Maldives & MSE - not your usual combination!

Kepp

You're sounding very organised and on track x

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Sounds like a plan Jody.

Just noticed that you are a third of the way to your savings already and you still have 6 months to go! Well done! :T

jtr2803

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds wrote: »

Sounds like a plan Jody.

Just noticed that you are a third of the way to your savings already and you still have 6 months to go! Well done! :T

That's true hun but I do have to spend some money on the car soon so it will go down before it goes back up which is a bit of a shame but can't really be helped

Woowoo

Any idea how much the car is going to cost you yet?

jtr2803

I think the quote for the radiator was £170 ish and it needs some suspension things but I have no idea how much they are. I think it also needs a clutch but might be able to make that wait a while!

Need to give the garage a call!

jtr2803

I spent a whole £1 on some chips at lunch time , naughty but nice!

Just been on the phone to the valuations office about council tax banding. Our flat is a band D and is £145 a month :eek:, when I looked on the public tax band listings all of the flats on the other side are Band C and I am adamant some of those are 2 bedrooms so they are going to look into it. Not sure they will reduce ours, they are more likely to increase theirs but thought it was worth finding out :rotfl:

Kepp

Mmmm chips!

Definitely woth checking out - could be a big reclaim

jtr2803

I think from what the lady on the phone said, ours should be a band D, apparently it's standard for a 2 bed flat :eek:, so I expect they will possibly put the others up but ho-hum.

Still in my slob clothes, have been uploading pictures to FLICKR etc this morning but at least it is free :rotfl:. Have been doing lots of research for 30th birthday holiday and think I have finally made my decision. Based on value for money I have picked a week on the beach in Kenya with a 3 day Safari chucked in for my birthday celebrations! Price wise it's actually slightly cheaper than the 10 days in the Maldives and includes two 5 star safari lodges and a private safari van. It was a really hard choice but as we went to the Maldives this year I thought it would do us good to see somewhere else. The beach hotel I have picked is in the middle of a marine park so I will be able to do some diving too, they also have a turtle protection programme and if they do a release or nest dig you can go and help, that would be fab!

Not sure when we will book yet, I really need to talk to my boss about it and I want OH to make sure he is happy with the hotel although all he has said so far is 'it's your birthday, we'll do whatever you want to do' which isn't very helpful!

As I know you are all a nosey bunch here are some links.....

Beach Hotel:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g661279-d459930-Reviews-Turtle_Bay_Beach_Club-Watamu.html

Safari Lodge 1
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g303978-d304441-Reviews-Kilaguni_Serena_Safari_Lodge-Tsavo_National_Park_West.html

Safari Lodge 2
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g303977-d1097884-Reviews-Ashnil_Aruba_Lodge-Tsavo_National_Park_East.html

I would love to book it now but I think I will wait until I have at least £800 in the bank so I know I can comfortably pay the despoit and have money left for car work should it need it in the very near future.

kavics17

We went through with the council tax banding, were in band c and got reduced it to band b. The difference was £400 a year! It took us a good 3 months and constant letter exchange with them but at the end they rebanded us without even looking at the property inside. The flat above us is double the size as ours and they are in Band B too, they should be in C!

For my 30st we went down the Italy root-Venice, Florance, Pisa and Rome. One of the best holidays we had!

jtr2803

Ooh it would be lovely if they down banded us but unfortunately it seems unlikely but it is worth a shot!

Checked my clubcard account and the lady has put my extra points on so I am happy. Need to check my phone bill too to see if it has been changed yet as it hadn't when I looked on Thursday :mad:. Didn't spend any money yesterday as just did lots of tidying up and more holiday research! I forgot that I did (naughtily) buy 4 Euromillions tickets on Thursday but I will count that out of this month. I also found a company on Ebay that does canvas prints from your photos so I got a little 8" x 8" one for £4.75 to see what the quality is like, if they are ok then I will get a couple more done for the living room .

Total 'unnecessary spend' to date - £13.75. OH and I are going to Canterbury for the meal this afternoon and I had put £30 aside for it so I will draw out £90 - £30 towards the meal and my £60 allowance. Not sure who is driving today (hopefully OH to save my petrol!), if it isn't me then I have enough petrol to last until Tuesday night so I will barely touch this weeks allowance which would be a good start :rotfl: