Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Sun_Addict

Another one glad to hear you’re feeling better today. We all have those days, they pass and we dust ourselves off and start again. 

Blackcats

Glad today has been better 

Makingabobor2

Strange you should mention that survey site. I joined them yesterday but so far have had no surveys from them, so will wait with baited breath to see if I get off the mark with them at all. 

foxgloves

Thanks all x

@makingabobor2 - The above-mentioned survey site is a bit different from the others & earnings grow slowly. I don't think (even before whatever glitch it was) I ever reached £50 cash-out in under a year. Having said that, £50 is a useful amount when you do get it. As there are often lots of questions on politics & current affairs, I find them more interesting than being asked opinions of brands I don't use, so I stuck with it. It looks as if my 2-year problem with them might have resolved itself (weird because I don't know what happened) so I'm at least going to see if I can get my frozen £40+ balance up to the required £50. I also use Ips*s & Pr*lific and am on a group called TasteNation which is run by T*luna. That's enough for me as I like to balance earnings from surveys with use of my time.
F

foxgloves

Morning Money Savers,
Alarm went off at 5.30 as Mr F managed to secure the first appointment for car servicing but it's 20 miles away. I've told him to pay with his cc & I'll transfer the money from our car maintenance pot. Back in the day of course, I had no such thing & along with less reliable vehicles, frequently bemoaned car services (& problems found) as one of the key very unfair causes of the terrible state of my finances. My parents bailed me out a few times following a large car bill. I honestly can't remember ever thinking "I have a car so I really must put some money aside to cover its maintenance costs'. It sometimes feels like looking back through a glass at a different person, but I know she was very definitely me!
I'm intending to clean the kitchen, bathroom & change bed linen, then I think I'll carry on wrapping presents. I also want to write a list of everything I could usefully do in town tomorrow, including buying the last few little foodie present items. My Big Budget Day is hoving into view so I'm keeping everything straight ready to tackle that.
Wishing everyone a peaceful & productive Friday.
F x

Makingabobor2

I know what you mean about how we used to manage before we had car maintenance savings pot. We are the same. I was only saying to DH last night, I need to see if we can start saving a bit extra in it now, with all the costs going up a lot now. 
Bed linen day for me as well...with sunshine forecast for drying.....yay!

milann

That really struck a chord with me. Robbing Peter to pay Paul when unexpected car bills turned up…..not really unexpected as we’d always had cheap, older cars which invariably break down just when it’s least needed 😳 I remember a holiday I Cornwall when our car cost hundreds which all went on the cc…..we spent the holiday on a field in the middle of nowhere with 2 little ones and the car was in the garage for 6 days….no public transport nearby. And it rained most of the time - we can laugh at it now but 4 stuck in a small caravan wasn’t much fun at the time. At least the car towed us home after it’s repair - until it broke down once too often and ended up in the great scrapyard in the sky 😳😳 they saw us coming with that car 😳 We should have budgetted much better…..but hindsight is wonderful 😏😂

foxgloves

I didn't budget AT ALL, @milann. I hold my hand up to it. Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I've always had strong 'old-style' skills, but sadly it took over 2 decades for a responsible attitude towards money to join them. 
Your caravan/dodgy car adventure sounds like something you'll never forget!
F

Blackcats

Similar story here with cars.  I was always taken by surprise by the very predictable car tax bill.  Never had enough money so had to pay for 6 months at a time which is more expensive, likewise never had enough for the annual renewal of insurance which I had to pay over 12 months so that was more expensive too and if anything went wrong with the car that went straight on the credit card.  And I had some horrific cars - the orangey/peach coloured Austin Maestro was the worst but clearly with no savings to buy a decent car I got what I deserved 😀 

Sun_Addict

Another similar story here with cheap older cars. We once broke down on the way to Cornwall just 20 miles into the journey with two young kids. Spent a massive portion of the day waiting for it to be repaired then the whole week dreading the return journey. No car repairs pot so I think my mum bailed us out that time.