Here’s the short version: We took out a $10,000 personal line of credit to buy a vending business last year. Since then we had paid it down to $7,000. (We could have paid it off sooner, but instead of making principle payments as we had originally planned, we went out to eat … a lot.) It showed up as a credit card on my credit reports and every month Bank of America (BofA) would send me checks that I could write to deposit more funds into my checking account from this line of credit.

Well, before we left Brooklyn CM was running ragged trying to find a buyer for the business. I think the ever-increasing gas prices made people wary of what was otherwise a very good deal. We didn’t blog about it because it didn’t seem central to the point of the blog.

So on the last day before we left, we got a buyer and we sold the vending route for exactly $7000. Well we had decided to pay back $5000, keep $2000 for backup, and transfer another $2000 when we got to Hawaii because everything is so expensive. $4000 in debt didn’t seem too horrible considering this was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

Fast forward to yesterday — I called BofA to make a transfer into my checking account and my request was DENIED. They said my debt/income ratio was too high. I was flabbergasted because not only had I not gotten any new credit since last year, but I had paid all of my credit cards off! Besides, since when is your credit reviewed every time you try to charge something? What would have happened had I tried to deposit one of those checks they keep sending me?

I asked how long was it going to be before I could access the money and they sales associate told me 4-6 months!!! What good is a line of credit that you can’t use for 4-6 months?!? CM & I made a quick decision to just close the account. That way I can get the full $10k off of my credit report.

By the way, we also thought that making such a huge payment on the principle would lower our monthly payments — WRONG!! I found out yesterday that our high payments are staying the same, my giant payment only shortened the amount of payments I have to make.

(If this is my short version, I’d hate to see the long version…) So, now CM and I are in Hawaii with only $1200 left in cash. If we were hanging out at the beach, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but before we left Brooklyn CM let me know how excited he was to see the volcano. (He doesn’t get excited about a lot of things.) The trip to see the volcano is going to cost $900. I, the CFO (Chief Financial Officer), came up with a budget to still go see the volcano and only charge $500 or so on a regular credit card.

CM is dead set against it. This other card has twice of the interest rate of BofA’s. We didn’t speak much last night, just a series of glares back and forth.

Culture Sidebar: In Hawaii a mean look is called “stink eye”. An example sentence: CM gave me stink eye all night because I wanted to use a credit card to pay for our trip.

Arguments/disagreements about money can really spoil a vacation. It’s 6:30 am here, and I’m watching the sun rise over the ocean and trying to get back into the spirit, but I’m torn. We might not make it back to Hawaii again, so why not stretch to see the volcano? Even if it does mean 1 or 2 unwise financial decisions?

Daily Wisdom: Don’t go on a trip until you have all of the money for it in the bank. Otherwise, you’re asking for it.

What would you do? Give up and just hang out at the beach for 4 more days or would you throw caution to the wind and go see an active volcano??

Besides that, the majority of our money was spent on food today. We didn’t stop for gas at all, so our numbers are relatively low:

Snacks = $3.87
Dinner and Breakfast groceries = $24.25
1 Dozen Dunkin Donuts (because we went shopping on empty stomachs) = $5.69
Camp site = $20
Total spent today = $53.81

In my opinion, there are 3 major factors to consider when choosing an RV:

1. Budget – This single factor can go a long way in helping you narrow your selection. If you can only get financing for $75,000, then you shouldn’t waste your time looking at $300,000 RVs. Luckily, (depending on how you look at it), RVs are like cars and they lose a lot of their value when they are driven off of the lot. Therefore if you have your eye a $300,000 new model, you should be able to find a used one that’s two or three years old for $150,000 – $200,000, maybe even less if you look in the right places.

2. Destination – Remember Microsoft’s old slogan, “Where do you want to go today?” CM and I eventually want to go RVing in Europe. Having spent some time in Italy, we know that the roads are very narrow. That meant that we needed an RV that was both narrow and short. When looking at different RVs, keep in mind where you will be driving it.

3. Time – How much time do you plan on spending in the RV? When we first started thinking about RVs, we wanted a Toyota RV. We liked them because they are small, they get good gas mileage and we are fans of Japanese engines. Toyota RVs were made during the 80s and the 90s, and as a result, they are very inexpensive. However, after visiting 3 different ones that were for sale locally, we decided that while they would be great for weekend excursions, they were too small for extended trips. So try to figure out how often you plan on using your RV and take that into consideration when choosing an RV.

While there are many other factors that helped us to choose our RV, I would say that these three carried the most weight.

Tonight we went to Ikea to look for RV supplies – bad idea. I had forgotten how much that store makes me drool over furniture. Every time we go there, without fail, we spend at least $200. Considering that we go there nearly every other week that’s a huge expense. You know you have a problem if you have to have a category called “Ikea” in your monthly budget.

As soon as we got there Widget and Midget asked to go to their play area. We signed them in and were told that we only had 30-minutes instead of the usual hour because they were closing early. CM and I had to be fast and focused, but before I knew it we were trying out new couches and trying to get measurements of entertainment centers. Again, we were considering ditching the RV idea and just refurnishing our place with this awesome new furniture!

Eventually we got our act together and headed over to the kitchen section. They have really great storage systems for tiny kitchens, but what they also have is AWESOME kitchens! Again, I was swept away and started looking at the different cabinet options. That’s even more ridiculous than looking at couches because I can’t switch out the cabinets in my apartment!

The buzzing pager from the play area telling us it was time to pick up the kids snapped us back into reality. Feeling ashamed (because we had totally lost sight of our goal), weak (because we’re always so quick to ditch the RV idea), and sad (because we REALLY REALLY liked that entertainment center) we walked out of Ikea empty handed. Something we hadn’t done in the last 4 years.