Trying to cut down my expenditure but work commute is just- argh!

clarence83_2

I am trying so hard to cut my expenditure. I don't have a lot of debt now(but I used to). Everything will be paid off by December. My aim now is to try and save some money, for the first time in my life, to get a nice car and to save money for a rainy day.

However, in December my train fares are increasing by a hell of a lot, which will swallow up lots of my spare cash!

Currently I pay £4k a year for my train, as of December it will be approx £5100.

So annoying that it coincides entirely with my student loan being paid off, so if I want to save money I will have to make further cutbacks elsewhere. Frustrating!!!! I just feel like I will never be financially "comfortable" :mad:

Katy_M_2

I use to have to use the train to commute to work.

It is soooooo expensive.

How far away from home do you work?

Without meaning to sound patronising.....have you looked into advertising for a lift-share?

I did this once when I was 'without my licence' and was living out in the sticks. Somebody who was travelling in the same direction to and from work at the same time offered to give me a lift both ways, I paid them money towards fuel which they were quids in with as they would have been doing the journey away....yet I was still making a blinding saving.

Is this something that could be possible for you?

McKneff

Katy just beat me to the car share idea,

Failing that are there any buses that could be cheaper.

clarence83_2

If I drove to work it would be god knows how much more and would take much longer- plus there is absolutely zero parking. My commute is currently 2hrs20 each way, (Folkestone, near Dover to City of London) but the steep increase in price is because they are creating a high-speed train which will mean my commute is 1hr20 each way- a big difference.

It's just annoying because the train fare hike will make a big difference to my personal life, extra sleep, extra time at home with my partner etc... but it means I am almost relying on a payrise at the end of the year...

working for a property firm at the moment I don't know if that will happen or not!!! I am lucky to still have a job, post redundancy consultation back in May.

edinburgher

Where are you commuting from - Paraguay?! :eek:

Silliness aside, are you employed? If so, season ticket loans are a good way to save money on extortionate rail costs (if you don't use one already).

clarence83_2

The costs I specified are for an annual season ticket. Crazy I know, but I earn a lot more by working in London and paying for the commute than I would do if I worked locally with no travel expenses at all.

Katy_M_2

It is awful having to commute a long way. It makes the already tireing working day even longer. I use to find that by the time I got home I was literally brain dead and good for nothing. This put quite a strain on my relastionship I was always really touchy when I got home as just wanted time to chill out.

I now live a 2 minute walk from work and even go home at lunchtimes. It's been life-changing (not very constructive for you though!)

I know this is obviously a really extreme response and I don't know your situation but are you planning on stayong in your current job for the forseeable future....would a house-move be an option??? That is a really long commute....mine were only ever 45 mins tops and that was soul destroying enough. Understandable that train is the quickest more direct option and car parking is soooo expensive

josephine82

I understand your pain! My commute costs my £3700 a year, but like you, I earn more working in the city and commuting than working where I live. rubbish isn't it!I know the high speed train you are talking about- apparently its amazing! one of the girls at my work gets it and she says its so worth it!Does your work offer a season ticket loan? if you haven't already this is a good way of budgeting for it through the year while saving the costs of the monthly ticket.No idea really in terms of saving costs elsewhere...Does your work participate in the Travel to work scheme? mine doesn't, but my old job did and they managed to negoiate 10% off annual season tickets- might be worth looking into.Guess the only other way is to post up your income/expenditure on here in the form of an SOA and see if we can help you reduce the extra money in other ways.Good luck, fellow commuter!

dancingfairy

A couple of thoughts:Have you read Martins article on cutting the cost of train travel - any of those ideas possible?Also could you work longer days and then work less on a Friday say - o.k it's not particularly moneysaving but maybe you could then have Friday afternoon to go food shopping and save money by havng time to shop around or by getting an extra job in a bar for a few hours in the spare time you would create? or by just working 4 days instead of 5 - would that save anything on train tickets or anything? or even just a free day to get a job/check out savings deals etc before the weekend?df

clarence83_2

Katy_M wrote: »

I know this is obviously a really extreme response and I don't know your situation but are you planning on stayong in your current job for the forseeable future....would a house-move be an option??? That is a really long commute....mine were only ever 45 mins tops and that was soul destroying enough. Understandable that train is the quickest more direct option and car parking is soooo expensive

This of course would be perfect but my in-laws live next door as my father in law is disabled and so we have to pop round and help out quite a bit. Moving a way would leave them really in the lurch and it is a responsibility we enjoy having, we like having them nearby.

Josephine- I have been on the high-speed preview to Ashford a number of times already and it is fab, will be worth the extra money I think but it's just that big jump from £4k to over £5k, with further increases annually no doubt!

I have an interest-free season ticket loan through work but the maximum is £5k so I will pay out the excess myself upfront. It does help a LOT though, comes directly out of my salary every month. We don't participate in the season ticket loan scheme, but I would be interested in finding out more as I work in the HR department, so could be good for our employees in general.

Working part time would not create any spare money as the season ticket is a fixed price no matter whather you work 3 days or 5, so I would be much worse off.

Let's keep praying for that payrise and promotion!!!!:A Once I save up some money I can afford to knock the commute on the head and work locally, as eventually I want to have a family so it wouldn't be do-able otherwise. I am only 26, plenty of time left for that though!

Katy_M_2

Have you tried posting a SOA recently to see if anyone can suggest something that you might have missed?? Every little extra counts and sometimes it's easier to spot things when you're on the outside looking in

Or...have you considered winning the lottery? I've thought about this from time to time..... :money::rolleyes::rolleyes: