Frugaleers Marching on!

[Cagliostro]

Hi everyone, new thread as previous one full.

All welcome to chat all things frugal (and a whole lot more besides) - do jump in, we are a friendly bunch!

It'll be hard Mermaid but focus on the end result & think how nice it will be when you've paid everything off & your wages are just for you.

I have a bit of a challenge on today. I'm planning to phone the used car garage and say that I'd like to buy the car if they will fix the faults that the RAC man found or give me a price reduction.

I phoned and asked before and they said they'd just fix everything for free, so now I need to be a bit pushier than I would normally and give them an epic list. The man said:

Aircon needs fixed as it is running a bit too cold
error codes on the engine computer need checked
two tyres need replaced
general service needed
some minor damage to body work
exhaust a bit rusty

He also said I should check that they promise that it starts from cold, as it had been moved on the day that he tested it.

He said otherwise it drives just fine and seems like a solid car. They want £2500 incl delivery and it's a 10 year old automatic Mondeo.

I am gathering up my people skills. In fairness, they seemed very nice.

Motor trade are all cunts. All of them.

I wouldn't risk it. Theres £500 worth of repairs on there at least & theyll bodge the repairs anyway.

I agree with Fluffy, I wouldn't risk £2500 on a 10 y/old car with those issues Ipso. There's tons of used cars out there. I might be tempted for something newer if you can find one. Just my thoughts though, it's totally your call.

I know it's tough Mermaid, but you are doing the right thing.

Fluffy Can you link to the survey sites please? xx

I agree with fluffy ipsos, sorry. We have had our fair share of older money pit cars and even with a decent easy to pay mechanic they cost us a bomb in repairs while we had them... I'd avoid anything with computer errors. At the very least they shouldnt be trying to sell a car with worn tyres - they are hoping that someone will come along and not get it noticed.

Looking at that list the service (£120 quid), 2x tyres (£50 each) and rust to the exhaust (anywhere between 40-100 quid depending on which part needs welding / replaced) add up before you start looking at computer errors, air con and body work.

In my experience if you are going to go cheap runaround, then go for a really cheap (500quid) job with a years MOT then you wont be upset if it needs scrapping in a year or so. Just my tuppence

Wilderness I wear no make up except when I'm going out & then it's natural fountain mascara & almost nude eyeshadow bought lipstick recently but I'm not keen prefer gloss.

Mermaid think of the freedom of being debt free!
I've just been approved for a 3.9% for one year balance transfer, not many 0% options in ROI & I got refused the one from my own bank @ €40 per week it'll be repaid in one year. Then I'll only have car payment (personal credit union car loan) and mortgage & home improvement loan jointly with dh.

This leaves me with about €75 weekly to cover diesel, contact lenses, mobile phone & spending money.

Em I'm sure the two weeks seemed long to you & dh wonder will he notice a difference in your teeny bump?

I've just discovered google keep. My shopping list is now started on it

I've got a cleaner once a week & other than that I do laundry & fill & empty dishwasher & wash saucepans must do some decluttering & tidying next week when I've some time off.

Ps if you do go ahead with it I would knock them down on price by 500 quid and take to a trusted mechanic for the work, in my experience garages would tend to botch stuff so you might end up with part worn tyres, bit of welding to the exhaust etc rather than the proper work.

And insist on at least a 3 month warranty either way.

Gosh, I'm properly confused now. The guy said they would be happy to do the work for free but would not knock the price down for me to get someone else to do the work. He was very very nice on the phone.

I have an almost identical car of the same age that is a manual and it's a real trouper. It's had almost nothing wrong with it in the whole ten years and the few things that did go wrong were because we don't drive it enough.

It comes with a 15 month warranty but the garage is 80 miles away, so in practice it would be very hard to get it there.

Hum. I might ask on pistonheads actually. They are very helpful on cars too.

He'd better notice mammy although today's bump looks huge. Probably because I've just scoffed two croissants with butter and apricot jam. Mmmmmmm

Must. Get. Out. Of. Bed.

Wilderness I don't wear any make up at all. I had a nice collection but got rid in the end as it was just sitting there making me feel guilty for not using it. I've now accepted I just don't like it (sensory thing, it's the feel of it on me).

I'm intrigued by this computer monitoring thing fluffy is that like where they use all your browsing history for statistics or something?

Ipso I would garner opinion on a motoring forum maybe? There's a lot of knowledge out there. DS has set up a whole tropical fish tank with the right mix of fish and planting etc all by himself using help from a forum. Folk are so helpful online. They guys at the local fish shop knew next to nothing it seems. Def get other opinions.

