Living in Austerity

Mags30

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

Mags do you ever think about leaving Ireland? it does sound grim at the moment.

xx

Can't, I'm an only child and my mother would be alone if I left (my dad has passed away). I also have a house and a mortgage here so leaving is not an option at all. But obviously loads of people have left.

Helgathehairy_2

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

I must say I did used to spend on toiletries and still do - cured my acne with dermologica and bare minerals in this last year, I still have a fairly serious Amazon habit too. This has resulted in more debt for me which I was annoyed with myself about. I could have saved if I had thought about it!

I LOVE my kindle app on my ipad but it's way too easy to buy books. I generally try to stick to free ones but sometimes there's one I want which I can't find for free anywhere and 1 click later there it is on my Kindle!

Mags30

Helgathehairy wrote: »

My thing was skincare. I had bad skin (which was worse in my mind than it actually was) and I spent a fortune ordering it online, using it a few times and then just stopping. Had a clear out of the bathroom cabinet when I moved out and I was really embarrassed at myself.

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

I must say I did used to spend on toiletries and still do - cured my acne with dermologica and bare minerals in this last year, I still have a fairly serious Amazon habit too. This has resulted in more debt for me which I was annoyed with myself about. I could have saved if I had thought about it!

Expensive beauty products will be the ruin of all of us

How about some surveys to top-up the Amazon accounts with vouchers? I used to get them from Toluna and there's a site called Swagbucks on the "up your income" board that seems really popular but I haven't got round to checking that out yet.

Mags30

Yesterday was a bit miserable I'm back at work today so had to leave my mothers for my own house. She misses the company loads when I leave after an extended stay so that's difficult, even though I'll go back at the weekend.

Last night I kept myself busy by sorting the recycling, doing 2 loads of washing and going for a very long walk (2 hours long). I like walking when it's dark (there's city street lighting and plenty of people out, it's not dark country roads).

Walking when it's dark suits me because it doesn't really matter how you look. There's no need for make-up and badly co-ordinated clothes like a navy jacket with unironed black yoga pants are totally OK. On summer evenings around here its like a fashion show of fancy exercise gear with the people out walking. Dealing with that is too much effort.

I hate being back at work but I probably shouldn't complain given that Ireland now has 442,000 unemployed.

Looked at the competition board on here but it's more effort than I anticipated. There seems to be 10-15 pages of new competitions a day. I only entered 3 or 4 and those were for prizes I'd like/use. Even if I had the time I wouldn't enter everything as so many of the prizes are things I wouldn't use, best leave those ones for people who would like them

Having an early night with a book tonight.

Mags30

Just found this on twitter and wanted to share it here. "Start 2013 off with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen. On New Years Eve, empty it and see what awesome stuff happened that year" (handy use for those jars we don't have money to put in)

There is also a 13 goals for 2013 trend on there but that might be aiming a bit too high for me at the moment. Great idea though

Mags30

Paid €108 for 3 months car tax today, ridiculously expensive but out of my control.

OnePoll balance £32.65

Mags30

I have 3 phone bills to pay in January :eek:

My iphone contract with 3 expired in December so I decided to cancel it and move to Vodafone for better value. This left me with:

1) regular bill from 3 costing €48.57 due on 31/12/12 (It wasn't a direct debit so I just didn't bother to pay it on time over Christmas)

2)Closing bill from 3 costing €18.25 due on 7/01/13 (again not a direct debit)

3)New Vodafone bill costing €34.08 due 14/01/13 (direct debit)

My new Vodafone bill plan costs €27 I think but the first bill usually costs more as it covers a longer time period than 30 days. Will see how much it costs in February.

So changing my phone to a different provider has left me with extra bills in the short term. Total cost of the 3 bills is €100.90

Although seeing as I didn't actually pay my bill in December it works out at €50 per month.

It feels like I'm doing something wrong here, all I ever seem to do is pay bills :huh:

Helgathehairy_2

Mags30 wrote: »

My new Vodafone bill plan costs €27 I think but the first bill usually costs more as it covers a longer time period than 30 days. Will see how much it costs in February.
huh:

Is that a monthly contract Mags? Mine is €30 per month and thought that was the cheapest contract they did.

Mags30

Helgathehairy wrote: »

Is that a monthly contract Mags? Mine is €30 per month and thought that was the cheapest contract they did.

It's a 30 day contract called "My Way Plus" The basic smartphone package for a very MSE friendly €15 gives you Vodafone to Vodafone calls and texts plus 500MB data. You can add extras so I paid €12 extra for 200 mins of voice calls. You don't get any phone with this package, I'm using the antique 3G iPhone which I'm replying from right now so I don't have a link for you. Google it

Mags30

Went for another walk earlier for about an hour and a half but nothing seems to de-stress me.

Have a WoodWick candle burning here. It makes a crackling sound which is supposed to resemble the sound of a real fire. Lovely idea but mostly it's annoying me glad it's only a small size one so I won't have to listen to it for too long! I want to like it but I don't, not recommended.