Can't live on £50k a year

[The Plantswoman]

I'll admit time can be a factor, but some of this you can do yourself. I do most of the servicing on the cars myself - Merc, Land Rover and Jag - and most household things are fairly straight forward. The door lock packed up at Christmas. Used a bit of wood to keep it secure and managed to change the locking mechanism (I discovered it's called the gearbox) for £17 with a bit from eBay.

Same with the leaking ball valve in the cold water tank two weeks back. A new valve and ball was £11 from Screwfix. Okay, if you're on a good daily rate you might prefer to spend your free time and cash on other things, but once you've ar5sed about arranging for a tradesman to appear and waited while they fix it it'll probably be no slower.

Don't forget the £180 or so you have to pay the nosey parkers at your local council to come round and issue a building regs certificate.

It's frightening how many things require it these days.

[sal]

Some people don't have the skills to do that or any DIY tasks.

Then try and learn them if you are skint. There are Youtube vids for everything nowadays. I'm not talking about car engine repairs, but something like changing a door knob/lock only requires a screw driver and common sense.

[The Plantswoman]

I'll admit time can be a factor, but some of this you can do yourself. I do most of the servicing on the cars myself - Merc, Land Rover and Jag - and most household things are fairly straight forward. The door lock packed up at Christmas. Used a bit of wood to keep it secure and managed to change the locking mechanism (I discovered it's called the gearbox) for £17 with a bit from eBay.

Same with the leaking ball valve in the cold water tank two weeks back. A new valve and ball was £11 from Screwfix. Okay, if you're on a good daily rate you might prefer to spend your free time and cash on other things, but once you've ar5sed about arranging for a tradesman to appear and waited while they fix it it'll probably be no slower.

Don't forget the £180 or so you have to pay the nosey parkers at your local council to come round and issue a building regs certificate.

It's frightening how many things require it these days.

[SueEllen]

I'll admit time can be a factor, but some of this you can do yourself. I do most of the servicing on the cars myself - Merc, Land Rover and Jag - and most household things are fairly straight forward. The door lock packed up at Christmas. Used a bit of wood to keep it secure and managed to change the locking mechanism (I discovered it's called the gearbox) for £17 with a bit from eBay.

Same with the leaking ball valve in the cold water tank two weeks back. A new valve and ball was £11 from Screwfix. Okay, if you're on a good daily rate you might prefer to spend your free time and cash on other things, but once you've ar5sed about arranging for a tradesman to appear and waited while they fix it it'll probably be no slower.

Some people don't have the skills to do that or any DIY tasks.

[SueEllen]

Gym membership sounds a bit extravagent, but meeting people in the gym is a good way to network, and that may be important for this woman.

Depends on who uses the gym membership. I know some families use it to take the kids swimming.

However if you need to save money that gym membership needs to go. You can either join a gym for £20 a month OR join a running club.

Ditto young people with expensive iPhones and suchlike. Old fogeys can scoff, but it is important to look the part and stay in touch.

Expensive iPhones etc are used instead of computers and landlines.

Anyone can live on peanuts if they sit at home all day every day like a pensioner, but that isn't the point, especially when you're young.

I'd love to know a cheaper alternative, seriously. I pay £90 a month for hundreds of channels which are mostly complete tosh! Freeview perhaps?

I use Freeview but have Amazon Prime and sometimes Sky Now.

Other people have Freeview, Amazon Prime and Netflix. It depends whether you prefer watching series or films.

[The_Equalizer]

WHS, plus emergency repair bills, such as when the boiler goes caput or the jam jar needs expensive new parts.

I mean my last Jag service was nearly £2K (four new tyres, four new brake disks, pads, plus a few other bits and bobs, not forgetting 20% VAT!

The Rangerover service (in progress) is looking even worse, autocooler blown, fuel injection leak, EGR valve fault, etc. God, I'm looking at anything up to £3K!

I'll admit time can be a factor, but some of this you can do yourself. I do most of the servicing on the cars myself - Merc, Land Rover and Jag - and most household things are fairly straight forward. The door lock packed up at Christmas. Used a bit of wood to keep it secure and managed to change the locking mechanism (I discovered it's called the gearbox) for £17 with a bit from eBay.

Same with the leaking ball valve in the cold water tank two weeks back. A new valve and ball was £11 from Screwfix. Okay, if you're on a good daily rate you might prefer to spend your free time and cash on other things, but once you've ar5sed about arranging for a tradesman to appear and waited while they fix it it'll probably be no slower.

[MarillionFan]

FreeView + Netflix/Amazon Prime - The only thing you miss is live sports

WHS. free view is all you need. Obviously I don't get to watch sports, but of course I'm always out doing Triathalons and Iron Man races with my mate Dallas, so don't have time anyway.

[CretinWatcher]

Gym membership sounds a bit extravagent, but meeting people in the gym is a good way to network, and that may be important for this woman.

Bollux.

I'd love to know a cheaper alternative, seriously. I pay £90 a month for hundreds of channels which are mostly complete tosh! Freeview perhaps?

We have freeview, for some years we didn't have a telly.
Why anyone would pay that scum Murdoch (or even Branson) for 100s of channels of complete crud is beyond me.
Particularly if you claim to be short of money.

[sal]

I'd love to know a cheaper alternative, seriously. I pay £90 a month for hundreds of channels which are mostly complete tosh! Freeview perhaps?

FreeView + Netflix/Amazon Prime - The only thing you miss is live sports

[OwlHoot]

Gym membership? Go running instead or buy a bike

Gym membership sounds a bit extravagent, but meeting people in the gym is a good way to network, and that may be important for this woman.

Ditto young people with expensive iPhones and suchlike. Old fogeys can scoff, but it is important to look the part and stay in touch.

Anyone can live on peanuts if they sit at home all day every day like a pensioner, but that isn't the point, especially when you're young.

Sky? FFS!

I'd love to know a cheaper alternative, seriously. I pay £90 a month for hundreds of channels which are mostly complete tosh! Freeview perhaps?