Before last week, I had only been to border towns in Mexico. This is the off-season but I was dying to take an impulsive trip somewhere and after seeing those $500 Air and Hotel included commercials on TV, I decided to look into it. Later that night, for $600 each, my friend and I were both booked for a 5 day trip to fly from Minneapolis to Cancun and stay at a small, pretty resort on the strip. Being my first big low-budget impulse trip, I was happy to find that everything ended up being far more affordable than I had ever thought it could be. We did, however, learn a few ways to do things better and really maximize on the experience.

"""In one sentence, StevenL spells out the problem that many have with converting to a fiscally responsible mindset. If you’re earning $80,000 a year, shouldn’t you be living an $80,000 lifestyle? The actual truth of the matter is that well-managed personal finance means that by living below your means now, you can live beyond your wildest dreams in the future. Perhaps an example will clearly illustrate this principle."""

How many times have you gone to the grocery store and found yourself in the frozen pizza isle looking at signs that say, "5 for $10" or "3 for $9" for 12" pizzas? Do you usually eat these by yourself? I work from home and often times will throw a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. Normally I eat about three-quarters of the pizza, complain to myself about how I just overate a little and then I throw the rest out. Today I found myself about to do the exact same thing but then something dawned on me. I checked the nutritional info on the pizza and saw that the whole pizza was 900 calories. That's too much for me just for lunch. Many pizzas are even higher. For one second I wished I had bought smaller pizzas so I wouldn't be throwing any away, but then I had an idea on how to solve this problem easily - and it's not something I've ever seen anyone do before!