It's been an expensive week with paying for the 6 month road tax, but no other spending except for the weekly grocery shop and petrol fill up. I had good intentions of a frugal shop after last week's, and hand on heart, I only got the very basics - even the loaf of bread was yellow stickered - but I spent more on the chickens than myself. I decided to stock up on some greens, sunflower hearts and dried mealworms, which took my spend well over the £15 limit I'd set myself up to £32
Petrol fill up - the price is still £1.25p per litre - so I put £15 in this week. My colleague was not in this week as he was not very well so I haven't been able to speak to him about contributing to the cost.
I had 4 egg sales this week and it would seem that my customers would rather wait for mine becoming available rather than buy supermarket ones. If I'd known they would be this popular, I would have got the chickens sooner LOL
Work-wise, no more has been said about the regrade as the interviews for the new post were held on Friday. In the end I did not apply for the senior post as the more I thought about it, the more I felt I would be just interview fodder particularly when I found out who one of the candidates would be. And someone on the senior team mentioned to me about whether I was looking forward to moving out from where I'm based ... I don't think he realised that this was news to me so I was actually very upset about it. Well, we'll see what next week brings ....
Last Sunday I used most of the money from the egg sales to buy some fertiliser from the allotment shop - I stood at the price board trying to figure out which was best value for some time and what I could afford. In the end I got a 3kg bag of Sulfate of Ammonia and a 3kg of Superphosphate. I really could have done with a bag of potash to put round the fruit bushes but the total came to £4.20p and I only had £5 on me (potash is the more expensive at £4.30p/kg) Perhaps I should have got the 3kg bag of Growmore for £2.80p but I needed a higher nitrogen mix (garden speak here)
With paying for the road tax, I have been too scared to spend anymore money out of my current account knowing there were still bills to pay, especially the council tax and water rates. But I didn't want to use my credit card either because despite trying not to buy anything I don't need, the amount owed has not gone down as much as I would have liked even though I have tried to pay off more. So a new project of mine nearly stalled as I decide what to do next.
My egg sales have been such a winner and a welcome income albeit it small, but I haven't had any eggs for myself as I would rather sell them for the money. I do want more chickens but the plans to get them in September still seems like the best idea, so I got an idea to get some quail this Easter - they don't need the same kind of space as chickens, the eggs are supposedly much healthier (although small), the birds are much cheaper to buy, and food requirements very similar to chickens although they do need a 20% protein in their feed (chickens need about 16%)
After reading up about housing and requirements, I went online looking at rabbit hutches ... but 48" length hutches are still expensive, and not that wide (even for rabbits IMHO) Then I looked at XXL dog crates and these looked a really good alternate - 48" x 30" floor space with good height which could easily be adapted, on sale for just £35 (almost half price for a smaller hutch size) I put it in the shopping basket and my finger hovered on the submit button for a while before I decided to delete it. I would still have to build a shelter and the more I thought about it, by the time I'd designed it in my head, I didn't really need a cage ..... but the cost of wood and materials would still make it costly so I gave up on the idea altogether.
Meanwhile at work there have been some pallets going free so this week I brought home 2 heavy duty pallets (will come in useful for the new planned chicken run), a another decent sized pallet and then on Friday there was a huge pallet with a plywood board about 4' x 4' (almost didn't fit in the back of the car LOL) This could be used for the new quail run so, once again I did a survey of the planned run and I think I may have enough wood and materials to give the idea another visit. So watch this space ....
This week's shopping was uber frugal With this week's 4 egg sales plus some cash left over from last week, I spent just £6 on the basics. I know there's still plenty of food in the house but I just have to be a lot more creative - I still have at least 4 good sized winter squash in store plus potatoes (rice and pasta), and onions, with a few frozen veg and canned stuff so I won't starve. As for petrol, my colleague only came in one day last week so I haven't been able to approach him about contributing towards the cost of giving him a lift. The roads seemed a little less congested this week but it may have been partly due to my setting off earlier to avoid the worst of it, so I only needed to put £13 worth of petrol in the tank this week.
As for the regrade, no word yet but I have found out who my new "boss" will be. This could work out in my favour as he works in the physics section (not my area at all) but I've since found out that this was not news at all and that the whole thing had been planned well over a year ago (it doesn't surprise me given the job specification and how it seemed to be designed to exclude me despite being in the job for nearly 7 years) I also learned from another colleague that the original plans for this new team were to steer the work into research rather than a support role ... this seems at odd of what I've been doing so once again I feel as though my future is very uncertain at the moment. The manager is back from his holiday this week so I'll just have to wait and see what will happen next.
Can chickens have a higher rate of protein in their diets without doing harm?
Good luck at work. I know how stressful change can be. As my son in law says, "Be prepared for the worst and hope for the best". Again, good luck to you.
anglynn wrote:Can chickens have a higher rate of protein in their diets without doing harm?
Someone is sure to shoot me down, but if chickens eat the layers pellets and then go foraging, they are likely to eat more protein from the earthworms and bugs they find. However, the bit I was actually referring to, is that QUAIL need a 20% protein diet compared to the 16% protein found in chicken feed.
Good luck at work. I know how stressful change can be. As my son in law says, "Be prepared for the worst and hope for the best". Again, good luck to you.
Thank you - the words "be prepared for the worst and hope for the best" sound about right. No word yet of what's happening, but my regrade seems reliant on this other person starting work in his new post which will be after the end of the academic year now so that "teaching" are not left in the lurch but it's alright to keep me hanging on tenterhooks ... (and yet, there seemed to be an urgency to get the post filled with only 1 week's time between the advert being posted and deadline, and just 1 week after to appoint someone .... admin in universities are not normally this efficient ...)
Still a week to go before pay day but after paying off the credit card, there is no more money in the bank account - to be expected with the council tax, water rates and road tax this month. So, with only £4 cash from egg sales, I had to "borrow" some money from a cash box I keep for emergencies - it's a small pot of money I never touch but is there if needed (for example, if the car breaks down and I need bus fares) After last week's uber frugal shop, the food stores are nearly gone - even the basics had run out including coffee and milk, meat or fish etc to make a meal. Some of the potatoes in store are now getting past their best and sprouting like mad so it won't be long before I'll have to get rid of them.
In the supermarket, I suppose I was expecting prices to be the same as last week but some had shot up - something I have noticed before when there are holidays. So, the £14 was not enough and I had to split the shop between cash and credit card, and spent another £23. With only 4 days of travel to and from work, I decided to only put £10 petrol in the tank - as the roads have been quiet, I have not been stuck in traffic jams and the journeys have been much quicker and petrol usage has definitely been a lot less than usual.
A colleague at work asked if the chickens ate fruit and offered me a bag of apples she said she didn't like. As things are starting to grow now, I've also been supplementing their feed with greens so it won't be long before I no longer need to buy any. To be fair it's not cost that much, and I've also been using some for myself - I made a really lovely bacon hot pot (on the hob) using squash, cabbage, onions and potatoes with garlic and celery. The cooking bacon was from the Christmas shop and put in the freezer, with just enough left over to make another meal. I've booked a few days off after Easter so that will mean no egg sales, but strangely I'm not upset and rather looking forward to keeping some of the eggs for myself for a change LOL.
I didn't update my frugal diary since the last entry because it hasn't felt very frugal of late I was running out of essentials such as toilet paper (!) and washing powder, and food-wise the shelves and freezer were nearly empty, so I did a rather big shop of £47, plus another shop £23 a couple of days later (I got the washing powder on special offer though) I ran the petrol in the tank down a bit then filled it up (£42) as I was expecting to drive down the motorway and didn't want to underestimate how much petrol I'd be using.
On a plus note, with being off work after the Easter weekend, I was able to keep the eggs for my own use rather than put for sale, and enjoyed a couple of "freebie" dinners (they are not really free when you consider feeding and bedding, but at least I wasn't buying the eggs from the supermarket) And with being very busy on a project at home and at the allotment, many a day I'd finish late and my lunch became an early dinner so I didn't eat as much as I would have expected (funny, I don't think I lost weight though). Petrol wise, I probably saved at least £15 worth due to not travelling to and from work.
But my building project did start costing when I ran out of screws. I tried nailing stuff down, but a screw would have been better. In the end I couldn't bear it any longer and went and bought some -there is a particular brand I like because they are easier to use and more effective, but unfortunately not cheap. I also needed 3 different sizes ... plus a 10pk of feather-boards, which came to a total of £24. The plus side to the project is that for the most part, most of the wood and other materials are what I had already - the feather boarding was an essential bit of weather-proofing for the project. Last year in the summer sales, there was a 10L tub of green fence paint knocked down to £4 .... the only reason was because the handle on the pot was missing. As for the paint itself, it was perfectly fine and I'm glad I had got some for the job.
