It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Bluegreen143

Starting to think I may need to join the car free club after all as it’s in the garage again!!! Argh. 

Had to get an Uber home from the garage too, as our closest garage couldn’t fit us in today and we are off on holiday on Friday and need the car for that (U.K. holiday). I could have done a bus/walk combo but as I’m already 35 minutes late for work now as it is I just shelled out £7 for the taxi 🙄 

Keeping everything crossed it’s an inexpensive repair 🤞🏼

newlywed

We live on the outskirts of a city and did without a car for three years (it went for scrap and we didn’t have enough savings to buy another). Tricky things were taking things to the tip - but some bartering with a friend worked that one out.

Monthly bus pass for our city area only was over £60 each. After lockdowns and working from home I started walking more, and further. 

We have a car now, but only use the car a couple of times a week.  Definitely don’t want to get reliant on it as if costs keep rising we may have to let it go.

Cost of running this car has definitely not reached £120 a month that was the minimum bus fares.

cuddlymarm

I occasionally buy a weekly tram/bus pass. It’s £15.50 for 7 days, £13.50 for 3 or £5.50 for a 24 hour. I only do it if I know I’m going to get use from it. Annoyingly the single tickets went up nearly 40% but if you are reliant on public transport you have no choice.
Bus travel where we are is time consuming because you have to go into town and then catch another to where you’re going, so is only really useful if you’ve plenty of time or only doing a small journey. We also have the added problem of a shortage of drivers so there can be cancellations and if there are a lot of tourists can go sailing past because they are full.
But when we both retire more journeys will be on public transport because we’ll have the time and I can’t see fuel and parking charges getting any cheaper.

annieb64

I have a bus pass and love travelling on the bus. It might take a bit longer to go into town but then we don't have to find a parking space. If I'm getting a bus that goes to the bus garage I always sit upstairs and enjoy looking  at the gardens as we go past. I don't like feeling that I have to hurry down the stairs so on the way back will sit downstairs .

Auntycaz

I think the weekly bus passes vary depending on where you live. Before I retired I was paying £22 for a weekly ticket to get to work. At my previous address I was paying £27 per week and we only had 1 bus per hour and it stopped running at 6pm. If I missed that I had to get the train which was £7+for a single journey.. The joys of living rurally. People often used the bus though as the bus fare was cheaper than paying for car parking in the city if you could actually find any. 

Jellytotts

We don't have a tv licence, we declared ourselves as not needing one and don't miss live tv at all.  We cycle through various subscription tv companies depending on what we fancy but this time of year with lighter evenings we just don't bother watching any tv.  We both have hobbies and love listening to music/podcasts so just didn't need to be spending each month.

When DH was working he was earning over £40k a year and I was at home with the kids. We were renting and had debt and felt very poor. Fast forward 12 years, he's now retired (due to ill health) we get his disability payments and a very small pension, our mortgage is very nearly paid off so low monthly payments (we managed to get on the property ladder and overpaid every penny we could to get to a more affordable monthly payment)no debt and savings in the bank...we feel positively wealthy. On paper we have less than 1/4 of the annual income we did.  

sammy_kaye18

Hello all
Im still here. 
I have been working away behind the scenes and continuing with a clear out and declutter and getting things like fathers day and my husbands birthday done. 
I am happy that I have thrown out a load of rubbish though from what was called The Narnia Cupboard as it was basically stocked to the brim but now it is practically empty after I was ruthless with it. I also did my bedroom in the process too so I feel a bit better - I just have a few doom bags to go through and put things in the right place now. 

Daughter seems to be suffering with a seasonal cold but she has end of term exams this week so she has to go in but she is still sniffling and a bit of pain around her ears. 
Son is just finishing up his electrician /plumbing first year so he will be home later today. 
I have been busy in the garden though - have some more lettuce / rocket planted, lots of tomato plants and radishes, Ive managed to save a cucumber plant as well and carrots are still sprouting nicely. Also runner beans and peas are training well. 
I did have to do a repair job on my greenhouse though as one of the bar supports snapped but I found an old piece of my broken umbrella which I have cable - tied to the posts which seems to be working as a quick fix. I will use the colder months to re-structure/move and strengthen it. 
Ive also planted some winter veg now which is mainly cabbage, sprouts and leeks. I also have small carrots and swedes to plant as well. 

I have started to notice now that our top up meter electric is starting to disappear quicker than it did which is actually getting me worried and I have told my husband I will need to start topping up a little extra to make sure we get through things like the holidays etc without too many problems.
Ive also run out of washing powder so I am currently using washing up liquid and softener - thankfully they only really need a rinse and a freshen up and tomorrow I have money in my account so it wont hurt us for a day.

Hope everyone is well 

x

halfamo

Hello, just popped in for a quick Skim though...
Did anyone post their favourite vlogs that are about frugality in the end?
My favourite uk ones are 'what vivi did next' and 'frugal jo'.
There's an interesting American couple called 'under the median' that are quite down to earth too.

dreaming

halfamo said:

Hello, just popped in for a quick Skim though...
Did anyone post their favourite vlogs that are about frugality in the end?
My favourite uk ones are 'what vivi did next' and 'frugal jo'.
There's an interesting American couple called 'under the median' that are quite down to earth too.

I too watch Vivi and Frugal Jo. 2 other favourites are Claire's Journey, and Tess-Frugal Living. I have recently seen a couple of Shoestring Jane but don't always watch her posts, and Frugal Queen in France.

halfamo

dreaming said:

I too watch Vivi and Frugal Jo. 2 other favourites are Claire's Journey, and Tess-Frugal Living. I have recently seen a couple of Shoestring Jane but don't always watch her posts, and Frugal Queen in France.

Oh Claire looks interesting thanks. Have seen some Frugal Queen in the past I think . Saw a Jane video the other day and thought she sounded quite interesting too.