Mrs Trelfa's Master Plan For Trifle Towers

StrugglingYouth

Sorry to hear about your grandparent! Sad news indeed. Glad they're on the mend.

Regarding the holiday and overpayments. Its a team effort between the both of you. You're both working hard towards being mortgage free. Im sure during the journey there will be an occasion when you can put something in that your partner cannot.

newgirly

Sorry to hear about your granny ,I hope she gets well soon.

pavlovs_dog

hope your gran is on the mend.

Have you considered Cuba? It is often cheaper than other Caribbean destinations. A phenomenal country, we loved it there. If you can go September time, you can often get 2 weeks all inclusive for under £1k a person in many resorts. You still get good weather (it is hurricane season, but they could strike at any time over several months. That's just a choice you have to make when you travel to that part of the world)

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Hi all,

Been to see my granny this morning and while there is a very long road to recovery, she is much better than Thursday evening when she was taken in.

Note to self do not write a post when exhausted as reading back it doesn't make sense. What we were thinking of doing is Barbados flying from Manchester with a budget of £1k or just over per person. Manchester only does 1 flight a week so we could only afford 1 week. Travel agent suggested Dominican republic as we were open to places, but just wanted to be in that part of the world. We can get 10 nights all inclusive at a 5 star hotel for our budget but we would have to fly from Gatwick. So we are trying to work out the cheapest way to get down there which is obviously an added cost. Also they looked at upgrading from economy seats which is going to cost just under £400 each which we are considering as its a 10 hour flight. It's not a bad price but then pushes the cost.

This is where we are torn as it will probably be the last nice holiday before we start trying for a family. Do we splash out so to speak and I put my share of the overpayments into saving for the holiday? Just feels like it goes against this website lol.

pavlovs_dog

if you shop around you often find with package holidays that, on a price per day basis, 2 weeks is better value for money. That £800 you're contemplating spending on slightly posher plane seats could well buy you best part of another week away. I know what I'd chose...

Looking at it another way, £800 would comfortably pay for return transport to London, an overnight stay in an airport hotel AND leave money for holiday spends.


Have you shopped around online for similar holidays to see if the prices quoted by the travel agent are actually competitive? Expedia would be a good port of call

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Thanks pavlos_dog for the mental check, I don't know what came over us and why we were contemplating upgrading. That's not very money saving.

So I haven't been on here for a while and that's because we have been busy and also been on our wedding anniversary getaway to Sri Lanka which was incredible. So incredible that when we landed we went straight to the travel agents and booked Dominican Republic hehe.


We got paid while we were away and the mortgage went out yesterday which means it is overpayment day. What is even better is that my mum has £1k back from the money she was borrowing of us until she sold her house. This means that the overpayment will be £1,450

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Whoop whoop, overpayment of £1,450 done. Hubby got into it and said that this would deserve a big Trelfa twist. And so it was was performed and we got a few funny looks :S I'm looking forward to receiving the paper work as I'm hoping that we have knocked almost a year off the term (if my calculations are correct)

StrugglingYouth

I would echo the above comment of spend the money on more days away than plane seats. Is it worth £20 an hour to you? Or would you sit in the economy seat and effectively have someone give you £20/hour to sit in it.

Great news on the knocking a year off the mortgage. Do you have any idea how much interest that has saved you?

gallygirl

Great stuff on the OP, hope you & hubby enjoyed your boogie :dance::dance::dance:

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa

Hi strugglingyouth, yes we decided not to upgrade the seats. However when we went to the travel agents (straight from the airport lol) but the holiday that we were looking at had increased by almost £400. However the lady in the shop had a look at different dates and also applied her discounts for us and we got an extra day and airport lounge for only £50 more than the quote we originally given. I know people say to book holidays ourselves and not go to a travel agents but we are not confident in doing that. Also while the company we travel with many not be the cheapest, but we think that they are value for money with the service we received and the quality of the holiday. For example I got a call today checking that everything was ok with Sri Lanka and was there any problems.

We deffo enjoyed the boogie however the woman watching us may not have. We were laughing our heads off. Not sure how much interest will have saved but our priority is to knock down the ltv amount ready for when our fix is up. Although I have worked out that in 19 months we have knocked over £7k off (normal monthly payments and overpayments).