Our Travel Essentials

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We are on an adventure to travel all fifty states. Whereas there will be some states we can turn into a day trip, there will be several states we cannot. In thinking ahead of our travels, we tried to think of travel essentials we may need. The first essential we came to is the LOVEVOOK Travel Backpack. 

The LOVEVOOK Travel Backpack is TSA approved and can be used as a personal item or carry on.

Although it is designed as a backpack, it is essentially a wearable suitcase. This backpack has a ton of storage, including four main compartments, a separate laptop compartment, two packing cubes and a shoe bag. One of the best features of this backpack is the main compartment opens like a suitcase and is equipped with straps to hold your clothes in place.

We have used our backpacks for a couple of trips now and thoroughly enjoy them. TikTok shop stated this backpack would be good for a five-day trip, however, we think four days is the maximum.

Our next travel essential are portable fans. We plan to do a lot of hiking, or our version of hiking. Some of our trips will be in summer and the temperatures will be sweltering. We purchased portable travel fans that we can wear on our hikes.

We have tested them out and think they will be useful, though not as powerful as we expected.

Another fan that may be worth trying is the JISULIFE portable fan. I watched some reviews, and it seems to be a lot more powerful.

We are beyond excited for our adventures that lie ahead. As we find more essentials, we will make sure to provide reviews.

Hodgenville, KY - State # 1

 Our adventure began on July 24 to Hodgenville, KY. We took a daytrip to Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace National Historic Park. I did not know this existed until we started researching things to do in Kentucky. Kentucky is known for its horse racing and bourbon, which we were not really interested in. We stumbled upon Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace and knew that it was the winner.

It took us about four hours to get there. Our original plan was to visit the park first and then grab lunch afterwards, but we were both starved by the time we got there, so we grabbed lunch first. Hodgenville is a really small town with a population of 3,333, so there were not a lot of options. We ate at Laha's Red Castle, which is pronounced lay-hays. This is a family-owned business that has been voted as the best hamburger in Kentucky.  It is a very small diner, but the staff were very friendly. We highly recommend getting the double deluxe burger.

After lunch we headed to Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace. When we arrived, we jumped right into a tour with a park ranger. 

We spent about an hour in the park and most of that time was on the tour. There isn't much to see outside of the tour. It was recommended to visit the Knob Creek location, but we opted not to. The Birthplace is home to the first Lincoln Memorial. We learned there are 56 steps leading up to the memorial because that is how old he was when he was assassinated. There are sixteen columns and windows as he was the sixteenth president. Inside the memorial is a log cabin that is a replica of his childhood home. We also got to see the springs where he would have had his first sip of water.

After visiting his birthplace, I had plans of stopping by Mammoth Cave National Park, but we ran out of time. We hope to go back and visit as it seems like a really neat place.

On the way home we were able to find a gift shop to get a souvenir and some postcards. If you'd like to receive a postcard from us head over to our Patreon and join our friend group.

We would recommend visiting Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace if you are near the area or love history. 

Cost Breakdown:

Gas - $28.50

Food - $31.64 (the breakdown is as follows: Laha's Red Castle was $13.06, snacks at the gas station $7.55, and snacks at Dollar General $11.03)

Souvenirs - $21.60 (Marvel mug $10, Christmas ornament $6.99 , postcards $.99)

Total cost: $81.74

Let us know if you decide to visit any of these places. 

Big Announcement

 About four years ago, Maddy and I started making plans to travel to New York City during the Christmas season. This has been one of my bucket list items for a long time.

 While making plans to travel, we decided we wanted to visit all fifty states. We did not have a timeline; we just knew we wanted to visit all fifty states at some point in our life. 

At the time these plans were made we had a house and debt. Our rental house was sold in 2022, and we had to move in with my parents. We were sad to lose our home, but at the same time we knew it was all in God's plan. Not only did we want to travel to all fifty states, but we also wanted to purchase our first home. When we moved in with my parents, I was able to pay off debt fairly quick. Once debt was paid off, we started saving for our first house. We threw everything we could into house savings. After a year of saving, we felt we had enough saved for the house price we could actually afford. 

During one of our walks, we decided it was time to live our best life. What does live your best life mean? To us, it meant be intentional with our time. It also meant to have as much fun as possible within our means, which led us back to our goal of traveling all fifty states. 

Without further ado, our big announcement is we are traveling all fifty states! We have until July 2028 to complete this goal. Will we be able to complete it? We certainly hope so! We plan to post our adventures on YouTube at Heather Vlogs Life. We also to plan to write about our adventures here.

We look forward to the days ahead! Our hope is you will see that you too can live your best life. 

How We Got Out of Debt

If you read our "We Lost Our Home" post, you know our rental was sold and the new owners wanted to live in it. There were a few things I did not include in that post.

For example, when we moved into our home, I did not have a budget set up. I already had some debt when we moved in, but that debt would just keep growing. Towards the end of 2019 I was financially frustrated. I wanted to travel but was held back due to financial struggles. I wanted to purchase a house but was unable to due to finances. I was frustrated to the point that I decided to deep dive into the Budget Mom's Budget by Paycheck method.

I finally put a budget together and started saving for things like Christmas and birthdays. It was so nice to not stress about Christmas finally. I did run into an issue of not wanting to spend the money when it was time, but I quickly got over it. If you think you do not have any money to save after bills are paid, I beg to differ. I thought the same thing until I started the budgeting process. 

When I first started out, I started using cash only for variable expenses. Food was the main variable expense we had. It was already a very tight budget, but I decided to do what the Budget Mom did; I took the change and placed it in a separate savings jar. At the end of the first year, I had saved $100 just in change. That showed me I really could save more than I thought. 

