Now...the money is gone.

We didn't take a vacation this summer. There were a number of reasons for this, number one being that the good people at Princeton voted to have our first semester end before Christmas this year so we have to start school WAY earlier than normal. We won't mention the fact that the vote took place via a website that was only active for one hour and if you didn't check your email during that hour you didn't get to vote...that's another story...and one I probably won't elaborate upon in this forum.

But that's not the point. We saved some serious coin by not going on vacation this summer. Couple that with the fact that we didn't have to pay the sitter for 3 months, and the Good to Go family is sitting on quite a nice little nest egg by mid August. They say money is the number one reason for divorce, and my spending style and that of my husband's are quite different. He's a spender and I'm a saver. This summer however, confident that the money I'm tucking away from each paycheck will be enough to educate the kids in a couple of years, I decided to go ahead and splurge and spend the cash we had saved.

No...no new wardrobe, no shoes, purses or extreme makeover...a couple of nice things for the house though: a Dyson vacuum and a Tempurpedic mattress. Way more money than I ever thought I'd spend on a vacuum or a bed, but wow - no buyer's remorse here.

For the past two years, I have gone to bed each night with a heating pad tucked under my back. I wake up in amazing pain, needing to stretch my back immediately and during my morning walks, I spend two or three minutes stopping and stretching as well. It was actually getting to the point where I thought I should go to a doctor to see what was going on. I also haven't slept through the night for about 2 years either. If I shifted while sleeping, it hurt enough to wake me. If my husband shifted, it would wake me. If the dog moved...you guessed it, it would wake me. Our mattress was crap. COMPLETE CRAP.

We started shopping for new mattresses about a year ago. It looked like we'd be spending about $2000 (at least) and I was having issues spending that much money to replace a mattress that was only a couple of years old...so we were stalling. Finally, we took the time to really shop, to take a look at all the options, to look up opinions online, and to figure out what we needed. The Tempurpedic Mattress was exactly what we were looking for. We've slept on it for the past 5 nights and I've never felt better. I have only woke up in the middle of the night for the following reasons: I had to pee and I dreamt about cockroaches one night. I don't think I can blame that on the mattress.

My back doesn't hurt anymore. My hips don't hurt. I think I'm putting the heating pad back in the linen closet this weekend. Last night I was sitting in bed, typing up something for school and the little one hopped (literally) into bed with me and I didn't even feel it! Everything they say about this bed is correct. No buyer's remorse here...I am thrilled with this purchase.

We also bought a Dyson vacuum. In the 18 years we've been married, we've probably owned about 10 different vacuums each costing between $89 and $129 and they have sucked...oh wait...they only sucked for about 3-4 months and then they quit sucking. So, we did more research, and purchased the Dyson. We did not pay the extra $100 for the Dyson ball - I figured I could handle the lack of steering since I didn't know any better. Again, no buyer's remorse. This vacuum sucks so hard we had to clear the canister twice while vacuuming the downstairs alone. It was great...and I'm hoping it continues to be great.

So...the money is gone. The nice little nest egg is depleted...but, man my back feels great and my floors are SO clean.

I think I'll be okay.

PS. Happy 20th Birthday, Annie!