I very nearly went and bought a load more other stuff on Saturday 26th April (sharp sand, compost, growbags, wood, more feather-boards, hinges, corrugated plastic etc) but something held me back and I just did a £10 frugal shop and came straight home. I think my recent purchases were starting to worry me and I didn't want to do the same thing as when I was building the chicken coop + run where I found myself spending £50 at a time which quickly mounted up to an expensive project in the end. I do want to get the quail and some more chickens but I might just get the quail first, then maybe the chickens next month to spread the cost out a bit (and save up from the egg sales to go towards the cost of buying them)
The quail/chicken project is now officially on the back burner especially for this month - it's going to be another lean one as I take stock of the unplanned road tax and trying to recoup rather sink further into debt. The egg sales have been better than I ever expected when I first got the girls, and makes sense to get more chickens before getting the quail, but the extended run will need fencing off and that means buying netting as well some wood for the uprights, plus hardware such as hinges and locks, not to mention another feeder and drinker ... I could easily spend a £100 as a bare minimum, so I'll just have to spread it out a bit.
This week I didn't need to fill up with petrol, and with having no passenger all last week I know I didn't use as much as I normally would particularly with making an extra effort to leave the house earlier to miss the worst of the traffic. Hopefully I won't need to fill up for another 2 weeks ....
As for shopping, well I had £9 cash from egg sales (and someone slipped a dodgy 20p on to me ), so I decided to use it to buy this week's groceries. Strange how I didn't think I needed much but over this bank holiday weekend, I've been taking stock of what is on the shelves and freezer, and there's not a lot to choose from. I suspect that I'll be doing an emergency shop before the next weekend. However, I desperately needed some compost and bought 3x 70L for £10 from Asda using my debit card.
Meanwhile, I have been busy on the allotment in recent weeks and started to sow and plant things so it won't be long before I'll be eating my own produce and feeding the chickens some fresh stuff instead of buying. Last year's soup celery is still doing well on the plot - not so much for eating but the green leafy tops make good greens for the girls which they enjoy.
I haven't done at all well keeping my frugal diary up to date. The truth is that all I seemed to be doing is logging my spending but not actually saving or making much change to my circumstances. It was just becoming too depressing to write down.
Well, over the past few months there have been some news. As suspected, the announcement of my supposed "regrade" in my job was just to let me know there was going to be a new team and the team leader post was being advertised so it was just out of courtesy than a grand desire to promote me. In July I approached the manager and asked when I could expect to be regraded and told it was most likely to be in September when the new post for the same new grade was advertised. I pointed out that I had been doing the job for over 7 years so I thought it was not fair that someone else would get credit from day one for something I'd been doing all along. To that, I was told that there was a system in place to reward staff for work done over and above their grade - this I knew about as some of my colleagues in the past have had up to £2000 one off payments for even less. I had to list all the jobs I'd been doing for the regrade and my new line manager agreed that I had been doing the job of a grade above of what I've been paid. The result was an increment on the pay scale last month (I was already at the top of the band so this took me into the zone which overlaps with the next band) - so that was just a mere £20 extra pm. If and when I get regraded, I should be taken up another increment which leaves just one more increment point on the scale before I reach the top of that grade band - in the long term, I get the benefit of about 2 years on the higher salary point but the downside is that with the rising cost of living in that period, it's not the same as a one off payment and does nothing for my finances. I feel very disappointed even though I should be grateful that it is better than nothing. As for the regrade ... I'm still waiting.
On the home front, I've more or less been careful with how much I've spent and on what. I had planned on getting some more chickens for the egg sales to keep on going through winter while the older ones rest. In September, I built a coop from scratch with much of the wood recycled from various places, but still needed to buy some in as well as the netting and roofing. Overall it probably did cost less than buying a ready made coop and over the year since getting my first chickens, I have shopped around more and have got a system in place. Better still, the people at the allotment have got a shared chicken set up and together we've been comparing prices and finding out cheaper local suppliers of feed and bedding. I got 3 point of lay White Stars that are supposed to be very good egg layers - however, instead of egg numbers increasing, they have been slowing down faster than the older girls. They are being wormed at the moment so hopefully will pick up. The egg sales are a very important albeit small contribution to the household income.
