Greek Islands for Every Type of Holidaymaker

June 30, 2022January 15, 2023 JayneLeave a comment

Greece is a country that I’ve wanted to visit for a really long time and will probably be quite high up on the list once we start planning our next family holiday. It’s one of those places that has everything I could want – history, amazing food, vibrant culture, fantastic activities, nightlife, and white sandy beaches – what more could a girl want from a holiday destination?! With this in mind, I’ve been doing some reading about the different Greek islands and villas in Mykonos and have learned that there are some ideal places for each different type of holiday maker, so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned:

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Holidays for The Retirees in Your Life

December 1, 2021December 1, 2021 JayneLeave a comment

A lot of us spend our lives daydreaming about what adventures we’ll have when we finally retire. Without the restrictions of limited annual leave or having to travel during school holidays, and with a lifetime of experience and wisdom behind you, the choices of where to go are limitless. If you’re planning a holiday for the retired people in your life, here are some suggestions:

Golf Holidays

If your retirees are are into golf then they could do a lot worse than opting for golf holidays in Spain. Most packages will include your flights, accomodation and also your green fees and passes, so you can get a fantastic deal with everything covered. They’re perfect for retirees who love to golf as it means they can do so in a lovely climate, surrounded by stunning views.

Cruises

For many, relaxing on board and watching incredible scenery drift by is a favourite aspect of cruising — all the more so for passengers who aren’t as mobile as they once were. The idea of a scenic cruise is that you can still get a lot out of the voyage even if you are unable to get off the ship much, which is why the Norwegian coast, the wild shorelines of Alaska and river cruises are so popular with older travellers.

Rail Holidays

Many retired couples love having adventures on luxury rail journeys as they get to explore many places in comfort and style. There is a luxury rail journey for everyone, from mountain and sea rail to East coast US cities by rail. You can explore whole countries such as Australia on the Indian Pacific which goes from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide where you will see the Blue Mountains, vineyards, goldmines and the contrast of busy cities to ghost towns all in one adventure.

City Breaks

City breaks are a fantastic way to explore Europe, especially as flights are short and there are a wealth of amazing destinations at your doorstep without the long haul. Some of our most popular city breaks include Venice, Barcelona, Prague, Athens and Paris. Your break can be tailored to your specific needs if you want to explore certain areas, take a gondola, a ferry to the Greek Islands or the beach in Barcelona, whatever you want from your city break it is all yours.

Driving Holidays

Famous for becoming the first completely paved highway in the United States, a drive along Route 66 burns rubber as you pass through America’s most iconic spots – Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Texas and Chicago. And, while the incredible states will impress, so too will the off-the-beaten-track sections that wind through huge expanses of awe inspiring nothingness. Spanning over 2,400 miles and crossing eight states, the typical driving route kicks off in Chicago and finishes in California.

Adulting · Money

Saving for the Summer

June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 JayneLeave a comment

Saving for the Summer With the summer holidays fast approaching, many of us have started to think about our finances over the coming weeks. Keeping kids entertained for six weeks isn’t cheap, and the cost of summer can seem truly daunting. With that in mind, I thought I’d look at some things you can do to top up the funds, ahead of this expensive time of year.

Get a Part Time Job

Childcare can be super expensive, but if you’re not currently working and need some extra cash, there are lots of part time jobs out there which can fit around family time. From courier work to bank nursing at your local hospital, out of hours options are there, providing you’ve got someone to watch the kids in the evening.

Get a Loan

While I wouldn’t usually suggest getting yourself into debt, as long as you’re sensible with making your repayments on time a loan can be a useful buffer at this time of year, and getting a loan can even help to repair bad credit if you ensure you stick to your repayment plan. There are also loans for bad credit if you don’t have the best credit rating.

Cancel Any Services You Don’t Use

This is a great time of year to take a look at your finances and cut back on anything that you really don’t need. I currently pay £10 a month for a gym membership, which I barely use, and although a tenner doesn’t seem like much, it’s enough to make your eyes water when you think about it as £120 a year!

Streamline Your Shop

If you’re like us and end up wasting food because of less-than-savvy shopping, this is a good place to start when it comes to money saving. Sit down and look at HOW you shop (weekly, monthly, day-by-day) and work out where most of the waste is coming from. You could also think about WHERE you shop and whether there’s a cheaper option out there, like Lidl or Aldi. Meal planning is also often a good way to help you to be more frugal.

Get Your Walking Shoes On

Many families are guilty of jumping in the car for short journeys, which would actually be more than walkable. Unless you’re in a massive hurry, try to make any journey of a mile or less on foot – or even better, get the bikes out and get the whole family cycling. As well as cutting your fuel costs, it will get you all moving and will also reduce your carbon footprint – everyone’s a winner!

