Enjoying the Sunshine whilst Saving for the Rainy Day

JustAboutThere

If your London trip involves sticking around until Easter, then bring the car. The train companies are taking the opportunity of major track / engineering work on various lines.

I had a text from a friend inviting me to stay over the weekend and I'm afraid I've told a lie that I'm already booked for the next few weekends, well - one of them I am.

I looked at the National Rail website before I replied and discovered that the outward journey is starting from an alternative (and less convenient) station and the return journey on all three weekends is bus replacement to the opposite side of my London home. I'm sorry, but I'm past the age where that enthrals me.

Maybe she'll think I'm a horrible friend, but I haven't heard from her in months. I'd love to see them, but two train changes on a journey of a tad over an hour - no thanks.

Enjoy your time in London.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning! Thanks for the replies Sezza & JAT they were very helpful and we did indeed drive and we parked up at Westfield parking was £5, we put £40 petrol in (still have around 150 miles left though so we prob used £25 worth) and although we didn't have time to go round the olympic park it's on our agenda now we know where we're going DH knows his way around as he worked there as security the entire time so we're going to take a picnic one day

I spent an absolute fortune other than that though so i'm glad I did drive even if overall we didn't save much! Kids were free on the tubes (smaller 2) DS1 was only £3-4 and overall i think the trains were around £25 so add that to the parking & petrol and we probably saved around £20 on the journeys. My dad paid for a boat trip for all of us, we got off at Kew and he also paid entry to the park which is beautiful. We spent a couple of hours in there although hardly saw any of it as it's so big! I told DH we should take a picnic but he wanted to get food out so he was starving all the way round (his own fault!) and we snacked most of the day. After the park we were all starving though so went to the nearest place we could find which was overpriced pizza (express) I spent £95 on my card for 6 of us which I know is probably good value, but i'm tight! My dad gave me nearly half back in cash though I felt so cheeky letting him pay for so much but I didn't actually have enough in my bank to say no to everything we did Although I have £10,000 (NEARLY!) saved I feel so poor still Especially when dad was telling me about all the things he was doing, what my step brother is up to and how he's planning on travelling (my life long dream!) blah, blah blah, I felt like the poor relation next to him and didn't have much to contribute. I feel like i clearly need to deal with my green eyed monster I'm not rich, just because I was brought up with lots of money, circumstances have found me pretty poor and I guess I need to cut my cloth accordingly (internally and externally!)

Today will be a shopping day, i'm pleased with the £90 spend last week it's lasted a week and a few days :T I have cash for food (thank god or else i'd be taking more from the emergency funds!!) and we have petrol so if we can keep spends minimal this weekend I think we might be ok as kids are back to school next week so I can have lots of NSD's until payday.

I emailed the letting agents, i'm due money around the 25th :T this will cover what i've taken for days out (so back to the emergency fund) If i need money for food I will take from there too and any left over will be going towards that £10k target!!!

debtfreewannabe321

JustAboutThere wrote: »

If your London trip involves sticking around until Easter, then bring the car. The train companies are taking the opportunity of major track / engineering work on various lines.

I had a text from a friend inviting me to stay over the weekend and I'm afraid I've told a lie that I'm already booked for the next few weekends, well - one of them I am.

I looked at the National Rail website before I replied and discovered that the outward journey is starting from an alternative (and less convenient) station and the return journey on all three weekends is bus replacement to the opposite side of my London home. I'm sorry, but I'm past the age where that enthrals me.

Maybe she'll think I'm a horrible friend, but I haven't heard from her in months. I'd love to see them, but two train changes on a journey of a tad over an hour - no thanks.

Enjoy your time in London.

I don't blame you for not going, when I moved all the way out in the wild wild east (essex is apparently too far for people to travel to, pfft) no one visited me aside from those who are still my friends now, the others made me (heavily pregnant and in the middle of 10,000 things during those first few years) visit them. Hence i haven't seen my own grandmother, my friends from uni etc since then. After having the mini breakdown I had I gave them all up for my own sanity. I would go to my grandmother's house and she would sit there and totally ignore me sometimes so I'd rather remember her how she used to be towards me (before family fall outs which it's clear she's taken sides on!) SO anyway i'm with you on that one, don't do it and enjoy your weekend xxx

debtfreewannabe321

Sezzagirl wrote: »

Hiya

Cheaper options for London might be driving to Westfield Stratford and getting the Tube. Parking all day is £5 at Stratford and Tube would be cheaper than the Train I think

Also, we often go to Redbridge (Straight down A12) and park there to get the tube into London. Car park is often busy there though so could might be best to check it out on way to Westfield

Have you got something fun planned in the Big City? I haven't been for ages and am missing my fix. Might need to tempt my Mum to go for the day!