I have a face full of make up well, primer; foundation; eye liner; eye shadow; blusher; gimme brow; mascara.

So much housework to do today. Have unloaded and reloaded the dw and got a wash on plus tidied the kitchen and wiped down all the sides. Getting there slowly.

Need I agree. I love these specialist forums. I've posted in pistonheads to ask. They are great there.

Tropical fish are great fun aren't they? My Mum used to keep those too, and they bred like you wouldn't believe.

Ipso buying cars is very stressful I hope you get sorted soon.
So today I'm meeting my friend for lunch. Now my friend is a shopoholic!! I find it very difficult not to get swept away with her enthusiasm! I have got some vouchers which I've been saving from my surveys so I might just out some of them in my purse.

Most days I wear foundation mascara few other bits aswell. I'm on the Mrs gloss fb group. Again I have to keep myself in check as people are always posting pretty things. But I've loads of stuff so can't justify it.

I too am a slattern!! And nobody ever comes round

I think you are right to ask around Ipsos, the warranty is a plus but not knocking down the price to allow you to sort the work would be a red flag for me... nomatter how nice the guy is on the phone. Ive yet to meet a nasty salesman

Will be interesting to hear their opinions if you will post?

I'm quite proud of DS actually. We (well DH, who likes to interfere...) have left him alone, apart from taking him the shop to buy the fish. He's always tweaking bits around and he rushes off upstairs as soon as he comes in to check the tank. He has 2 tanks now, one with a variety of fish and one with just a Betta in it. I'll post a picture from my phone.

My body clock hasn't adjusted from getting up mega early to sort the pony (he's left out at night now it's warmer), so I have already had a busy morning. 4 wash loads. Banking. Ironing and a charity bag. Just because I was up early.

Fish!

ipso can you not go to the garage to check it out? I don't think cars should be bought sight unseen. Of course the man was nice on the phone, you're a dream customer! He might be trying to shift one of the cars he's had on his lot for years, or it might be brilliant, there is no way for you to know.

cag I think that's how I feel about makeup. I can feel it on my skin, and think if I can feel it, then it must show (like a clowns white face), I put it down to being self concious, but I wonder if its sensory slightly. Both me and my mum can only stand nail varnish for an evening tops before our fingers start to suffocate. How ridiculous!

The bathroom cladding has come, how I long for a stand up shower! Will prod dp on monday once the race is done. He'd have a fit if I started fitting it! But I need to rinse my hair standing up. It comes down to my bum now, am also a bit scared of hairdressers not the people, but the polava

need super! Lovely gourami (I think) at the top, so pretty. It is a super hobby. We have tropical fish, it got a bit out of hand when they started breeding! Back down to one big tank now. Rest a bit today huh, you've got some miles to put in your legs tomorrow. And a carby tea?

Yay! Collie! Good to see you!

I think I'm getting cleaner and tidier with age. I used to have a very high mess threshold but now it just pisses me off. One of the most useful things in ever read on mn was that if something needs cleaning and it'll take less than 5 mins, just do it. It has transformed my thinking about housework!
If we could just stop the cat from getting fur everywhere the house would be reasonably clean. On the subject of the cat I ordered some stupidly expensive cat litter on Amazon yesterday. It has excellent reviews and lots of people saying that although it is £££ it lasts ages so is quite economical. I hope the little sod uses it!

Very tired today. Babies sleep for 3-3.5 hour stretches at night so we are averaging about 6 hours sleep we which doesn't sound too bad but obviously it's broken sleep so we're shattered. They are very cute though so I'll let them off!

Pistonheads said "Eeeek!" so dh is going to rent a focus instead for us to test drive today. I'm unsure about those because they have a lot of LED lights inside, but they are one of the least awful and most stable cars I can find.

I have a rotten cold so I am bracing myself.

Need & em I haven't gotten out of bed yet despite being awake since 7.30am ds came in then & went back to sleep, dd came in at 8.30 & YouTube is on since but the fighting over my tablet has started now so I think we'll be getting up now. The companionship of watching it together has worn off.

I'm not feeling guilty though as I've been up most mornings at 5.30am.
Plan for this morning is put clothes on covered outdoor line, put on another wash, make breakfast, finish shopping list, go to butchers & town for shopping. My bank are offering €5 cash back on €30 spent in Lidl so will go there & split shopping into two transactions & go to Aldi for remainder.

cag Probably. There's mobile expressions for smartphones too. My internet history is mostly salon geek & mn with the occasional Miele tumble dryer review.