WTBSEs 'Starting From Scratch' Savings Diary.

WantToBeSE

Afternoon all


Glad you are enjoying your London trip, Jo. I am looking into a weekend in London soon.


My mum lives in Kent, so I will stay with her, as its only an hour into London on the train from her place.
I would like to do the whole tourist thing, but I think its quite expensive isn't it? Are you doing tourist things, or are you there for a specific reason?
Let me know of any tips etc for saving some money on the tourist stuff and the tube! I am scared of the tube!


I am going to be trying a new recipe later, for wholewheat wraps. They are quite expensive I think, and I already have everything the recipe calls for http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whole-wheat-wraps/


I am going to use them to make a veggie bean burrito recipe for either lunch or dinner 1 day this week.
I have so many different types of tinned beans, I need to use them up and I have been wanting to make veggie burritos for a while now. 2 bird, 1 stone

JoJoC

Ooh, Iove burritos!! Have you made them yet? I went to a lovely place in Soho called El Camion and the burrito was sublime!

I dont really have many monet saving London tips I'm afraid, my trip was a bit of a splurge. We even treated ourselves to a bottle of posh champers! I saved for it all though, not a penny out of savings or on a credit card so it's changed ways from a couple of years ago!

The tube is the best thing ever once you get used to it. It friend had an app and you'd put in your starting point and destination and it'd tell you the best route. Plus there's free maps in the stations that come in handy. We just used a day ticket which was £8.90 per day (eek!) but if you're there for a few days and plan on travelling about a bit, you might be as well getting an oyster card which usually works out cheaper.

You should sign up to Groupon type sites for London to see what kind of deals you can get for touristy things and for food and drinks. It's ideal that your mum stays nearby though, as accommodation isn't cheap!

Because I was away the weekend there was no groceries bought- no bread or milk in the house when I got home! Men! Nipped out for essentials tonight at Aldi but need to do a meal plan abd get organised for next week.

JoJoC

Also, I said on Cathy's thread but I popped another £25 into savings today off to update my signature!

cathybird

hi WantToBeSE, these links might help with free touristy stuff in London:
http://www.visitlondon.com/tag/free-attractions
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/travel-tips-and-articles/76482
There is in fact quite a lot of stuff you can do in London that is free - if you visit soon the weather is likely to be good so you could spend a lot of time just walking round, which I love to do when I see new places.

JoJoC

You're right Cathy, just walking around is lovely. We started in Covent Garden then walked through Leicester Square to see the hussle and bustle, then ended up in Soho for food and it was just lovely watching the world go by while sitting with a burrito and a beer

Wandering is fab

WantToBeSE

Morning All


Have just added £400 to my savings and about to update my signature. Was hoping for more, but I have to tax the car today. Besides, we still have a whole month to add more


Thanks for your advice and links re the London trip.


Only next week to go and then I have a whole week off work! Yippee! We are going back to Longleat, but only a day trip this time as I don't want to spend on a Travelodge unless I can get a bargain deal. At the moment the rooms are £72 per night! I paid that for 2 nights last time, because it wasn't school holidays probably!
We have the Longleat tickets free via clubcard, and we'll take a packed lunch with us to keep costs down. So the only expense will be the petrol to get there and back.


I have to buy some new shoes for the wedding next weekend. So i'll do that online this week hopefully.


EDIT- OK, tax done. That's £130 spent already. Boooo! Never mind, needs must!

JoJoC

Well done on the £400 saving! It'll be nice to see your signature up neat the £1k mark again

How's your frugal July going so far? Are you managing to keep costs low?

I think we've got a car tax due at the end of the month too, how rubbish.

Husband is working all weekend and most likely next weekend so although that's rubbish for my little boy and I, that'll be a nice extra sum into the savings this month.

Longleat trip sounds fab! You might get a cheap deal on Travelodge at the last minute, but you're right to try to keep costs down.

I finish up next Friday for a fortnight so looking forward to some quality time with my family. We're not going away, but we will probably do some day trips and maybe sneak in a wee overnight if we can get a good deal.

WantToBeSE

Hiya Jo


have updated my signature now. looking to see it reach over £1K by the end of the month.


We are hoping to have some nice day trips out too. We live in such a beautiful part of the country and haven't really had many days out exploring, even though I have lived in Cornwall almost all of my life!
One of the adventure parks in Cornwall are doing a deal this summer holiday where you pay the full entrance fee once and can get in as many times as you like during the summer holiday! Its expensive to get it, but worth it if we can get in at least 3 times during the 6 weeks.


I would also like to visit Falmouth, St Ives and Lands End.


I am keeping an eye out on sites such as groupon, living social and travelzoo to snag any nice days out too


I bet you are looking forward to your 2 week break, I am looking forward to mine!

JoJoC

I really hope you make £1k by the end of the month! It'll make all the difference to see it up in four figures. Great for motivation!

It might be a bit of a grand target, but I'm hoping to be up past £3k by the end of the month if husband definitely gets overtime next weekend too. It's good to aim for these things, although it's dependent on a lot of factors.

This morning I was going to go to the shopping centre to have a wander around, but thought to myself 'i don't want to spend money so why would I go shopping??'.

Instead, my little boy and I got up, had breakfast then made banana and choc chip muffins! He's down for a nap just now so I'm going to get organised then when he's up we're going to visit my grandparents for thus afternoon then come home to make dinner for husband coming in from work. Spend-free day!

Ive never been to Cornwall- living in Scotland it's quite a drive, especially with a young toddler. I'd really love to go though. My friend lived in Devon for a couple of years after Uni and quite often holidayed/ had day trips in Cornwall. Her pictures were always beautiful. Maybe when he's a bit bigger we'll make the trip!

WantToBeSE

Morning!


Finished the food shopping and am just munching on a bagel


Off to the gym later.


Bought some bits and pieces for when the kids go back to school in September. Its easy to get the primary school bits for my youngest, as they are cheap. The secondary school is a whole different story though. Their long sleeve tops are £18 EACH and rugby tops for PE are £22. I normally spend about £200 on his uniform over the summer holidays.
Because of that I am not sure how much I'll be able to save in August.
I normally sell his old uniform (especially PE kit, which is the most expensive) on the local FB selling sites, and make about £50 to put towards his new uniform.


This time next year the youngest will be also going up to the secondary school, so that'll be £400 in uniform alone, not to mention coats and shoes. Yikes!