Help me my life sucks

Sofa_Sogood

brisck1 wrote:

Woohoo I just broke my own food shopping record. I just managed to do 27 days worth of shopping for £31 at Sainsbury's!

That's great Well done.

brisck1

yep it is kinda, this is just the first step though, hopefully i'll be making many more savings over the next month !

Leia_Stephens

Well done, brisck1

Leia_Stephens

nearlyrich wrote:

You do get a buzz out of saving money don't you ?

I get one too, but I must admit it is from accumulating money in
savings accounts rather than saving money on necessities!

Leia

ToothlessFairy

Hi,

I only read this thread a couple of days ago after Martin mentioned it in the 'Tip'; I think I've read it all but please excuse me if I'm repeating anything.

You haven't mentioned your electricty bill for a while - have you done anything about that? I recommend checking out EBICo (http://www.ebico.co.uk/), who don't charge extra for using a prepayment meter. Of course, if you can get the meter replaced as someone else suggested you might get access to cheaper suppliers, but EBICo might well be a good deal anyhow - they don't have a standing charge, which is good news for energy-conscious folk living alone.

I've been on their gas tariff for several years - it's administered through Southern Electric - and haven't had any problems. I'd get my electricity through them as well if they had a good green tariff. (I have no affiliation with the company apart from being a satisfied customer. I'm not on a pre-payment meter myself but I wanted to support the idea, and at the time they were about the only ones not asking for outrageous deposits and standing change, so it saved me a fair bit of money too.)

Anyway, Im thinking of buying Martin's book, but can anyone outline to me what areas of moneysaving etc it goes into? - oh and where I can get it cheap :P

Try the local library. If they don't have it, ask them to order it (at my library this costs 50p) - that way other people will be able to benefit too, and Martin still sells a copy of the book! (Though it might take a while for them to get it in, if it's anything like our library.)

I checked out a copy myself last night and read most of it (still haven't dared to tackle the mortgage chapter). My first impression is that most of the practical information you'd need is on this site (as Martin points out himself), and I'd guess it's more current here too. The book is good to refer to, though, being well set out with good use of cross-references. The 'added value' of the book over the website is really in developing the mindset to be financially self-aware and understand the system so you can work it to your advantage. The chapter on haggling was very instructive!
And it's quite amusing in places too.

I'm well impressed by your shopping bill, by the way. How did you do it?

TF

elona

I am impressed by your shopping bill as well as every time I think I have got everything one of my daughters pipes up with " we have run out of ***":):):)

jazzyjustlaw

To be honest I think most people live in debt. Apart from a student loan (deferred) and a loan of £78 per month that ends in Jan 06 I now have no other debts. I used to have £3,000 in credit cards another £3,000 in store cards. Now I have an ISA and a little bit saved. I can only manage this 1. because I have a partner and 2. because I live in Council Accommodation from when I had a relationship with a disabled person who could not work and was violent for a period of time afterwards

Average Rent where I live is £500.00 plus for 2 bedrooms.

All of us think everyone else has it better. I remember deciding to make my life better I was in a violent relationship and had a small child, I had lost two other children 1 died shortly after birth and the other was still born. I had no money and no clothes. I decided to go to night school then college and university where I did a law degree. During that time I suffered violence from my partner - who had left me by the final year so I had to take a year out - nearly had my home repossessed, suffered from depression, I completed my law degree in 2001 sitting the exams just after my father killed himself, and guess what I could not afford the Legal Practice Course (which is £10,000 plus you cannot work as it is a full-time course, despite working througout my degree and my partner earning £20,000 as a project manager!!!!

So I have spent the last three years working in a Solicitors as a legal secretary - still living in rented council accommodation - and I am studying at night to be a Legal Executive and my law degree exempts me from most of it because I am qualified at a higher level. I have living in Council accommodation and my partner and I between us earn £550.00 per week ( Dorset) but he has high debts as he met me when I was in my final year and had to gte a loan help in the final year.

I guess what I am staying is that life is a challenge, you will suffer some pretty bad experiences which you can do nothing about. I recommend firstly yoga and meditation and of course try and look after your money. If you are not in a great deal of debt don't worry keep slogging away and you will pay it off but dont get further into debt by taking on further loans.

AS I said above I hate living in council accommodation although the flat is gorgeous on the ground floor and near the quay, but we are on a decent wage and we would not buy as first time buyers even if we had no loans because it is not good value for money. My flat is worth around £120,000,£130,000 - how rediculous is that!!

Anyway I hope to be a legal executive in two years and I will then be able to do the LPC a couple of years after that being on higher wages. I am determined that nothing is going to get in my way, I decided that I was going to be a lawyer and that is what I will do. My mantra when anything comes along is "I WILL HANDLE IT" - why not adopt a mantra yourself?

Oh and if you want to treat yourself to a nice pudding - get a pudding basin place 2 oz of sugar, with 2oz of butter, cream together then add 2oz self raising flour fold it in add a medium egg mixing all together. Then put at the bottom of a pudding basin you know the steamed pudding type, either 3 table spoons of jam, syrup or other similar and put in micro for around 4 minutes depending on the wattage covering basin with a side plate.

Good luck all of you

Justine

JayS_3

jazzyjustlaw wrote:

AS I said above I hate living in council accommodation although the flat is gorgeous on the ground floor and near the quay, but we are on a decent wage and we would not buy as first time buyers even if we had no loans because it is not good value for money. My flat is worth around £120,000,£130,000 - how rediculous is that!!

Anyway I hope to be a legal executive in two years and I will then be able to do the LPC a couple of years after that being on higher wages. I am determined that nothing is going to get in my way, I decided that I was going to be a lawyer and that is what I will do. My mantra when anything comes along is "I WILL HANDLE IT" - why not adopt a mantra yourself?

Justine

Well done Justine, for sticking with it all and 'getting there'. Just a thought, do you have a right to buy your flat, you may be able to afford to start buying it in two years time?

Best wishes
JayS

jazzyjustlaw

JayS wrote:

Well done Justine, for sticking with it all and 'getting there'. Just a thought, do you have a right to buy your flat, you may be able to afford to start buying it in two years time?

Best wishes
JayS

I have been here 10 years and still have the right to buy but I can get 70% off or £30,000 whichever is the greater and if my flat is worth say £120-£130,000 I would still have to pay £90,000 and I think that is a good price but up North - My partner is a geordie people are buying them for £30,000. As we are in a sought after area we can only get £30,000 off max. I will buy this at some point but with funding my education can't afford it.

Thanks for responding - it helps

Spendless

jazzy - when my nan bought her council flat is was 80% off not 70%. The 70% applied to houses, it was a greater discount for flats (might be worth checking into).

Also what the council valued at was a lot less than what they were selling for in the street.

At the time you could also ask for a valuation and say 'no' without obligation.

This all was when nan aplied to buy in June 2002.

Some of it may have changed by now, but maybe worth looking into.

Best wishes