Tales from a country cottage

Igamogam

Car Tax - well I pay 12 months but then its only £35 for my car ( sorry !). OH pays 12 months for his too about £135 I think but then we have always done it - expcet once when we paid 6 months so the MOTInsurance and Road tax didnt all happen at once. If you cant afford the 12 months then pay 6 months this time and start putting some away over the next 6 months then the bill wont be as big - justa thought. Car Insurance - find one you can pay monthly with no interest - comparison websites. We did this and then went through a cash back site and got £45 back M&S insurance seem to be doing monthly payment interest free.

Jury is out on the job interview BTW - I think I did well but with a person in post applying for the job you never can tell. I remain optimistic but at the same time planning my next move

Lemon_Tree

fingers crossed about the job Igamogam.

ani - one of the few things i've always been really militant about (and i insisted that Mr LT do it as well) is that we save monthly for our car costs, the savings cover mot, tax, insurance, car rescue, annual service and hopefully a bit left over for any repairs. it's worked quite well to be honest but the insurance element of it only worked because about 5 years ago i was able to pay on a 0% card in full then diverted the usuall monthly dd to a savings account ready for the next month. it's amazing how much insurance companies charge for you to pay monthly and yet not many people seem to scream about it yet everyone notices their CC interest rate.

ani*fan

Thanks for the help everyone.

Igamogam...I am jealous of your low car tax. What do you drive? Is it a bike?! I might get one myself!

I've made the leap this couple of weeks from veggie to vegan. It's been on my mind for a long time and I've had a failed attempt in the past. This time is for real and for good. My main concern is what it may do to the shopping budget but I have my eye on it (hanging over OH's shoulder) and hopefully it will have a positive effect.

I couldn't stop myself from doing a quick debt tally the other day. We're now way under £13k which is cause for celebration but I'm trying to stay focussed. Will do a proper signature update in a month or two.

Off to uni today. Only 5 weeks (and counting) 'til the easter holidays. Where do the weeks go?

Have a lovely debt busting day everyone.

Igamogam

I drive a Citroen C3 diesel - highest spec possible cos I do many miles a week and I wanted comfort as well as effeciency - so Its got extra gizmos - half of which I probably dont use Our other car is a Picasso which is the family car and OH uses for commuting. Great news on the debt front - are you a true true vegan - clothes and everything? I have a friend who is well was and it was the whole shoes/clothes thing in the end which she gave into - otherwise a vegan:)

ani*fan

Hey everyone :wave:

Igamogam...at the moment it's vegan food I'm exploring. I don't deliberately buy leather or other animal products anyway. Those shoes I got a few months ago, they're not leather but turned out to have leather on the inside...why? WHY? So sometimes I make mistakes but I don't beat myself up for it. The whole idea is reducing my support of industries that abuse animals. So whether I chose one meat free meal a week or completely cut out all animal products, I'm making a difference. Know what I mean? You wouldn't believe how many food products have milk in them. Pretty much everything, which is crazy. It will take me a long time to learn which are ok to eat and in the meantime, I'm doing a lot of cooking from scratch. It's very much an ongoing process and a full-time job keeping up with it all.

I'm pretty excited this week to check my bank account and see my overdraft down to £100. I would love to get it totally paid off this month but we'll see how it goes.

I hoped to try and reduce the amount I spend travelling to uni. Now the evenings are lighter and I finish a bit earlier, I can get a free bus from uni into town to catch my train home. However, I got the timings all wrong this week and spent my savings on extra coffee. Totally defeated the purpose, but you live and learn.

I have expenses to claim but not much else happening. I've had the most stressful, horrible week at work and it's not over yet. Roll on 5pm. Nothing planned for the weekend at all and I'm quite happy for that to be the case. Not even a trip tp the recyclers or an eyebrow wax. Nothing. I might do the garden or something else free.

Have a great weekend when it comes everyone.

Igamogam

Sometimes everyone needs 'extra coffee' My vegan ( except shoes ) friend does some fantastic food - makes her own tofu and everything! First time we went to their house for dinner we 'stocked up' before went convinced it would be all beans leaves - how wrong we where

Another friend of mine was a vegetarian because she felt she shouldnt be eating meat she hadn't reared and killed herself - when she moved eventually to a small holding she had no qualms with the whole process and returned to meat eating, producing some lovely stuff. For me its the whole cereal thing - I think we eat too much and too much land is given over just to to feed animals. I am fussy about welfare and where it comes from so eat meat produced locally - in fact we really try the whole local thing as much as possible and I also have a bee in my bonnet about seasonality. Because of this our food bills are prob quite high in comparison but we eat well and very little meat cos we really cant afford it! We did try only eat stuff produced within 30 miles for a while but it was a bit difficult and too costly both time and money which is a shame really.

