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Money money money

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jdjonnay

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Alright dudes, been a while since I've been on, been playing with my new car, selling and buying bikes, harrasing insurance companies for sums of cash following an accident, etc.

Anyway, I'm just wondering how you lot make ends meet. I'm 17 (nearer 18) and still a full time student, so I don't get a chance to work except weekends, where I usually do about 15 hours.

Basically, I burn about £60 petrol a week (minimum) which leaves me no money to go out, to fix stuff when it breaks on the car/bikes (I despratly need a cambelt and new indicator, but £30 is unachievable ATM :lol: )

How do you all manage to live day to day AND find the money to go on trips out by rail? I physically CAN'T do it at my present rate!

Suggestions on how to cut down my living costs are more than welcome

Token picture of the most recent car (right) below :)

Cheers,
Jon

dscf4995medium8sp.jpg


and how it's gonna look when I get my act together ;)

swift0pt.jpg
 
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960012

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Parkstone
well jim has this very helpful human called a dad who gives him money lol, something which my dad wouldnt do in a million years!!!
 

jdjonnay

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Something my parents wouldn't do either :( Although they are good with LENDING me money now and again (ie £1300 for my suzuki insurance, I didn't think about the fact it was a jap import/high insurance before I bought it! Meh, tis worth it, beats any other car of the same cc round here :lol:). I paid that back within 2 weeks though, I was just waiting for a cheque to come through for £900 and already had £400 in my bank.

Jon
 

jdjonnay

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Theres 1 bus a day from my town :lol: Nearest station is 24 miles from me too :roll:

The moped was the cheapest transport I ever had, then the bike was a bit more petrol guzzley, but the car takes the michael. I used to have an open air filter on it but I got about 20mpg with it on, so that went back to standard..
 

Dave A

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If you can live on water, it would save a bit of money :mrgreen:

Basically, just cut down on things. I.E. Shopping, buy the cheaper stuff instead of the nice stuff, eat at home instead of taking out, and just generally buy less :)
 

jdjonnay

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Ye good point, should start eating at home more than eating out like I am ATM.

Cheers!
 

16CSVT2700

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Gdansk
Errr no.

As he has said he has enough trouble with finances so moving would be out of the question.
 

Simming

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Cornwall
Know how you feel jonny :P

The thing with cornwall is that you need a car to get anywhere importent or intresting. I suppose im better off than john, I leave in an area that has public transport, abit crap. (also less emmets, another plus point)

Surely you aint got college still, or are you still there? get your emmet control job again, you said that was an easy earner. or you could doss it off like I do at kernow model rail centre (the sites http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com incase you dont know TM)
[EDIT]
David V2 said:
What about EMA?

When do we get our bonus!
 

jdjonnay

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Ye still at college til like july 20 something, I usually get in about 3rd lesson these days anyway, not really enjoying it too much any more so don't even make the effort :|

I think moving is a little out of the question :lol:

Might just buy a cheapy ped for summer and drain all the petrol out the car until it starts getting cold again :lol:
 

Table 52

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211
I think the problem lies in 'I spend £60 per week on petrol'

Sell yer car and bikes, get a 1.1 litre 2 door piece of c**p and watch the cost drop.
I do a longish commute 5 days a week and I can only manage £25-£40 a week on petrol.

If not, do your next shop at tesco. If you spend over £50 there, you get 5p off per litre of petrol. And with the amount you're using, it'll add up.
 

Techniquest

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That's good advice!

Travelling only when necessary (that must be quite often in your area by the sounds of things) will help. I would suggest a bus pass and frequent use of it to make journeys, but Cornwall is notorious for poor public transport in some areas, except in the cities.

The 'not eating out all of the time' that I learnt when it was too late. Eating supersize XL Bacon Double Cheeseburger meals at least (!) once a day not only gets old but hits your money HARD! £5.xx a shot, this was an expensive way to live! I have not been near a Burger King (the one by the city centre shopping centre which I frequented a LOT in Swansea must have made some dosh off me!) for a long time now, the last time being at Paddington in 2005 sometime. I plan to never go to one again, period.

In terms of rail bashing, advance-purchase is the way forward as and when you can get such tickets. Thankfully they're more readily available for Cornwall now than previously, and up my way too. Not always practical though.

As for how I get on day-to-day, the answer is:

With a struggle on JSA

and

With help (meals bought, bus fares now and again, etc)/loans from my mum and dad.

Being a full-time basher (until I get back to work, which I'm pencilling in for early September, when the heat goes back to normal and the sun disappears for 8 months, as well as the summer ADEXs and meets all returning to ad-hoc status), living on JSA and help from parents is VERY difficult. I manage, JUST about, but it means I end up moping around and getting envious over trips other people have made, I start dreaming about all the stuff I was going to do, all the railtours I'd LOVE to do but cannot afford to do...But it is purely thanks to my mum paying my share of my holiday to France (all £337 of the fare!) that I am going. Otherwise that goal would never have been achieved. The goal being to do Eurostar (and hence Nine Elms Flyover!) before end 2006. I have paid for all three of us (my mum, my brother and I) to travel to London and back (2x £39.50, then £23.50 + £15.50 + £c8 for my tickets), coming back in the luxury better known as First Class. This doesn't include travelcards or sightseeing stuff, or food and drink though...

And now, as of last night, I've decided I need a car. Perfect. Got the car in temporary usage with my dad 7 miles away, I'll just need insurance, probably a new tax disc, fuel and the most important thing, a pass on the theory and practical. But before that I need to get a new provisional, as I lost mine a couple of years ago. Another set of HUGE expenses to go out...Maybe I'll start working again in early August...Or next week...

Besides, I'm drifting off the point. Umm, apart from scrimping and saving on food and fuel, there isn't much more you can do bar getting a full-time job TBH. Even that you'll need to have been doing for a while before you can truely afford to go out!
 

beermaddavep

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11 Dec 2005
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East Durham
Sadly even a well paid full time job is no guarantee of regular rail trips(unless youre a train driver)-I averaged 4 long distance GB trips in the last 4 years- best advice I can give is live it up at mum/dads in employment after finishing uni/college/school and make sure you go on any dream trips BEFORE getting into the mortgage/kids rat race cos after that unless youre lucky you can forget it until retirement. Also make sure that you don't overstretch yourself when looking for somewhere to live- a nice but costly house can very quickly become a gilded cage.

PS fast cars are nice but a sporty classic is cheaper to insure, also a good TDi such as a polo 1.9 will easily burn off most petrol hatches and still do 70mpg....
 

Simming

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Cornwall
getting a house in cornwall is only possible if you fit into 3 catorgaries

a) loaded
b) minted
c) rolling in it

house prices in cornwall are way too high, because of all the ****in emmets we get!
 

devon_metro

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Emmets... Any chance Grockels?

Bloody people who decide to buy 2 homes and only live in it for 1 month!
 

TheSlash

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My car does Portsmouth to Shepherds Well {Dover} return, on £30. It used to do 5 return trips from my house to Eastleigh, via the back roads {so lots of high revving, changing gears etc} for about £30 aswell.
Looking at that car of yours, i can see why it is eating £60.... cruising?
 

Simming

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TheSlash said:
My car does Portsmouth to Shepherds Well {Dover} return, on £30. It used to do 5 return trips from my house to Eastleigh, via the back roads {so lots of high revving, changing gears etc} for about £30 aswell.
Looking at that car of yours, i can see why it is eating £60.... cruising?

Him and his chav mates go cruzing around I bet :blackeye:;)
 

AlexS

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Royalscot said:
THE average cost of motoring has risen to £5,000 a year for the eight million owners of cars that are less than three years old, according to the RAC.

There was me thinking that you had to be 17 to drive :glasses7:
 

Mojo

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Depreciation is irrelevant for most cars - for me I see them as a disposable asset - and not everyone buys a new car!
My sister pays about £160 for a "premium" package from the AA, and my mum & dad pay £150/annum for fully comp insurance, £0 on maintanence as Toyotas never break down (had the car 4 yr) + about £240 on tax.
Also missing from that list is Parking charges, Petrol around here retails for about 92.9p too.
 

eezypeazy

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4 Jul 2005
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I have holidayed in the West Country regularly over the years. For the past 3 years, I've driven from Tyneside, picking up the inlaws in Sheffield, the five of us going in one car. The holiday costs me about £1,300 for the five of us, plus whatever we spend on lunches, beer and visits when we're there, and £80 or so in petrol.

So, singlehandedly, I have propped up the economy of the South West by getting on for five grand in the last three years. Now, toursim experts will tell you that, thanks to the circulation of money, every tourist pound spent in the local economy is worth about £2.50..... which makes my contribution worth £12,500 so far.

So, rather than whingeing and calling us grockles and emmets, you should be thanking your lucky stars that we're prepared to spend two days travelling over 400 miles just to buy your overpriced clotted cream......

eezypeazy (in grumpy old man mode...)
 

compsci

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2 Jul 2006
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I've pretty much put learning to drive on the back burner for now. A Cambridge - Z1-6 annual gold card is going to be somewhere over £4k but will get me all the transport I would ever want on a daily basis.

(Un)fortunately (depending on how you look at it) I'm probably going to have a house and the millstone mortgage to go with it by the end of the year. My parents assure me that its much better than renting in the end, and at least I can decorate it as I see fit.

(Suddenly feels very old)
 

theblackwatch

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compsci said:
(Un)fortunately (depending on how you look at it) I'm probably going to have a house and the millstone mortgage to go with it by the end of the year. My parents assure me that its much better than renting in the end, and at least I can decorate it as I see fit.

I think they're right - and my parents told me exactly the same thing. Renting a place is dead money, at least with a house, you'll (hopefully) eventually pay it off after X years.