Oh it was great and one day I think i'd actually like to go alone, kids are hard work especially when they think going off with foreign looking men dressed as a dead woody are fun :wall: (FB friends there is a picture on there!) They were constantly walking off in different directions and I actually thought i'd lost ds2 at one point. I'd literally taken my eye off him to pay for his ice cream and he'd wandered off! I turned around and took hold of another little boy as he had the same colour top on his mother was a little shocked until I apologised and pointed around for my child to show her I wasn't actually trying to abduct hers! Luckily my pointing found mine hanging over the wall of the Thames, he wanted to go swimming :eek::eek::eek: and she laughed *phew*!

I'd love to go up, take a book, get on a boat and relax and have a chilled glass of wine, stop alongside the thames in a nice pub that doesn't allow kids and have a meal that is still hot when I get to eat it and then wander around art galleries without hearing "this is BORING" "I want to go" " I need a wee" "i'm hungry" and well you get the point :rotfl:

please-let-me-be-lucky

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

I'd love to go up, take a book, get on a boat and relax and have a chilled glass of wine, stop alongside the thames in a nice pub that doesn't allow kids and have a meal that is still hot when I get to eat it and then wander around art galleries without hearing "this is BORING" "I want to go" " I need a wee" "i'm hungry" and well you get the point :rotfl:

Sounds out of this world!!!

Glad you enjoyed London overall Xx

Sezzagirl

DFW Sounds like heaven!

When are we going?!! There is actually something on at Tate Modern I want to see (oo get me, trying to sound all cultured!)


PLMBL How can we steal you away for a day or two? You sound like you need the break more than all of us!

slm6002

Going alone sounds a great idea - totally get what your talking about. At the moment even half the kiddie things i arrange i get the 'I'm bored'. I just think i have paid a fortune and you will enjoy lol. Not sure about yours but mine enjoy the train and bus journeys far more than the activity they get to do when we get there.

Glad you had a great day though

debtfreewannabe321

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

Sounds out of this world!!!

Glad you enjoyed London overall Xx

Thank you :T

Sezzagirl wrote: »

DFW Sounds like heaven!

When are we going?!! There is actually something on at Tate Modern I want to see (oo get me, trying to sound all cultured!)


PLMBL How can we steal you away for a day or two? You sound like you need the break more than all of us!

Oh yes deffo let's steal her and everyone else on here and we can all crash London at once :rotfl: I wonder if we could have a more :money: Money-saving day then I had yesterday though as I was :eek: at every price mentioned to me :rotfl: I really need to remind myself sometimes a treat is good even if it does cost money

slm6002 wrote: »

Going alone sounds a great idea - totally get what your talking about. At the moment even half the kiddie things i arrange i get the 'I'm bored'. I just think i have paid a fortune and you will enjoy lol. Not sure about yours but mine enjoy the train and bus journeys far more than the activity they get to do when we get there.

Glad you had a great day though

i was just about to enjoy 10 mins by myself as DH has taken MIl and all the kids out of the house when lo and behold the back door opens and my niece strolls back in, walking isn't for her and she wants to stay with me. She's being quiet with a puzzle but I feel miffed that my lonely hour got disturbed (gawd i'm being a right misery guts, I hope the time of the month beggars off soon )

debtfreewannabe321

Well in laws are here, just two of them (MIL and niece) so should be nice and peaceful(ish) I hope. I've been shopping, i've come in on budget, just! I got a huge joint of beef from a1di which was £11 :T so that will be our dinner for Sunday :T *drools*. We usually can't afford it but I thought, blow it, we deserve a treat every now and then! And overall I only spent £95 which is 10 days worth of dinners, breakfasts, pack ups and lunch for home. Now to make it last :cool: that of course is always the tricky part

My friend hasn't bought her house yet so I am wondering if I am still childminding for a while now :think: I have messaged her but she's still working as well as looking after the kids so I think she's probably busy....I should think she may have started packing too! I have around £30 left to last until the 30th if it doesn't last it means I need to break into the emergency funds again which I want to avoid ! I am due child benefit on the 28th but most of that weeks will be going towards the phone bill because DH spent over an hour on the phone to one of those expensive lines for his life insurance :mad: I asked him a dozen times too to get the man to call him back but he wouldn't !! Not impressed with that! So let's hope the money lasts eh.........game on!

pennywisepoundstupid

Hi DFW, sorry your hours peace was disturbed I get like that sometimes, you can always guarantee the minute I'm settled in a nice hot bubble bath, one of the kids is knocking at the door wanting a wee or world war 3 has broken out and they are killing each other and DH is outside talking to a neighbour or pottering around the garden oblivious to the chaos inside.

Well done on the grocery spends, I love rst beef and yorky pud, nom nom.

Hope you hear from your friend about the childminding, I suppose the money will come in handy if she still needs you, but I know you were looking forward to going back to normal after school and just having your kiddies.

Take care.x.