Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

carpet or holiday?

17 replies

balroymum · 10/12/2011 23:28

Apologies if this post is better suited to the money section but I have a dilemma (quite a nice one actually) that I would like some help with.

We recently were given £2500 from my parents - lovely, I know. No strings attached, they said we could spend it on whatever we like and they mean it. Have already paid for new front door which was absolutely essential. Now we can't decide between a living room/dining room carpet (currently wooden floor) or a summer holiday. By the way, 'we' is me, my husband and our 1 year old daughter. Carpet is more sensible I know but holidays are fun! Cannot decide. What would you do?

OP posts:
said · 10/12/2011 23:31

Oh god, easy one. Strip and varnish wooden floors and have holiday Grin No-one needs carpet.

Auntiestablishment · 10/12/2011 23:32

I would try to get both out of that amount. Though that depends how expensive your tastes are (I would buy a good carpet and take a cheap holiday).

Lucky you, v kind of your parents.

smartyparts · 10/12/2011 23:33

Holiday! Kids never say, 'remember the year we got that carpet..'

lisad123 · 10/12/2011 23:35

Holiday and a nice big rig Grin

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 10/12/2011 23:38

I'd get both. A roll end from somewhere and then some decent underlay, Cloud 9 from Tradepriced (or something like that, comes up if you google, they also do gripper cheaply ).Then holiday somewhere like a French gite, the money should be enough.

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 10/12/2011 23:45

I used these people and a local fitter recently. Underlay here

We have had a couple of places in France and Germany for about £3-400 a week during school holidays. Tesco Clubcard gets you through the tunnel or Norfolkline crossing is £50 return if you buy at the right time.

Original poster
balroymum · 10/12/2011 23:52

These are brilliant! We are laughing a lot into our wine right now. Smartyparts - you're right, I bet no child has ever said that! lisad123, do you mean 'ring'?! Don't know what a rig is! WynkenBlynkenandNod and Auntieestablishment - I was of the 'both' camp too until I measured the living room/dining room/hall way type thing of a room we have and realised that it would cost 1500 even for £20 a sq metre carpet, never mind underlay and fitting (I'm boring myself slightly at this point.) Said - good plan, I do like the wooden floor but it is not very cosy and I am a wimp in the winter, but then again, a holiday abroad would warm me up too. Agh! Carpet and holiday are both warm! More wine please.

OP posts:
lisad123 · 10/12/2011 23:53

No I meant rug, damn iPhone! Blush

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 11/12/2011 00:01

In that case, rugs and holiday get my vote.

Auntiestablishment · 11/12/2011 10:13

OK - even my biggest is only about half that!

OK, carpet and a contribution towards a holiday, then! Brew

minciepie · 11/12/2011 10:49

1 or 2 big and cheap rugs from ikea, and a holiday.

Even leaving aside the money, I'd think it's best wait to get permanent fitted carpet till your DC are a bit older.

xmyboys · 11/12/2011 10:55

Carpet young child = potty training Sad vomiting Sad
Vote for rugs Grin and short break

ninedragons · 11/12/2011 11:08

Holiday in Turkey or Dubai and buy a couple of rugs while you're there.

Fitted carpet is naff.

rubyrubyruby · 11/12/2011 11:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cece · 11/12/2011 11:16

I would carpet and do the holiday but my dad is a carpet fitter, so can get good deals on carpet, underlay and so on and I get it fitted for free ! Smile

startail · 11/12/2011 11:44

Holiday and a big cheap rug.
You'll enjoy the holiday, small DD will prefer the rug to play on to the wood. You won't stress when she pours milk all over it.
Expensive carpet plus small children and small children's friends is never ever I good ideaGrin

soaccidentprone · 11/12/2011 15:39

I know this may be an 'off-beat' question, but have you got a cellar?

If you have you could always insulate underneath the floorboards yourself (easy and reasonable cheap to do). This would stop any draughts etc.

Make sure any holes etc are sealed stopping cold air coming in.

Then I would invest in a nice rug for the living room, a cheaper one for the dining room (it will get food and drink on it, so something with a bit of a pattern than you can scrub to get the marks out of), and maybe a patterned runner for the hall something like this

www.johnlewis.com/13206/Product.aspx

You might also need to budget for carpet grippy stuff in case your rugs move.

I agree that carpets and small children don't go together. At least you can easily send your rug to be cleaned in Summer!

I would also suggest Groupon or KGB deals for a good deals on a holiday, though you may have to be patient to get the deal you want! At least with a pre-school child you'll be able to pick up a good deal out of the school hols. Hope this helps Smile

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread