11 April,2009 09:17 AM IST | | Agencies
Nicola Dochertyu00a0 (36) has come up with a novel way to save money during recession. She has moved her family into a hotel.
Nicola believes that taking her husband, music producer Craig (39), and children Ava (six) and Jackson (four) out of their London home will save her around u00a3500 (Rs 37,000) a month.
She came up with the plan after the family decided it could not afford to go away on holiday this year because of the global financial crisis.
The Dochertys will rent out their three-bedroom terraced home for the duration. They hope the rent will cover u00a32,100 (Rs 1.5 lakh) household bills including mor- tgage, electricity, gas, water and council tax as well as the u00a31,496 (Rs 1 lakh) total cost of the month's hotel stay.
They will be staying in family rooms, that include continental breakfast.
To see if they will enjoy the month, they spent a week at a budget hotel in Southampton. "It's been great. The kids have really enjoyed themselves," said Nicola.
They will now be setting off around the country, staying at hotels run by the same group, Express by Holiday Inn. "As Craig is American we rarely go around Britain, so this will give us an opportunity to see a bit of the country."
A spokeswoman for Express by Holiday Inn said, "There's a lot to be said for moving into a hotel. As well as saving your pennies, you get to miss out on the daily grind of whose turn it is to do the washing-up and nagging the kids about making their beds."
