Just a quick Money Makeover post today as I’m sure you all have much better things to be doing than sat indoors reading this seeing as it’s the first day of the Easter Holidays for most of us.
First of all, don’t forget to check out week seven of my Money Makeover posts which is all about planning and having a fun and frugal time with your kids during the holidays. You’ll find the link at the bottom of the page.
For the rest of this post, I’m going to presume that you’ve read the other post already and have a bit of a plan in your mind as to what you’re doing during the holidays and if you are going out anywhere nice for the day that you’ve already looked around and are confident that you’re paying as little as possible for wherever you’re going! Everyone nod their head at this point!
So let’s say that you are going somewhere nice for the day – apart from the entrance tickets (if there are any to pay for), how do you make sure that you spend as little as possible whilst having as much fun as possible?
- An obvious one but definitely take a picnic to eat for lunch – it doesn’t have to be anything fancy because you’ll probably not want to spend much time on lunch but you don’t want to have to pay the often inflated prices at where ever you’re going.
- Think about who’ll carry the picnic bag and how long it’ll need to be carried around before lunch. It’s worth considering hiring a locker if they’re available to pop the picnic in until lunchtime so everyone has their hands free to have fun. We did this at Thorpe Park last year and it was well worth the pound we spent on the locker.
- Depending on where we’re going, we often don’t take drinks. Theme parks in particular sell those plastic cups that can be refilled for free all around the park so we buy one of those between us and get it refilled whenever we need to. At around £6, I could certainly spend less taking drinks but someone would have to carry the drinks around all day and they’re not light.
- I have some sweets in my handbag usually so that if we see a stall or shop selling sweets, I can offer a cheaper alternative. Most of the major supermarkets sell little things like mini Haribo packs for 10p each in the sweet aisle so I stick up on those. I know I could just say no to the sweets and not offer an alternative but I prefer my way when we’re out for the day.
- Pack plasters, paracetamol and baby wipes in your bag – just in case!
- Make sure that the kids know what to do if they get lost and write your mobile number on a piece of paper in their pocket.
- Take sun tan lotion if you think there’s even a small chance you’ll need it – I keep a bottle permanently in the car because mine burn very easily and it costs so much when you’re out and about.
- Consider giving the kids some extra pocket money for the day – once it’s gone, it’s gone. When we went to Alton Towers we gave the kids £5 each to spend which meant that they weren’t asking us for things and they thought more about what they actually wanted rather than just asking us.
And my final tip isn’t money saving at all but I would say if you were planning a ‘big’ day out, plan it for the end of the holidays and then you’ve got bribery material for the rest of the time! 😉
Whatever you’re up to, have a great Easter Holidays….
Previous week’s Money Makeover posts
Week One – Money Makeover Introduction
Week Two – Sort our your spending
Week Three – Dealing with Debt
Week Four – Get a better deal on insurance
Week Five – Energy Money Saving
Week Six – Cut the cost of your home phone bills
Week Seven – School Holiday Moneysaving
Week Eight – Get what you’re entitled to
Week Nine – Save money while you drive