My greatest worry has been the annual car service, MOT, insurance and road tax (plus breakdown cover) due at the end of September. With no extra money available to put aside to pay for it, I finally dipped into my life savings. These had been tied to a 4 year higher interest which matured just days before so I was able to pay for all that from the interest leaving the initial sum untouched (I can't dip into that as I need it to pay for the shortfall on the endowment mortgage which matures in December 2015) I also paid for 12 months road tax this time as the 6 month payment due in April was bad timing and really knocked my frugal plans (this is when the frugal diary more or less died so was a big impact on my finances)
Food-wise and general grocery shops have been less frugal than I'd like but I haven't been excessive or spent money on things that I don't really need. I bought a new hoover (a value one from Asda) which was on special offer (£17 from £24) and I was quite surprised just how powerful it was and much more efficient than the Dyson (which would cost too much to repair) A couple of new (budget) supermarkets have recently opened in my town which I haven't visited yet but will do soon especially when getting the Christmas shopping in. I desperately need new day-wear clothes especially underwear LOL as my wardrobe is getting smaller when some items have just got too worn out to wear (my chicken / diy / allotment gear on the other hand is expanding) I have yet to wear my "new" winter coat that I bought on special offer 2 years ago because last winter was so mild, as well as the new (battery heated) gloves I got last year (in very cold weather, my hands get cold even in proper leather gloves and heated gloves have been a godsend) I will need some new shoes though - for work, the velcro strapped trainers out of the menswear section at the supermarket have been brilliant but fashion seems to have changed and no longer available so I'll have to shop around.
The allotment produce this year has been very good - onions, garlic, winter squash, sweetcorn, cucumbers, cabbage, calabrese, apples, berries, mangetout, beans and potatoes which are keeping me going for a few months. Even the sunflowers have produced loads of seed for the chicken treat. This winter there are parsnip, Brussel sprouts and winter cabbages still on the plot, as well as some chard for the chickens (I don't really like it) The soiled bedding from the coops and chicken poop dug into the soil has done wonders for the crops this year and even if egg numbers have been dropping, the girls have still been productive in providing material which will reduce my need to buy in soil improvers for the plot. I have been buying a lot more from our allotment shop - I don't know why I haven't in the past as the fertilisers are definitely a lot cheaper. Growmore is only 90p for 3kg, superphosphate, bone meal and fish, blood and bone all less than £2 for 3kg each. I have to admit I've spent a lot more on new garlic varieties than I really need this autumn but if all goes well, I will be able to sell the surplus bulbs next year as the allotment shop now has a surplus sell policy so fingers crossed for a good harvest.
The drop in petrol price has been welcomed as that is one my major outgoings per month. With all the roadworks round Nottingham, my journey to and from work is very slow and it sickens me to know that most of the fuel is used just sitting in traffic jams. Public transport is not an option for me even though I only work 9 miles from where I live but I'd have to pay fares to 2 different bus companies that operate in my area not to mention my local bus timetable is one bus every hour. On another note, I had to go to Coventry for a conference and with giving a colleague a lift, the expenses came to £60 (I doubt I used £20 worth of petrol on the trip) The downside is that I didn't get a receipt for the lunch which came to £4.55p (for a sandwich and bottle of Coke - rip off but I had no option) so couldn't claim that back, grrrr.
My gas and electricity usage is still well on target and the mild autumn so far means I haven't had to put the heating on yet and not even got to the stage of wearing multiple layers. I think last month I did go to bed with a hot water bottle a couple of times which was lovely to snuggle up to (one of the upside to winter LOL) I think however, the weather is about to change and get a lot colder.
So that's me caught up of what I've been doing in the 6 months since my last entry. To the best of my knowledge I can't think of anything I've bought that I haven't really needed. I did buy a £10 digital microscope that you plug into the computer - more of a toy than a serious piece of equipment, but after discovering some pests living on some of my crops especially the onions, I've learned more about them and taken steps to reduce them from the plot so probably paid for itself already. I still have to try and sell something on ebay ... I'm just not sure how to go about it but I'm sure if I can just do it the once I'll know what to do for future sales. I have got quite a few things I'd like to sell if I can so I guess with Christmas just round the corner, I really must give this a go.
