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After much discussion about whether or not we could financially justify a summer vacation, we decided in favor and took a trip to the shore this week. We cut our vacation down to 4 nights because we spent a lot of money sending our 3 kids to summer sleepaway camp this year.

When going on a family vacation, there are certain things that I will compromise on and other things are non-negotiable. Obviously the room has to be super clean (the key word being "room", thus camping is definitely out of the question. Aside from that, if we're going to the shore, the hotel must be directly on the beach, the room large enough to accommodate a family of 5 (we don't want to pay for 2 rooms) and it must have a pool. A washer and dryer is nice too but I can deal without it if needed. We have long ago realized that the words "luxury" and "family vacation" do not belong in the same sentence. So aside from those few things, we feel we're pretty simple and budget conscious.

So what did this simple 4 nights/5 days mini vacation cost us? A whopping $1800!!! That doesn't include the back to school clothes we purchased for the kids at the factory outlets we visited one rainy day. How did we ring up a $1600 bill? It was really quite easy. Actually what was hard was not ringing up a $2000 bill! Here you go:

Hotel $665 (4 nights)

Gas/Tolls $140

Food $650 (including dining out, groceries, snacks)

Entertainment $137 (go karts, mini golf etc)

Dog Sitter $200

Total $1792

Was it worth the $450 per night? Definitely. Our children are getting older and soon won't want to go on vacation with us, in fact our 14 year old came along kicking and screaming because he wanted to stay home and "hang out" with his friends. But more importantly, these are the experiences and memories they will remember forever and reminisce about with their own children. They're not going to remember the latest PS2 game or I touch or the latest style of sneakers they just had to have. Those are just things that will fade as fast as they came in. But the experiences we provide them with now will shape and mold their future and hopefully make them finer individuals (ok I can be hopeful!). If these little "mini vacations" accomplish that then they are definitely worth it.

What do you think? Do you sometimes spend ridiculous amounts of money on "experiences"?

Summer Vacation: Here's the Cost