Holidays and Frugality

I'm planning a trip to Paris and Brugge at Easter. "That's not very frugal", I hear you say, "How can you do that when you are supposed to be saving money?"

Frugality means different things to different people. I've lived on a very small income before, when I was a student, and when I was just starting out in my career, and also when I was made redundant a while ago, so I know what it means to have to count every penny just to be able to scrape by and pay for essentials like food and heating.

Now, I am very lucky in that I have a little bit of disposable income, which I have because I'm careful about what I spend money on. I'm happy to take sandwiches to work every day and would not dream of doing what my colleagues do and spend pounds every day at the coffee van. I have holes in my socks and I wear my clothes until they fall to bits.

I do this so that I can spend what little extra I have on the things which are important to me. One of those is being able to travel. I'm not a globetrotter. I don't go on expensive beach or ski holidays. What I enjoy is visiting Europe. We've had some great, cheap Euro holidays in the past, the cheapest and probably the best was when we back-packed between campsites in Northern Belgium with our then 8 year old daughter. Doesn't sound much, but we had never been to Belgium before and we got to experience a different culture, and best of all, it was a very cheap holiday.

So I'm planning a week at Easter in Paris first for a couple of days, and then on to Brugge, where we have rented a house with my parents and sister.

My only regret about visiting Brugge when on the Dottie angel challenge is that I will be able to look only, not buy in the excellent Dille & Kamille shop, which sells household goods, kitchenwares, baskets etc. Seen here - the shop with the plants outside. It is a bit like Habitat used to be 20 years ago, and well worth a visit if you are in Belgium. I shall look, but not buy.