Pah to a bad day in work - have a lovely weekend in the garden

ani*fan

Igamogam...think I'm of a similar attitude to your vegan friend. I'm trying my hardest, not waxing lyrical but respecting that sometimes compromise is the only way. Wow though...the 30 mile diet. How was it apart from time consuming and expensive? Did you feel any health benefits, I wonder? I love the idea of a local diet but so many things I depend on, like soya milk and chick peas, are just not grown anywhere near here.

I live in the soft fruit capital of the world (feels like) so in summer there is much deliciousness to be had. We have apple trees and plum trees, I just planted a cherry tree a few years ago which is producing a handful every year, we grow strawberries and raspberries (need to get there before the pheasants) and there's a pear tree on the estate (need to get there before the local kids). There is also loads of oil seed rape grown locally and I've pondered switching to that instead of olive oil. May do this still.

We would definitely struggle in winter eating only local food. I tried to store apples once but when I went to get them to use they had all turned to dust. It was quite amazing in itself how well they had disappeared but still, I don't know how to do storage properly. Saying that, we have a freezer...

Our local farm has a wee shop with an honesty box. I love the idea of cycling the few miles out there in the summer, shopping for lovely fresh, local produce then cycling home to cook a delicious meal. In reality, I wouldn't even manage half the outward journey then would end up crying with a sore bum and sore legs, dripping with sweat and miserable, so exhausted I'd be phoning a takeaway for dinner. But you know, I can fantasise...:D

ani*fan

Happy Sunday morning everyone.

Well yesterday turned out more eventful than I thought. Me and OH went to the movies to see Wanderlust. Jennifer Aniston going to live on a hippy commune...it was hilarious! Then we went for dinner. It has been so long since we did anything spontaneous and special, it was a really great day. However, we did manage to use up more than half of the spends budget for the month. Hmmn. Worth it though? Definitely.

I spoke to my mum today and suggested lunch out for Mother's day in a fortnight. She was delighted and well up for it. So I need to try and find the cash for that, and OH's mum will be coming too. I'm considering using my christmas money but OH says no, that money is for treats for me. So I need to get busy scouring the budget for small savings, a tenner here, a fiver there, a look down the back of the sofa for pound coins. :rotfl:I picked up 20p from the floor of the restaurant last night so that's a start. Every penny's a prisoner, right?

I also had my pension statement through this week. Now, I know little to nothing about pensions. I know there was a huge scandal ages ago when people's pension money was lost and the whole situation with state pensions and private pensions is in complete crisis. I had a pension with my first job years ago which will be paying me £200 a year when I retire. It might keep me in chocolate for my retirement! I also bought into my current work pension last year, purely because they pay into it and I don't have to until I'm ready. i.e. when the debt is gone. At this rate, I'm expected to receive £2000 per year if I stay in my job.

Obviously, this is not going to work. Who can live on £2200 per year? No-one.

I just wondered if anyone could recommend a 'pensions for beginners/idiots/skint people' guide either online or in some other format for me to have a look at. I'm a little worried about this as I do think ahead and I'm looking forward to my retirement. I plan to get a border collie (I've never had the time to take care of a dog before and I love dogs), do loads of undergraduate degrees with OU of things I'm interested in (politics, women's studies, whatever takes my fancy) and do some volunteering with community groups (environmental, brownies, anything that sounds like fun). So basically, I want to be able to retire with enough money one day!

Ok, enough about what will happen once I'm old. I'm only 38. Possibly worrying about it prematurely.

Enjoy your day everyone.

Igamogam

I shouldnt worry about a pension Ani - the way things stand you are never going to be allowed to retire :rotfl:
Seriously though get some INDEPENDENT advice from a reputable financial advisor - there figures about that say you must put away a certain percentage of your salary but I have no idea what they are. I have a final salaries occupational pension ( the sort everybody claims are unfair to those who dont have them, and 2 AVCs ( additional voluntary contributions pension). When I started working 25 years ago I would now be looking at retiring albeit it early before state pension age, in 5 years time. Now I am looking at at least another 17 years before I can draw a state pension and my occupational pension goes up by over £40/ month and calculations show I will pay more for longer and get less out - you are right to say its all a mess:eek: SOme of my younger colleagues are looking at retirement ages close on 70 - who the heck wants to a) work til they are that age b) employ teachers that age and c) want their children taught peiple that age? And its not just the teaching profession of course that is being hit hard. Sorry ranting a bit

MY OH is even in a bigger mess having had breaks in career and not working in places that are generous with o pensions although he has always paid into one all his life even when he was out of work - one occupational pension will pay him £600 a year.

I don't think you should worry Ani but you are right to start planning and getting some sound advice.

ani*fan

Igamogam...you may be right. Maybe I should just get used to the idea that I'll be working 'til I drop. But really, as much as I love my job, I do want to have a different life one day at a much slower pace. Surely the earlier you start, the better? But would it be wiser to invest in property or something rather than a pension? Just heard this morning that property in the republic of Ireland has decreased in value by 60%. :eek: And they're selling houses with a 'buy one get one free' deal. :eek::eek: Can things get any worse?

Anyway, how are you today?