Tuesday 9 August 2011

Budgeting for a holiday

I've a busy day ahead clearing a backlog of ironing before I do my last wash tomorrow before we go on holiday Friday. Yes, a holiday when we try to live frugally. We don't have to live frugally because we are in debt. We live this way to make sure we don't get into debt doing things we enjoy.

We live our lives planning meals, budgeting and being careful so we can save for things we want and put a little aside to pay for things that may unexpectedly turn up. When we finish a holiday it's straight on with saving every month an amount into a savings account for the next holiday. We don't do expensive holidays, mainly because we can't afford them, but we make sure we have a break somewhere each year.


So Friday we set off on our annual holiday which will be starting off in Bristol. We are staying in a family room in a chain hotel for two nights so we can go to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. We are staying in a family room as it's a lot cheaper than getting a room for us and a room for the girls. The Bristol Balloon Fiesta event happens every year and is FREE. The only expense is the parking which is £10 this year.  We shall have our electric cooler box which we plug into the car so this allows us to visit a supermarket in the morning and get some supplies to make sandwiches later.

We then travel onto Devon which has all been planned so we have a good idea how much we shall be spending and it allows us to print off discount vouchers or pre-book tickets for places so we can save money. We are not the type of people who say "let's stick every thing on the credit card and do what we want on holiday and pay for it later." We will not get into debt to have a holiday.

So follow us on our holiday later in the week and see how we do. Do you budget for a holiday and plan your days out to minimise costs?

5 comments:

  1. cant wait to see your posts, i have to budgetm i usually plan months in advance,m put money aside each month, then alsocheck the are for places we can visit using our national trust membership and also lookign for free days out, we self cater so take food from home and fid a local supermarket istead of shopping at extortionate shops close to where we stay. It all helps and makes it affordable for me to take my children away

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  2. Hi Sharonmanc, thanks for dropping in. National trust have so many places to vist that I'm sure you'll find plenty to see.

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  3. Hi Karen, we are in devon at the moment and come home on friday. we are hoping, time permitting, to swing by the balloon festival ourselves as it is en route home.

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  4. Have a lovely time, we are going to Cornwall on Saturday to spend the week with my family who live there, lucky them!! We have been saving for this over the last 3 months, wont be using the credit card and wont be getting into debt x

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  5. Hi Miss Piggy Bank. Weather not looking too great at the moment for the Bristol Balloon festival. Hope you had a good holiday.

    I have tried to comment on your blog lots this week but blogger won't let me!

    Hi dudgirl, have a lovely holiday with your family. Lucky you, cheap holidays.

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