Let me get started……..

From a young age I have always been up for an adventure, a road trip, an escape or whatever you want to call it. My family had a lovely old caravan with an interesting orange decor, condensation covered windows in the mornings and the smell of musty fabric and it was the bain of my mum’s life. My mum loathed having to fight with cushions and bedding, trying to squeeze everything in to shoe box size cupboards, folding down this and that to create a seating area all in a space no bigger than an average sized garden shed; just a posh shed on wheels. She hated it and I loved it. We had quite a few trips away in the caravan and I loved the excitement of everything;the packing, the anticipation of what to expect. I even enjoyed it when we got stuck in a traffic jam and I still do. Eventually the caravan got sold, however by then I had been introduced to another new place to get my adventure fix and I had been enrolled in our local brownie unit. Brownies, I hear you say, ‘the place where they dance around toadstools and call the leaders’ bird names’. Well brownies brought a whole new set of different adventures to my delight. We had weekends away in wooden lodges and community halls; slept in bunk beds and on rickety camp beds (that ate you in the middle of the night when they folded up); as well as singing at the local old folks home and making my own pot-pourrie for my homemaker badge…. I’m still very proud of my pot-pourrie even now! Eventually, I became a guide, taking part in many activities which really fuelled my desire for adventure. I went on many camps both local and national, took part in many activities and travelled to Switzerland with my unit when I was 13. I then went on to become a guide leader and have only recently given up this role after 20 years. Honestly, if you’re thinking about getting your child in to guiding or scouting, do it. I have some great adventures and loads of fun along the way. I even met my husband at a camp.

Nowadays my adventures are more focused around my family. As well as my better half I have two children and a dog that runs on duracell batteries. I live in a modest house (it’s not posh, it’s not terrible), me and my hubby have average paid jobs however we work term time (no, we are not teachers) and as we all know, out of term jolly holidays are not very friendly on the wallet. I have always been a planner, I take great pleasure in completing thorough comprehensive research into every minuscule detail of my holiday. I even plan how far it is to the local supermarket, how much a car park will cost me at an attraction and how my clothes will be organised in my holdall and do you know what? I absolutely love it! My friends think I’m crazy however, they have also admitted that when we went away together a few summers ago they said it was one of the best holidays they had ever been on in terms or actually doing stuff rather than idly wasting away their days on their holidays.

The reason I have started Below the Budget is because as I mentioned earlier I love planning, I love looking at travel blogs, especially budget ones, however I have never found posts for people who are on a let’s say…….. a more realistic budget alongside two kids that want entertaining and the duracell dog. Everytime I’d see a post and decide to click to read about the budget hotel that I’m going to take my family away to, I’m always disappointed when the budget hotel is still about £100.00 a night or more. According to the world wide web the average 40 - 50 year old person should be bringing home a take home pay of around £2258 - £2830 a month. So if you are earning less than this a month or just like to be very frugal about your spending, I hope you’ll love my blog.

My plan with this blog is to share my budget friendly adventures with you and hopefully give you the inspiration to plan your own adventures, create great family memories and have buckets of fun along the way, all on your own budgets. So please keep checking in on me to find out what we have been up to on our budget and what tips and tricks I might have for you.

So much of who we are is where we have been.