Tales from a country cottage

ani*fan

Hi wot-a-mess

Good to see you. Yes, petrol and oil are a massive expense right now. I can't believe we have lived here for over four years and didn't realise that if we turn the heating right down, we can still take the chill off the air but not freeze to death. How stupid I feel now...

I'm only now beginning to realise how much petrol I waste on a weekly basis. It's only 10 miles into our nearest city and I'm guilty of going there to work, driving home, heading out again to get a weekly shop then coming home again. £8 of petrol instead of £4, and this happens (USED to happen) all the time. I'm now working out how to combine as many journeys as possible for minimum car use. Recycling on the way to work, shopping on the way home, etc. The bad side is that I need to do everything while OH sits on the couch, carless and not much help. And I am useless in a supermarket on my own. I get in a daze after 10 mins. But anyway, I guess that's how it has to be for a while.

Need to keep smiling. Things really could be a lot worse. And they're not.

wot-a-mess

Ani

I noticed in a previous post that u're oil supplier recently put a big price increase on oil (heating oil guess). As far as I know heating oil is supplied thro oil distributors. Have you phoned around other oil distributors for a price comparison cos i know that oil distributors are very competitive with each other &perhaps you could take advantage of this.

ani*fan

Our oil supplier is the second one we've used in 4 years. The first one hiked prices up by over £100 in the space of two years but to be honest, even when we moved the price was similar. I can't for the life of me think why I don't ask what the price is before I order. How stupid! I need to get out of the mentality of being grateful to a company for selling me something! The cost changes every time, sometimes only by a few quid and sometimes it goes down slightly.

The previous supplier ripped our gatepost off and tore up part of the fence too during one delivery. I didn't mind much, accidents happen, but I did mind that the driver then tried to shirk responsibility by saying it was already like that! And telling me I was lucky they delivered up such a narrow track and that no-one else would! They never did communicate with us about it. I just came home one day and it was miraculously mended (with a much prettier gate post than we had previously) but still, I wanted to switch.

This is a good time for me to shop around as we are in credit with the current distributor so could easily move. I'll phone around tomorrow and am sure I could cancel the order if needed as it won't be delivered til Friday.

Thanks, wot-a-mess, for thinking about this for me. It's much appreciated.

Igamogam

Can you do your grocery shopping on line? Once you have done it once its very easy and I believe your OH is at home so you can take advantge of low delivery price - they will aslo carry it all into kitchen ( or where ever you want it) for you - and if you havent done it before there are often 'deals' for first time users - great for buying of heavy stuff once a month if nothing else Long narrow lane shouldnt be a problem - just put it in your delivery instructions - we have "headtorch essential" in ours! I hate shopping of any description - so this method suits me!

DawnW

ani*fan wrote: »

Our oil supplier is the second one we've used in 4 years. The first one hiked prices up by over £100 in the space of two years but to be honest, even when we moved the price was similar. I can't for the life of me think why I don't ask what the price is before I order. How stupid! I need to get out of the mentality of being grateful to a company for selling me something! The cost changes every time, sometimes only by a few quid and sometimes it goes down slightly.

I always used to ring around several companies when my oil tank needed refilling, and choose the cheapest - or even tell the one I usually used when I had been offered a cheaper deal by another company (which I named). They would always match it! I always resisted signing up to their pay monthly deals. The situation may be different now, as I last used oil heating a few years ago. However, this technique certainly works for lots of other things so still might be worth a try!

ani*fan

Hi Dawnw :wave: Thanks for your advice and I think you're absolutely right about shopping around for oil. The trouble is, we just don't have the cash to pay for a tank of oil upfront. It would be ideal if we could, but considering I've no money at all right now and the cold weather has arrived, it needs to be DD. I'm annoyed with myself for not using this opportunity to switch to a cheaper supplier but hey, it's on the list of things to do once the debts are knocked down a bit.

It's also made me think of a new challenge for myself, a long term one though. I'm going to see how many DDs I can get rid of. The 4 credit cards need to go first, then I want to pay for my car insurance upfront, then I want to try and pay the council tax in one big payment. Wonder what else? I'm sure if I saved for all these things in my isa or something it would be better than paying the extra you get charged for DDs. Will need to check my SOA and see what else could be got rid of.

