We (family of 4) do not have any extended family in the City in which we live. Our extended family (siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins) are scattered across the country and in, one instance, in a neighbouring country. We get invited to: a) family reunions b) weddings and c) "visits" with my sibling's family in a neighbouring country. All of these events involve plane tickets, car rentals, restaurants, and sometimes hotel accommodation.
We struggle with how to maintain our aspiring Mustachian lifestyle without losing face with the rest of the family. There seems to be some expectation that if these people come to visit you, you should reciprocate. We have noticed growing bitterness towards us and our reluctance to participate in these events. If we do not go to these events it is interpreted as us not valuing family and shirking family responsiblities. We also suspect that we are being labelled "cheap" and there are many snickers behind our back.
Sometime ago we made a conscious decision to limit the majority of our vacations to camping in which we could drive in less than 4 hours with our pop-trailer. We plan to do one trip to Disney and one to the Rockies with the kids. Because of our "thriftiness," one adult in our household no longer works outside the home (formal employment). As a result, we have a fairly good quality of life on a day-to-day basis. If we were to start taking expensive vacations, we believes this would tip the scales and we would probably need two incomes. Like other good Mustachians, we continue to look for additional cost-cutting measures.
I should also mention that we do have some extended family within 3-4 hours drive of where we live and we bunk down with them when we visit.
Extended family is important to us, but at what cost? Does anyone else struggle with this issue? How do you handle it?