Great 'what do you pay more for if you're poor?' Hunt

Derivative

raddyantic wrote: »

It's a perfectly valid if you're a bloke Razor blades are expensive if you want a good one that doesn't cut your face off

I often get bought razors as presents from loved ones but run out after a few months, there's nothing wrong with Gilette Blue razors or non-brand. It's like buying Colgate "EXTREME ULTRA PLUS ++ special box edition" toothpaste.

50p razor, 70p tescos brand gel, sorted.

Jacks_xxx

EdgEy wrote: »

Cars are not cheaper than public transport except in a rarity of cases such as short drives due to disability, rural locations, or 3+ child families.

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

From my local station into the city is £22.90 per person per day or £458 a month for Mon - Fri journeys.

Public transport costs double every time you add another person.

How does £458 a month for one person's journey to work and no other travel compare to your monthly car costs?

System

There is no need to pay lots for razors.

ALDI's non-disposable razors are comparable to the best and much more reasonable. Give them a go. IIRC - Tesco and Boots also sell them under their own label but are almost double price wise compared to ALDI.

Get a good shaving gel not foam - Nivea, Gillette and even Lidl's can all be had for £2 or less. With the Gillette, I get either the one on offer or their basic 'Comfort Glide' sensitive which is always £1.79 in most stores.

I didn't find ALDI's or Boots own brand gels very good - so avoid those.

raddyantic wrote: »

It's a perfectly valid if you're a bloke Razor blades are expensive if you want a good one that doesn't cut your face off, as competitors are all in on it and have fixed the price of them which is unfair and expensive. Something which certain organisations like OFT have looked into last year. So in fairness there's a wider issue of collusion and price fixing at work here by large corporates.

If I were to go a bit leftfield (for my own amusement!) I compare razor blades to mobile phone contracts once you're tied in you're stuck lol! and you want to keep up with the Jones' and want the latest 'upgrade'...first there was Mach 3, Mach 3 Turbo, Mach 3 M3 (a sheer engineering 'breakthrough' a razor with a battery !!!!!! y?!) , Mach 3 Fusion, and who can forget the 'critically acclaimed' Mach 3 Fusion Power - well they do say 'too many options can kill the man' haha apologies I appear to have gone on a bit of a bizare tangent!

HappyMJ

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

How does £458 a month for one person's journey to work and no other travel compare to your monthly car costs?

I've heard there are monthly season tickets available which would reduce that. I'm also guessing the city you go to charges for parking. My local town does and it costs £8 per day unless you park about a half mile away from it then it's £4 per day.

kymie

knithappens :- Thanks, yes my daughter is over 12 months. Most pharmacists tend to refer you to a doctor if you are breastfeeding, as most treatments say there is a risk of being passed through to the baby. I suffer from cystitus on occaision, lots of treatments out on sale, but I have to go to the doctor each time.

Jacks_xxx

HappyMJ wrote: »

I've heard there are monthly season tickets available which would reduce that. I'm also guessing the city you go to charges for parking. My local town does and it costs £8 per day unless you park about a half mile away from it then it's £4 per day.

The point is that if you're on a low income with no spare cash you can't afford to pay the fare every day at the same time as saving up to buy a season ticket.

Derivative

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

How does £458 a month for one person's journey to work and no other travel compare to your monthly car costs?

EdgEy wrote: »

rural locations

Sorry if my reply comes off as flippant. I'd like to know which city you live in if it's really that much - I could get a taxi 10 miles and back for £23.

Jacks_xxx

EdgEy wrote: »

Sorry if my reply comes off as flippant. I'd like to know which city you live in if it's really that much - I could get a taxi 10 miles and back for £23.

Which is lovely for you, but is only really relevant if everybody lives less than ten miles away from their work. I live in one of the country's many commuter belts where most people travel a lot more than that every day.

My husband used to drive fifty+ miles a day each way. The train fare was astronomical and it took almost three times as long as driving a car, plus of course the car could be used to do all the other journeys he needed to do, that he would have had to pay for if he had been reliant on public transport.

Have a look at a train website and see how much it would cost you to commute to your nearest big city, then try another random place and see how much that costs. Different areas vary, but for families public transport is usually only cheaper than a car for short infrequent journeys.

Derivative

Surely the solution then is to move to the city. Extra £400 a week rent? (per adult..)

I think we fundamentally disagree on what is 'normal'. You can't use an edge case of someone commuting two hours a day and state that public transport is always more expensive. If you did a full yearly priceout of a car doing 100 miles round trip a day you'd probably find it's expensive too (40mpg car would be £10 petrol for a start, then there's maintenance...)

Cash-Strapped.T32

EdgEy wrote: »

50p razor, 70p tescos brand gel, sorted.

I detest those cheap, 20-per bag disposable razors, it feels like shaving with origami up until the moment it cuts a chunk out of my lip - I can't help but slice myself up if I ever use them, so I would only tent to keep a few as a backup, for when the angle-grinder's cable won't reach.

However I totally agree with you there's no need to spend much on gel/foam or all the other gelatinous bumph that people seem to go mad for.


A really practical way round it is to swap to a traditional safety razor like your dad or even granddad probably used..

Tesco's do a cheap Wilkinsons one for a few quids which will genuinely last forever, & if you pick up a brush at the same time for about £3, you can use any old shaving foam or gel from that day on (hell, even shampoo, shower-gel or handwash works well if you use a shaving brush & hot water, if you've run out of saving gel).

It's proper MSE because even as (almost) the cheapest possible option, it still outperforms (a bad choice of words but you get me) all the expensive ones, plus safety razors are the only truly universal blades left - I've had tonnes of razors over the years too that seem great but only last a year or so because you stop seeing the blades in shops & it's amazing how frustrating it can be, wandering up down superdrug for half an hour looking for blades that went out of production 6 months ago.