Cruisewear Dress = $3

I think I can stop buying dresses now. I went to the second Vintage Value location today and bought the above stretchy knit dress for $3 ($3.18 with tax). It's the exclusive "George" brand - only available in the finest Walmart's in the country.

LOL! I do like it though. It's very stretchy so it's almost like wearing a full body girdle. Which I should look into buying anyway. Will especially need it after eating the cruise food. I have been doing good lately though, trying to ride my bike everyday and drinking that tasteless stuff called water.

The last cruise I was on was when I was pregnant with Jacob. (We got quite the deal on that one - 7 nights for $250 a person. We bought it online, on an auction website that is no longer in business).

Going on a cruise may seem like an extravagance, but believe me, I don't go overboard in spending. Haha - get it? I made a funny. There are ways to save a cruise and here's what we've done.

Don't go crazy drinking drinks. I remember the first cruise we were on, we met other couples around our age and they said this was their "trip of a lifetime" so they were going to live it up. Getting their drinks in the glasses that you keep as a souvenir (the kind of glasses I see showing up at thrift stores from time to time). Their bar bill was equal to the cost of their cruise. Meanwhile, I was saying to myself I don't want this to be a "trip of a lifetime" - I want it to be just one of MANY trips that I take like this. This upcoming trip will be Cruise #5 for me.

I don't spend my money on the cruise ship - there's many ways they try to get you to spend. The casino, art auctions, playing bingo, shopping on board. Eating in "specialized" dining rooms which cost extra, buying shore excursions, spa services and on and on. But they also have activities that don't cost anything - food demonstrations, napkin folding class (yes, I took a napkin folding class once), using fitness room etc.

Then once we get to our destination, we usually head out on our own. Instead of buying "shore excursions" on the ship, you can find pretty much the same activities but only cheaper if you wait and get to the island. For instance when we were at the Cayman Islands, the ship had a shore excursion to go to go swimming with the stingrays for an exorbitant cost ($100?? or so, I don't remember). Once you get on the island, we saw taxi drivers holding signs saying they would do the same tour for $40.

I don't really plan on buying a lot of souvenirs. I also have my free Royal Caribbean bingo shirt that I got a few weeks ago at a yardsale. And Jacob already has a pirate t-shirt with "Bermuda" on it.