I need a kick up the ****! Storm's DFW Diary

hypno06

It is difficult to get that moneysaving/ethical balance all the time through our debt free journey. I tell myself that when I am out of this mess, I will be more able to make choices that I feel comfortable with. Until that time, sadly, not everything is ideal.

I do, however, try and buy much of my produce locally - it often ends up cheaper anyway so everyone a winner!

dreams_R_free

ZTD wrote: »

But if you drive the local bookshops out of business, and then can charge whatever you like for your books - how much profit can you make then?

Just like Mr T's megastore has forced all the independent petrol stations round here to close! Admittedly, the petrol may be 1p a litre cheaper:rolleyes: but the queues to get on/off the forecourt are always horrendous. And this is a very rural area with Mr T's about 12 miles away so it's a case of having to go there and probably doing the shopping there while I'm at it. I became disillusioned with Mr T for shopping a while ago and switched my allegiance to Asda and Lidl for my 'big' shop but they are even further away and don't sell petrol! There are a couple of garages near Asda but they seem to be very expensive these days. Alas, all the village petrol stations have closed so we've lost not just the convenience of filling up nearer to home but the friendly and helpful service too.

Storm

...and with the latest rate rises pinching lots of pockets even more, unfortunately the small independant traders are going to be the first to suffer as consumers first targets in cutting down are always going to be the 'convenience' stuff where things cost a bit more, but you only have to pop round the corner.

These days if you've got a big Tesco/Asda etc nearby you could actually buy everything you needed on a day to day basis there - food, clothes, entertainment, household stuff etc etc. Also, with so many supermarkets being open 24 hours now, if you live nearby or have a car then the convenience factor of a local shop is gone too!

ZTD

I do get stuff out of supermarkets, especially when I haven't found local producers. How many cider producers do we have round here? You can count them on no hands...

What I try to do - and this is only try.

Buy locally - you know it's not people working for a bowlful of rice then.

But I guess most of all - buy quality. That doesn't neccesarily mean expensive though. You just don't get quality in sweatshops.

You might think supermarkets are cheaper for everything than local shops. They are for some things, and completely off the mark for others. That's why they spend so much on advertising - to convince you of something that isn't true.

slowlyfading

woohoo! you can talk to me about it - I read it in about 4 hours I loved it!! x

Storm

4 hours? Wow, that's quick! Will PM you so we don't spoil it for others...

Storm

Why is it that a week before payday, not matter how good I think I've been with my budgetting I've run out of money? I need a few bits fromt he supermarket tonight which is going to take my last fiver I think for the month - just got to hope the diesel holds out in the car as I definitely have no more to put in there!

Plus I've got some things ending tonight on Ebay & only 1 of them has a bid (of 99p!) and not even any watchers :mad: I know the end of the month isn't the best time to put stuff on there, but even so!

Had absolutely nothing from the books I listed on Amazon & Green Metropolis either - there's no way I'm going to get HSBC cleared before payday which had been my aim At least I've got a bit of overtime pay coming next week, but no overtime for the summer at all...

ZTD

Storm wrote: »

Why is it that a week before payday, not matter how good I think I've been with my budgetting I've run out of money?

What you could do (IA does this IIRC) is divide your money up into weekly chunks. That way you may run out of money at the end of the week, but then there is always next week's chunk to open up on the monday.

I hope that makes sense...

Storm

I've tried setting weekly budgets, but as I get paid monthly I tend to have more stuff going on at the start of the month, simply cos that's when all my friends have money too for going out etc.

I think I'm perhaps going to have to be more precise with my budget - at the moment I have £400 a month for everything except rent, household bills & car fund (MOT, tax, insurance). I originally did it this way so that if I was good in the supermarket & only bought the essentials then I would get the benefit from having a bit more to go down the pub with, but because I tend to do stuff like fill up the car & a bigger food shop at the beginning of the month it throws everything out of sync.

OK... how's this?

Personal Budget = £400 pcm

Food £75
Diesel £30
Phone top up £10
Roll ups £25 (quitting on 1st August anyway)
Work Coffee £5
Sub Total £155

Remaining = £245 / 4.33 = £56.58 per week

When I look at it like that then I should be fine - more than £50 a week is ample! Oh dear, think I better start doing a spending diary again

Storm

OMG!

Just been reading through the weekly email and there's a link to a post that I made!:shocked:

I've got one of those blue bar thingies - does this mean I said something sensible?!?!?! :think: