First day of rest of my life

planning_ahead_2

Cialilerin wrote: »

Morning,
Got back from 2 (expensive;)) days in London last night.

Hope you made good use of those Merlin passes - London Eye, Sealife Centre, Madam Tussauds:j We can have a practically free day out when we visit London with the grandchildren (family railcard costs for tickets there and back of course;))

Glad you had a good, if tiring time.

Cialilerin

We did Madame Tussards, then spent the day in Regents Park which was lovely. Headed to the London Eye but demon baby fell asleep and woke up and refused to go near it so they just played in the park. The others have been on it so many times - they weren't interested!!:)
Yesterday, we watched changing of the guards, then had a couple of hours in Hyde Park, before going to museum. Dh kept going on about travelling to London to sit in parks.:rotfl:

By the way - bank statement not as bad as expected!
Transferred £90 from paypal to bank account, so transferred £90 onto cc in expectation:)
Went to moms to collect my dog and looked through a couple of boxes we had been storing there. Found some text books from my degree course, so going to list them on ebay or amazon and hope someone finds them more interesting than I did.;)

Herewego

:T:T well done on the paypal transfer its amazing how those ebay sales soon add up keep up the good work

brizzledfw

Hello just read your diary and popped in to say hello. Keep going - your'e doing very well..

Have thought about Merlin passes but then thought they were a big expense for a MSE family (well wannabe anyway:rotfl:) - but you guys seem to think they are worth it?

Brizzle

planning_ahead_2

brizzledfw wrote: »

Hello just read your diary and popped in to say hello. Keep going - your'e doing very well..

Have thought about Merlin passes but then thought they were a big expense for a MSE family (well wannabe anyway:rotfl:) - but you guys seem to think they are worth it?

Brizzle

We buy Merlin passes with Tesco clubcard points...so not expensive overall. Keep an eye out on on the grabbit forum for the occasions when Tesco offer something which is worth a great deal more in points that the actual cost and go buy it:rotfl:

Last year our 7 passes were mostly funded by points offered on wedding confetti. The confetti cost £1 per pack and the points were worth £4 in clubcard deals. We also picked up leaflets in store which gave 250 points when buying health and beauty products and by buying the items on BOGOF it was easy to 'make a profit' from the deals. We already have enough clubcard points for 5 passes for this year

Cialilerin

Welcome brizzledfw, regarding the passes. We have had them since our eldest were little BUT we are not sure if we will renew this year as dd's 1 and 2 now are too 'cool' to go out with us, but too young to get there under their own steam! We live in the Midlands so can get to Alton Towers and Warwick Castle with ease.
I think it really depends on what type of things you like doing as a family and how old the kids are. Chessington and Legoland are fantastic for younger children.
I've never used the clubcard points - hence the mess I'm in - but will be aiming towards getting them next year! PA - can you renew with clubcard points, or do you just have to have the £40 odd pounds worth of vouchers for each one?

planning_ahead_2

Cialilerin wrote: »

Welcome brizzledfw, regarding the passes. We have had them since our eldest were little BUT we are not sure if we will renew this year as dd's 1 and 2 now are too 'cool' to go out with us, but too young to get there under their own steam! We live in the Midlands so can get to Alton Towers and Warwick Castle with ease.
I think it really depends on what type of things you like doing as a family and how old the kids are. Chessington and Legoland are fantastic for younger children.
I've never used the clubcard points - hence the mess I'm in - but will be aiming towards getting them next year! PA - can you renew with clubcard points, or do you just have to have the £40 odd pounds worth of vouchers for each one?

You can't get family passes with clubcard points - so £37.50 in points for each pass...but still a bargain as renewals are £100 per person for individual renewals and £75 per person for family renewals.

We live down south and are within travelling distance of Thorpe Park, Chessington, Legoland (which is practically within walking distance lol), all the London venues are a 20 minute train ride away so the passes are awesome value to us for days out with the grandchildren. They especially love the 'special day trips' to Alton Towers....think they are going on holiday for a day:rotfl:

We have had passes every year since my own children were young (before they were Merlin passes). I used to give them to my children as one of their Christmas presents. They would go off on the train with a group of friends for days out during school hols and have fab times. It wasn't considered Christmas without an annual pass to the local theme parks:D

I've used clubcard points for year Cialilerin...and look at the mess I am in:rotfl:

Cialilerin

Thanks PA.
Forgot to say - the best thing about the passes is not having to queue!:T

Cialilerin

Morning
Going to try and have a productive day today!:)

1. Going to check my balances/debts:(
2. Going to look into this council tax business and see if I can have my band reviewed
3. Tidy out my wardrobe and see what I actually wear and what is jus sitting there taking up room;)
4. Ebay, ebay, ebay.

Unfortunately, a lot of this involves computer so will need to get in there before the kids, then they'll have the excuse of doing homework and guilt will set in so I'll give in, until I realise they are just on facebook!!:)

The other big thing I want to do is a fresh soa with dh. I have shown him the one i did initially, which he looked at and nodded and promptly forgot about. Thought about it and realised that maybe if he sat down with me and we did it together and he comes up with the figures for things that are flexible - like entertainment, groceries, petrol etc, then he may actually realise how tight the budget is! Just an idea, but it might work - wish me luck!

blue-bells_2

Good morning!

Totally agree with doing a new SOA with your husband. I tend to take control over these things but I really think it helps if you sit down and work it out together. My dh generally hates me talking about money and debts (stresses him out?! :rotfl:) but was quite happy when I warned him that we were going to sit down at a certain time and go through it all together. He is pretty good as he doesn't tend to spend much but he can very much bury his head in the sand when he wants to *rolls eyes*

Oh god, I've made him sound like a child haven't I?!