{"id":1975,"date":"2011-06-27T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/79.170.44.80\/livingwithkids.co.uk\/saving-money-abroad\/"},"modified":"2019-01-04T10:14:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T10:14:03","slug":"saving-money-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/saving-money-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving money abroad!"},"content":{"rendered":"I\u2019m back home after a whirlwind hen weekend in Brussels with the bride-to-be and her seven hens. A fabulous time was had by all, and thanks to some genius and astute planning on behalf of Kathy, the maid-of-honour and chief party planner, we came home physically and financially un bruised.\r\n\r\nThe secret? Well you\u2019ve all heard it before, I\u2019m sure, but it was all down to planning, prep, and paying in cash. Kathy began working on the trip way before Christmas and secured a fantastic hotel deal using Groupon, which meant we could afford a hotel within stumbling distance of the Grand Place, the city\u2019s fabulously ornate main square. (Brussels is famous for its cobbles, which can play havoc with your heels, and that\u2019s the story I\u2019m sticking to!)\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nShe also organised an informal kitty which meant that by clubbing together at the beginning of the day all coffees, beers, hot chocolate and the occasional towering pile of waffles and double cream were all taken care of, but best of all we stuck to cash for meals and excursions.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nHanding over hard cash, rather than our flexible friend, at the beginning of the night acted as a natural brake to going overboard and also meant that none of us will come home to any scary credit card bills.\r\n\r\nIt also helped, that apart from two of us, all the hens were still working in either finance or insurance and had been since they were in their teens. Now not only does a decade or two in the City teach a girl how to have a good time, it also teaches her how to look after herself. Every one of those City girls had witnessed the effect of the financial crisis not only on the Stock Market, but on the personal fortunes of their friends, enemies and colleagues.\r\n\r\nThey had seen less fortunate friends lose jobs, houses, and families simply by not realising that you cannot let next month\u2019s pay packet pay for last month\u2019s bills for ever.\r\n\r\nAnd talking of planning – top financial tip of the weekend – M & S Champagne – currently on special offer and so much more fun and better value to stock up on that in London, bring it with you to drink chilled in the sunshine than splurge on Sambucca at two in the morning like some other, frankly less experienced hens we bumped into on our way back to our hotel…\r\n\r\nAmanda<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nDeal of the day<\/u>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s finally time to get outside so if you are looking for stock for your window box or rolling acres check out Jersey Plants<\/a> – you still have time to save 10% for your children if you shop with them through KidStart<\/a>.\r\n\r\nScary statist<\/u>ic of the day <\/u>\r\n\r\nIf you are going abroad stop your phone roaming without permission! If you don\u2019t switch off your answering machine or e-mail you could stack up a bill of about \u00a31 an e mail or call while you are away.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amanda saves money on a hen weekend abroad and shows you how you can too!","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3509,3349],"tags":[2073,2218,2219,2220,2221,2166,2222,1146,69,2223,2078,2070,2079],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-save-on-your-shopping-with-tips","category-household-savings-advice","tag-amanda-blinkhorn","tag-bride","tag-brussels","tag-drink","tag-eat","tag-hen-party","tag-kitty","tag-marriage","tag-money-2","tag-pot","tag-save","tag-shop","tag-spend"],"yoast_head":"\r\nSaving money abroad! 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