It's Turning Into A Costly Week

Well first it was the PC 95 pounds, then it was the broadband 114 pounds, now it's rail tickets. I have of course been doing all I can to save pennies where I can and they are all items that are needed and not just wanted impulse buys. But it is still taking money out of my purse. We have been planning on visiting my family in London for a few weeks now and due to my MD I am unable to travel that distance without Lee with me in case of an attack. So we have had to wait until he has a weekend off work this weekend Lee has a weekend off so we decided to make it then. Of course there are 5 of us 2 adults and 3 children and neither Lee or myself drive due to medical conditions (my MD and Lee's epilepsy although he has been fit free now for 5 years so we are hoping he can start driving lessons in the near future). We therefore rely on public transport for journeys especially ones of this distance (it is a 2 hour drive and a 3 hour train ride). I sat down last night to book the tickets through redspottedhanky.com. I was interested to see how much it would normally cost for the 5 of us to travel without any discounts and nearly chocked on my tea when it came back with a price of just under 174 pounds. I of course would never pay such an obscene amount of money to go visit family no matter how much I love them and how long I have gone without seeing them. Thankfully I am a frugalist and know most of the tricks of the trade :)

A few weeks ago I received 3x 5 pound vouchers for redspottedhanky.com through Tesco clubcard rewards totally free. I was alerted to the offer via Martin Lewis at MSE newsletter which I receive regularly through email and snapped them up quick before they had all gone knowing we would be making several train journeys this summer. I also have a 2 month free family and friends railcard which gives me 60% discount for children and 1/3 discount for adults on train travel. Armed with all my discounts and tricks I set to work to get the best price possible. I managed to get all 5 of us on the exact same trains that would have cost 174 pounds for just 62 pounds a saving of 112 pounds. I did have to do it in 2 transactions though as the 5 pound vouchers I received can only be used 1 per transaction. By doing it in 2 transactions I was able to use 2 of the vouchers instead of 1 and as there was no card or booking fees I was able to do this at no added cost. So the tickets are all booked and paid for and we pick them up on the day of travel just before we go from the ticket machine saving a further 7 pounds on delivery.

We are all really looking forward to our trip as we very rarely get to see my family and see my dad, nan, and grandad even less. Due to poor health they are unable to travel to us. Brad has not seen a lot of the family for over a year so I felt it important that he came with us this time and have cancelled his restpite this weekend so he can come with us instead. I have arranged for a friend to look after the house and animals whilst we are away so I won't have anything to worry about other than having a good time and enjoying the company of my family. On Saturday we will be going into Central London to visit some of the tourist spots as we thought the boys would like this and it will be free of charge just to go look and take some pictures of places like Buckingham palace, tower bridge, and the London eye (we will not be going on the London eye at 20 pounds a head its way out of my price range). We will be getting travel cards which will cover all our transport costs for the day for 21pounds for the 5 of us and I will take a picnic so we wont have to pay to eat out. I'm not sure how my brother will react to my extreme frugal ways but I am who I am and wont change for anyone not even for a day lol. I will of course take lots of pictures to share with you all of our day out in London.

So as you can see it has turned into a costly week here at Tilly towers the only consolation is that I have paid a hell of a lot less than I should have done and saved myself 100's of pounds doing it all the frugal way and that deserves a little smile don't you think.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx