regularsaver MFW journey - Achieving a dream.

Grogged

For me, I used to fall into the trap that both me time and R&R was something to be fitted into a busy life. I now take the opposite and plan it in.  It's not regimented or timed, but like food, sleep, shopping, etc. it's a normal part of the day and should be given the time it needs.
As an early bird I can get my me time before everyone else's day starts.
We have a couple of lunchtime walking clubs at work (different lunchtimes) that many of us dip in and out off. Work is off limits on these!
We make time in the evenings, weekends, etc. as much as is needed.
A very long winded way of saying that relaxing doesn't have to be earned or a guilty pleasure. If it is then you run the risk of not actually enjoying it or the simple things like a cup of tea, posting on MSE, etc. 😁
Dr Buddha signing off (or maybe sounding off 😂)

regularsaver

Grogged said:

For me, I used to fall into the trap that both me time and R&R was something to be fitted into a busy life. I now take the opposite and plan it in.  It's not regimented or timed, but like food, sleep, shopping, etc. it's a normal part of the day and should be given the time it needs.
As an early bird I can get my me time before everyone else's day starts.
We have a couple of lunchtime walking clubs at work (different lunchtimes) that many of us dip in and out off. Work is off limits on these!
We make time in the evenings, weekends, etc. as much as is needed.
A very long winded way of saying that relaxing doesn't have to be earned or a guilty pleasure. If it is then you run the risk of not actually enjoying it or the simple things like a cup of tea, posting on MSE, etc. 😁
Dr Buddha signing off (or maybe sounding off 😂)

I think planning in it is a great way to go about it, I am going to try to do that myself. 

I wish I was an early bird myself, I am a lot better than I was, I find myself up later rather than getting up earlier. I'd like to be up earlier, some of my me time could then be getting out for a walk or jog in the fresh air. 

I too get myself out every lunchtime for a walk too, just away from desk and work, in the fresh air. It does me the world of good I find. 

regularsaver

I am not feeling very money saving at the moment. Whilst I have just completed my 5th NSD in a row, I need to get a new car and I am fighting with myself to do it and make the decision to spend money. I have been very strict with myself for so long now, in the years upto buying my house in January last year and to be fair, ever since. 

My car is part of a group of early models that have a number of well documented issues, one of which I had just over a year ago which led to a 4 figure repair bill. Ever since then I have been living in fear of the same thing going again or worse, the bigger fault, the engine cooking itself. Its an older car now too about 10 years old and due to said issues its caused me a lot of stress and anxiety and I find myself trying not to use it. Aside from short trips to the office for work, the gym and the weekly shop thats about it. I have been walking or using the bus to avoid the car. Its a really big thing for me as I know how long it takes to save up the cash, as to be fair I am sure we all do.

The new car I have spotted (its not new, its used but only 6 years old) is a more frugal on the petrol, the tax per year is only £30 instead of the £145 I currently pay and insurance is about the same as what I pay now, although I thought that might have gone down as the group is lower than my current car, but I guess this one is newer etc etc. So all in all, the sensible side of me says it should be a good move. Its a smaller engine than my current car, a 1.2 turbo petrol (current car is a 1.6 petrol turbo), for 90/95% of what I need it will be perfect, the only slight doubt is say if I wanted to take mates away for a trip on holiday. I guess on those odd occasions I may just have to hire something and split the cost between us. The new car is a Fiesta size and my current car is focus sized. 90/95% of the time its just me in the car or perhaps 1 other. 

I have a test drive booked for tomorrow so I will see how it goes. Sometimes I think with the amount of worrying I do and being anxious it can be so hard to make a decision. I wish I could be more decisive about things sometimes. I do feel the plus points outway the negative points of which I can only really think of one which was the longer distance trips with mates but realistically thats only maybe once a year. As a friend said, you have to buy the car for you and what suits your needs, not what suits your mates. 

Hopefully I shall report back shortly. No further OP's yet, doing well with the NSD's. 

Thanks again for all the encouragement. Its greatly appreciated. 

coldcazzie

regularsaver said:

As a friend said, you have to buy the car for you and what suits your needs, not what suits your mates. 

This! So much this! 

South_coast

Hi regularsaver, I can completely sympathise with the not wanting to spend money, but there is no point in keeping a car you don't want to drive. Why not try working out the cost of taxing / insuring / MOT'ing / maintaining / etc your current car and dividing by 365 to work out how much it's costing you every single day for you to look at and think "Actually, I'd rather not" every time you want to get in it? When you know how much it's costing you every single day to literally just keep it parked, you'll probably look at it in a different light. Why not spend that money on something you will actually want to use? While it's great for the environment (and MSE) to cut down on unnecessary car journeys, it's not very MSE to be paying to give a home to something that's causing you angst. Cars are a necessity for most of us - have one you will drive! Good luck ❤

P.S. And you and your mates could always take a second car    x

coldcazzie

South_coast said:

Hi regularsaver, I can completely sympathise with the not wanting to spend money, but there is no point in keeping a car you don't want to drive. Why not try working out the cost of taxing / insuring / MOT'ing / maintaining / etc your current car and dividing by 365 to work out how much it's costing you every single day for you to look at and think "Actually, I'd rather not" every time you want to get in it? When you know how much it's costing you every single day to literally just keep it parked, you'll probably look at it in a different light. Why not spend that money on something you will actually want to use? While it's great for the environment (and MSE) to cut down on unnecessary car journeys, it's not very MSE to be paying to give a home to something that's causing you angst. Cars are a necessity for most of us - have one you will drive! Good luck ❤

P.S. And you and your mates could always take a second car    x

What a fantastic comment SC!

