Party house!

Thursday 6th November, 2008 - £7,499.83 in debt…

Think of the most highly-organised person you know. Is this person a barrel of laughs? No, of course they’re not - they’re too busy ironing their socks in alphabetical order. This is why I choose (yes, choose) to be a bungling incompetent. I like to think it makes me a more approachable and entertaining human being.

That is, until there’s a party to organise. I normally start six weeks in advance, making lists, making purchases and making enemies left, right and centre.

I always have a theme, design the invitations myself, and don’t ask for anything in return apart from my guests’ eternal respect and adoration.

As the Christmas party season approaches, I thought I’d share the money-saving wisdom I’ve gleaned from hosting my own over the past few years.

     1.   Start planning now, list everything you need to buy, and shop around on the internet.

     2.   For party music, record the best bits of your friends’ record collections onto your MP3 player. If you don’t have a sinister-looking ‘docking station’ to play it through, just buy a phono lead from Tesco for about £2.50: It connects from your MP3 player or laptop’s headphone socket to the back of your stereo.

     3.   Borrow wine glasses etc, or buy disposable crockery. You can get some excellent plastic ones from Party Plastics - as it turned out, they’re sturdy enough to re-use (especially the shot glasses) so I’m keeping mine for next time.

     4.   It’s not unreasonable to ask guests to contribute towards drinks, especially if you’re doing cocktails. If you’re asking for money and having a theme, keep it simple so that nobody has to buy a new outfit.

     5.   Trawl your local supermarkets for booze offers, or use a cash and carry.

     6.   Beware of cheap spirits: any savings you make are likely to be spent on cleaning the puke out of your carpet. Instead, cut corners on food, fruit juices and other mixers.

     7.   Value range party food, nuts and crisps are brilliant: stick them in a bowl and your guests will be none the wiser.

     8.   Decorations can also be done on the cheap, if you have the time and energy. For my last shindig, I painted (!) pictures for the kitchen walls with cocktail recipes on them. I also used some Christmas lights outside (even though it was summer), and I’d recommend going for the retro look with paper chains and lanterns.

Any tips you can add would be greatly appreciated. Is there anything else to cut back on, while still making an effort to throw a good party? Or are parties all about extravagance, celebration and throwing caution to the wind?

 Bridesmaid Revisited 

Friday 4th July, 2008 - £8,850.98 in debt…

I’ll tell you what I hate about being in debt. Yesterday, a good friend asked me to be her bridesmaid, and my first thought wasn’t “Wow, I’m so honoured she asked me - I hope I do a good job of it”, but ”Can I afford this?”

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I am scum.

The bride-to-be lives in Nottingham which, according to the RAC route planner, is a good 500-mile round trip. A few of those over the next nine months, plus the wear and tear on my poor little car, plus any accessories I have to buy for the big day, plus organising the hen night… I feel like I’m losing money just thinking about it.

I said yes, obviously. It’s not every day someone offers to buy you an incredible floor-length dress, hopefully in purple.

Oh, and I am honoured to be asked, of course. It’s just hard to concentrate on looking forward to it when you’re counting the pennies…

 Cheap Souvenirs Ahoy!

Calling all sun-worshippers, culture vultures and intrepid explorers - in fact, calling anyone who is planning a trip abroad this year – I have some exciting news…

Having just read the Post Office’s ‘Holiday Costs Barometer’, I can reveal that travelling further a field could actually save you money. Yes. That’s right. SAVE YOU MONEY! The annual survey reveals that our pound goes further in long-haul destinations and that a carefully chosen exotic destination could really be the cheapest option!

The report compares the prices of ten tourist staples- including food, drinks, suncream and insect repellent – in 16 different countries and suggests that it is the exotic destinations that offer the cheapest products and provide the best value for money. How exciting, at last, to be able to financially justify my dream destinations!

Top of the league for affordability are Thailand, South Africa and Egypt. Although the Thai baht has actually climbed 10% against sterling in the last year, it is still an incredibly cheap destination, offering the entire shopping basket for less than half of what it would cost in any of the ‘Eurozone’ countries. The differences are startling:

• A bottle of Coca-Cola in Thailand will set you back just 71p, whereas in France you’d be charged £2.94 

• A bottle of Heineken in either France or Greece will cost you £3.36, but you can enjoy the same product in South Africa for just £1.03, a third of the price!

• Ironically, you can send a postcard to the UK for just 31p in Egypt, but to send it over from France would cost you £1.35! Now how does that work?

In last year’s survey, the USA was rated the most expensive destination of them all, but due to the current strength of the pound against the dollar it has become the seventh cheapest of the 16 destinations covered, positioned as more affordable than the ‘Eurozone’. A bottle of Coca-Cola costs a fairly reasonable £1.60 in the US compared to an extortionate £2.94 in France!

The falling value of the pound against the Euro means that holidays in the ‘Eurozone’ will be pricier this year and holidaymakers will feel the squeeze of the strengthening Euro.

If tropical climates don’t tickle your fancy, then just travelling to European countries which haven’t adopted the Euro will save you money. Although some countries outside the ‘Eurozone’ have also seen their currency rise against the pound, their prices are still relatively cheap. Bulgaria is the cheapest European destination followed closely by Turkey. A three course meal for two with wine will cost you just £30.14 in Turkey – whereas in Italy you’d pay £42.05, nearly 40% more!

If you have an incurable Euro fetish then Spain is your best buy destination, with tourist staples priced up to 15% cheaper than their equivalents in France, Italy and Portugal.

Obviously when budgeting for any holiday, there are multiple costs you need to look at including air fares, accommodation and insurance (which is sometimes provided with your credit card), and wherever you choose to travel you can save money by avoiding the main tourist haunts. However, with these exotic destinations offering such cheap products, the extra money you’d spend on a long haul flight could be offset against the low costs of purchases whilst abroad!

So then, who wants to take me to Egypt?

Offers on a postcard please…