Igamogam, about the shopping, sometimes I try and figure out which I hate most, trawling round t3sco with a trolley or navigating their nightmare website. Honestly, when I;m trying to find something I don't usually buy I get tempted to throw my laptop out the window. Not that I'm impatient or anything...:o My new theory is that if I did a small weekly shop on my way home from work I would never be in there for long enough to get seriously annoyed. It's only me and OH to buy for, and OH eats like a sparrow. (Or actually, like a child at a birthday party with crisps and fizzy drinks and mini pork pies, but that's a different story. )

I went to uni yesterday. It was good to be out but I'm worried about how tired I still am in the middle of week 2 of my annual leave. Have a week off from it next week but back at work.

My friend is coming to visit today before heading off to see her mum for a week. She is very kindly bringing all her fresh food that will go off if she leaves it at home. I wonder if she is psychic...? She's a godsend.

ani*fan

I've just deleted a paragraph or two from my last post. I really want my diary to be motivating and not full of self-pity. There is no-one going to bail me out of this mess; it's down to me. What exactly am I waiting on, a knight on a white horse with a big fat bank account? :question: Not going to happen. And it really won't just take care of itself; I need to make it happen. I made the mess, I need to clear it up. Which means keeping on keeping going, even when it feels like there is no end in sight. There is an end. I can't remember when it is, but there is definitely an end to all this! And i'm closer to it today than I was yesterday. :cool:

My superviser gave me the phone number of someone getting rid of lots of books having just done a similar course to mine. She wants to give them away for free! Phoned her this morning and she's getting back to me in an hour or so. Going to collect them will cost me around £30 in petrol but the money I will save from not having to buy them or endlessly photocopy chapters will be well worth it.

:j There are people in the world who want to help! Fantastic!

ani*fan

I've been thinking a lot these last few days about the concept of 'enough'. In my experience, when you're shopping and spending endlessly nothing ever seems to be enough. The act of doing it makes you need to do it more. Then you end up with a house full of junk.

On the other hand, for people like me who hate shopping I tend to go to the other extreme. I go to work looking like a bag lady (maybe not quite that bad but its how I feel) 'cos I hate shopping so much. So when I finally do it, I grab the first thing I see that is definitely not the cheapest or best option. Just to get it over with. This isn't any better than the first option.

I guess what I'm talking about is finding a balance. How much is enough to earn, to save, to have or to spend? What would my ideal budget look like? I'm not one of these people who want to win the lottery, I don't even do it. I love my job and would do it for free. Maybe not as many hours though...How much is enough to be free from this constant worry about money?

All these changes that I've made lately to try and get out of debt need to become habit. They need to not feel like deprivation. I need to feel like I have enough right now. The reality is that I do. I can pay the bills and like my most recent budget, there should be £400 left over every month. Would that be enough? Would it pay for the car, and savings, and top my pension? Would it cover christmas and birthdays and a holiday once a year? The truth is that I just don't know, but I doubt it.

Maybe i'll spend a bit of time today putting together a fantasy budget for when I'm debt free. That way at least I will know what I'm aiming for.

Do I sound mad? I feel like I'm going a little mad today. This debt stuff is taking over my mind.

ani*fan

I won't bother posting my fantasy budget here but it's pretty obvious we have more than enough now for a comfortable lifestyle.

I don't know if this has reassured me or made me more annoyed at the state we're in.

Actually, determined is coming through more than anything else. I am totally determined to get rid of this debt. I will not be saddled with it for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Onwards to paying off the first Capital One card.

My friend will be here shortly so will hopefully take my mind off all this. Have a wonderful day everyone, if a bit if a chilly one.

CW2

Hi there,

Just de-lurking to say I don't think you're mad at all, I think you're just thinking things through and getting to a better way of thinking about money and spending and life and what you do and don't want. I think its part of the process and is very healthy so don't worry that you're going mad!

And also, don't worry about your posts being negative, this is your diary so post what you like! But you really are doing well juggling everything you do. And you're right, there is an end to all this, even though things might be hard along the way, it will be incredible when you are debt free. The alternative is to ignore it and let things get worse and worse...So, keep smiling and be happy you're taking control