Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Camping Edition

By: Sara

Sara — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:02:45 +0000

One of the ways I save money when camping is to plan the meals out for the entire trip and make sure we only buy the items on the list.

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:26:47 +0000

Trent never said he didn’t take regular, non-working vacations – he said that by working on some vacations, they get to take more of them. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

By: kristine

kristine — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:35:59 +0000

Wow- I’d be seriously peeved if my hubby took his laptop into the woods when we camp. You can’t get away from it all if you bring “the all” with you into the tent. The is a difference between work ethic and work paranoia. No one is so indispensable they cannot take a vacation.

It is a worthwhile exercise in life, and in marriage, to have nothing at all but yourself and your partner (or family), and the great outdoors. No electronic crutches for lulls or free time or rainy days can lead to the best conversations and moments you will ever have.

By: Esme

Esme — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:15:47 +0000

Amazing how some people will look for any absurd little thing to criticize someone about. Even a simple innocent ‘I love camping with my family ‘ post has to be picked on in some way. Pack of jackals, I tell ya…

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:52:37 +0000

@Vanessa: There’s also a plus side to having a small kitchen: You’re not tempted to overfill it with stuff (food and equipment) that you can’t reasonably use just for the sake of filling all the cabinets. You’re less likely to lose or forget about the stuff you do buy. And everything you need is more or less within arm’s reach.

Do you *want* to learn to cook? If so, I encourage you to give it a try. Don’t worry too much about maximizing efficiency. Cooking shows on TV these days may give the impression that cooking is all about doing a million complicated things, and doing them all perfectly all the time, but that’s not reality at all. Every home cook makes mistakes sometimes, and does some things that aren’t perfectly efficient. (You do get better with practice, though.)

If you’re trying to figure out how to get started, the tips in the linked article are really good: Start with some really simple stuff and go from there. And cut yourself plenty of slack to mess up once in a while.

By: tentaculistic

tentaculistic — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:04:33 +0000

I really liked today’s links, I read one and then browsed around for more on the linked websites. I especially found ZenHabits to be thought-provoking. The bit about the cooking learning curve is so spot on… I would never consider myself an accomplished cook (no really, I’m not!), but my learning curve happened just like that. Pre-packaged frozen “skillet meals”, then Let’s Dish frozen meals I assembled from pre-cut fresh ingredients at their store following recipes, then getting super simple recipes, then experimenting just a little, and then going for slightly more complicated ones.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:03:13 +0000

I don’t cook more for a number of reasons. I have a tiny rental kitchen with little counter space and I’m unsure of the best way to arrange it to maximize efficiency. I also hate clean up. I don’t have a dishwasher and I hate washing dishes. If you enjoy cooking (and eating) you’ll find a way to make it work. But if you don’t, a tiny kitchen is a big deterrent to learning to cook.

By: jackie.n

jackie.n — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:49:08 +0000

i agree with steven. even the ONLY restaurant in my parent’s small hometown shuts down for 2 weeks in the summer. shuts completely down. you employ one person–you–take a break.

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:39:25 +0000

So if you’re dragging your laptop along with you wherever you go, when do you take a vacation? I have to be honest, it seems like an addiction…

Surely people would understand if you said you were taking a week off from blogging to take a family vacation without distraction. Maybe you’d have more time if you only posted one post a day, or took weekends off, or both. I think it would improve the quality of your posts as well as give you more freedom to enjoy time with your family (which is the whole point of working from home, right?)

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:35:06 +0000

I would like to camp but it is just too hot where I live during the summer. I can’t live without my a/c when it’s 100 degrees and seriously humid outside. I’m spoiled.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:24:53 +0000

As a child my wife would go camping. Her family was financially chanllenged so reading this article make sense why camping was the highlight of her summer.

By: hasan

hasan — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:55:08 +0000

I could not help myself to always give praise to you, once again you really Excellent and you become an example for all men and fathers the True

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:49:54 +0000

Hi, greetings
After reading an article you created, it looks like you are someone who can give more to the family. And you had a husband and father who became peer, you are worthy of holding up the thumb Extraordinary

By: sutta

sutta — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:43:23 +0000

Camping activities, I also never do it. Indeed, activities that can make us calm and our minds so Fress. Moreover, if we stress during work. I should be proud of you, because it can set a good time following a family, it’s good.

By: hasan

hasan — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:34:46 +0000

Looks like you have a harmonious family, and you also have the free time to write this article. I am very proud. Can share tips so I can spend some time also to make writing like you.

By: Sonja

Sonja — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:11:53 +0000

*Could NOT deal with diapers, I meant to say.

By: Sonja

Sonja — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:11:11 +0000

Camping is great family activity and it is a great group activity, too, for extended family and/or friends with kids in the same age range as your own. I always enjoyed it but the Hamms are much more adverturous than I am…I could deal with diapers in a tent.

By: marta

marta — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:57:53 +0000

Ha! Johanna, it seems that I wasn’t the only one who remembered that detail…

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:48:31 +0000

Your link to the Cooking Learning Curve one made me laugh, because Coq Au Vin is actually one of the simplest meals to cook. It’s basically a ‘brown chicken, throw everything in a pot’ sort of meal. The only real secret is using fresh/quality ingredients.

Now, I love to cook, but I’ve read enough from people don’t to know that there are a LOT more reasons that people don’t than simple intimidation and I kinda find that article weird in general. Because I know a lot of people who don’t cook, but I’ve never heard of them using the ‘I can’t make [extremely complicated dish] as the reason why.’

For example, one of my friends is an attorney – she’s often working 10+ hours every day and even on weekends, comes home exhausted, and just doesn’t have the time and inclination to cook. And when she does, she hasn’t gone shopping in a couple of weeks and any produce she’s bought has gone bad.

I know other people who just honest-to-goodness don’t enjoy cooking. Not just the cleaning up part (which is the part I hate) but in general, because they find it boring or they have sensory issues and are disgusted by handling raw meat but have no inclination to go veg.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:41:11 +0000

Are these the camping trips where you pull the leaves off the trees to put them under your sleeping bag? “Roaming around in the woods” for me, but not for thee, I guess.