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At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.

It’s a carnival you can visit to celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. If you want to participate, you can share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky.

Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page that they provided. If I have time, I come back and update the post by hand.

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

For most family vacations, we camp (make-do vacationing!).

But for this trip, camping was not an option. So we took a friend’s recommendation and tried using Priceline’s “name your own price” feature. We didn’t know how it worked, so the Belgian Wonder dove in to experiment. He tried a couple of combinations by selecting a zone near our destination and the number of stars for the level of hotel we preferred. After submitting a bid, it’s either accepted; or if it’s too low, you get to try again after altering the price and zone.

There’s an element of risk involved. For example, you don’t know exactly what hotel you’ll be in before you bid. You can’t be guaranteed the type of bed (king, two queens, two doubles, etc.). In fact, even if you get your zone, you might not end up precisely next to a destination of interest.

But if you’re willing to accept those limitations, it does seem to be a cheaper way to go.

The price of the hotel in Grand Rapids was so inexpensive, we couldn’t believe it. It’s not as low as a campground spot, but using Priceline has made this outing more reasonable.

We’re not used to hotels. Even simple ones feel kind of luxurious compared to our camping trips. But we often have one kid stuck sleeping on a bundle of blankets on the floor, and I’m sure that child feels like we’re making do!

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