Do you have any fab money saving or money making tips for my readers? Do leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

Money

Find Money You Might Not Even Know You Had!

July 16, 2018 JayneLeave a comment

With the summer holidays just days away, a lot of us will be thinking about how we’re going to afford all of the days out and activities that we’ll be wanting to do with the kids. It would be nice to be able to do a different thing every single day, but with the best will in the world, that’s just not in the budget for most of us. There might be, however, some money hanging about that you didn’t even realise you had, and we’ve got some suggestions of how to find it:

Outstanding PPI?

It’s hard to believe that anyone could still have any outstanding PPI claims with all the reminders on TV, radio and in the papers, but there are still a whole bunch of people who still haven’t claimed. It’s a simple process that could see you entitled to hundreds, even thousands of pounds!

Old Accounts

If you’ve changed bank accounts over the years, there could still be accounts in your name, laying dormant, with money in them. Write to the bank who you were once with and ask for details of any old accounts and you could be in for a surprise windfall!

Premium Bonds

If you’ve got Premium Bonds and haven’t seen much of a return, you might actually be better off cashing them in for an injection of cash now, rather than hoping they’ll come up long term. If you are hoping to win the top prize you probably need to know that the odds of winning £1million are 1 in 35,926,766,878. So I wouldn’t count on a payday anytime soon.Even winning the lowest prize of £25 is a 1 in 24,500 chance!

Pension Plans

If you have a pension plan that you don’t pay into any more, it’s worth having a look at the terms, as some plans will allow you to release the funds early, before the term is up. Have a think about any plans you may have paid into and contact the companies to see if it’s possible to withdraw the money. a

Cash Around the House

This one might be slightly less lucrative, but still worth a try. Gather up any old purses, handbags, wallets and money boxes and pillage them to see if there’s any cash that you forgot about. My kids own about 20 money boxes each and have managed to gather together the cash for some desperately needed toy on more than one occasion!

Don’t forget, the PPI deadline is 29th August, so you’ll need to get your act together if you think you might be entitled to claim!

Family · Happiness · Kids

Ways to Fill the Summer Holidays When You Aren’t Going Abroad

June 20, 2018February 14, 2023 JayneLeave a comment

Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/girl-learning-horseback-riding-7882521/

It’s fair to say that Husband, the kids and I are all homebodies. We love the idea of going abroad on holiday but when we had Chuck is was impossible and Maureen is still a little bit too young for us to leave her for too long, so a jaunt abroad is off the cards for now. We do, however, like to fill the summer holidays with as many days out and activities as possible, so that the kids don’t get bored and do that annoying bickering thing that kids do when they spend too much time at home, with only each other to play with! This is just a few of the things we do each year:

Pony School

We’re lucky enough to live close to a few different riding schools and some of them run pony schools in the holidays where the kids spend one day a week riding, grooming and generally “horsing” about (HA!) with the friendlier ponies at the stables. It’s usually about £25 per session and the kids need over the knee boots from UK footwear specialists Uppersole, but it’s pretty good value when you think about how long they get to spend with the ponies.

Garden Beach

Last year, we bought a massive paddling pool, set up the slide, sun loungers, a Bluetooth speaker and some mocktails and had what we called “The Garden Beach”. It was like a very miniature version of lazing around the pool on holiday, the kids thought it was amazing and I loved the chance to sit in the sun and read my book! This year, we’re planning on elaborating and even having a tent by the pool which we may spend the night in, if the kids are brave enough!

Fruit Picking

One of the things we have planned this year is a bit of Pick Your Own – it’s something I did when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it, and as soon as I told the girls about it, they found the idea really exciting so it’s on the list of things to do this summer. We’re lucky enough to live right by some gorgeous apple orchards these days and we could easily spend a few hours picking fruit and taking photos.

Get the Bus

The kids are lucky enough to have Mummy’s Taxi Service which means they get ferried everywhere in the comfort of our car, but neither of them has ever really experienced public transport much, so they’ve asked if we can take a trip into town on the bus! This may sound very run-of-the-mill, but when you consider that we live in the countryside with one bus stop a mile away and buses which run quite sporadically, I suspect it may be more of an adventure than your usual bus trip!

Cookery Classes

Our local supermarket has a test kitchen and every year they run kids cookery classes throughout the holidays. They’re about £7 per session and include all of the ingredients they need to make a different dish each week. It’s a really nice way for the kids to spend a morning, plus they learn new skills and have the thrill of bringing home and eating what they’ve made.