Prosperous & Creative Soul & MFW Year 3

TallGirl

Lovely pictures I am glad you are having a nice time and getting outside of your comfort zone by the sounds of it. It is lovely to holiday in the UK but it is also nice to get away and often the price is the same plus you have all the food etc to try out. 

SandyShores

Glad you are having a great holiday savingholmes, a break is a great re-set, we need to do more of them

doingitanyway

Glad to read it is as good as it looks 

savingholmes

Thanks Lucielle, KK, DIA, Sunshine, Jwil, Beanie, Skint, Staffordia, OpalGirl, Sandy and TG

Well I'm safely home. Thankfully came home to lovely views which did make it slightly easier. They are due unsettled weather for the next week or so and there were storms yesterday late evening and early morning and some further rain this morning which made it a tiny bit easier to leave. I really didn't want to come home which I never normally experience. I made friends with the couple on the table next to me around day 3 and that really helped - and after that another English couple spoke to me when I was out on the swing. It was mostly an Italian person hotel and I don't speak Italian...

It turned out the pool was longer than I thought so on my best days I did 560m. I need to think how I can build exercise into my daily routines more as it does me so much good to be back out in nature - even if by other's standards I move at a snail's pace (not helped by distractibility, photo/movie taking)!!

I was really lucky to have an airport transport all to myself both ways which helped reduce overwhelm - think merc style minibus. I took loads more video and photos. I'm sure I'll end up sharing some over the next few days... 

The best news of all - is I got out of paying the parking fee for being in the wrong place - helped by formal diagnosis of disability, mention of P1p etc. So that avoided £320ish. I was so relieved. I was in tears trying to explain to them the issue but in the end they were lovely. (I had paid £110 to park elsewhere!) I was utterly exhausted though so stopped at the first pub found after I was off the motorway which was around a quarter of the way home. A two course meal was cheaper or the same as a single - so went for sausage and mash followed by crumble, custard and ice cream. Even after that I still felt sleepy as I only got about 3 hours sleep yesterday as I was up late packing and got up around 5.30am to do the last bits and leave. 

The cat sitter was poor. The food doesn't look fresh. The bowls of water had hairs in it. It doesn't look like it occurred to her to clean the cat food dish - and worst of all she left all the bags of stinking cat litter in my warm kitchen... She does look about 23 but still!!! So I think she would be my last resort rather than first resort option. I said she could let the cat out this morning and he arrived back within half an hour of me which is always a relief. 

beanielou

Great news on the parking.
Cat sitter sounds dire.  Imagine not cleaning the poor cats bowls & not changing the water.  As for leaving the cat litter in the house...........
Glad you had a good time.

savingholmes

Thanks Beanie.

On money news - because I was at a smaller lake resort all the prices were very reasonable. The more famous lakes can be up to 4 times the price in some cases for things like renting an electric boat - and are higher prices on drinks and food etc too. Local travel was included on a card you got given where I was and that also gave me discounts for things like the boat and the cable car. The cost of the holiday and spending £ is therefore due to be repaid before my July pay day. I've sent close to £560 to my CC today (that I'd held back in case) - and another £600 or so is due to go after I get my next p1p. While I was away about £130 came off the 0% CC that the phone spends below are on.

My phone purchases came to around £1100 for one and £100 for the other - plus a £10 sim for the last one. However - I earned points that were equivalent to at least £10. They also have a £200 cashback offer. I've just submitted my claim - and they've confirmed I'll get the £ within 45 days. I adore my new phone and am very grateful I insisted on a 500GB plus memory. My last phone lasted 4 years so if this does the same it should be fine. (That's more expensive though than my highest price laptop I think). I got a case for it out of my holiday spends and a pop socket for the cheap phone.

My sim on phone 1 is about £8 a month for 25-30GB. I also bought an emerald green bag for about 25Euro that would fit the tablet I wanted in - or in the meantime my laptop. I may not keep topping up the second phone - it was just that I normally use my work phone as a back up phone and to help me find the other one - but I am not allowed to take it abroad plus my other one was taking a minute to open the screen etc. I might use the cheap phone for the days I want a phone out in the pool / in the sea in a so called waterproof case - and risk that rather than my more expensive one. The battery on both my new phones is phenomenal compared to how bad my last phone had become. 

Just knocked my coffee over my handbag and new bag. Thankfully not over any electronics!! (Welcome home). I took video of my sunset at home before though - as it may not be the alps but it is pretty spectacular.

A mortgage payment also went out - and because I haven't yet upped my pension - I am due to send more £ to savings this month. I may however take some of my recent interest out of one of my savings accounts so I can chip away the CC some more. I obviously also need to stop using CCs. I need to request a T loyalty fob to help with that. I am going to look at tablets in the Pr1m3 sale though... and if I don't buy using that route - then depending on which is best option I'd consider a monthly plan.

I am leaning away from emptying my EF to do the garage. I'm going to sit with that decision a while yet. The floor in the lounge and hall is the highest priority. I'm going to buy some asbestos testing kits - and if they come back okay - may even rip up the floor in those two areas myself. (Ripping up is easier than fitting). I'd start in the hall - as they already did about 1-2m2 (roll eyes) of 4 or 5m2 whereas the lounge looks reasonable as the worst is covered by rugs. In the hall I have leftover carpet that they used on the stairs that could be fitted there for now which could make it more liveable while I make decision. 

savingholmes

I got £89 in interest in one account and have withdrawn £275 to put towards recent CC expenses. I don't want the bill to keep escalating. I also got around £4 in interest / cashback across another couple of accounts. It all helps. I think one of my regular savers matures in July but I've already raided it so there's probably only going to be about £75 in it at that point plus a tiny bit of interest. I'll probably therefore also chuck that towards repaying the phone.

My other ISA should give me some interest in a few days but I'll probably leave that there. 

I also labelled multiple pots 'holiday/CC' - across a number of accounts so I've 'found' another £250 that I can send to a CC on top. It's not that I have lots of £ - it is more that as a precaution I spent on my CC earlier in the month in case I had issues and now I'm redirecting those pots to clear the CC. 

I had been really worried about going half board versus all inclusive but it wasn't too expensive as in practice you were given so much at the evening meal you didn't have room for lunch as well. Also not having to be back for lunch encouraged me to be more active. I need to consider what this means for my holiday strategy moving forwards. I had pretty good weather while I was there - but if it had been bad weather I didn't have the right clothes - and probably wouldn't have been able to be so active. So while it's tempting to return there - I need to consider other options. If I returned - I'd want to learn more Italian before I went. Apparently you normally pay more for a lake view - so we were fortunate (me and the other English).

Where I was - was part of a national park that seemed to stretch for hundreds of square miles. I have never seen anything so beautiful. I think some of the other people there also said it was one of the best holidays they'd had - but still they seemed to take the beauty for granted where I was blown away pretty much anywhere I looked. I want to investigate walking poles - please don't list brands on my diary - but feel free to PM me with suggestions. I also need a decent waterproof coat. Everyone else pretty much had trekking shorts/trousers - while I had more traditional holiday clothes... What I found beneficial about going somewhere I hadn't been before - was that I went without expectation and - tried to view it as an opportunity to develop new habits. 

catclaires

The holiday looked amazing - so glad you had such a good time! What a relief about the parking money as well!

I went on a lakes and mountains holiday (also to an Italian lake, as it happens) back in 2012 and have been hooked ever since - it is my absolute favourite type of holiday! I find those kind of locations incredibly relaxing and love the fact that you can hike for hours, or sit for hours soaking it all in, or anything in between, enjoying the stunning views whatever you're doing. Ice cream is always an added bonus when in Italy!

A good waterproof makes all the difference, and I would also definitely recommend walking poles - they are a game changer in my opinion. I will PM you later with a couple of considerations

savingholmes

Thanks @catclaires I appreciate it.

I stayed in bed until 11.30 and caught up on sleep. I woke briefly around 8.30am. I've had breakfast but still need to dress. I'm going to take a half adhd tablet today as I don't think I took any yesterday and it is already late but want to ease back in. I have some ripe strawberries in my pots outside which is nice. I'll water the garden shortly.

I weighed myself this morning and am pretty much the same weight as I left so thrilled about that. I didn't want to undo my hard work. Hopefully I've added muscle.

I need to find my P card and vote - and take ID. I don't actually know where I go to vote here so also need to investigate that.

I need to find a couple of bank and CC cards so I can set up the banking for them on my new phone. Their system was more awkward that the others in what you needed to have to set it up. Given I struggle to remember passwords and I didn't have all my cards with me - I didn't have what I needed to set them up. I'm not even sure where those are - I made the mistake of putting them somewhere 'safe' before going away...

Someone came and read the meters the other day so hopefully I'll get a real rather than estimated bill for gas and elec soon.

I did a load of washing yesterday - but still need to put that in the dryer. Hope you are having a good day where you are... 

EssexHebridean

Glad you had such a fabulous time - and yes, I can concur that returning to a home you love does make leaving a holiday destination far easier!