While Mark is completely supportive of the fact that I'm leaving teaching in the summer, he has also made it clear that our reduced income must still cover our motor-sport activities and events (which is his main hobby and enthusiasm). I completely understand and support his point of view... after all, he would like to give up work as much as I do. So, on Saturday, we headed off in the silver Marcos for a weekend at the Donington Historic Festival...
You'll remember from previous posts that I'm preparing and saving for the summer by living on an extremely frugal income. This doesn't sit very comfortably with an environment where people have spent more on a car than I would live on for a decade........
Our Marcos may look gorgeous - but cost virtually nothing (in classic car terms) because Mark built her from re-cycled parts in our garage. Nevertheless, she attracts a lot of attention because she is rare and unusual..
Here's how I kept the costs down...
.1. We took 6 bottles of water from Aldi.
.2. We took a flask of coffee and a picnic for the first day.
.3. We rented a 'Serviced Apartment' in Castle Donington, rather than going to a Bed and Breakfast.
(which ended being this rather cute little cottage)
.4. I took a frozen meal for Saturday evening that I had made earlier in the week. It acted as an ice pack for the picnic during the day.
.5. We took our own drinks for the evening.
.6. There was a 'goody bag' of food waiting for us in the cottage. I used all the bread to make sandwiches for Sunday.
(We also bought home the 'Bonne Maman' jams and a couple of small cereal boxes.)
.7. We re-filled all the water bottles in the cottage too.. and made more coffee.
.8. We bought the tickets for the event a long time in advance and at a substantial discount
(less than 1/2 price)
It was a completely amazing weekend...
The cottage was a lucky find on Booking,com.
The bedroom and wet room were enormous..
...and I couldn't resist taking a photo of this tap.
I've never seen a 'Waterfall' design like this before.
Isn't it cool??
The cottage cost £99 per night.
The two day ticket for the event (for both of us) cost £16
OK.. it's not super-frugal, but I think we kept our costs down
(and enjoyed things more because we didn't feel that we were being 'ripped off' with £3 cups of coffee and £6 jacket potatoes)
This weekend will be quieter... I'm spending most of Saturday at a Quaker event in the Meeting House in Worcester.
Jx
That car is so cool! I love the idea of using the frozen dinner as an ice pack.
ReplyDeleteAh... but frugal isn't about going without. It's about cutting down on some things so you can enjoy the things that you love and make you happy. Looks like you had a great time.
ReplyDeleteI would say you have embraced frugality very well there achieving a great balance between saving and still enjoying yourselves! Looks like a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a brilliant job on being frugal. My MiL bought a picnic for the 4 of us and spent £50, which was lovely of her but not very frugal, I'll bet yours was. That car is cool!!! X
ReplyDeleteDoing well Jan. We usually take our lunch in our well used picnic basket and although so many complain about being on the old age pension here in Oz, we do OK. I think we all live differently and we struggled a lot when the kids were little and know how to stretch our money, and it certainly doesn't hurt us. Take care.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you had a lovely weekend. You did really well with your savings, you shouldn't have to go without the things you enjoy but I bet you enjoy them more by saving a bit of money along the way. We usually take picnics out with us, it's not just a case of saving money, we actually enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job of keeping the costs down, whilst still enjoying yourself! Don't you just love it when you are being frugal but no-one else can tell!! I do the meal-as-ice-pack when we go on holiday too, and by the time we get there it's almost defrosted and ready to heat up. The cottage looks lovely, your car is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI quite like those waterfalls taps! Looks a lovely place to stay.
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of being frugal is to spend money only where you consider is important. Albeit a holiday,show or car event. You did really well with the ticketing g cottage and pack ups. You deserved a good time.
ReplyDeleteand you still had as much fun as any of the others!
ReplyDeleteSo interested to read about you giving up teaching in August. My husband did just that in February 2014 and now works part time as a delivery driver for a well known supermarket. As I work part time as well we knew we had to cut expenditure and have adopted a very careful way of living. We are better off now than we were then, not just financially - DB is more relaxed and we spend more quality time together and it has been soooo worth it! You go for it - I'm sure you will have no regrets.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the small amount of money you did spend was well worth it. I hope you had a lovely time. That waterfall tap is very unusual isn't it? Judy.
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