideals with God in a daily manner . Practical tips for establishing this time will be given. From the inception of my blog, I would say my target audience would be women whose main role is the chief executive operators of their home. You can learn more about me and what my passion is here. As the chief excecutive operator of your home, quiet time can enhance the productivity of your home. When initiating a quiet time, designate your purpose for creating a time alone. Do you want to grow closer to God? Need a time to quiet the noise of the world and discover what drives you? Determining your purpose will motivate your plan.
2. Choose a platform
What do I mean by a platform? Any avenue to assist as a conduit of your time alone is considered a platform. A variety of platforms can assist with creating a quiet time: devotional book, Bible, or podcast. Here is a top selling Bible on Amazon. The beauty of study Bibles is you learn about the culture of the time of each particular scripture as well as context clues and background information. One platform I used this past year was a podcast, The Bible Recap. This podcast revealed so many aspects of the Bible that I simply did not know (and I have read through the Bible before). This podcast helped me to deepen my understanding of the Bible and God’s message. The appropriate platform can give you knowledge and knowledge is power.
Women’s NIV Study Bible. As an Amazon Associate, I am eligible for commission on any viable links. 3. Pick a consistent time.
Picking a consistent time is a habit I have been crafting for DECADES. I am in no way a morning person and for a L O N G time did my quiet time at night. In 2023, my first challenge for the year was to do a daily quiet time first thing in the morning. As a night owl, a little bit of preparation had to take place in order for this challenge to be a success. Getting sufficient sleep, purchasing a journal, keeping my devotional materials near my bed, making sure my coffee supplies are stocked and ready to go are necessary preparations for me to be successful.
4. Give yourself grace.
In my opinion, as long as you are making an effort to have a quiet time, the exact time of day it happens is not of top importance. Now, three decades into this habit and I can definitely see the benefits of starting the day out in quiet time. For me, a cup of coffee is tantemount to being able to pull of any successful moments of quiet reflection. Am I successful each day? No, but giving myself the grace to let go of my shortcomings and start again as soon as I can has been helpful.
Whatever your purpose for starting your own quiet time, I hope you have much success in your endeavor. My desire is for these tips to help motivate and guide you. Share with me in the comments any tips or tricks that have been beneficial to your own quiet time journey.
5 Daily Habits for Healthy Eating
Eating healthy may seem overwhelming or like an insurmountable tasks; however, establishing healthy eating habits creates positive outcomes in your life. With the implementation of 5 daily habits for healthy eating, you will see an improvement in your overall health.
1. Take a multivitamin.
Multivitamins provide nutrients that your body might be lacking. For me, Vitamin D and C are two vitamins that I need more of in my body. When I take a daily multivitamin, my energy levels noticably improve. Of course, the addition of raw fruits and vegetables will also increase the nutrients available to your body. While the increase in energy levels is wonderful, I will caution against taking any vitamins on an empty stomach. Please eat a full meal before taking vitamins in order to reduce the possibility of nausea and always consult your doctor before taking any new vitamin or supplement.
2. Drink water.
Sure this habit is a no brainer but if you are like me and not a huge fan of water, you might want to get creative in how to get your water intake higher. Setting a goal for how many ounces you will drink per day, using a pretty water bottle, or adding a no sugar sweetener to your water might be ways to make drinking water daily an easy habit. Since reducing sugar in my diet, I find that I am reaching more for water and allowing myself one Coke Zero per day.
There is a drink that Trim Healthy Mama created called “Good Girl Moonshine” and it has water, apple cider vinegar, ground ginger, and stevia in it. I’ve made it with a flavored tea to give it extra punch. This drink is a healthy sipper and also helps with weight loss – the apple cider vinegar can help to invigorate your metabolism.
3. Plan ahead.
This habit is CRUCIAL to my success. Creating a meal plan the weekend before the next week helps me keep on track for healthy eating. Designating specific times to create meals and snacks saves me from becoming too hungry and eating anything in sight. With the proper preparation, I already know what my next meal or snack will be. I have sat down with my own schedule and written in meals and snacks; however, I believe you could use a calendar as well.
Part of my planning includes researching various healthy eating sites via Pinterest and Instagram for meal and snack inspiration. My favorite is when I can find a Trim Healthy Mama weekly meal plan and pull meal ideas from it. In 2022, I set a goal of providing 365 different meals for my family. This task definitely required planning ahead! You can read all about it here.
I recently discovered The Peachie Spoon on Instagram and love the variety of recipes she has that help stabilize blood sugar levels. 4. Eat every 3 hours.
Trim Healthy Mama is the eating plan that I am most closely adhering to and one of its pillars of success is the habit of eating every 3 hours. This time frame allows your body to process the food from the previous meal without overloading its systems.
When I create my meal plan, I write out the times I will be having my meals and snacks. Typically I have a meal at: 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. My 6:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and my 6:00 p.m. times are for meals and the other times are for snacks. The key to success is pairing either fats with protein or carbohydrates with protein but NO MIXING fats, carbs, and protein. I highly recommend the Trim Healthy Mama book. The sisters that wrote the book spent years in research on ways to provide the best nutrition to your body.
As an Amazon Associate, I may be eligible to earn commission on viable links. 5. Celebrate the wins.
Making healthier choices is hard. Celebrating each little win is a great habit to establish daily. Do you feel more energized? That’s a win. Did you lose half a pound? Consider that a win. Are you able to think more clearly? Another win. Celebrate your ability to grow and change for the better. This is a habit to incorporate in every aspect of life!
By implementing these 5 daily habits for healthy eating: take a multivitamin, drink water, plan ahead, eat every 3 hours, and celebrate the wins, you are sure to feel the positive results in your body!
2024: What’s Hot, What’s Not
It’s the first week of a new year and so far, I am off to a great start. I’m already tackling one of my two goals: write 52 blog posts. This should be interesting considering last year’s blog posts topped out around 11. Read along as I outline what’s hot and what’s not in the world of creating New Year’s goals.
What’s Hot
Before I jump into the key features of what makes a goal “hot”, maybe I should share my second goal for the year: run a 5k. In revealing my second goal, I’m highlighting the first point of what’s hot: a simplified focus. In looking at an entire beautiful year of possibilities, determine a simplified focus for something (or things) you would like to accomplish. Having just two goals: writing 52 blog posts and running a 5k provide PLENTY of opportunities for me to hammer out some success in these areas.
Another hot item for 2024: a positive mindset. The older I become, the more aware I am of the power of a positive mindset. If I only had my power of observation as a resource than I can still readily provide examples of wonderful progression towards success from individuals with a positive mindset. Those that are willing to see the positive in each situation also seem to possess the ability to encourage others to see the positive outcome possibilities.
And lastly on my what’s hot list is inspiration. Being able to draw inspiration from others is a definite motivator when tackling your own goals. I’ve included one of my absolute favorite inspiration accounts on Instagram in the image below. For another of my all time favorite inspiration accounts, check Lauren out here.
A Bowl Full of Lemons is one account that consistently provides me with inspiration to tackle my goals. What’s Not
Too many goals is NOT a hot item to have in the new year. Admittedly, I fell victim to this last year. My idea was to target a different challenge each month and allow them to build on each other over the course of the year. In theory, I would arrive at the end of the year with 12 habits in my life. While I am still incorporating the habit I started with in January 2023 (daily devotional time), the other 11 challenges are spotty habits at best. Setting too many goals is too much for obvious reasons.
Another not hot feature is unreasonable timelines. In 2024, build in abundant time to hit your goals. For example, my goal for the entire year is to run a 5k not run a 5k every other month. A 5k is not a great distance but I want to do this well and feel like it is going to take months for me to build up the ability to run the entire 3.2 miles. And while 52 blog posts roughly translates into one blog post a week, the beauty of this goal is, I can write as many blog posts as I want in a week and schedule them to publish whenever I desire.
For my final what’s not hot about New Year’s goals is: a negative outlook. As I age, I am learning to avoid this whenever possible! I am finding a fascination with people who turn from the negative in order to focus on the positive and the results are amazing! There’s no room in your New Year’s goals for negativity.
Well, there you have it: what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to New Year’s goals. If you are curious about some of my past goals, you can read up on what I did in 2022 here.
