To be pissed off that we can't afford a day out.

[Tealady1983]

Hi I am pissed off as we can't afford a day out with the kids. We both work hard but cannot even afford the bus fare to town then entry to the castle or lunch or anything. We can't stay in garden as it floods when rains so it's all marshy. I feel like such a ba mother

But the OP does have a car she can just jump into.

A brand new one.

Bought outright. No finance.

Maybe that is why she can't afford bus fare?

Eh....scratching me head....

Well it looks like you have all your priorities wrong then, if that is the case.

I agree - sell the brand new car with no finance - buy a cheap second hand one and use the remaining cash for days out etc

or another holiday :)

th on the road price for the cheapest xcross is £14,999 - so that's a lot of cash to have lying around

buy a Kia and use the remaining 10k to have a few years worth of picnics

When I was young, hardly any ordinary people had money for days out. So days out were a walk, a picnic, playing football with your dad, walking to the shops far away and getting an ice cream. You can make walks fun by punctuating it with silly things such as lets visit the cows and sing to them.

Just mow your own lawn and save on your gardening bill.

Then you can treat your children to a nice day out with the money saved.

Simples

Blimey

You have a gardener and a brand new car? I thought you were genuinely skint and responded to this in good faith.

Or stop the £80 a week driving lessons and go back to work. Should help.

Dropping the £ 100 a month sky should help too.

Blimey....Op certainly loved to treat herself....

I feel a bit daft now talking about all my money saving ideas earlier....

Loves

They had a holiday in April too!

Threads like this take the piss! There are people on here who genuinely can not afford anything other than basic, FFS!

Cancelling Sky and using Freeview would save loads. It sounds like a choice not to be able to afford a day out rather than due to necessity. I can see it frustrating not to have spare dash around but it sounds like there are other ways you could save money.

How far is a park from your house?
The weather has been so wet that I totally sympathise, it is hard to find things to do when the weather is so terrible.
Just a couple of weeks ago I walked with my boys to a park which is 30mins aways (one of the on a scooter the other walking). I took a backpack with lunch, and carried a bag with two balls. We spent the entire afternoon there, they loved it. All free.
My kids are energetic and don't mind walking though.

Brand new house.
Pedigree kittens.
Sky.
Car.

You can afford days out.

You are choosing to spend your money elsewhere.

As the others said, if you can afford to buy a car outright the other week then you should be budgeting better but there are things to do for free if you plan. Geocaching is fun as some have said or a picnic in the countryside or park.

sky is very expensive. could you think what you could get if you gave it up to see if would what you could buy with the money make it worth going without sky? (we don't have sky so don't know what we are missing. it is easy to say give it up when we have never had it )

I find it really difficult when the children come back with stories of what their friends have done in the holidays. one family I talk to in the playground seem to go on holiday every school holiday twice (ffs) in the summer holidays. others come out with we are only going to devon for a couple of weeks, which to us seems a lot. We are well off compared to lots of people but hearing the stories in the play ground stinks.

in your situation? after a good cry and moan try and make use of the garden in the best way possible. dens, digging, wellies and getting wet.umbrellas in the rain, puddle jumping making junk model boats to float in all that wet, can you build a raised bed and grow some stuff? (using the stuff in the garden to make a raised bed rather than buying stuff?)
do you have a path to do chalking on? (jumbo chalks approx £1.50) a ball of string to tie bits of wood together to make dens? treasure hunts in the garden? scavenger hunts? picnics in the garden? can you train your 6 year old to change into outside trousers and have a couple of old pairs of trousers you are not going to freak about if they get muddy? (this really helps keep me sane) make an insect house of sticks and cut up plastic bottles?

I am trying hard to use the "make good use of what you do have" philosophy by using the resources of the city for free. we live in a flat with a shared garden so really miss having our own garden to play and dig in but I am trying to (not doing very well) enjoy the free museums and walks and parks near here.

Is this thread a wind-up? Get rid of Sky, buy a second-hand car, get a rescue cat instead of a pedigree kitten, get rid of the gardener and get your DH to stop buying brand new consoles/computer games. I bet you could take your kids out then

I used to work on children's residential holidays. The kids would do all kinds of exciting things, but one of the really popular activities that I used to run, was an insect hunt. We used to spread out a covering around a tree, and then shake the tree gently to make insects fall out. Then we would look at them,hold them and identify them. It was virtually free, and incredibly popular. Don't make the mistake of thinking kids most enjoy the things you pay a lot for.

We go on lots of days out abd holidays but make allowances for this.

If I was in your situation Tesco would be the first thing to go, im feeding four adult eaters on £60 a week in aldi at the mo.

We live in a too small house with no garden, kids have own rooms but not a great deal of space. Could you downsize to free up some money ??

We're none drivers too, I buy a bus pass every hols to vet us around locally. Could this be an option ?? Just to get you out a little ??

When we go away we usually stay in a travelodge or premier inn. Theyre clean and comfortable, most importantly theyre cheap. Because of this we have a four night break booked in the summer hols for 120.......we only need a place to sleep.

There are ways and means of getting round things, we cut corners massively to be able to afford to take the kids away and do things. It neednt cost a fortune.

OP

Get yourself over to Money Saving Expert post up your current spending on things like Sky, the gardener, driving lessons and learn how to budget and prioritise.

You might be surprised to find that a lot of comfortably off people are quite hardheaded about spending priorities and are quite circumspect about their outgoings.

Have I missed a page ?

Where has all the information about having a gardener and a new car come from ?

YABU to think that you have to spend a lot of money to have a fund day out with a 6 yr old.