Royalscot said:
Wow someone with a mortgage, I thought such things were really a fairly tale what with the prices. Am I alone in saying I don't know how anyone can afford a house and car these days if you are buying now?

Or just a house even! I've been on the property ladder for less than 10 years and people would laugh if they knew how much I paid for my house, which is now worth around 3x what I paid for it. The cheapest in my area is now around £100K, its almost impossible for first time buyers now. I feel rather sorry for the younger generation on here.
 

Nick W

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Royalscot said:
the average driver spends £14 a day to keep a car on the road

Bloody cheap when you think that I was at school it cost £7.50 a day for 32 miles there and 32 miles back. And that's for less than 35mph travel...
 

eezypeazy

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theblackwatch said:
I think they're right - and my parents told me exactly the same thing. Renting a place is dead money, at least with a house, you'll (hopefully) eventually pay it off after X years.



Or just a house even! I've been on the property ladder for less than 10 years and people would laugh if they knew how much I paid for my house, which is now worth around 3x what I paid for it. The cheapest in my area is now around £100K, its almost impossible for first time buyers now. I feel rather sorry for the younger generation on here.


According to a magazine I'm reading right now, average house prices across the country vary from £133,000 in the North East and Cumbria, to £289,000 in Greater London. I work in the mortgage business, and I know it's possible for first time buyers to get mortgages at rates of under 4%. Assuming that first-time buyers can only go for the "bottom end" of the housing market, they're probably looking for something in the region of £100,000. By my reckoning, including a repayment vehicle (ie., an insurance policy, ISA or similar investment that eventually repays the capital), a first time buyer will need about £700 a month to be able to buy. Now, it depends upon what proportion of your monthly salary you are prepared to commit to your mortgage, and again this varies across the country. Us canny northerners commit about one third of our salary, southerners slightly more than half. So, on that basis, and bearing in mind taxation, a potential first time buyer probably needs to earn between £25,000 and £35,000 annually to get onto the property ladder; which is probably why most first time buyers are couples, combining their income. And, of course, most First Time Buyers also need to find a deposit, of about 5% of the purchase price - so start saving that five grand now!

Of course, the real reason that property prices are presently relatively high, is that government planning policies over the years have severely limited the supply of new housing... it's simple supply and demand.

eezypeazy
 

theblackwatch

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Interesting figures there Eezypeazy. Makes the initial poster's worry about his rail trips seem rather trivial!
 

Techniquest

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Thanks lads, you've got me worrying endlessly now about house prices, car prices, cost of running a car...

As for that fuel quote off the RAC, that's laughable, even last year. It's 98.9 here for unleaded as of a couple of days ago, I would NOT be surprised if we hit 99.9 again and over 100 anytime soon. Unbelievably, it is now around £6.50 to drive to Hereford and back. Bus fares are £3 each way (no return fares), so it's currently cheaper by 50p to go by bus. Out here in the sticks (well, we're officially the last town you come across when going west from central England (places like Worcester, Leominster, Hereford come to mind) to central Wales (places like Builth Wells, Rhayder and Llandrindod Wells come to mind), the border with the two countries is around 3 miles from here), public transport, apart from the 461 Kington Mill Street - Hereford Railway Station Approach and vice versa which is hourly for most of the day, stinks. To get to anywhere you need to (work, leisure travel for a day trip to Aber for just two examples), you NEED a car. But it's so expensive to fund it, we're all getting to the point where we're effectively stranded.

My Mum's house, when bought with a mortage, was £44,000, which even then was a second-hand house. It's now the best part of 2 decades old, and is valued (somehow!) around £144,000. This is in a moderately rural area, 2-bedroom terraced with 2 houses either side house. Is it worth £144k? I personally wouldn't think so. Oh, and we've some of the most expensive council tax in this county outside of London and the South East. We're in the band that is one above the 'cheapest', and is around £1,008 a year. What do we get for it? Well as of the 10th of July for 10 nights we will get little sleep with roadworks on the nearby A44 on its bypass and roundabout for this town. It's around 50 yards at a push away, and the works go on from from 6pm to 8am. Yes, a 14 hour ton of noise that'll disturb us all night. What else do we get for our council tax? Council members' pub lunches and a brand new, pointless, expensive new office in the middle of one of the traffic pinchpoints in the city centre. Yeah, a real useful way to spend our money...

Anyway, I'm rambling on. Point is everything is so expensive these days you have to wonder how anyone can afford to do it all. Oh yes, might have something to do with some people working day and night to afford their house or car, let alone anything else.

I personally dread the day when I move out of my Mum's house, where I've had to reside until I can get a job, do training for a better job and get my own place. When do I expect that to be? Hmm, I'd hazard a guess at 2007 at the very earliest, at which point I'd probably end up in £80+ p/week for just rent with no money to go bashing. Man I'm looking to that! (EXTREME sarcasm should be noted there)

I'd better scrimp and save even more. Tesco Value food I think it'll have to be again...:sad:
 
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