There's this dragon I'd like to kill...

HappyNow

Laconic wrote: »

Ah, there was *one* thing I did today that was vaguely Money-saving. I'd set aside all the coins and change I got all year and today I cashed it in at Tescos. With the hefty commission the coinstar machine charged it still came to £40.81. Used half of it to buy groceries for the week (after making a proper menu and shopping list). Used the other half to get three pairs of shoes re-soled: previously I've always tossed worn shoes but these have been so comfortable and still look good that I thought I'd try. Definitely doing this again!

Perhaps I'm learning. A little.

Well done, but here's a top-tip for next time! Don't use the coinstar machine. Use a self-service till and just shove your change into there to pay for your shopping. It counts it for you and tells you when you've put enough in - no commission charge .

Good with the shoes, I hate throwing comfy ones away.

patman99

What I tend to do is use the Coin depositer in my local Barclays. I have a Barclays current account to get a free Kasperky license, so have to use the account every so often in order to stop Barclays closing the account.

I can then either keep the money in the account or transfer it to my main Bank account. At least I am earning interest on it.

castlelough

Hi Laconic!
Just subscribing and wishing you every success!
I studied as an adult too (part-time), and am graduating in August - so I appreciate the highs and lows of student life as an adult!
What are you doing your PhD on? <impressed!>

Laconic

patman99 wrote: »

£200 to remove an object from your ear?. Did you not take out travel insurance ?.

Also, your SoA has nothing in for landline or broadband. Do you access the net via a free hotspot?.

Hi there! Well the only thing sillier than having travel insurance is having travel insurance and not using it... which is what I did. I thought it too embarrassing a problem to claim for. :P

Yes, my broadband and landline bills do form part of my rent, hence not appearing in my SoA. Which reminds me, I'll be needing a new one at the end of the month... moving day.

Laconic

tiger_eyes wrote: »

Laconic, we're in the same boat! I'm also saving hard to pay off my Career Development Loan early. I'm a couple of steps ahead of you with about £6000 in savings, but alas, my loan is bigger - I had to take out the full £10,000. Here's hoping we'll both be early repayers.

Amen to that!

Laconic

HappyNow wrote: »

Don't use the coinstar machine. Use a self-service till and just shove your change into there to pay for your shopping. It counts it for you and tells you when you've put enough in - no commission charge .

Thanks for that tip: I'd completely not realised that!

Laconic

castlelough wrote: »

Hi Laconic!
Just subscribing and wishing you every success!
I studied as an adult too (part-time), and am graduating in August - so I appreciate the highs and lows of student life as an adult!
What are you doing your PhD on? <impressed!>

Congrats!

It's certainly strange to be 10-15 years older than everyone else at my stage of education, but it's still a blast.

My PhD is in biomaterials, that is materials that are used to interact with the body in order to improve it in some way which covers everything from sutures to artificial organs and all in between. More specifically, I'm studying how to use materials to better control the types of tissue stem cells turn into.

castlelough

Hi Laconic,
How are you getting on?

Laconic

New year, finally back on the waggon -- is there an 'anti-light bulb' moment? :P

After an awesome, if expensive, holiday to Johannesburg to see my new niece, time to face reality. The good news: I do have sufficient savings to live on them for three months if I had to. That was one goal. The bad news: I'm not going to be able to treat myself to a birthday present of having paid off my loan. Sure, self-indulgence is a big problem, but I have another that's harder to deal with.

My family is a real challenge: I have a sister who is long-term unemployed and whom I help out when she runs into yet another crisis. I also help out my wider family... which is large. In the last year, I've forked out £2k+. This can't go on. Rather than help out sporadically to the tune of hundreds of pounds, I need to work out a proper allowance for them.

In the last week, I've started using GnuCash to keep track of all my money, down to the change in my pocket. Unedifying -- I've spent £20 on food shopping but £50 on eating out! This can't go on.

I'll be back-filling it with my old bank statements and getting a new SoA and better plans in the next few days.

Wish me luck!

Laconic

So much for planning!

My sister has gotten sanctioned by the JSA and has also been reported to the Housing Authority -- so it looks like I may be out £250 to help her keep a roof over her head if they find against her. She's distraught, especially because she's not being sanctioned for not looking for work -- that's over and above what they require -- but for not logging onto their site frequently enough.

Grrr....