My "Out of the Rat Race" adventure.

There_Is_a_Light

How cold is it please!!:eek: Mr Light put the leccy blanket on and we forgot to turn it off:o

C0mpliment vouchers have arrived £20 from a survey site towards Spend free Christmas, although I have my Niece's Birthday next month so I might spend £10 of those on her gift.

Payslip for April has resulted in me being £21 worse off a month with the new pension rules and NI contributions:mad::mad::mad: bloody government.

Another marathon day for me at work and I won't get home until almost 10pm. I have a bit of a dilemma that I would appreciate your input with.

I have a work colleague who lives in the next town but does not drive. When she started last year I offered her a lift home on the 2 late evenings that we both work. I really didn't mind as we both do not finish work until 9pm and she would have to get a train then a taxi to get home. It takes me around 15 minutes extra in travel time if I drop her off. She did offer me money at the start but I declined.

Thing is her timetable has changed which means that she is finishing at the same time as me more often so this week I have given her a lift home on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and she has asked if I will pick her up and drop her off again on Friday. That is 5 lifts this week as opposed to 2. It appears that she is trying to work around lifts home and I can understand why but I feel a little awkward saying no when I am going in that direction anyway.

Mr Light thinks that I should ask for fuel money:o

beanielou

To be honest I think she does need to make a wee contribution.
A bit cheeky really I think.
Different if you actually passed her house.

pink_poppy

I agree with Mr Light (& beanie), I think your friend should be contributing, especially if she's now asking for more lifts.

skint_spice

While I do agree that she should contribute I personally would find it really difficult to bring the subject up - such a wimp:o

Knit_Witch

skint_spice wrote: »

While I do agree that she should contribute I personally would find it really difficult to bring the subject up - such a wimp:o

Didn't you say she had offered before? Could you use that as an opener?

in_need_of_direction

I'd hold off until the end of the week and then mention it if she doesn't offer.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Since you are going out of your way to take colleague home seems only fair they cover your extra costs. If not charging for the driving you would be doing anyway, just what is extra, I'm sure it'll be a lot cheaper and more convenient than public transport!

Personally I would be offering you a little extra for your trouble. Say it actually costs you £1 a day extra taking her home, and the bus fare is £3, by offering you £2 you would both benefit. Agree with INOD, wait to see if she offers again first, if not maybe say something like "I was more than happy to give you an occasional lift home as a favour and pay for it out of my own pocket, but now it's more often and adding £? a week to my driving bill I could really do with a contribution".

Don't forget motoring costs more than just fuel, depreciation and wear and tear should be a consideration.

There_Is_a_Light

Home again, I picked her up and dropped her off and calculated an extra 20 mins to my journey each time. I didn't mention it though, total coward

Next week it will just be twice but you are all right, I do need to mention something. She gets the train and a taxi if I don't give her a lift so I reckon I save her at least £5-£10? per journey. Mr Light is not best pleased either. She is very kind though and will go out of her way to help me in other ways.

I shall ponder the situation..............

Off to tidy up and declare April spending figures.

There_Is_a_Light

Here are my April spends, I am not including mortgage or fixed expenses or stuff that I cannot reduce such as mobile phones etc.

Charity £4.34
Groceries £231.91
Meals/Nights out £91.40
Fuel £110.20

I have various savings pots but will only declare these once I actually spend the money otherwise things get too complicated.

Managed to save £1320.67 towards the FIRE pot bringing me to 61% on target for the year overall and 13% to my 2020 target.:cool:

Pooky

I'm with everyone else on this, she needs to be paying her way. Maybe just a "hate to bring this up but now this seems to be a more regular pick up/drop off could we sort out a bit of petrol money?" Have a figure in mind before you speak to her, no point asking for a pittance if it's not going to cover your costs.