Now & Then: MAY

megasaver

Eliza252 wrote:

its just really hard to work out when you have an oyster card as you never see the money go.

I have a pre pay oyster card too. At the tube station nearby I just check how much I have left on my card by going to the Oyster top up machine, pressing my card against the reader and it tells me - this is really useful as I now mostly take buses! If I am in the mood/have time there is also a "history" screen on the machine that lists every single journey you have made recently and how much you have paid on your the card. I was astounded that they had kept all this info - but they had, every single journey since I started using the card was listed (even the incomplete ones where they can't charge you the full amount ). So it is very easy to keep a check on which journeys you have made and how much has been dedcuted from the card! HTH

Lucie_2

I have got bleach on my favourite navy blue trousers.
THEN: would have just gone out & bought a new pair - £40 from fat face

NOW: Bought navy blue dye from Woolies - £2.69 (bought on 10% off day)

elona

I would have been tempted to see if permanent blue ink would have covered it - that is if I could find some in the house.

debbym

Then: Would have bought kids raisins in cute little boxes 5x 14 g for 60 p in our case £1.20/week or £62 a year
Now: Now buy them from the grocery section 500g for 60p lasts for 3 weeks instead; savings over a year £52

Then: Would have cheerfully thrown a couple of bottles of wine in the trolley and been “forced” to drink an entire bottle between the two of us about £20/month
Now:Buy a wine box (especially when it is on offer) only drink what we want (healthier too!) save £8/month or £96/year

Then: Would not have bothered about the bills for the gas and electric
Now: Checked out the prices on one of the websites as recommended by MSE, unfortunately no cheaper suppliers but did switch to paperless billing with present supplier save £15 a year.

Then: Would have picked up stuff on special offer whether I needed it or not in the mistaken belief that I was saving money, ended up throwing half of it in the bin. Didn’t know what was on special offer before I got to the shop so “whats a shopping list for?”
Now: Only buy stuff on offer if it is something I will use. Check out Fixture Ferrets website to see what is on special offer before I write a shopping list. Saving about £15 a week on average or £780/year!

Then: The mortgage is just something you have to pay and tough
Now: The discount on our mortgage has ended- lets re-mortgage to a new one! Save £90/month or £1080 a year

nabowla

Then: struggled to keep the shopping bill under 30 pounds per week (for one person!). Often spent in excess of 40 pounds.
Now: my budget is 20 pounds per week, and I've even been known to spend less than that if there are lots of good offers on!

Then: regularly put things on the credit card without thinking about where the money was coming from.
Now: haven't used the credit cards since the start of the year. Cancelled the v. expensive insurance plan and reduced the interest rate to 0% on one and 2.5% on the other. V happy!

mrsmab59

Seeing as the holiday season is on it's way I thought my then and now could be holiday related.

THEN foreign holidays to wherever took my fancy regardless of how long it took me to pay for it...not to mention the organising, the jet lag, the hours and hours spent travelling or waiting, etc etc!

NOW after two fantastic weeks in Cornwall last year I've been thinking about all the other free or very cheap places in Britain that we've never visited but look very inviting. And as we live pretty much in the middle of England a lot of these places are just a day trip for us. So this year we're going to have lots of short trips away for a tiny fraction of what I'd been paying previously for our annual foreign holiday.

Queenie

mrsmab59 - :T WTG!! When my older 3 were younger they used to bemoan the fact we hadn't been abroad (aside from a couple of day trips to France) for a "proper holiday" - my defence was ... we have soooo much beauty in our own Country, that we'll explore that first One of the very best holidays I ever had was, as a teen, my older sister and her hubby hired a camper van for a couple of weeks and took me along with them. We went from S. England up the East side to Scotland and returned via the West side GREAT fun!

Lucie_2

Lucie wrote:

NOW: Bought navy blue dye from Woolies - £2.69 (bought on 10% off day)

Quick update:
Dyed aforementioned trousers last night - they look fantastic. All bleach is covered up, no blotches & a really nice colour (bit darker than orginally). Had to wear them for work today I was so pleased with them!

Queenie

:T Well done, Lucie, that is brilliant! Thank you for updating us on that, very motivational. I bet you look super in them too.

tru

This one's for hubby -

Then - Viakal

Now - vinegar

He just asked me if we had any Viakal, I said 'yes, it's in that bottle there, it has a new name. Vinegar'

:rotfl: