Oh the shame! Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade budget

t2rry

Bobarella wrote: »

£192.81 is a huge sum when you also have debts. Can you ask for that to be stopped completely for the time being?

I personally would not be cutting back your pension fund when you have other areas you could so easily gain that money from.
That is an extremely short termist view and is taking money out of your own pocket rather than out of others.


I obviously don't know much about what issues your yoga helps, and why it is so expensive, but it is one hell of an outgoing. Even with OH paying for a couple of months, that's still money that is not available to pay off joint debts. Sorry to be blunt but I can't believe there couldn't be at least a cheaper way of doing it if not a free way.


You can justify many things, we all have else we wouldn't be here, but you have a lot of little outgoings that I think are unnecessary. Take care of the pennies, as they say...

OnwardAndUpward81

t2rry wrote: »

I personally would not be cutting back your pension fund when you have other areas you could so easily gain that money from.
That is an extremely short termist view and is taking money out of your own pocket rather than out of others.


I obviously don't know much about what issues your yoga helps, and why it is so expensive, but it is one hell of an outgoing. Even with OH paying for a couple of months, that's still money that is not available to pay off joint debts. Sorry to be blunt but I can't believe there couldn't be at least a cheaper way of doing it if not a free way.


You can justify many things, we all have else we wouldn't be here, but you have a lot of little outgoings that I think are unnecessary. Take care of the pennies, as they say...

t2rry, it's fine to be blunt. That's why we're here right? Discussed and reflected on the yoga alot and for me, it's longevity of life. Penison, I'm going to enquire and see what I do and trying to work out how to monitor my electric and water meter. My life expectancy isn't great but I have also seen my health as just a blip and try and be optimistic. If it ended tomorrow, I'm ok with the yoga.

OnwardAndUpward81

Ok, so my London life can be saved! What have I been up to these past two days.

Today whilst updating all the challenges it is um....challenging. On the other it really keeps me on track. So much support as always! So the last 2 days what has happened.

Yesterday, received a cheque from Thames Water for 37.43 or 37.45 (I know the pennies count but I have forgotten!), that will go to our joint account though. Today, oh my goodness, why had I not utilised my Tesco and Sainburys points properly before! After stalking some MSErs I kept seeing this Tesco reclaim vouchers malarkey. After a while I followed through and I had 31.50 tesco clubcard vouchers. I have used 30 quid to get 120 quids worth of restaurant vouchers. We're on a trip to Scotland this week so that will come in handy, big time!!! This Tesco experience got me thinking about my Sainsburys nectar points and have just used some of those to get some cinema tickets and some more restaurant vouchers for Scotland. We have a birthday party to go to whilst we are there and we both work in creative industries ( my side job, not his) so we love galleries so I presume there will be lots of free galleries to go to. So my fear for Scotland and spending is looking so so bright. We're going to Brussels the weekend after so hmmmm, that may be a bit more tricky.

Since this LBM moment I have been on it! For my OH too, he does fine for money, no debts apart from mortgage but....he is getting some flooring put down in one of our bedrooms which he is converting to a studio, for his business. I remember that because I work for the government I get discount on loads of things but never utilise it. He wanted to get some flooring from B & Q and managed to get 6% off his total bill by buying vouchers, plus, when I use the vouchers, I can get 3.15% cashback via Topcashback! Woo hoo! So pleased.

Oh yes, I sold my wireless ticket and was very upset about this my amazing friend has spoken to me the whole way through and sent me audio. I danced around the house and everything, ha ha.

I think I have rambled alot now. Oh yes, just had a lovely meal on our balcony in the sun with OH and took a long walk by the river earlier. All free

Hope you're all enjoying beautiful wherever you are ! xxxx

OnwardAndUpward81

Sorry, I forgot the wireless ticket I sold, I got 45 for it. So that's more money in my pocket!

OnwardAndUpward81

Don't you just hate the financial discussions with the OH? Had one today and it has gone well, not well at all......What do other people do when managing finances with OH? Just interested....Ours never go well.

belleandthebudget

Hi Miss Debt, I know MSE-ers HATE a gym membership or the like, but as someone who does exercise to help with my own health problems (joint and muscular issues), I'm going to say it - don't feel guilty paying for something that keeps you healthy.

To me, it's so worth it to have a highly-trained instructor to watch and help me when I'm doing yoga or ballet. Without them I know I could easily injure myself doing moves incorrectly, or without the adaptations I need for my body's issues.

Best of luck on your debt journey! Just wanted to weigh in with a differing opinion about the yoga because I know I've had many similar thoughts re: the guilt.

t2rry

Miss_Debt wrote: »

Don't you just hate the financial discussions with the OH? Had one today and it has gone well, not well at all......What do other people do when managing finances with OH? Just interested....Ours never go well.

Uch, I know this feeling well!! My OH is TERRIBLE with money. And that's coming from someone who has never known adult life without debt! Every couple deals with it differently, we personally have everything joint. We pay our salaries into our joint account, out of which comes all our bills and whatever is leftover is what I budget with. We (I!) pay off all our debts together and we genuinely don't keep anything separate regardless of our level of income. If either of us get a payrise or a bonus, we both benefit. It works for us and after a few years of *those* discussions going poorly, they aren't so often or so poor anymore because we are both on the same page

pjcox2005

I'd say stick with yoga if it does have the health benefits. Potentially if you go multiple times a week and pay per session then you could drop one a week for a home yoga DVD.


I'd stay in the pension, as someone else said you are just shifting money around, and actually the tax saving and long term growth will be very beneficial to you in the future. Drop out of it, and so often people don't find a "right time" to start making contributions.


I personally think it's easier to tackle joint finances when they are truly joint (rather than separate accounts/allocated bills) as it means that you both have the same goals and tasks to go for.


Is the student loan a proper loan or normal student company debt which just gets paid out of salary when above the threshold? If it's the later, I wouldn't worry about it and instead focus on making sure you have a budget which means you spend less than you earn each year.

OnwardAndUpward81

belleandthebudget wrote: »

Hi Miss Debt, I know MSE-ers HATE a gym membership or the like, but as someone who does exercise to help with my own health problems (joint and muscular issues), I'm going to say it - don't feel guilty paying for something that keeps you healthy.

To me, it's so worth it to have a highly-trained instructor to watch and help me when I'm doing yoga or ballet. Without them I know I could easily injure myself doing moves incorrectly, or without the adaptations I need for my body's issues.

Best of luck on your debt journey! Just wanted to weigh in with a differing opinion about the yoga because I know I've had many similar thoughts re: the guilt.

Love your username!

Yes, we all have different opinions and have different priorities. I guess for some gym membership may be a luxury but defo not for me, I don't even particularly like going to it but it's like that bad tasting medicine which I know is good for me. Ha ha.

Thanks for the luck on my journey and a different take on the matter, I definitely was feeling somewhat guilty at points.

OnwardAndUpward81

t2rry wrote: »

Uch, I know this feeling well!! My OH is TERRIBLE with money. And that's coming from someone who has never known adult life without debt! Every couple deals with it differently, we personally have everything joint. We pay our salaries into our joint account, out of which comes all our bills and whatever is leftover is what I budget with. We (I!) pay off all our debts together and we genuinely don't keep anything separate regardless of our level of income. If either of us get a payrise or a bonus, we both benefit. It works for us and after a few years of *those* discussions going poorly, they aren't so often or so poor anymore because we are both on the same page

Sunday and yesterday morning was definitely a very long difficult conversation but it was needed and we hadn't had since we moved. and has made our relationship stronger... I hope! Since we moved I had been looking into how different couples manage finances etc and yes, I have def noted that everyone does it differently regardless of income. I'm hoping the financial discussions will get better but I think we need to have it regularly and then we'll be in your position of them not being as often. We don't have them often but probably not for good reasons, more because we weren't talking about them enough.