The Ultimate Incentive part 10. The only thing holding you back is you.

Dinah93

We spent over £350 just on fuel

I'll do a soa this evening when we get home but I've done them before and there really is very little left in there from our essentials to cut, our issue is quite simple, nims wage is averaging half what it did 6 months ago.

Birdie85

As a flip side to the UK holiday costs, BIL had a week off a month or so ago and wanted to go away so OH looked for some deals for him, found a half board hotel with good reviews in Rhodes for £130pp! They didn't go away in the end as his GF is an awkward sod and holidayed at home instead, they spent way more in a week at home than they'd have spent in Rhodes!

My cake, which whilst admittedly a little dry was still very tasty and had great icing, came last! Can't believe it! Not impressed as although there was one clear winner (lemon drizzle) the other 2 entries (carrot and orange- bit dry, runny icing, and coffee- bit flat and dense) were not greatly better than my cake IMO! Boohoo. Took a slice home for OH to taste and he said it was fantastic and threatened to come into the office and tell them off for me! Meh, can't win them all! Organising a 12 week bake off in the office for everyone to join in. Each fortnight from 5th October there's a different product to bake. First one is scones, and we go through all sorts until the final which is a Christmas cake!

wendz86

yay glad to see you back Dinah and sounding very content. Grace sounds so lovely and i love seeing pics of her,.

In terms of holidays remember it is a lot cheaper going abroad before they turn two! We had to pay Poppys plane seat ticket for our honeymoon which was around £700 return. Saying that she was really good on the flights and i wouldnt have wanted her on my lap at this age!

She was realy funny on holiday. In the evening after dinner she would just say ' i tried now, i go sleep' lol so either me or my mum and dad took her to bed.

clearmydebts

Sorry to hear about the cake Birdie

I think the younger they are, the easier they are to take away! But it also depends on the baby's personality. Max was so easy to bring anywhere when he was younger. Any sort of motion/rocking and he would be asleep! Evie would have been harder as she hates the car. We have taken them both across the country via train on several occasions via train (leaving the house at 9.30am and getting to our destination at 2.30pm) and they have been great. We also took Max on a train journey from Reading to Edinburgh (7 hrs) when he was 9 months old and he was excellent. Both have been to Portugal when they were 12 months and 15 months and were very good too.

We decided not to take them away abroad again until we have paid off our debt though. As I said, they are just as happy with the local beach as they would be with a Spanish beach so why would we bother! When we do take them away in 2015/16 it will be to places with kiddie clubs and or a campsite in Europe. Somewhere where they can have fun in the evenings while we sip a glass of wine and watch them. I think because we spent a good portion of our 20's living away and travelling around I don't feel that ache to see other places. I can see when they get to about 7 & 8 that we will start to go to other places/cities. When they can behave in a civilized manner at a dinner table. Lol

clearmydebts

How many weeks are you now Birdie?

I hope you are okay Lara, if you are reading this diary xxx

Cinny91

Birdie85 wrote: »

a half board hotel with good reviews in Rhodes for £130pp!

Don't mention Rhodes to the girl who hasn't had a holiday for 15 months! Meant to say Birdie, looks like I'll be in CA around the start of November and will no doubt go to Disneyland. So if you want anything bringing back for le baby just let me know

Sounds fixed to me about the cake! It sounds fun with the bake off, I want in I'd make the Christmas cake ASAP though, just so it's nice and tasty!

With the massive bags I've seen Mums carrying around for a "quick trip" out, traveling with kids seems so stressful to me, as an outsider looking in

Lara44

Hey

Yeah I am still lurking, hanging in there! So much PhD to do, so little time. Still feeling sad but guess that is to be expected. Hope we can try again after all my work is completed. Thanks for asking xx

Hugs to all x

Dinah93

wendz86 wrote: »

In terms of holidays remember it is a lot cheaper going abroad before they turn two! We had to pay Poppys plane seat ticket for our honeymoon which was around £700 return. Saying that she was really good on the flights and i wouldnt have wanted her on my lap at this age!

I know! Another reason why I want to do it sooner rather than later, if we go in January we don't have to pay for Grace and i's before my holiday time resets.

Cinny91 wrote: »

With the massive bags I've seen Mums carrying around for a "quick trip" out, traveling with kids seems so stressful to me, as an outsider looking in

Certainly when they're in the first 6 months or so it's a military operation, as they get older it becomes easier to just nappies, wipes and a sippy cup as the absolute essentials, although I try to have hand sanitiser and a snack in there too, change of clothes if I have a big bag. As a little 'un Grace was so pukey everywhere we went I'd have 3 or 4 oufits with us!

Another crappy day at work. Had my one to one with my boss and while he said great things about my technical ability and ability to do the job I apparently check my phone far too much and I've been reported to him for complaining I've got too little to do and I'm bored. He says he understands I have very little to do, but I can't be heard to sound like that. Despite this he's planning to give me some much more challenging work, as he thinks I have a natural ability, which is nice.

The real downside though is that we are having compulsory redundancies. Right now we don't know who, or how many, but some of us are going. I can't change anything apart from to wow him at work, but I can try to get my finances behind the scenes as sorted as possible. Going to update the sig in the next hour with the current debt level.

SOA - tomorrow. I still don't think anything can be cut really, but I'm happy for you all to try. Tomorrow because that's when NIM gets paid and it's his first 'real' months wages so I'll be able to give a more accurate figure.

Sold a water babies dvd on Amazon today for £35 - if anyone has it and you're not wildly attached, sell it now! Been selling a lot on Amazon lately, made about £120 in the last week, although £41 went on postage. I'm also selling my much loved but rarely used cookbooks - any that aren't often used, or that I love almost every recipie are going. If there is a book I've kept for 2 or 3 recipes I'm just taking a photo of the recipe so I can still sell the book, and store the photo digitally - ultimate decluttering!

archersluck

Oops sorry Poolie, I do know who's who really.

All this babies and holiday talk makes my head spin. I like being able to pack hand luggage and go!

N.I.M

Hi all,

Thought I should probably pop in and make sure you all knew I actually am alive and that D isn't just making up the things I've been doing while my rotting corpse was hanging in a closet somewhere. As I'm sure D has been keeping you all up to date on developments I'll spare you the details. But if anyone lives near Nottingham and wants to make a few quid for sitting down for a while let me know.