Monday Money #6: Why we bought a hot tub instead of going away for our anniversary

Today is a very special day in the Drew household – it marks our 3 year wedding anniversary. We chose a May wedding, because we wanted May to be a happy month, after losing my Mum in May 2007. Gosh, that was ages ago now! Of all the days in the year, we accidentally ended up choosing Tony's sister's wedding anniversary to get married. Oops!

For the last two anniversaries, we have gone away. The first year we went away for a night in a fancy boutique hotel in Norfolk, and last year we went to Disneyland Paris (which we didn't enjoy). This year we had chosen a hotel in Norfolk to go to for two nights. It is our favourite hotel – it has a gorgeous swimming pool, a Pokemon stop right there (all the important things, right?) and is close to a restaurant we love.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYD7NWLhwiM/?taken-by=thrifty_husband

It was also close enough to Great Yarmouth for a lovely day out at the beach. We love the great British seaside and Great Yarmouth is one that we really enjoy. It has everything we need – ice cream, sandy beaches, good fish and chips and lots of Great Yarmouth holiday parks.

The only issue was that we couldn't find any offers to get the price below £350 for two nights. Although that includes breakfast, add on two lunches, two dinners and drinks, we were easily looking at £450-£500 to celebrate our anniversary. I just couldn't get on board with this.

Then a friend text me to tell me that she was going to hire a hot tub for a week, and it got me thinking.

I had a quick look at the price of a Lay Z Spa, and found that Argos had a great deal on, making one £399.99. We decided to go and see one in a Homebase store to see how it looked built up. we got there and it wasn't Homebase anymore, but some very similar store. We went over to the Lay Z Spas to find the one we wanted was on sale for £344.99. Unfortunately I haven't seen those sorts of prices now that the weather is nicer, but it would be worth keeping an eye out.

After seeing if I could get in and out of it (I'm short, okay!) we decided to go for it. We managed to get all the chemicals, a drinks holder and extra filters for around £370 in total.

So much cheaper than going away for our anniversary.

Related posts

• Our wedding day
• Do we regret paying for our luxury wedding?
• How I saved money by doing my own wedding makeup

We decided that we wouldn't go away to just enjoy two nights together, when we could get a lot of use out of the Lay Z Spa.

Instead, we purchased nice ingredients for our anniversary meal (from Aldi, of course) and we planned a BBQ over the weekend with my Dad. Even accounting for all the food and alcohol we bought, it was still cheaper than going away for two nights.

You would think that the hot tub would cost a lot to run, but it isn't too bad. Once we have owned it a bit longer (we've had it about a month now) I will do a video about the running costs. Filling it up costs less than £3 in water, and we have a system for heating the water and running the pump. The chemical starter kit that we bought still has another few month's worth of chemicals in. In fact, I think we will only have to buy more test strips and chlorine this entire summer.

Overall we are loving having the spa. It makes a big difference when the weather is warm – and it has satisfied my need to go to Orlando for awhile. I know it isn't exactly the same, but I get to enjoy the hot tub then lay on the sun lounger, which is one of the things I love doing in Orlando.

What do you think of our purchase?

WHY TAKE PART?

THE RULES

Get your free 1% at a time printable

This simple trick helped us to clear £15,000 worth of credit card debt. Simply take your savings goal and divide it by 100 to get your 1% at a time. Once you have saved or earned 1%, cross it off. Download this free printable to keep you on track.