Once I got the hang of the process, I went back to using my debit card as it was easier. That would end my change savings, but that did not mean saving was done. The Budget Mom used to create savings challenges for a small fee. I decided it was worth the price and for two years used her challenges to save money. At the end of the year, I would take the money saved and apply it to debt.

Once we lost our house that freed up quite a bit of money. I still had bills, but nothing compared to what I did have. I was able to pay off the last of my consumer debt within a few months of moving in with my parents. It felt amazing to be consumer debt free. Whereas I was consumer debt free, I still had some family loans to pay off.

One of the most asked questions in finance is whether one should use the snowball or avalanche method. I am not an expert in finance, nor am I a financial advisor, but I can tell you what worked best for me. In the beginning, I used the snowball method for a quick victory. My debt ranged from hundreds to thousands. With the snowball method you order your debt from least to greatest. As you pay off one debt you apply the payment to the next debt. I chose to use this method until I reached the higher debt amounts. Once I reached the higher debt, I switched over to the avalanche method. With the avalanche method you order debt based on interest rates and attack the higher interest rates first. 

Once my consumer debt was paid off, I switched back to the snowball method and just applied the full debt payment to family loans. I used the rest of my paycheck, outside of bills, to start our house savings. In one sense it felt so good to be able to start saving for a house, but in another sense it felt impossible. 

If you are stuck in debt and want out, my advice is to create a bare bones budget. A bare bones budget consists of only necessities needed each month. What can you get rid of temporarily to apply to your debt? Does your paycheck cover your bare bones budget? If it doesn't you need to find a way to bring in extra money or lower living costs. Once you have your bare bones budget, you can cut costs and apply the money saved to your debt.

We have built up our house savings enough to be able to purchase a house within our budget. We have somewhat halted our house savings as we have a big announcement to share with you all. Make sure to come back next week to see what it is!

My Amazon Favorites

 I thought I'd share some of my favorite things from Amazon.

I recently purchased a vlog camera. I was looking for a good travel case for it. After searching around, I decided to try the one below. I can say from experience it has been an amazing case. I love that it will hold my tripod, charger, extra batteries, and wind screen. I also love the shoulder strap as it made carrying it around while on vacation super easy.  

The other purchase I have been loving are the charger and extra batteries for my camera. Sony did not include a charger with this camera, which is so frustrating. Just like the Canon G7X, this camera runs through batteries fairly fast. I was skeptical about this purchase, but it has been fantastic. The batteries work with the camera and the charger works great. I have noticed the charger is slow at charging when plugged up to the computer, but if it is plugged into the wall it seemed to charge faster.

My last favorite for now has been the tripod I bought for my phone. This is actually the second phone tripod I've bought. The first one had a ring light attached to it. The ring light broke fairly quick and it seemed to constantly struggle to keep my phone straight. It also did not withstand wind well. I decided to give this one a try, and it has been great. I've been using it since April of this year, and it has only fallen once due to wind. I do not struggle with the phone holder being straight and it has felt sturdy. 

These are the things I have bought fairly recently that I have been loving. I like to share products that I have personally bought. 

If there is anything we can help you find, please feel free to reach out by either leaving a comment or sending an email to savingsmakesense@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Links listed here may be affiliate links. When you use them to make a purchase, we may receive a small commission. However, this is at NO additional charge to you.

Savings Makes Cents

 My mom and I have started a business together called Savings Makes Cents. Basically, we look for deals for you, so you don't have to. It is a very new business that is still a work in progress. We hope you will follow us over on Instagram and if you are looking for something specific feel free to comment or send us a direct message and we will do our best to find the best deal. 

The holidays are coming up and we look forward to putting together gift guides to help make shopping a little easier. I hope to bring some of the deals we find over to the blog, but it is busy season at work, so time is very limited.

Abeka Homeschool Curriculum

I don't know about you, but I feel like we did not get a summer. It seemed like we got a lot of rain, and the temps were pretty low. 

Maddy started her first week of school on July 31. Our goal is to be done before public-school kids. This year we are actually getting done about two weeks later than usual, but neither of us wanted to start any earlier. 

We chose to try Abeka's homeschool video streaming this year. After the first day I had a lot of thoughts. Some good some not so good.

The videos are amazing. The teachers do a phenomenal job teaching and engaging the video students. The curriculum itself is very rigorous. 

The main reason we switched to video streaming is because my job has become a lot more demanding than past years, and I needed something she could take charge of. With this new curriculum she is able to take charge for the most part.

The problem is the way the curriculum is designed. It is set up like a public school, and we both dislike that a lot. Before each video there is some classwork assigned. The video does not tell the students to do the work, but only checks the answers. Before she starts each video, I have to tell her what to do before turning on the video and then she can take it from there. The videos are about 40-45 minutes long. Once the video is done homework is assigned. I don't feel homework should be assigned in a homeschool curriculum. I mean technically everything she does is homework. I would like to see Abeka redesign the homeschool curriculum to be more in line with homeschool, not public school.

One thing I do like about the curriculum is I feel it will adequately prepare her for college. Her grades come from quizzes, tests/exams, and projects. She is not used to having so many tests, but I am seeing a huge improvement in her learning. The material that is covered is extremely difficult. Hearing her answer the teacher's questions as they review each day makes this mama proud. 

I am trying to figure out what we can cut out because the workload is not necessary. So far, we have only cut out one book for literature. I've been able to cut out some of the homework. 

She is on her fourth week of school now and is starting to adjust more and more. She is struggling to remember everything in history, but I know she will pull through just fine.

We will probably stick with Abeka throughout high school. I do not want to trial and error through those years. Abeka is a lot to handle, but I think she will learn what she needs to in order to succeed in life. I hope to do an unboxing next year, so stay tuned!