DFWette - Bills, Thrills and Belly Aches

Cinny91

Thanks Wendz! I was secretly glad we ended up going through London, although there were some weird sights. Like one guy lugging a massive suitcase across the road, randomly stopping right infront of me and OH to talk to a guy on a bike. I thought it was quite funny but at that point OH was so annoyed he wasn't so impressed.. says he never wants to go to London ever again, not even on the train. Misery guts!

Oh god, just looked at the congestion charge fine and it says £120.. surely that's a typo?! Someone who works for the government too busy filling out an expenses form with the other hand to pay proper attention?!... Oh poo. I'll look into in again tomorrow, until then I'll hold onto the little hope that I'm far too sleepy to read properly atm, and actually it said £1.20 fine... yep. That could work.

Cinny91

Morning everyone!

Sat draining the last of my coffee so I thought I mareswell post, get my fingers warmed up for the office day ahead and wait for the caffine to kick in. Accidentally overslept this morning, in a non sleeping way, woke up and decided to hit the snooze button and read my book till it went off again.. ended up hitting snooze a good 3 times after that :rolleyes: Woops!

Sold another book on amazon while I was away, really should have checked my email last night then I could have sent it off today. Thankfully it sold at the weekend so I have until tomorrow to post it, so can do it on the way to the cinema.
Putting all the pennys into the 'silly congestion fine' fund, can't believe we were so silly but there's nothing we can do about it now I suppose. OH has looked into properly and it could be anything between £60-£120, we're setting ourselves up for £120 but I'm hoping that with OHs car being dinky and it being the first time it'll be on the lower end of the scale. Means my CC will be taking a bit of a hit but if I up my weekly payments to about £35 I think we'll be okay and I'll just have to cut back my budget a bit, it's not as if I have anything I need to buy. Just petrol and food would be nice! Like with all the other shared costs on my CC I'll aim to pay it all off myself, then when OH pays me his half I can put it into savings.

Right, best get to work! Need to look like I'm a useful part to the company, rather than the girl who sits surrounded by papers staring at the radio.

Birdie85

I'm glad Kent was good! I can't believe the congestion charge fine, why is it so much?! I'm never going to London in my car! I don't even know how congestion charges work, I hope they don't become commonplace!
I'm giggling about your 'oversleeping' this morning; I usually stay up way too late reading (last night I was re-reading Harry Potter 6 in preparation for the film and got a little carried away!) but I don't dare read on a morning because I'll never get to work!

wendz86

I am not sure how the congestion charge thing works, I live outside it and never drive into central London, would scare me hehe.

You will just have to wait and see what happens I think.

Cinny91

It's becoming a family joke now, mine and OHs mishaps while we're away! I think this is going to become a firm favourite along with us breaking down in Cumbria last year. We're in one word, useless!

I think me and OH have managed to just about budget for the £120, will have to get my spreadsheets going again tonight and see what cuts I can make in budgets and savings if I still want my CC balance cleared by the end of the month :rolleyes: I have to say though, I was really impressed with how OH handled it, he's never even been to London before nevermind driving through it in rush hour!

ETA: Been glued to rightmove this morning. Found a lovely flat in the town next to the one I work in. £300pcm, really lovely little flat and I could use my Pashley to get too work which would cut out vespa costs. There's another one close by for £380pcm. It's nice seeing all these pretty period houses in our price range! Ideally we want to wait until one of the family houses comes up for rent, we'd be able to get one for £200pcm and after bills and whatnot we'd be left with about 1k for food ect. Although I can see how quickly that would get gobbled up. Still, we need some months to clear various debts and get a good bit of savings behind us.

wendz86

That is so cheap, I am jealous! The one bedroom tiny flats that we want to rent are about 800 a month. Thats what you get for living in London!

Cinny91

I suppose that's the bonus of moving near Doncaster, they're few and far between but I suppose they exist. Plus, that flat is pretty close to my Grandparents so I could bug them crazy for free dinners after work. Moo-ha-ha. Just been looking at the extra pictures of the place on the proper website. I'm in flatty love! It's got oak floors and everything! I wish me and OH weren't in debt and had proper savings/I had the guts to move out.

zigmeister

Glad you had a good time in Kent, but sucks about the congestion charge.

Exciting stuff about moving out plans! How much do you think you'll have to save, and what for? I might be having a bit of a brain fade, but if you rent then surely you don't need to save for anything? Unless it's furniture and stuff.

I want to move out asap but my OH doesn't want to rent cuz he sees it as wasting money that could be put towards a deposit. He currently lives at home at the cost of a huge £20 a week, so I see his point!

Cinny91

I can see your OHs point too! I only pay £30 a week though, OH pays about £75 I think! To say he shares a small room with his 2 brothers (plus step brother some weekend) and buys his food I don't think he's getting much value for money.
We'd need to save to buy the little things, like pans, a kettle, bottle opener and what not! As we already have a bed, tvs and his gran has offered us her couch as she 'wants a new suite anyways' so we'd be sorted for moving into a small flat.

I think we're going to clear our debts, then save and see what our bank accounts look like next year. Plus by then the housing market might have completely changed and we'd be able to buy over renting, or one of my Dads houses might be up for rent.

wendz86

I would definitely advice you stay where you are if you can! Will make it much easie you to pay off debts and thens tarting saving than if you were paying rent, bills etc.

if I could stay at home to save I would have unfortunately work brought myself and OH up to London and we have no family here.