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July 2008 Archives

Fuel Poverty

Posted by Samantha Castle on July 31, 2008 11:26 AM

I'm on holiday for a week, and just like the last time I was away from work earlier in the year I can't afford to go anywhere. But unlike last time I'm not sponging off a kind relative's hospitality but staying at home.
Its ok, I thought to myself, it's mid July, it's the school holidays- guaranteed weather and sun, sun, sun! Well I sunbathed on Monday (in a bikini I hasten to add!) but the rest of my week has been spent dodging the rain, this country...Talking about this country I was saddened to hear that fuel bills are raising yet again, with British Gas up by as much as 35%.
According to financial experts the average family in the UK has just £131 left a month for spending and now they are having to fork out another £5 a month on fuel bills- is it any wonder the country is depressed. Money experts say we are now heading towards 'Fuel Poverty'. I think you'll agree with me when I say that it's about time our MPs stepped in and sorted out this mess before this 'Fuel Poverty' hits.
Since I've stopped using credit cards I've seen my overdraft creep up to £700 in seven months. And despite all the money guru's saying I would feel enlightened, I don't feel any better off what so ever or enlightened in any way, I am merely taking from Peter to pay Paul. Seeing my bank account in the red everyday is making me all the more miserable, I only hope my landlady isn't hit by the fuel crisis or me and *loml will be out of a home as well as out of pocket.

Bargain Bride

Posted by Samantha Castle on July 25, 2008 9:20 PM

I'VE just read an interesting article about a fellow penny pincher in Leicestershire who managed to have a fairytale wedding for 100 family and friends for £3,000. Magic!
But how the hell did she do it? The blushing bride, Emma Dunn managed to grab a beautiful handmade wedding gown worth £1,500 and made in China on ebay for the unbelievable knock down price of £2.50! Yes you read it right- £2.50. She just did a rock bottom bid and won it after no-one else bid on the dress, totally unbelievable but very true.
Almost everything else she needed to make her special day perfect was also bought knock-down from ebay as well, which just goes to show that the old tradition of something borrowed, etc should be taken on board from the onset.
Emma and partner Paul Worthington, 31, a machine technician, tied the knot on July 19 in front of 100 family and friends.
Their entire wedding - including outfits, reception, entertainment and a £70 wedding cake from Marks & Spencer - cost just £3,000.
"We had a brilliant day," said the new Mrs Worthington.
"It shows you don't have to spend loads of money to have a great wedding."
Now I love a happy ending me and in this terrible time of recession it's good to know that happy times like tying the knot is still a reachable goal during these hard times. (I do hope *loml is reading this or we could be pensioners by the time we've saved up for our wedding- plus there's the small matter of a proposal, but that's another story...)
And thank goodness, at last, it's official - staying in is the new going out - with 41% of Britons spending every evening at home. With just 13% of people going out every Saturday night, a recent survey has found.
In Wales just 4% of people venture out regularly, compared with 25% of Londoners, who are the most likely to spend a Saturday night in a bar or restaurant. This new "staying in" culture is helping more people to save money during these hard times and I'll be partaking in some 'staying in' myself tomorrow night by having a babrecue with my neighbours, lets hope the weather stays nice.

Bog Off

Posted by Samantha Castle on July 14, 2008 9:49 PM

I can't believe the government is saying that it may try and scrap the amazing, life-saving, ingenious buy one get one free offers or BOGOF's to you and me.
Apparently it's to stop people from buying items they don't actually need. What? Do they think we're stupid? Haven't they heard of a freezer? If I buy anything that can be frozen on a BOGOF, like bead or meat for example, then I simply freeze the one I don't need to use until the next week. And more recently my sister and I have started to regularly shop in cut price supermarkwts like Netto, and split the price of the BOGOF items so we get one each for half the price. I've even been known to be in Asda or Tesco and phone my sister to ask if she wants any fruit or curry sause before I even contemplate the purchase. So tell me where's the waste there?
It's not as if we buy items we do not need just because we think we're getting something for free, people aren't stupid and more often than not common sense does prevail.
Why don't MPs realise that most of us take advantage of these cut-price deals as we're actually saving money. Like nearly everyone else in the country I am always on the look out for such offers especially with the escalating prices that we are all experiencing in our weekly shop- these deals are becoming increasingly important in our shopping budgets.
Government big-wigs have obviously forgotten what life is like in the real world, perhaps they just dish themselves out more expense claims for their second homes or a pay rise. Unfortunately we cannot do such a thing and if we get an extra portion of raspberries or 400 tea-bags for the price of 200, then it just helps ease the growing pain of living in this ridiculously high-taxing nation.

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Penny Pincher in the July 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

June 2008 is the previous archive.August 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.