Suzen, I do own a condo and pay a mortgage and property taxes. But, if for any reason I could no longer pay the mortgage and/or taxes, because I do own it, I have the option to sell it. Then I wouldn't have to pay a mortgage and/or taxes anymore. And, if the mortgage was already paid off, I'd make a nice little profit to boot! Or, another option available because I own it... I could rent it and use the rent money to pay the mortgage and/or taxes. Or, if I still had a mortgage bigger than it was worth, I could give it back to the back and contribute to the bad economy. Thankfully because of my personal ethics and money managment skills I haven't put myself in that kind of position though.
As for saving for vacation... I'm planning two JA trips this year so have had to tighten my belt more than usual. I created a budget spreadsheet, figured out how much I could have for "spending money" each week (which includes all food, groceries, entertainment, and misc. shopping). Everything else from utilities to gasoline was in the budget. I put away my credit cards, take out my "spending money" in cash from the bank every Friday and that's it. Once it's gone it's gone. Have only had one week so far when I was completely out of money before the end of the week. Brought lunch to work and ate what I had left at home. I can splurge or scrimp as I see fit depending on what is left in the wallet. If I have a scrimp week one week, the xtra cash rolls over into the next week and I might have enough to splurge on something else. But I'm always within budget knowing I'm saving enough to pay for the two trips.
