my half term savings!!

[bex7583]

well its school holidays and im staying in !! i usually get up and out usually with teh intention of doing something cheap and cheerful for the kids but it never turns out like that !!

so im paying my self to stay in !!

today is the 4th day and im paying myself £10 per day in to the florida fund so far we have pitched a tent in the living room , built lego and done some painting

im actually quite enjoying it

 

[CAROLINE4]

That sounds great! we had to do that last school holidays but when we surprised them with our trip they were ecstatic x

 

[bex7583]

wonder how many days i can manage it in the summer holidays!!

 

[laura_<3]

Great idea

 

[tinkerpea]

This is such a good idea,

We have 3 boys and Dh and myself had NO idea how on earth we was going to not do anything with the boys this summer when they dont know about the holiday" it will be a surprise trip" so we decided to buy a Merlin pass that lets us go into Chessington,Legoland,Thorpe park Alton towers etc,Now I know this wasnt cheap but it was our Twins Bday 2 wks ago and so it was their bday present instead of a party plus my mum gave us some money towards it,we thought that way it would only be petrol money to the places as we would pack snacks and buy refill cup (£15 for the whole yr!!!) after my Op dh will have to take them for around 2 wks after that i can go but only to watch them have all the fun
Also we have just had a park built nr us that has water jets and a man made paddling pool for kids,so if its sunny and im not well enough to do much we will be spending our time there whilst spending NO money

If the kids actually knew about the holiday it would be so much easier as we could say Sorry but we must save as your going to Disney in ......days!!

 

[bex7583]

i think the merlin annual pass is very good value when u take in to account how much just 1 day at alton towers costs !!

we definatley cant afford one this year as got the holiday saving and trying to pay off a ccredit card

summer holiday will be really tought but its suprising how much all the little trips add up to even just popping in to town with them to go to bank etc ends up costing a fortune with bus fares etc

im hoping we will have nice weather and then i can just do parks n picnics with them

we havent even booked yet but will be a suprise when we do ( hope to go sept 2013 )

 

[tinkerpea]

i think the merlin annual pass is very good value when u take in to account how much just 1 day at alton towers costs !!

we definatley cant afford one this year as got the holiday saving and trying to pay off a ccredit card

summer holiday will be really tought but its suprising how much all the little trips add up to even just popping in to town with them to go to bank etc ends up costing a fortune with bus fares etc

im hoping we will have nice weather and then i can just do parks n picnics with them

we havent even booked yet but will be a suprise when we do ( hope to go sept 2013 )

I know what you mean,every shopping trip i take theboys on costs me way more then if i would have gone on my own!
we would not have bought the Merlin pass this ye if the boys had known about the trip,but with them not knowing we didnt know how to explain where all our money was going when we had no holiday! when we have a holiday we are able to tell the boys that we have a holiday we have to save for they always seem to respect that much easier then we think they will

 

[zippy99]

Due to our last minute (well in our eyes last minute) - booking end of March going end of August holiday we have had to be rather sensible with money.

In fact, I find it quite incredulous that in less 11 weeks we have paid £3060 towards our holiday (i must confess I do worry at what we must normally be spending our disposable income on!)

Whilst DH is a chef we are use to making meals from scratch, however, I did find Sainsburys Live Well For Less meal planners a fantastic way of getting nice family meals for good value. It was originally called feed a family of 4 for £20 but there was complaints made to the ASA and they had to drop it!

Still, some great family meals on here:

http://www.sainsburys-live-well-for-less.co.uk/meal-planning/evening-meal-plans/

Through careful planning we have cut our food bill to less than £60 a week for Myself, DH, DD14 & DS12. No we do not live off Beans on Toast, this weekend we had a giant Turkey leg that I had cooked for 4 hours smothered with BBQ sauce served with corn, peas and potato wedges, next day we had Gammon with veg, roast potatoes & Cheese Sauce. Last night I did Pasta with Gammon, peppers in a tomato & cheese sauce with Garlic bread ciabattas. DD is cooking tonight whilst I am at work so not sure what we are getting today!

We often buy the '3 for £10' meat packs - a pack of mince will do several meals, a large chicken will do a Roast and then be used in curry/pasta the next day. Get the kids to help cook too - they often really enjoy it and it is a fun activity for them too.

 

[bex7583]

im good with the supermarket shop used to go to store and easy spend £100+ a week

we have started doing a shop a makro wholesale every few month i get a pack of 40 chicken breasts, 5kg bag of stew meat all the washing and laundry stuff it lasts ages usually spend £200-£300 at the makro shop then just get fresh bits £20 or so a week

i also got a big double pot slow cooker at xmas so only cook every othet day now i can do a casserole in one then a chilli or something in the other side and put one in the fridge for the next day

i also cancelled my gym membership ( unused last 3 month ) so saved £15
changed my phone from contract to sim only so that was £40 now only £15
and cancelled the sky movies saving another £20 a month ( mostly repeats and hardly watched any anyway so havent missed it )


i have started getting spending guilt when i buy the smallest treat for myself, very unlike me !! shame i didnt get the sending guilt years ago when i racked up my bloody credit card i have been paying every penny to since 2008!!

the holiday has been a great incentive to pay off the credit card though , i would have been happy just paying minimum payments forever but the oh said no holiday until its paid off

 

[Disney Princesses LW]

Its amazing what focusing on a Florida holiday can make you do, when we went first to Florida in 2009 I stopped smoking to save money and the incentive of meeting mickey has still kept me off smoking 4 years later...............also a massive reason to book again obviously "kepp me focused" hahahaah