Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - Part 3.

tumptyteapot

SandraScarlett wrote: »

PS - If any of you signed up for the Ocado voucher, log in to your Crowdity account, and you'll find a lovely £20 Mr T voucher to use on a minimum £40 spend.

Thanks but I can't see that voucher anywhere :-(

meg72

Same for me no voucher.

23rdspiral

hi everyone,

had a spendy day today. i bit the bullett and took my very old bike for a service and new bits to make it rideable. it's a 1960s/70s vintage italian folding bike whose back brake was siezed and whose front tyre wouldnt hold air.

so i took it to the greasyest, overall wearing bike shop i could find. the chaps were like steptoe and son, i couldnt get a straight word out of them. slightly nervous i left it there for 2 hours and when i came back they charged me 20quid and said they'd had to charge for doing an inner tube test but it was fine, just a dodgy value in the end. was quite irritated to have had to pay for their time to test (yes bucket in the yard job), but am glad its working and ridable again. but i've no idea if i was ripped off or not. the shiney new bike shop round the corner just laughed at me and the other one said it'd be 25quid in time before parts so i hope i wasnt but i guess i'll never know.

to make up for it i got a haul of Cross stitch mags in a charity shop (17 for 2.80!!), and some cheap but good meat from the butcher. hey ho.. its all swings and roundabouts i guess.

tumptyteapot

23rdspiral wrote: »

so i took it to the greasyest, overall wearing bike shop i could find. the chaps were like steptoe and son, i couldnt get a straight word out of them. slightly nervous i left it there for 2 hours and when i came back they charged me 20quid and said they'd had to charge for doing an inner tube test but it was fine, just a dodgy value in the end. was quite irritated to have had to pay for their time to test (yes bucket in the yard job), but am glad its working and ridable again. but i've no idea if i was ripped off or not.

sounds like a bargain to me, £10 an hour is cheap for bike repairs! I think you should pay people for their time as well though, they wouldn't have known it was just a valve if they hadn't tested it and it could have cost you a whole lt more.

23rdspiral

thanks tumpty... i appreciate a different perspective on it. if they could only find out it was the value by deduction that it wasnt a puncture, that is fair enough.
i dont know how long the man worked on it, 2 hours was my parking time. i've no problem paying for skill at all, they have skills i dont and i'm glad i can buy them! i guess i was just a little unsettled by their manner - no straight answers, suggested i'd be better off taking it to the tip, and fair number of 'get back in the kitchen' comments (which is sort of fair enough as i dont really know much about bikes).
also he forgot to thread my back break cable through the loop in the frame, and wouldnt put it back as it wasnt worth it, so i've now got a cable tie holding it down! i was a bit irked, but maybe i should see at as time/charges frugal instead!

i'm happier now, thanks for that Tumpty.

tumptyteapot

23rdspiral wrote: »

thanks tumpty... i appreciate a different perspective on it. if they could only find out it was the value by deduction that it wasnt a puncture, that is fair enough.
i dont know how long the man worked on it, 2 hours was my parking time. i've no problem paying for skill at all, they have skills i dont and i'm glad i can buy them! i guess i was just a little unsettled by their manner - no straight answers, suggested i'd be better off taking it to the tip, and fair number of 'get back in the kitchen' comments (which is sort of fair enough as i dont really know much about bikes).
also he forgot to thread my back break cable through the loop in the frame, and wouldnt put it back as it wasnt worth it, so i've now got a cable tie holding it down! i was a bit irked, but maybe i should see at as time/charges frugal instead!

i'm happier now, thanks for that Tumpty.

There was no need for them to be like that. Have you no alternatives? Our council sometimes does free bike repair workshops, you just give a donation. Something like sustrans might know what is in your area.

meg72

23rdspiral wrote: »

hi everyone,

had a spendy day today. i bit the bullett and took my very old bike for a service and new bits to make it rideable. it's a 1960s/70s vintage italian folding bike whose back brake was siezed and whose front tyre wouldnt hold air.

so i took it to the greasyest, overall wearing bike shop i could find. the chaps were like steptoe and son, i couldnt get a straight word out of them. slightly nervous i left it there for 2 hours and when i came back they charged me 20quid and said they'd had to charge for doing an inner tube test but it was fine, just a dodgy value in the end. was quite irritated to have had to pay for their time to test (yes bucket in the yard job), but am glad its working and ridable again. but i've no idea if i was ripped off or not. the shiney new bike shop round the corner just laughed at me and the other one said it'd be 25quid in time before parts so i hope i wasnt but i guess i'll never know.

to make up for it i got a haul of Cross stitch mags in a charity shop (17 for 2.80!!), and some cheap but good meat from the butcher. hey ho.. its all swings and roundabouts i guess.

I dont think you were ripped off at all.I think they sound quite odd but then you did take it to so i took it to the greasyest, overall wearing bike shop i could find. the chaps were like steptoe and son,
Wonder what Halfordswould have charged you.I think you have a find with your pair seem very honest.

Very envious of your Cross stitch find.

SandraScarlett

If you signed up to Crowdity for the Ocado voucher, whether you got one or not, log in, then look under My Vouchers, and you'll find it there - and each code is different this time.

Got the heads up from someone on Grabbit, and Mr T kindly delivered this afternoon £42 worth of stuff, plus £3 delivery, for £25. Then when I checked my order, one item had a use by date for tomorrow, and some of the fruit and veg was a bit ucky.

So I phoned CS and they took another fiver off.:j One of our local beauty salons has a Special August Offer - that is better than the other salons' special offers! Manicure, pedicure and half hour back massage ... £28, so I feel a little trip there next week, would be well deserved!

xx

rubytuesday

I looked under my vouchers but it's not there Sandra.

lingojingo

redglass wrote: »

I've tried the link but can't access either the ebook or the pdf document. Is it because I'm using Firefox, I wonder?

I've just downloaded it on Firefox without any problems, so maybe try again?