And now we go again...

savingholmes

I'm glad you had a good time away. It sounds like it is a good time to review your budget and prioritise. You'll find the balance with time.

@foxgloves That is a huge rise in cost. I must admit I'm not wedded to a particular area or cottage - so I tend to book on price and views! I've therefore noticed some increase but it's not as visible to me as if I kept trying to rebook the same place as you and EH tend to. In their defence I would add in that mortgage rates and energy prices will have affected holiday lets so some of it will be that not just greed. 

peb

Going by the mortgage rate increases I'm seeing on BTL I suspect one contributing factor is the higher mortgage payments on holiday cottages.   

RosaBernicia

Oh.  Wow.  I've been debating selling the campervan, but at those prices, it actually makes more sense to keep it. 

Suffolk_lass

I completely agree @foxgloves, we are finding the same thing. My Mother lives in Ayrshire and we go twice a year, spending a few days with her and then on up to the West Highlands for a week. We are part of a group who used to go at Easter to a large hunting lodge or similar, all mucking in and self catering for less than £200 all in. Two things have happened since the wretched North Coast 500 became so popular. First all the large houses are being turned into Boutique Hotels so they are disappearing, and then as you say, the prices are doubling.

We are considering giving this group trip up, what with this and the hugely increased number of incompetent motorhome drivers who either cannot read or think they will be OK taking their (probably rental) coach-built motorhomes along twisty tiny roads and expecting everyone else to reverse up to make room for them. They take everything with them so they don't even put any money into the local economy. As a motorhome owner myself I really resent what it is doing. Lots of places that used to be favourite eateries, or just pubs to stop at after a day in the hills are now only open to residents, because the cost of property is so high the staff that used to work there can no longer afford to, so there are not enough staff to open to anyone other than residents.

This year we have resorted to several houses on Skye (to be fair, there have never been the same numbers of big places to rent (outside the shooting season), so it was always going to involve multiple houses), and in September we are going back to the Bridge over the Ocean area (Clachan Bridge) - it has the advantage of being much closer (therefore cheaper fuel costs) than places we love further north (eg Lochinver/Ullapool) and we are staying somewhere we have been before that has not put their prices up by that much

EssexHebridean

What a lovely lot of chat - thanks to all who took the time to pop in and comment - or indeed just read!

Yes - I think peb has at least in part nailed it. Then energy costs of course as SH mentions, in the Hebrides there are now additional licensing costs which again are going to be getting passed on, works have had to be done where smoke alarms weren't mains supplied as that is now mandatory up there... Foxgloves I'm actually really grateful you shared that pricing details as that does give some context. We are paying a little over £1500 for the fortnight this year - for a small but lovely cottage with a glorious location. Prices in the Hebrides are generally a fair chunk lower than other areas of the UK - in part because of course traditionally it's always been harder work to get there and that has put people off a bit. Now with the "road equivalent tariff" on the ferries though it has at least got more reasonable on price than it used to be - although again, those fares are creeping up too. (And the service is getting far, far worse, but that's a whole other story!) While I don't think the cost for the cottage is unreasonable in the grand scheme of things, by the time the ancillary costs are added in - ferries, overnight accommodation for the way up and back, 2 nights on arrival before we get into the cottage and the night after we leave - although I acknowledge those are our choice and we could opt not to do that - diesel, both for the way up and while we're there, then food and drink.... 

On the subject of all things holiday - we did indeed sit down and brainstorm all things ferry related last night - and the verdict was that we are tied to the one crossing as that is the one that works for us on timings without meaning we have to do an overnight drive - something we prefer to avoid. So Mallaig to Lochboisdale it will be. Having made our decisions on which route, and which crossings, we then spotted the dreaded small print that our "way over" crossing would be affected by tidal alterations...never a good thing to see. MrEH found the amended timetable for the relevant day though and - hurrah - it means the ferry leaves 3.5 hours early - a time difference which is not only achievable (we usually have a fair bit of slack time built into our schedule) but also means we will be over on the islands at a far better time, so we'll gain an evening which usually would be spent on board the boat, then driving to our accommodation in the nearly-dark. Excellent - now all we need is for Calmac to actually manage to provide a service to the relevant island - something they've proved not at all wonderful at in recent times!  Anyway - all booked and £186.30 paid out there. The decision on the crossing also means that we can stretch an extra day out of things at the end of the trip (yes - again!) which is excellent. I need to book that accommodation yet - that's an online booking and I have to hope that the "hobbit home" is available for the night. Also need to book way up overnight accommodation which will be a travelodge - should have done that a few weeks ago when it was cheaper - hey ho. 

Anyway - elsewhere, MSE Stuff:
- CC now sits at zero - until that ferry booking makes it through from pending of course.
- I have one "interesting" zero entry showing in pending on the CC at the moment that I'm keeping a close eye on as I'm unsure where it's come from - with luck it just disappears, if not it will need more investigation. 
- Meals are falling in to place for the week - and I managed to shove some extra veg into last night's tortilla style omelette. that used up the remaining 6 eggs which were heading for the end of their date too. 
- This evening will be couscous, halloumi and roasted veggies - and that will use up the remainder of last week's mushrooms, and most likely another chunk of the squash as well. I'll probably air fry the veg.
- My personal spends account has now settled from weekend spending and I have swept £1.13 across to my own savings account - as it is only me who has a sole account with that institution I don't sweep to the VSP there.
- I will set aside some time this evening for the other holiday bookings I think - certainly the Hobbit Home one, as I want to make sure we get that. 
- I also want to review where we are at with the Octopods as there might be scope to reduce that DD amount a little. We still have very nearly £400 credit at the moment, and so far this month isn't looking anything like as expensive as we might have expected. I would sooner opt for a reduced DD for a while than take credit back I think, so that may be somewhere I can salvage some money from for the short term. 
- The water DD will drop by £14 from next month - but equally I'm expecting a stiff rise in the CT one so that extra £14 will just be used to offset that a little. 

The small habits I am trying to look after this week are 
- getting back to regular yoga -understandably I didn't do that over the weekend!
- maximising the plants in my diet - it's been a while since I've kept a tally so I'm doing that this week to see how I stack up against the ideal. 

lucielle

Scottish holiday homes all have to apply for a license. It can cost in the region of 3-5k depending how big the house is and how much needs doing to pass. 

We still need to venture out to the outer isles. It’s on a to do list! As is the yoga!  I’m going to try and get to class on Saturday, though it does mean going to the village twice as I’ve got work later. 

L

beanielou

The joys of Callmac & the dire state of Scottish ferries. We will not speak about a certain ship builder fiasco. Oh no we won’t. 😡 

Suffolk_lass

beanielou said:

The joys of Callmac & the dire state of Scottish ferries. We will not speak about a certain ship builder fiasco. Oh no we won’t. 😡 

Or the minister who paid for one in 2017 that has yet to be put in service? 🤐

beanielou

Suffolk_lass said:

beanielou said:

The joys of Callmac & the dire state of Scottish ferries. We will not speak about a certain ship builder fiasco. Oh no we won’t. 😡 

Or the minister who paid for one in 2017 that has yet to be put in service? 🤐

Absolutely this. 

Way way over budget too. 

badmemory

A government thing over budget - couldn't possibly be!!  I wonder if it is the realms of possibilty that a government thing can ever come in under budget but I guess on budget would be a first.