Yesterday I had an appointment with my bank about my finances. Despite a recent above average effort to get on top of the credit card bill (extra payments and not using it, especially for the annual major car spend), not only did it not make any difference but the interest alone increased how much I owed I really didn't fancy taking out another loan and with my mortgage tied to a fixed rate, it would cost too much in fees to move so I was not looking forward to the meeting at all and had gone unwillingly. We went through everything and although I didn't need to explain the circumstances, it would seem that it wasn't all doom and gloom as I thought.
First, interest rates on loans have dropped significantly recently so the ones I had taken out before could be paid off with a new loan and on a much lower interest rate saving me hundreds of £s a year alone. Thus, combining what I owed on the credit card on the new loan over a longer period meant that the payments were cut by 2/3 of what I was already paying. On top of that, as my endowment mortgage matures in one year, my mortgage payments will in effect be halved but taking into account that the fixed mortgage rate ends in February 2016 (14 months time), the payments still to be paid on the remaining repayment mortgage will be significantly reduced as I will have paid off quite a lot of the initial loan by then. And bear in mind that my "regrade" (okay one increment on the payscale) is imminent (or so I've been told .... still waiting), I suddenly saw a light down what has been a very long dark tunnel.
As for the mortgage, this is with a building society and last year when looking at interest rates across the various banks, it was the best of the lot but the sting in the tail is that once a fixed rate is agreed, the charges to switch to another mortgage lender mid-way are quite significant. I got very annoyed with the bank the last time I was dragged in to talk about my finances because they tried to convince me that I would save money if I switched to them but after dazzling me with figures, it was clear that the saving was no more than about £25 over 2 years (after I had paid all the fees - of which I had no money) And their answer was that I used my life savings to pay off my debts despite my telling them that I needed that to pay for the shortfall on the endowment, money that I would never be able to save up to pay it off (at least it was in a high interest account making money until needed) So I was on my guard expecting to get more persuasion to switch to the bank yet again but was told that the current rate I was on was very good and that they could not match it so it was better to leave it.
After doing my sums, I think I may finally be able to get my finances back on track. The total of the new loan is however, eye watering but the payments are much more manageable and instead of a hand to mouth existence that I've been enduring for the past 5 years, it's definitely looking a lot better. I won't be going out on a spending spree, and for the first time ever, I might actually be able to start saving again. So if ever there was need to keep the frugal diary going, this will probably be the time to do it. But it did occur to me that if you have very little money to spare how being frugal is not really a lift style but a necessity - the desire to be frugal is if you already have a fairly comfortable financial situation to start off with and can improve on it.
I was at the bank for nearly 3 hours (appointment at 9.00am and by the time I got to the car park, it was just after 12pm) As I walked through the shopping mall, I popped into a £ shop to get a drink plus bought a pack of meal worms and a bag of sunflower seeds for £2.97p. When I got to the car parking ticket machine, I was stunned to find it would cost me £5 ... I had only brought £10 with me so had a moment of panic. When did car parking in town get so expensive? It would have still cost me £6 in bus fares if I'd gone by public transport, and at least I could go straight on to do my (frugal of course) weekly supermarket shop afterwards without having to go home first.
If ever I was at a moment of looking forward to Christmas and the New Year, this is it. It would be nice if we could keep the Frugal Diaries going but I have noticed that others (as myself) have not been so committed to long term frugalness as Ilona. So if this is to be the last entry, I'd like to wish everyone all the best for the future.
Hi LL, I got in pickle with a credit card and found repayments pretty hard going. Had a very understanding bank and they gave me a loan to pay off the card. Much easier for me to be able to afford, did cut the card up and never used one since, too easy for me personally to go a bit bonkers in shops.
I do hope Richard keeps the diaries on for next year, I did start but circumstances took over life so my entries stopped this year. I would really like to do a diary next year as I have a different life to the one I had and am living in different part of country with different challenges.
LL - yes, we have been rather tardy with our frugal diaries. Interesting to read yours and Ilona's. Hope things work out for you in 2014.
It is always the unexpected, isn't it. This year we lost our beloved Nation, and were given a huge vet bill in exchange. We then sought another sheltie, and were allowed to have Angel at an absolute bargain price, again another unexpected expense, with a few more vet bills, and such. Due to her reluctance to toilet when away, I had to fork out for kennel fees during a five week family visit to the south east - reluctant to do this to her, but she was fine.
