My son and I are evacuating the house for the weekend while my husband studies for his exams. Since this MBA is costing a pretty penny, I want to make sure he gets all the peace and quiet he needs to study!

In planning our travel to Philadelphia, where we will be hiding out at my brother's house for the weekend, I ran through several options.

Option 1. Flying. For an adult and a toddler (over 2 years) to fly from Boston (or other, smaller, local airports) to Philadelphia will cost us $275 altogether. And, more importantly, it will take approximately 1 hr of travel time.

Option 2. The train. For an adult and a child to take the train from localstation to Philadelphia will cost us $125 altogether. And 8 hrs of travel time.

Option 3. The bus. For an adults and a child to take the bus from localstation to Philadelphia will cost us $85 altogether. And 12 hrs of travel time.

Option 4. The car. For the mileage my car gets, and the distance to Philly, it'd cost us $74 altogether in gasoline, plus about $12 in tolls. And 5 hrs of travel time.

We're choosing option 4, driving my own car. Well, we're going to drive my husband's car and save about $16 in gasoline costs since his car is more fuel efficient.

It disappoints me in some ways that the cheapest option (the car, barely) is also nearly the easiest option. Sometimes we like to think that by being frugal, we're really being martyrs. How much do I sacrifice by taking the option that I really wanted in the first place?