Savvy NHS nurse saves £800 on family days out in Bristol – here’s how
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A Bristol-based NHS nurse has saved nearly £800 on family days out in the last two years.
39-year-old Miriam Swithinbank uses membership clubs such as National Trust and Boundless – the club for working and retired public sector and civil service workers – to cut costs on days out with her husband and two children.
The family’s favourite local days out include Tyntesfield, where they get free entry with National Trust membership, and WWT Slimbridge, where they get unlimited access with their Boundless membership.
Miriam said: “When you both work full time and the kids are at school and wrap around clubs, having time off together is important, and obviously having affordable things to do is even better.
“We often go to WWT Slimbridge together with our children in the holidays, which offers free entry for Boundless members. With Slimbridge not being too far from Bristol, we go about four times a year which is lovely. In total, I’ve saved more than £225 there in the past year.”
She also saves around £23 per year using the Cinema Society through Boundless, which offers discounted tickets including at the Orpheus in Bristol. The children have enjoyed Bristol Aquarium too, where they get in for free with their Kids Pass benefit through Boundless.
Keeping an eye out for member days, where tickets to attractions are reduced for Boundless members, is also a way that Miriam saves on days out.
Within the last year, this has included a Bristol Zoo Project member day, plus one at the SS Great Britain, which Miriam took her parents to as guests. They saved more than £76 in total, as tickets were reduced to £10 each.
Miriam said: “We’ve saved on days out together that we’ve really enjoyed. We’ve also gone to the Longleat Festival of Light, where we saved more than £80 in total. They didn’t run a member day there this year, but we paid to go as a family because we enjoyed it so much.
“To save even more, we always take a picnic. We always take a flask of hot chocolate as well, just to save on buying hot drinks.
“My main advice is to make it count. It’s quality time for us, because we don’t have a big quantity of time all together. So when we do go out, we really make the most of it.”
Miriam said her memberships also helped her plan holidays with her family.
She added: “We save money when we’re going on holiday, like when we go to Devon for example, by making the most of the free National Trust parking when we go to the beach.
“Having access to these discounts and benefits helps with decision-making about what to do together when we go on holiday as well. We’ll look at where the National Trust properties are, or if there are any places we could visit with our Boundless Plus membership, to figure out what to do.
“For example, we’ll look to see if there are any museums or galleries we could check out with our National Art Pass, which we now have access to through Boundless Plus.”
For more information, please visit: www.boundless.co.uk
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Editors notes
Boundless is a membership club for civil service and public sector workers who are looking for inspiration on getting the most out of their free time. With a heritage and expertise dating back more than 100 years, Boundless offers its 150,000+ members deals on hundreds of unique experiences, events, volunteer activities and things to do. It’s also mutual, so all profits go straight back into the club to benefit members.
