WTBSEs 'Starting From Scratch' Savings Diary.

WantToBeSE

hiya Jo and Miss Optimistic, its great to see new people and lurkers joining in

I am just pricing up a weekend away in April with the boys to Longleat.

So far, I have calculated:

*2x 1 day tickets to Longleat £53.54 (I will buy 1 other ticket with clubcard vouchers...if I can work out how to do it!)

*Safari Bus for 3 of us £12

*Warminster Travelodge for 2 nights (the night before and the night of) £68

* Wifi for Travelodge for 24 hours £10

Total so far -£ 143.54

I think I could keep the costs down if I take food with us for both Longleat and also the evenings in the Travelodge. What does everyone think?

I am going to sleep on it. Although I know I can afford it, and the kids would LOVE it..I am not sure I should be spending the money. Advice?

We spent so long when I was in debt not having a life, I actually want to enjoy something and have some excitement!

Please help!

P.S. I will reply to the posts in the morning

MissOptimistic

Hi WTBSE - I would say 'go for it' without a doubt. It will not set your savings back by far but most importantly your kids will not be kids forever and when they have left home you will regret missed opportunities for quality family weekends like this.
If you really needed to cut costs could you not compromise by just having the hotel stay on the night of?
We visited Harry Potter Studios in December, but we got up early and travelled there (about 3 hours from us) and just had the night of in a Premier Inn. Don't forget to go through Topcashback too (they pay up pretty quickly)
Also, could you skip the wifi and if you spend the night in your room just watch TV instead?
Just a couple of ideas

Eco_Miser

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Although I know I can afford it, and the kids would LOVE it..I am not sure I should be spending the money. Advice?

You want it; you can afford it; the remaining question is Is the joy it will bring worth the guilt at spending some of my savings?

Only you can answer that, but I suspect the answer is YES. Go for it.

TM6

I'm another 'Go For It'

Our children grow up so quickly and sharing these special times is SO important.

Can you save £10 by not have the hotel wifi?

I have data on my phone contract so I 'tether' my laptop to my phone and use my allowance. works brilliantly.

Alternatively, do Longleat have free wifi?

I have just Googled and there is an ASDA under 6 miles away. You could use their wifi and pick up your food for packed lunches as well

HTH

WantToBeSE

I was secretly hoping that you guys would say yes Thanks everyone!

I have ordered the clubcard code thing for the 1 day ticket and am trying to work out if I can use it to pay for 1 of the adult tickets instead of the child ticket. If I can, that'll bring the price for the tickets down to £45.89

TM6- thanks for googling to see if there is an Asda. That should be handy! I plan to pack food to take with us, especially for the day out at Longleat as all the reviews say that food there is expensive. Has anyone been before?

JoJoC

I'm another one in the 'yes' camp! Although we've got savings goals, you've still got to live and your kids will really enjoy getting away! I think it's worth the sacrifice, for sure.

We're hoping to get away for a cheap week in the summer, maybe in a caravan or something because I think we need the getaway. It'll set us back a little bit but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

MissOptimistic- you're doing so well, despite all the setbacks! Keep it up the price of kids shoes is ridiculous isn't it? Is still always buy a good Clark's pair so that his feet are well protected but it just is so much! And they grow so quickly!

WantToBeSE

OK, booked the Travelodge £68 for 2 nights really isn't bad, especially for a Friday and Saturday night. The same nights at Premier Inn were £112!

Now trying to work out when to pay for the Longleat tickets. I think i'll wait until I get the Tesco clubcard code and order them altogether. Looking at the small print I don't think that there is any reason why I cant use the clubcard code for an adult ticket..yay!!

Edit- Oh, and I did cancel the Wifi. It'll do my 14 yr old good to be without Wifi for a weekend, even though he'll think that his world has ended

WantToBeSE

MissOptimistic wrote: »

I set a New Year Goal to save a decent fund of about £3k this year, I've suffered nothing but setbacks so far but have still managed to squirrel away £300 so I reckon if I can do it now, I can carry on - I'm determined not to dip into the savings!

You are doing really well, MO If you look at my opening post on this diary you'll see that I had a rocky start to the savings road too. The car cost me a lot to get through the MOT.
But you'll get there, as will we all

WantToBeSE

Eco_Miser wrote: »

You want it; you can afford it; the remaining question is Is the joy it will bring worth the guilt at spending some of my savings?

Only you can answer that, but I suspect the answer is YES. Go for it.

Yes, it definitely will be worth it! Thanks EM

TM6 wrote: »

I'm another 'Go For It'

Our children grow up so quickly and sharing these special times is SO important.

Can you save £10 by not have the hotel wifi?


I have just Googled and there is an ASDA under 6 miles away. You could use their wifi and pick up your food for packed lunches as well

HTH

That was really useful, thanks TM6. My son will probably shrivel up and die without wifi for the weekend, but we'll give it a go!

JoJoC wrote: »

I'm another one in the 'yes' camp! Although we've got savings goals, you've still got to live and your kids will really enjoy getting away! I think it's worth the sacrifice, for sure.

Thanks Jo, you are right. It'll be worth it. The kids really deserve to have a weekend away and enjoy themselves.

JoJoC

Glad you got it booked mrs- that's something for you all to look forward to!

Husband got paid this weekend's overtime in cash tonight (still pas tax, don't worry!!) so that's £200 into the piggy bank.

Piggy bank total- £280
Savings account total- £648
New grand total- £928.

So so close to the £1000 mark! I'm getting excited! I'm hoping that I'll be able to crack it in the next week or so, certainly by the end of the month.

I put another £2 in the £ tin too. Every little helps!

I spent £37 in Aldi today and £20 in Morrisons but that was with a big 16 pack of loo roll, some bleach, tissues and a big box of 80 nappies so overall £57 is quite good, despite being higher than normal.

As husband is away all week, I've got mine and my little boy's meal plans sorted for the next week and I've got, more or less, all dinners in the freezer for next week too so next week's shop should be a cheap one with just fresh stuff.

Anyway, enough of my waffling!