We bagged another bargain!
But we very nearly missed out.
Let me explain…
Last month we joined the National Trust.
And we’re taking advantage of our membership, visiting some fascinating places in the UK.
Winning Already
In less than a month we’ve been to four sites:
- An abbey which dates back to the year 1132
- A historical house with a priest-hole, dating back to 1530
- A preserved textile mill from the Industrial Revolution
- A Gothic Revival house with massive gardens to get lost in
But why am I telling you all this boring stuff…?
Bear with me. You’ll see…
“You Want How Much?”
To enter each one as a fee-paying visitor is quite expensive.
For instance, the textile mill entrance fee is £18.35 per person.
Having said that, it’s completely worth the cost just to see the old cotton mills working. And there’s much more than that.
But…
The National Trust membership costs just £9 per month per couple.
So…
Let me work that out…
Should we buy 2 tickets on the door for £36.70?
Or should we pay £9 per month for both of us to visit as many of the National Trust’s facilities as we feel like?
It doesn’t take much brain-power to work it out, does it?
Here’s the problem though…
Sometimes bargains like this look too good to be true.
So we ignore them.
We had the same problem when we found an energy provider offering us a deal which was 25% cheaper (I blogged about it here).
At first I thought I was missing something.
Then I thought it was a scam. Especially when they also promised to give us some cash back too.
But thankfully it was on Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website. So after checking it out, we went ahead and locked in cheaper energy bills for the next two years.
Shortly afterwards lots of energy prices went up.
So if we’d procrastinated, we’d certainly be kicking ourselves now.
Waiting For The Bargain
With the National Trust, though, we were waiting for a good bargain. You know, a free month… or something like that.
So I rang them up and asked.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get, do you?
“Err, will you be having any special joining offers?”
“Sorry, no,” came the reply.
The girl on the other end of the phone-line continued in her friendly, chatty Scouse accent.
“But the price will be going up in a few days.”
“Err, oh, OK, thank you.”
Well, that settled it. No point waiting for any “special deal”.
Jump In Quickly!
So I headed over to Quidco so we could get £5.50 in cash back (here’s my blog post about Quidco).
And from there to National Trust to sign up, print off the temporary pass, and plan where to visit on the following day.
They even sent us a pair of binoculars to say thank you for paying by direct debit.
So, listen…
It pays to be cautious. Just ask any genuine pensions advisor.
But once you’ve checked out the facts, usually it pays to move quickly to lock in the bargain.
We Didn’t Really Pay £9
Oh… did I tell you we didn’t actually pay £9 per month?
Nope… that’s the new price. We got in just before the price increase, thanks to the helpful Scouse girl.
So what are you thinking about today?
Are you procrastinating?
Hoping for a better deal?
Get in there – before all the good deals have gone!
And if you want to join the National Trust before their next price increase, here’s where you can do that: National Trust membership (affiliate link).
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