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Home > Trip to England booked! And other random money news

Trip to England booked! And other random money news

October 3rd, 2012 at 04:07 am

Last night I booked our airfare to England! It was complicated because it turns out it costs more to transfer your miles to someone than the miles would actually be worth. Idiotic and pointless! So what we did was book each of our tickets separately (well, I bought AA's and mine, and AS had SL added to hers as an infant in arms) and used the "pay with miles" option to pay for a portion of our ticket with our miles.

The tickets for the three adults and the toddler were $1151.50 each, and SL's cost $160 (I believe; AS added that over the phone and it hasn't shown up on the credit card, but I think that's what she told me). With miles earned mostly from our new credit cards and some from previous years' trips, NT got a $450 discount, I got $300 and AS got $300. So the airfare for three adults, a toddler and a baby came to $3716. Without the miles it would have been $4766! I'm reasonably happy with our final price, AND they're nonstop, and we only have to take off one more day of work than planned (leaving Thurs. night instead of Friday, which would have cost a thousand more OR we could take a flight with a layover).

Since we're booking so early, I don't have all the money for the trip. I'll pay off the cards near the end of this month, when we'll have all but $1266 of the fare saved up. The checking account surplus will have to float us until we get $850 in the November budget and the remaining money we need in December. I'm uncomfortable doing it this way because it locks in the travel portion of our budget; basically, if someone lost their job tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to slash "Travel" until we finish paying for the tickets. But with such a large airfare and wanting to book as early as possible, I decided to risk it.

Once the airfare is paid for, I'll start saving for the rest of the trip: insurance, car rental, cat sitter/boarder, food, entertainment, souvenirs/gifts, etc. Luckily we'll be staying with friends and family so we don't need to get hotel rooms and will be able to cook most nights to save on eating expenses. I've calculated we'll be able to save $8000 total for the trip by May, so with $3716 going toward airfare that leaves $4284 for everything else. Sounds like a lot, but two weeks in England, that money is going to have to be stretched out very smartly. (We'll also each get our regular $80 per week spending money, so that will help a bit.)

NT started a shared task list in Google Drive so we can peck away at the things that need doing gradually over the next six months.

Did I have other random money news as promised? Oh right. NT called about the weird hospital bill that we doubted was right but paid anyway. Turns out they'd mistaken it for a workman's comp claim he'd had around the same time (two unrelated finger injuries, one on the job and one not). Once he gets some records from the hospital and sends them to insurance, they should be able to reimburse us some or all of the $120 or so that we paid! This is REALLY good news in a hard-luck year for health expenses. Let's hope I get similar luck on the $60 bill I just got for my OB visit.

Speaking of that, I definitely got enough of the required preventive health measures done this year to earn $200 of free flex money next year! That will be great because otherwise I was probably going to up my flex contributions, but this way I get more without decreasing my pay!

And, I'm on track to do my 10,000 steps per day this week. This week they're counting Monday (yesterday) through next Monday, so we need to do 80,000 steps in 8 days. Then I'll get a $50 gift card. Just enough to keep me motivated! Smile

The lady who rents our parking space sent us her check, $255 for 3 months. She only needs to pay a month at a time but chooses to do it this way. We're not complaining! That will certainly help me float the rest of the airfare until December.

I've been finding a lot of pennies recently, as well as a nickel. Wonder if it's just chilly enough that people don't stop to pick up the small stuff? Reminds me, I've got to empty it into the girls' piggy bank soon; I just stuff it into a pocket of my purse as I'm walking along.

Today I made an impulse purchase as I was getting some prescriptions refilled. CVS had these cute diecast cars with working doors and the thing where you drag them backwards and they shoot forward. They were $6 each, and they were all so cute, I finally gave in to temptation and bought a yellow VW beetle for AA. She really likes playing with cars at the barbershop, so she was very pleased to get it. I try not to buy them things, they have SO much more than they need. But considering the dozen adorable things per day I manage to resist buying, I guess I can forgive this one little purchase. Smile

I still haven't eaten out! I'm having fun putting it off, deciding what I want to get first. Smile Plus, with some extra treats I bought at the grocery store, and this VW car, and photo prints for my mom, I'm wiped out this week. Next week I need to help pay for a babysitter, and I'm going to a show (tix already paid for but will want drinks), and I'm still saving for clothes and theater tickets. So hmmm, not sure WHEN I'll feel like I have enough money to eat out. It'll be all the sweeter when I do. Wink

I guess that's enough babbling for tonight. I need to clean up a bit before AS and NT come back from trivia and think I just sat around. (Which I kinda have so far. Wink )

7 Responses to “Trip to England booked! And other random money news”

  1. Wino Says:
    1349240214

    Enjoy your trip to England! Just remember, they call themselves "Brits" or "Scots" or "Irish." Be wary of calling everyone "English." Myself, I call them "Brits," since they're all from "Great Britain." If you go to London, make sure you take one of those double-decker bus tours. If you have a local to show you around, you can bypass this, but if you don't, it's a great way to see most of London in a single day. You'll get to see the Tower of London, the Cathedrals, Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, etc. I don't remember how much it cost. I think it was around $40 for the day about a year ago.

    I love the UK, myself. If only they could speak English without an accent... (that's my favorite line when talking to Brits).

  2. laura Says:
    1349274439


    Great deal on the tickets! I bet you'll have a wonderful time. Did you get SL a passport yet? My uncle is buying a house in Viet Nam and would like us to visit. I suppose I should start a long-term vacation fund!

  3. snafu Says:
    1349318388

    Great price on flight! Wonderful. How exciting to look forward to seeing friends and family in the spring. I was shocked to see concern expressed about the stability of your employments. I wonder if someone in your complex would be willing to care for your cat in exchange for your caring for their pet next vacation? We often have notices through internal workplace e-mail asking for exchanges of different services like pet care, rides, home care references, insurance reviews etc. It's sort of electronic bulletin board.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1349321353

    Great job on the tickets!

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1349354148

    Thanks everyone! snafu, I'm not really concerned about our jobs; they're about as safe as jobs get these days. But you know, it's just something that crosses my mind when I pay for something with a *future* budget allocation, rather than money I've already set aside. It's not like buying on credit; I won't pay any interest. But it does depend on our income staying the same for the next couple months.

    Our condo technically does not allow cats; we heard from our realtor (who also lives in the complex) that lots of people have secret cats, but since we can't be sure who would be OK with our cat and who would turn us in to the association, we can't ask anyone here. We have several friends who would stop by once a day to feed him, but we kind of thought for a longer vacation like this, he'd appreciate a boarding situation where he'd get company for more than 20 minutes a day. I don't know -- which would be least miserable/disruptive for him?

  6. snafu Says:
    1349374307

    If your live-in-the-complex realtor knows any of the fur baby [cat] owners, I'd ask if she'd help you contact two to ask if they'd be interested in vacation care-trade. Wouldn't it be equally disruptive to move kitty to friend, colleague or paid care giver. We have a friend who moves in to our condo to care for dog. We happen to live walking distance to her job, have garage space for her car, have washer/dryer rather than coin op at her apt. and free meals from our fridge, deep freeze & pantry. She'd be insulted if I suggested payment since she finds it reduces her out of pocket expenses but I buy her a gift or gift certificate to assuage my guilt.

  7. ceejay74 Says:
    1349375333

    Hmm...that's a point, snafu. I am still on acquaintance terms with my realtor, so I'll ask her. Thanks for the idea!

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