Frugal things I’ve Done This Week-Cheaper Travel and Stays

I had a rather big revelation this week about cheap travel. I’ll share it with you and then I’ll tell you about how I managed to save some money this week.

So last week I told you that I needed to book tickets for my son to come home from Australia. I was determined to get it for the cheapest possible price so I checked around online. I realise that each day I checked, the price of the tickets went up. I spoke to a few people about this and what I basically learned is that with the ‘cookies’ policies nowadays on most sites, they know that I’m shopping around for tickets. So they manipulated things in such a way that I was only seeing those expensive prices. Well, I heard there’s a way you can delete cache or something so it clears your previous searches.

Since I haven’t got round to how to clear cache yet, nor go into the incognito mode, I tried something else. I’m in one of those Facebook groups that deal with travel so I asked in the group about ways I could get this trip for as cheap as possible. To be honest, I got lots of responses but it seemed some people didn’t read the question carefully so their answers were all over the place. There was even a lady who suggested I get him a deal that would see him traveling through several countries (lots) before he finally got home! As if 24 hours traveling wasn’t already enough!

I needed just a one-way trip ticket and, just as I settled on how to get the tickets, this lady suggested that buying a 2-way ticket would probably work out cheaper. I would be too mad at myself to actually go back and check so I didn’t. Would you have gone back to check?

Anyway, there’s this online travel agency that I always use (Dial-a-flight) and I have even come to ‘know’ one of the guys there so when I ring up, I always ask for him by name. Somehow, I always got the impression that he is looking out for me and giving me the best deals possible. Well. the price he quoted was £159 more than what my son said he could get the ticket for! So, of course, I told Martin I would ring back if I needed to. I haven’t called him back.

It actually worked out cheaper to do a bank transfer of the money to my son and he bought the tickets there in Australia. Sometimes it’s just a simple thing that will save us money. I am so glad that I stayed within my budget and got that out of the way.

The main point I want to put across is that it always pays to shop around for deals rather than taking and paying for the first one that comes up.

Check out my post on top tips for budget-friendly travel in Europe

I also needed to book a one night stay at a hotel in another city for a blogging conference I am going to in a few months. This UK money blogger told me she had an affiliate link for Booking.com which would see us both getting some money back if I used her link. So, it’s a win-win for both of us. I know some people hate to use affiliate links but if it saves you some money, go ahead.

Game Night

It’s been so cold and wet recently that none of us really want to go out. Thankfully, that was a big saver for me and so instead of going out, we played games indoors such as Jacks, Kahoot, Uno, and Boy/Girl/Animal/Place/Thing. Do you remember any of those old time favourites? It was nostalgic and I found that I still remembered how to play these games and win the little ones. Funny, I wouldn’t have a clue how to play a game on the PlayStation or even how to use Snapchat!

I feel so good with how things are going and I am particularly pleased that, apart from monthly bills, I have no overwhelming outgoings. More money saved up for the summer trip we are planning to Jamaica. Check out my post if you’d like to visit Jamaica one day.

All the best with coming up with ideas for cheaper travel and stays. Talk to you next week.

ps. Thanks to Cass, Emma and Becky for allowing us to link up and share frugal living ideas.

Grammarly