Lightbulb moment

moneywaster55

Hello Marathonic Thank you for reading and posting.

I agree a car is not a need. We run a large car and its now too big for our needs and costly. Which is why we are going for a smaller car. A close relative of mine has worked for the RAC for 20 plus years and is looking out for a bargain for us. He knows a lot about cars and will look any car over for us. I realize this is no guarantee that it will be OK. We are looking for less car tax, this will be halved with a smaller car, less insurance and less petrol consumption. We will not rush into a new car until the right one comes along, so wont be just buying anything, so that we have a car. So we may well go a while without one.

By January I will be saving £200 a month payday loan interest, so some of that will go to wards car upkeep.

Thank you for your ideas

moneywaster55

gfplux wrote: »

I have only read the title of your original post. Something about a light bulb.
Then just jumped to your last post and have copied this from it.

"I have been paid £25 for the dolls clothes that I was asked to knit. This went straight on a Christmas present, so felt like a bit of a freebie lol."

I want to say good luck as you are really trying. BUT the two lines above suggest the bulb went out.

So sorry to say it, but someone has to. Don't be too hard on me please.
Good luck.

My bulb has not gone out as you suggest . I think i have done ok up too now. I do not expect to get it all right at such a early stage. Although I am up for any constructive advice. I find your comment very demoralizing and derogatory. I am just at the very beginning of my journey and realize I have a lot to learn and will make mistakes.

moneywaster55

Marathonic, I forgot to say. Car tax and Mot are due in January.

patanne

Just coming out of lurkdom to say I don't see any signs of your lightbulb going out & long may it shine! Also to wish you luck with your journey. I've always been fortunate enough to avoid debt & to do my MFW before that was ever seen as a good thing, but I do know how easily it could have all gone wrong & this keeps me focused. In a nutshell - keep up the good work

marathonic

I'm sure gfplux didn't mean to be demoralizing and derogatory. As he/she stated in his post, he/she didn't read the whole story - just the skipped to the last part about you buying Christmas presents. From that point of view, I can see where he/she is coming from.

Regarding savings, let me give you one piece of advice - set up two savings pots, possibly with different financial institutions. One of these is for wants, like a car. The other is an emergency fund.

NEVER dip into the emergency fund unless it's a true emergency. For example, having no phone credit isn't an emergency, nor is not being able to put on the heating (just wrap up more).

What is an emergency is if your car breaks down and you need it fixed for transportation to work. Without resolving this, you could lose your job.

Basically, before dipping into your emergency fund, you should always ask yourself "what is the worst case scenario if I don't do this?".

At the start, your emergency fund will be small and will only enable you to cope with minor unexpected events. Eventually, you should end up with an emergency fund that would see you able to cope financially if you lost your job for 3 months.

Personally, I've recently moved into a house and had a loan from family in order to do this. I'm paying them back this money but, at the same time, setting aside a smaller proportion of my earnings as an emergency fund.

Although an emergency fund should eventually be 3-6 months living expenses, I personally worked out what the most expensive thing that's most likely to happen at an unexpected point in the future. For me, I assumed this to be the boiler in the house breaking down. A new boiler fitted costs about £2,000 so that's my first goal.

Think about what could happen to you and aim to be able to cover it from savings. For example, imagine you buy a new car, have no savings and the timing-belt snaps (a VERY costly event). If you were in your current position, your only option would probably be multiple payday loans.

With an emergency fund, you have the much less minor disturbance to your life of having to replenish the fund rather than scrimp and save on the food budget and so on.

LannieDuck

It's a shame gfplux felt the need to comment without reading the journey you've been on in this thread. The first and last posts don't really do it justice.

Personally, I think using your craft skills to cover the cost of christmas presents is an excellent idea.

moneywaster55

Marathonic, thanks again for more information to digest. I totally agree emergency fund is a definite. All information taken on board and will do my best to sort out as much as I can as quick as I can.

Re Christmas present. I am not, not going to buy Christmas presents, however small they may be. I still think gfplux is well out of order for posting without thought or being fully informed.. Although my finances are in a mess. I do feel I can still do Christmas, although it will be a smaller one. I would find it so depressing not to buy but I will not go into debt to buy them. which in-itself is a big step forward.

Thank You :A

moneywaster55

Our journeys need to be personal and doable for each of us. What is right for one may not be right for another. I do take on all information given and try to work out what is best for me as an individual and how I will be able to cope. I do very much appreciate the support and advice.

marathonic

moneywaster55 wrote: »

Re Christmas present. I am not, not going to buy Christmas presents, however small they may be.

With the recession, Secret Santa's are becoming more popular, i.e. get the group of people who normally exchange presents together, put all their names out of a hat and pick a name each. Everyone has to buy one present as opposed to multiple. I'm only saying this as you appear to have already bought as least one present - if you can go without buying any, all the better.

Another thing to think about is that presents don't have to be your normal standard present that people would buy when the times are good - such as perfume/aftershave.

When buying for your other half, they can be money-saving Christmas presents. Think things like:

• The £10 Ovivo SIM Card I mentioned earlier that gives free monthly calls/texts for the one off payment - saving you money in your monthly mobile phone budget
• A nice wolly jumper that allows you to turn the heating down a little at home
• A good book, possibly used, that will pay for itself in the form of the TV being kept off whilst it's being read

You just have to think about what your other half likes and try to think of gifts that will pay for themselves.

On another note, who is your landline with? It seems pretty expensive. You should have a read of this to see if you can save money on that expense: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls#phonephonesaver

Basically, look at every expense and ask yourself 'is there any way I can reduce this by either cutting down or switching company?'.

moneywaster55

Lots of Fab ideas to be going through. Grateful for them all. We are never extravagant with presents about £15 £20 is our limit but have spent a lot less too.

Not a lot happening, just keeping my costs down and getting through the week.

Have a good day all.

Thank You :A