We managed well through the summer with OH's hobby/job, which helps with winter fuel and the never ending and always unexpected car bills - before the MOT next spring we have to cough up quite a large sum.
Two family weddings did not come cheap, though we stretched the cash as far as we could. Grandson and his wife's new home took another bash at my bank account, but I am a firm believer that a family member in real need should be looked after as far as possible.
Another expense has been hospital visiting twice a week, fuel and car park fees have amounted to £150, plus, but hopefully our friend returns home (in our car), on Monday or Tuesday.
Recently, on another thread, I sourced thanks to Jemberelli some chocolate oranges, and paid for them with Te...co vouchers, so was pleased with that. I have also cut down on the normal £10 per head for great grandchildren - buying them a book each for Christmas instead, which will be the way forward from now on. Four of them, and another due next year is an increasing outlay twica a year. For the family I bought tubs, bulbs and pansies, which will enhance their gardens for several months.
Even if we had masses of money, we would still live the way we are doing, and have the enjoyment of a bargain!
That sounds a horrid situation LL. You often see offers from credit card companies 'swap and pay no interest for x months' would you be able to do that? . It's bad when the interest is more than you're paying off. There is a guide, it all sounds complicated and you'd need to know what you were getting into.
About the diaries and the fact that some are frugal from need and some not, I now fall into the frugal from habit and hobby category. I started married life being (obsessively) frugal, as I was a stop-at-home Mum and that was my contribution to household finances. That stood us in good stead in buying the house we wanted and getting rid of the mortgage. So now I don't need to be frugal so much as to learn to not be so mean. Hence no diary But I do enjoy juggling numbers and looking for the best deal.
Hi LL. Forgive me if I am not understanding this. If the interest you are getting on your savings is greater than the interest you are paying on your debts, then all well and good. But if it isn't why don't you use your savings to pay off your debt, then start saving again with the extra money you now have, which isn't going towards a debt.
I don't know if you read MSE forum, but if you go to the loans section you will see the general opinion is you can't borrow your way out of debt. There are lots of questions on there from people who want to take a loan out to repay a debt. They are warned that consolidation rarely works. All you do is move a debt about. It might give you an easier ride short term, but long term you will be cursing that you are stuck with it. But what do I know, I have never been in debt. I apologize if I am speaking out of turn, but I feel you are jumping out of one hole into another. Sorry but I don't trust bank managers, they are not there to help you, just to line the pockets of the shareholders.
Long term commitment to frugalness is essential to keep your head above water. I wish you well. Ilona
mrs boodles wrote:Hi LL, I got in pickle with a credit card and found repayments pretty hard going. Had a very understanding bank and they gave me a loan to pay off the card. Much easier for me to be able to afford, did cut the card up and never used one since, too easy for me personally to go a bit bonkers in shops
I got myself into problems simply because outgoings beyond my control, were greater than my income - after being made redundant, any job was better than no job so I found myself taking a position which paid a third less than what I used to earn which was a significant cut in available money. And at a time when I hadn't long moved house and got a second mortgage so I was already at a disadvantage, not to mention that my salary was offered at the top of the scale (a junior post of which I was actually over-qualified ... in effect, a fully qualified and skilled worker for junior salary) so that meant no incremental pay rise. With the credit crunch, it kind of went downhill after that with the cost of living on a rapid increase and the pay offer considerably less. It's been a squeeze on finances for a long time - to be honest, I've managed to keep going for 9 years but has just started to reach tipping point.
In the past, a loan at a much reduced interest rate to the credit card helped, but the payments each month were still large so did not give me much to put aside money for a rainy day.
Spreckly wrote:LL - yes, we have been rather tardy with our frugal diaries
oh, I didn't mean it to come across as a criticism but more about the possibility that due to "lack of posting", Richard might decide that the frugal diaries are perhaps better as a "Frugal February" than a long term project
Spreckly wrote:It is always the unexpected, isn't it. This year we lost our beloved Nation, and were given a huge vet bill in exchange
Yes, I lost both my old cat and lovely dog in recent years, and like you, the vet bills were unforgivable. But what do you do - they are part of the family so would do anything to get them better if you can. My unexpected has been the car - I rely on it to get to work because it would be too expensive by public transport - so when it broke down out the blue, I had no option but to get it fixed. Then there's those things that crop up in the MOT - it never ceases to amaze me that there's always something expensive thrown in, like new tyres or brakes.
Even if we had masses of money, we would still live the way we are doing, and have the enjoyment of a bargain!
I don't want masses of money, I'd just like to live comfortably rather than in hardship all the time
Mo wrote:That sounds a horrid situation LL. You often see offers from credit card companies 'swap and pay no interest for x months' would you be able to do that?
I've actually been down that road once - Capital One once did a 0% for 18 months many years ago and the trick was not to spend on that card during the period and it worked out really well. These days are just 4-6 months and then up to a more expensive interest rate than I was already paying. Although it might have helped in the short term, it would never have solved the problem in the long run as there is still a minimum payment that has to be paid, again reducing available money for every day living and unexpected bills.
Meanqueen wrote:Forgive me if I am not understanding this. If the interest you are getting on your savings is greater than the interest you are paying on your debts, then all well and good. But if it isn't why don't you use your savings to pay off your debt, then start saving again with the extra money you now have, which isn't going towards a debt.
In the beginning I actually did dip into my life savings but all I saw in return is the amount available to pay off the mortgage shortfall rapidly disappearing. The policy matures in December 2015 - I simply don't earn enough to save for the shortfall in that time frame, and before I locked the money up, I didn't earn enough for any savings. Let me make it clear that I do not regret the choices I made.
Meanqueen wrote:I don't know if you read MSE forum, but if you go to the loans section you will see the general opinion is you can't borrow your way out of debt. There are lots of questions on there from people who want to take a loan out to repay a debt. They are warned that consolidation rarely works. All you do is move a debt about. It might give you an easier ride short term, but long term you will be cursing that you are stuck with it. But what do I know, I have never been in debt. I apologize if I am speaking out of turn, but I feel you are jumping out of one hole into another. Sorry but I don't trust bank managers, they are not there to help you, just to line the pockets of the shareholders.
I agree that bank managers are there to make money for the shareholders. As for whether consolidation works or not and all I'm doing is moving a debt around, at the moment the debt is not going away and is only getting worse. Ideally I would prefer to have no debt but it makes more sense to bring it under control at a much reduced interest rate and reduce it to more manageable payments that enables me to get back on my feet, even if this means spreading it over a longer period. I've learned the hard way that trying to pay it off in shorter periods means payments are far too high and I'm back to square one.
I'm a little upset by some comments from my recent post. I'm not some silly little girl that went on a wild spending spree with a new credit card for the first time and then got myself into financial difficulty - I've never been in debt that wasn't a planned loan for a specific purpose until now. It's easy to stand on the side line and mock and all I can say is how fortunate to never have been in debt at all.
Keep your chin up LL, it certainly seems that consolidation was the way to go - if it is right for you then it is right for you. No one's circumstances are the same and I think sometimes people think too hard about what THEY would do rather than whether something is right for the person concerned. This is not a 'who can spend the least' competition (although at times I do wonder!), we should be being supportive and sharing ideas, not comparing one against the other. I hope your new arrangement makes things easier for you or we'll have to teach your girls how to lay golden eggs
No girls at the moment but look forward to getting more in the future. Proud mummy to Hector, a Bedlington Terrier x Jack Russell
and it would seem that my customers would rather wait for mine becoming available rather than buy supermarket ones. If I'd known they would be this popular, I would have got the chickens sooner LOL
(and yet, there seemed to be an urgency to get the post filled with only 1 week's time between the advert being posted and deadline, and just 1 week after to appoint someone .... admin in universities are not normally this efficient ...)
I was running out of essentials such as toilet paper (!) and washing powder, and food-wise the shelves and freezer were nearly empty, so I did a rather big shop of £47, plus another shop £23 a couple of days later (I got the washing powder on special offer though) I ran the petrol in the tank down a bit then filled it up (£42) as I was expecting to drive down the motorway and didn't want to underestimate how much petrol I'd be using.
(appointment at 9.00am and by the time I got to the car park, it was just after 12pm) As I walked through the shopping mall, I popped into a £ shop to get a drink plus bought a pack of meal worms and a bag of sunflower seeds for £2.97p. When I got to the car parking ticket machine, I was stunned to find it would cost me £5 ... I had only brought £10 with me so had a moment of panic. When did car parking in town get so expensive? It would have still cost me £6 in bus fares if I'd gone by public transport, and at least I could go straight on to do my (frugal of course) weekly supermarket shop afterwards without having to go home first.
