How c**p is this

5limJim wrote:

Wise Wise words, I wish I had looked into that idea when I first started working, instead of spending loads per week on bus fares, I could have got to and from work (About 10 miles round trip) on about £4 petrol per week!!

Theres a bit more to owning a car than just petrol what about insurance, tax MOT.

For me at one stage it was cheaper to get a bus pass at £900 for a year and the car cost me including tax, insurance and car parking £1500 a year.

But because of my working hours I would have had to have been standing on street corners at 6am in the winter in the dark and neither me or my husband where not happy so I paid the extra to have the car.


Yours

Calley

at 17 (I'm 35 now), I was earning £12 a week on my local market as I was at 6th form....£150 a week is a lot for someone of 17 living at home with no real outgoings who is also at college......

£20 a week is a lot for a gym if you haven't got the money, can you cancel your subscription?

£20 a week on clothes is quite a lot as well - I don't spend that a month - that's £80 - I can't afford to!!! (and I earn a decent salary, but have the millstone of a mortgage on my own etc etc etc) - have you looked on ebay for cheaper versions of what you are buying (or just not buy as much?)

A packed lunch will save you a fortune - £4 a day on lunch at a college is a heck of a lot.

My sums say you still have £55 a week left over - do you spend that on anything else?

I'm a dad to 2 girls your age and all I can think to say is "Oh my God!!!! what is the point of teenagers?"

At 19 I was earning £615 a month, so that's about the same as you.

I paid £250 in rent, plus council tax, water rates, gas, electricity, phone (all this in the days before you could swap provider), also had to pay food, petrol, car insurance, car servicing, EVERYTHING basically as I lived alone.

So excuse me if I am less than sympathetic to your "plight".

Your dad is teaching you a valuable lesson that nothing in life is free.

Warning: this is a long-winded post! :snow_laug

Understand you might think its unfair at the min and i agree with above poster we all "wanted independance" at around your age ... i know i did.. and im only 20 now ... so im NOT critising you

But just to put things into prespective for you.. your worried about £20 a week being high for rent to your dad? And that a car will eat up your finances. August this year i decided to move out my parents house (aged 19) to get my idependance. I was taking home pay of about £800 a month and my outgoings are as below:

Rent £425
Council Tax £80
Water £20.56
Gas £25
Leccy £20
Food £60

Total £630.56

They are the "basic bills" i NEED to pay no matter what leaving me £179.44 a month to cover "luxuries"

Telewest £29.50 (this is dial up internet, phone line rental + analogue cable basic -which is £3.50 a month and has less channels than freeview! But cheaper than paying out for an aerial just to get any channels!)
Mobile phone £15
Home phone £10 Credit Card £30 (got £1000 debt from buying a cooker, fridge-freezer (2nd hand), sofa, bed, curtain poles, curtains and other essentials when i moved in)

That left me with £84.94 per calendar month thats £19.60 a week to cover... any bus fare, clothes, toiletries, going out and anything else i had to buy.

I just took a wage cut too of £100 a week! So going to have to seriously cut back.

So my advice from one young person to another is to

1) dont begrudge £20 a week to your dad hes paid out for you for the last 17 years and that £20 probably doesnt even come near to covering the "cost" of you living in the house now

2) Enjoy what financial freedom and little luxuries you can afford at the moment. You are only young and id make the most of it now before you have any major responsibilities (i.e. a car or a house - ive done both and neither are cheap)

3) Put something each week away.. even if its £5.. into a savings account.. thats £260 a year might not seem alot but will help in the future... for example my sofa only cost £180 that included a washable cover for it and delivery from ikea in a different town... my fridge freezer was £60 2nd hand off a friend. That means If id have put even £5 a week away when i was your age i could have covered them 2 costs in a year and by the age of 19 when i moved out probably almost fully furnished my whole house and not have had to go into debt on a credit card for it. Which means i now spend £30 a month paying that off instead of a using it on a night out with my mates!

4/ You pay £20 for college luches - take a pack lunch Seriously, i know its not "cool" but it will save you loads - £20 for me is more than a weeks shopping for every meal i eat and i eat well.

5/ £20 on clothes - try ebay or cheaper shops.. If your buying them every week you must have looooaaads so flog your old ones on ebay and that will make plenty of £££ so you can buy more newer more up to date ones!! Thats what i do.. i dont budget for new clothes - i just sell ones i dont want on ebay then my "budget" is whatever i can make from old ones. Also the more "in fashion" the item is the more you'll probably get on ebay - i.e. buy a top for say £10.. wear it once or maybe twice - sell it couple of weeks later. I recently did this with some combats i had - bought them for £10, wore them 4/5 times then decided didnt really like them too much and they ripped a little - listed them on ebay and they sold for £9.38!! even though they were ripped and i stated that in my listing! So they "cost" me 62p for 5 wears and were highly fashionable! :j

6/ £20 for the gym sounds alot... my local council gym is £1.50 a time for students.. (i.e. with your college card) so even going 7 days a week that would be £10.50 per week so maybe you could look into whether your council offers something similar if you dont wanna give the gym up?

7/ You say your skint... What happens to the other £55 you have left over after everything you listed? And whats the £15 for work for? Keep a spending diary for a couple of weeks and see where the money goes.. you'll be shocked! Then you can cut back on things you dont "need" so much and volia you'll have more money!

TIP: Again i know writing down what you spend is "uncool" too.. - i got laughed at by my friend for keeping a reciept from the bar in whetherspoons this week so i knew what id spent on my round ... so do what i sometimes do when im in company - pretend to send a txt message to someone... write the amount and what it was you bought in the text message and instead of sending it save it in your outbox till you get home!


Sorry to go on and on - just thought id show you that you ARE very lucky at the moment and £20 isnt that bad. I was giving my mum that when i lived at home... and i work full time nights so was in bed from 8am -6pm then got up had tea and got ready for work at 10pm then finished work at 7am and it all started again so was actually only awake in the house 4 hours a day on average and only eating one meal as i bought my own lunches to take to work with me and didnt eat breakfast in the mornings when i got in from work would just go straight to bed.