£70 a day's what the panda will pay!

pandapaws

Thanks, I'll definitely enjoy the spending, just not the spreadsheeting when we get back. But that's what once-in-a-debt-time holidays are for.

the_drifter

Have fun PP!

Karmacat

Panda, thats an amazing amount of mystery shopping! I remember the month last year when I earned £170 at it, and *that* was tough enough. Good for you - hope you really enjoy it all. I'll be in France at the end of July, at my sister's place.

retrocircles

A kitten?! I'm so jealous...

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday. Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

How's the garage coming along. We've baton, insulated & boarded nearly 50% of ours. I need to reseal the windows, sand them & paint them. Doors aren't in our budget just yet but I'm dreaming for a few months time at least!

chevalier

hi panda
hope that you are having a great time in france. And am still looking forward to the piccy of the kitty when you come back
chev

pandapaws

Bonjour all. Fully holidayed, rested, recuperated and re-stressed after the holiday! We had a really great time, the site was lovely (Chateau Des Ormes, in case anyone wants a recommendation), loads of swimming which Adam loved, and I found a shop called Alinea that's a cross between Ikea and Habitat that had an 80% sale on, so I managed to get some kitchen worktops for a song...much to DH's delight when he had to try and fit them in the car.

Disney was really good too, although the queueing is a real bummer when you're dragging a 16mth old around with you. We avoided most of the queues but got conned into a couple of them. We also got some free meals at the hotel thanks to some 'cunning' on my part, so we actually spent virtually no money there. Adam loved some of the rides, but I was most surprised at how much Greg seemed to get out of it all, so all in all I'm really glad we went. But 2 days at Disney was definitely enough!

Since being back, we've made huge progress on the garage...new doors have been fitted (but not yet paid for, must remember to do that tomorrow) and are fab, the old ones have been Freecycled, along with tons and tons of stuff that was in there. We're about half way through the sorting out, and the tent in the garden (that took us 3hrs to put up in the rain) is still pretty empty. I think we're going to do it properly and apply for planning permission as a friend who's a surveyor said that although we'd be losing the garage we'd definitely be adding value to the house if we got it approved.

The bad news is that my house is a complete and utter tip, due to a combination of holiday leftovers that are lying all over the place and all the stuff I've been re-discovering in the garage but not finding a home for indoors. So I'm rather stressed, but I'll get over it!

Also, I'm in the final stages of the recruitment process to become an internet assessor which could be worth up to an additional £800 a month - just need to complete the final exam and if I pass I'm in guaranteed. It's hard, but it's my kind of thing...rules and logic, so I'm hopeful.

Anything exciting going on? I'm at work and will have to go back to the desk soon as it's about to become busy, but I'm hoping to check out some other diaries over the next few days. Hope everyone is well.

Keeping_Positive

Great to hear you had a good break. Intrigued at the free meals bit.

Also nice to hear the garage sort out has begun.

:j at the extra job £800 :j

beanielou

Glad holiday was so good

pandapaws

KP, is it you that is (or was) into caravanning? Friend of mine just bought a fab caravan for less than we paid for our holiday, so I'm wondering if it's possible to get one for less than 4 figures that's any good!

Hi Lou! How's you? You were sounding a bit down before I went away, hope things have picked up a bit.

Keeping_Positive

We do tenting but Im sure once you get some basic kit ie the caravan it works out cheaper in the long run. Best place for advice is www.ukcampsite.co.uk

I did meet a caravanner who got his family one for a couple of hundred quid that was great with a bit of work. I think reserch is the key.