Madolyn Thinks

The Sat Nav shouting out that we were to stay on one road in a straight line for one hundred and ninety three miles still blows my mind!

We arrived with ease and checked into our Air BnB, which happened to be a suite in The Palms Hotel and oh my, was that a game changer! We were located on the twenty-second floor and because we were a five minute drive from the strip, we had some incredible views out of our balcony window. If the views weren’t enough, we had a little kitchenette, a Jacuzzi bath with a walk in shower and a TV in the bathroom! The bed was amazingly comfortable and the hotel offered a free shuttle to the strip throughout the day. I would really recommend considering The Palms if you are ever in need of accommodation in Vegas. 

Drinks – Vegas, known for it’s gambling, is also well known for its drink culture. All of the Casinos are filled with bars and it is even legal to buy alcohol and walk the streets of Vegas, drinking as you go. Whilst you’re gambling in the casinos and as long as you have credit in the machines, drinks are on the house and brought to you. This is something we took full advantage of (even with our dollar bets!) although I was often opting for a diet coke or a hot chocolate – I know, I can’t believe how crazy I am either!

Welcome To Vegas – The Vegas sign in extremely iconic and we knew that we wanted to head over to take a quick snap… Unfortunately, the map on James’s phone didn’t have amazing scale skills and so what we thought was going to be a half an hour stroll turned into a three hour round hike!! 

Old New York – This was a really cool part of the strip that I really enjoyed exploring. After being in the Big Apple just a few weeks before, it was fun to see a little miniature version of the huge city, fully equipped with a Statue of Liberty and Hershey’s Store. 

The Bellagio – From around mid-day, the fountains at the front of the Bellagio hotel put on a show to music every hour. We went during the evening and so the water jets were accompanied with lights as well as music. It was a really good show and I’ve included some clips in my Vlog, which you can watch at the end of this post. 

Shopping – There are plenty of shopping options in Vegas if you fancy that sort of thing. We spend one of the afternoons walking around the different shops and stumbled upon In n Out Burger as well as Sprinkles, equipped with it’s own cupcake atm! 

Talking about money always seems to be a bit of an awkward topic, and talking about money problems can feel even worse. It’s funny how it can be such a hush hush subject, when it is something that we all have to deal with on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. 

Something that I would like to discus is living more intentionally with money. I think that there are so many people looking at ways to earn/make/have more money in their lives, however, if we live a life filled with intention, I think that a large proportion of money issues can be dealt with. 

Now, I am no financial advisor, and I am also not trying to suggest that there is only one way to look after your finances. However, I do believe that one way to ensure that you are financially stable is to be more intentional with your spending habits. 

The first piece of advice that I would offer in order to live more intentionally with money is to get in control. By this I mean, work out exactly how much money you own, how much money you have coming in and keep a track of where it is at all times. 

I’m not suggesting that you withdraw all of your cash and hide it in a suitcase under our bed with a cctv camera set on it…! But what I would suggest is signing up to online banking. For example, I have three bank accounts; one current account, which I get paid into, one savings account and one account that I keep all of my blogging money in. By having online banking and the apps on my phone, I can easily keep in control of my spending habits, as I always know where my money is and how much I have. 

Another way to becoming intentional with your money and spending habits is to take some time to work out a budget and stick to it. I don’t mean for it to sound so restrictive, but if you work out how much money is going out each month, sometimes it makes you think twice about where your money is actually going. So write a list of all of your outgoings and see what’s left. 

My list for example would look like this:

Rent

Bills

Food

Gym Membership

National Trust Membership 

Netflix Membership

Once all of my outgoings have been added together, I then know how much money I have to play with for the rest of the month. This way I can put some money into my savings account each month and be left with everyday spending money and I never buy or treat myself to anything until I know that I have covered all of my outgoings. 

This is something that I would strongly recommend if you want to make an effort to live more intentionally with your money. I believe that being in control of your own money is key in being financially stable. 

James and I have been together for almost ten years and have lived together for four. We have always kept our finances separate and think that in doing so, it keeps up financially independent and it is therefore something that we never argue about. We have a joint account that we both pay into each month to cover the cost of bills/rent etc., but apart from that, the money we each earn is our own.  It ensures that all of my financial decisions are my own and it allows me to spend my money in a way that I see fit. I appreciate this isn’t something for everyone but it definitely works for us. 

So you can create all of your budgets, be financially independent and know where all of your money is. However, living more intentionally with money isn’t all about saving, it’s about thinking before you buy.

Asking yourself simple questions such as ‘Do I need this new lipstick?’, ‘Can I wait until I get home to have a coffee?’, ‘Do I need to buy lunch for work today?’. All of these things may only cost a couple of pounds, but they will soon add up by the end of the month. Asking yourself if you need/want/must buy something before hand is living more intentionally and it’s surprising how much you say no, once you’ve taken a step back. 

If you are really struggling in terms of becoming financially stable, or you want to find out more about setting up budgets or being more intentional when it comes to spending, the best thing to do is a little bit of research. Above is just my opinion on how things have worked for me, and it is just one way of doing things. There is plenty of advice online about finances, and there is certainly no reason for you to live in debt or have to worry about being financially unstable. 

Giffgaff have recently put together a gameplan with tones of amazing advice to help you on your way to financial stability. Whether you are a student in debt, a new home owner, a married couple or just wanting to save up for a big expense, they have absolutely tones of advice available on their website. 

When we were planning our six-week road trip around the states it became apparent that we would be traveling from city to city straight after one another. Before Joshua Tree we had been to New York, Chicago, Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans. We thought it would be good to schedule ourselves in a bit of down time, almost like a check point, for us to chill out and recharge our batteries. 

It also meant that I was able to whack on my bikini for the first time during the trip. It was so nice to be able to chill in the sunshine, get a bit of a tan and read my book with some amazing iced coffee. I literally never wanted to leave! 

I took with me my trusty ladybird bikini from Debenhams, which I bought just before our autumnal week away in Cyprus last October. I teamed it up with my New York white t-shirt from Primark, which turned out to be such a good buy! It was £5 and I wore it so much during our trip as it is such a versatile piece. I literally wore it for meals out, day trips and in Joshua Tree, as a bikini cover up! 

The views were truly incredible during our stay, and I would absolutely love to go back. These photographs were taken on our first day surrounded by, what we felt, was the most beautiful scenery. It wasn’t until our second day however, when we spent One Fine Day In Joshua Tree National Park, that we were completely blown away. 

It was a beautiful few days but it is definitely staying on my travel wish list, as I would love to go back and explore it some more…