*goes to work how much our car has cost us per day for the last 12 months*

Grogged

I'm often amazed at work with how much people will pay for a car because it has the "right" badge on it...
One of my team drives a range rover which costs 3x his car allowance, and it will never be his on a PCP scheme. :shakes head:
Personally I drive a Dacia and have nothing bad to say about them, even converted someone to them for the Duster.
I wholehearted agree with buying the car for you, not other people.

regularsaver

South_coast said:

Hi regularsaver, I can completely sympathise with the not wanting to spend money, but there is no point in keeping a car you don't want to drive. Why not try working out the cost of taxing / insuring / MOT'ing / maintaining / etc your current car and dividing by 365 to work out how much it's costing you every single day for you to look at and think "Actually, I'd rather not" every time you want to get in it? When you know how much it's costing you every single day to literally just keep it parked, you'll probably look at it in a different light. Why not spend that money on something you will actually want to use? While it's great for the environment (and MSE) to cut down on unnecessary car journeys, it's not very MSE to be paying to give a home to something that's causing you angst. Cars are a necessity for most of us - have one you will drive! Good luck ❤

P.S. And you and your mates could always take a second car    x

Hello South_coast, 

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my diary. WHat a fantastic idea to work out the cost per day! I had never thought of it that way or doing that. Spending the money on something I want to drive I think is very good advice. I enjoy driving, just havent so much recently. It is like you say a necessity to have a car. Taking a second car is also a good idea, saves hiring by using what we already have, then its just a bit of extra fuel for the second car! What a great idea.

regularsaver

Grogged said:

I'm often amazed at work with how much people will pay for a car because it has the "right" badge on it...
One of my team drives a range rover which costs 3x his car allowance, and it will never be his on a PCP scheme. :shakes head:
Personally I drive a Dacia and have nothing bad to say about them, even converted someone to them for the Duster.
I wholehearted agree with buying the car for you, not other people.

I am with you on that Grogged. My work car park can often have Range Rovers, Porsches, BMW and Audi and other fancy cars. Dont get me wrong, they are nice and there was a time when I wished I could be driving one but then the more I thought about the more I realised that a) they cost a fortune to buy and run and b) majority of these people have them on PCP / company car etc and dont actually ever own them. A young lad on my team drives a fancy Audi and has that on PCP, pays quite a lot, swears by PCP and reckons its the best way to "buy and own" cars. I also shake my head. 

Back when I was younger I had the odd car loan, but all my more recent cars I have saved up for and paid cash for. I much prefer to own outright with no finance or debt. I find this is my general attitude to everything really I just dont like debt. If I dont have the money I cant buy it, house/mortgage aside. 

I quite like the Dacia Dusters and Dacia as a whole, they seem solid and offer great VFM I think. 

regularsaver

I thought I would pop in and provide an update on my test drive yesterday. It went really well. I could find only 7 things wrong with the car, 5 of which were small stone chips which are being smart repaired by the garage and the other two were alloy wheel damage to 2 wheels, again being smart repaired by the garage. I drive the car covering pretty much all situations and speeds of driving and I was mightily impressed I have to say. For a little 1.2 turbo, with three people in it for the test drive, it felt very sprightly indeed. I also got a nice surprise when I opened the boot, the photo online doesnt do it justice, its pretty big! 

I am delighted for many reasons, but mostly from my anxious and worrying side, to say I have purchased the car and collect it on Thursday this week. I got a great p/x price for my car which I am pleased about and unusually I opted to take out 2 extras (which I negotiated what I think were great discounts) that were on offer which I felt were/added value for me as follows - 

1. Paintwork finish and upholstery finish protection (think Safeguard/Diamondbright etc) Original price offered to me was £499, which frankly is an epic rip off and way over priced. I got this down to £299 and it comes with a lifetime warranty so not bad I thought, its in line with what I and other family members have paid before.

2. An extra year manufacturers warranty (my new car is a manufacturer approved used car and comes with one year manufacturers warranty as standard so this is extending this to two years manufacturers warranty in total and covers anything that isnt wear and tear such as brakes, clutch, tyres etc)  Again, original offer price, £499, which I thought to be steep. However, after some back and forth and me basically saying its too expensive, I have a budget for the new car and I need to stick to it etc, and the price coming down in increments of £100, the salesman said to me, if I go and speak to my manager and he can do it for £100 for the year, will you buy it. I said yes if he can do if for that, so after a few moments we agreed on £100 for an extra years warranty which I think it good value at that. It might be dead money if nothing happens, but if something does, its likely to cost more than £100 was my logic, for example I found out that the dealer chargers around £70 to plug in a diagnostic machine and read the errors etc. 

I did sway back and forth on the extra warranty as to be honest, never in my life have I ever taken it out on a car. 

So all in all I am pretty excited, should be ready to collect on Thursday and then, with any luck, I can get back to enjoying driving, and being less anxious and worrying about my car! Its also getting a service and fresh MOT before collection to!

What do you guys think? Sounds like I did well?