Miss Thrifty

I’ve been thinking about writing a will for a while now. It’s not like we have much to give away, but we own a house, we don’t want to make things difficult for anyone left behind, and reading c jane’s and Nie Nie’s blogs brings home the truth that anything can happen, at any time.

Ashley at Wide Open Wallet has been writing about her will recently, and this has finally inspired me to action.

To anyone who hasn’t made a will before, I will say this: it’s a lot quicker and easier than you think it will be! My husband and I went to a very sweet solicitor on Monday, to go through the finer points. Wills for the pair of us are only going to cost £100, which is less than I was expecting. We took along the forms that our solicitor gave us to fill out with details of any pensions and stocks (ha ha ha), who we wanted as our executors and guardians of children, plus details of any legacies that we wanted to leave.

Filling out these forms makes one very morbidly-minded. We chose one of our in-laws as the first executor, on the grounds of his Teutonic efficiency. But then fell to thinking, what if he dies? So we added my brother as the second executor, just in case. (more…)

Today is a traumatic day in the Thrifty household. Our statements from our energy provider, Southern Electric, have arrived.

I have been able to scrrrrrrrrrrape my jaw from the floor and regain my composure - but it has not been a pretty episode. We knew our gas and electricity bills were going up - UK energy companies have all shuffled their tariffs skywards over the past couple of months - but we didn’t expect that the rises would be quite so steep.

We do everything by the Thrifty Book: we found the cheapest tariff using uSwitch, and we pay a fixed monthly direct debit, which qualifies us for a 5 per cent discount. We live in a brick mid-terraced house with small rooms, so our usage isn’t that high. For the past year-and-a-bit, we have been paying:

£21 ($39) a month for electricity

£25 ($46) a month for gas

Southern Electric has now written to us to let us know that from this day forth, we will be paying: (more…)

(After several minutes of faffing with the bank’s labyrinthine telephone triage system, plus a few minutes confirming mortgage account number, mother’s maiden name etc. ad infinitum.)

CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE: So how can we help you today? 

MISS THRIFTY: Well, our two-year fixed rate mortgage deal runs out in the next few months, and we’re hoping to get something else in place. So I’d like to find out about what you have on offer right now.

CCE: Well, when your fixed rate runs out in February you’ll automatically go onto our standard variable rate. That’s 7.09% right now. So you would be paying around £868 a month.

MISS THRIFTY: Yuck.

CCE: Oh, but you don’t have to stay on that rate! We have lots of mortgage products available to existing customers such as yourself.

MISS THRIFTY: Really? Are they fixed rate?

CCE: Hmmm. Well, we have a few fixed rate products.

MISS THRIFTY: That’s reassuring. When I checked your website, all the fixed rate deals were demanding 75% loan-to-value. Our loan-to-value will be 80%.

CCE: Ah… (more…)

UPDATE: If you are visiting from MSN Smart Spending, welcome to Miss Thrifty! My passion for fashion knows no bounds, but neither does my craving for saving…  Bargains ahoy! I update my blog daily with all the latest frugal tips and red hot discounts. Please have a look around; if you like what you see, subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by  - Miss T.

Now this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this behemoth of the frugal motoring world, so I thought that proper introductions were in order. Please allow me to present to you…

(drumroll)…

The Thriftymobile!

It’s a Mazda 323 and it rolled off the production line in 1985 - so it’s only a few years younger than I am.

You may think look it looks like a little ol’ banger (and what’s more, it’s teeny-tiny by US standards). But trust me: this humble motor is one of the best financial decisions I have ever made.

Here’s why:

1.   It didn’t cost me anything to buy. Back before Chernobyl and the Oprah Winfrey Show, when this 323 was at the cutting edge of automobile technology, the car was bought brand new by my 77-year-old great-grandmother. Twenty-odd years later, she couldn’t drive it any longer and it began to pass down the family. It came into my hands in 2005, after I finally passed my driving test.

2.   Despite its age, the car was in pristine condition. When we climbed into it, it smelled new. Don’t believe me? Here’s the odometer now: (more…)

Holly, over at the gem-filled hollyisstoppingshopping blog, has a great list of top tips for avoiding impulse buys. Her suggestions include:

1. Carry water - I’ll never be able to say this enough, but fill a reusable bottle every day with water (from the tap is fine) or diluted juice and then drink it throughout the day. You’ll quickly find you’re less thirsty and that you won’t buy so many drinks on impulse.

9. Sleep on it - If you find yourself in a shop, about to hand over your hard earned cash (or not earned credit card) for clothes, shoes or a bag then stop and think about your purchase long and hard. Most stores are happy to keep items on layaway for around 48 hours. Ask the shop assistant if they can keep it aside for you then think about it overnight. Ask yourself the following questions: How often will I wear it? Does it go with at least 5 outfits in my wardrobe? Does it need any special cleaning treatment (EXPENSIVE!)? Is it similar to anything I already have? How many hours did I/will I have to work to pay for it? Use Money Saving Expert’s Demotivator to find out! If you wake up the next morning and feel that you still really need it, then go ahead, you’ve rationally thought it through and it won’t be an impulse buy after all.

Unfortunately one of the best tips - taking cash to the supermarket, so that you don’t overspend on your food shop - hasn’t been successfully implemented by yours truly. I tried it a couple of months ago, and it ended in disaster. Perhaps it’s because (more…)

I’m thrilled that my post NEW-BUILD HOMES: A THRIFTY OPTION? has made it into the latest Carnival of Personal Finance!

The Carnival is hosted by Squawkfox this week, with a “City Slickers” theme. There is lots there, and I’d recommend checking it out.

My favourite post is THE BEST MONEY ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED, from Art of the Coupon. You’ll have to go visit to find out what it is though!

This post from Nancy Zimmerman’s Money Coach blog gave me the chills.

Although many of her clients are affluent professionals, she has encountered a “sub-set”: women in their fifties with no money to speak of.

She writes:

Often it’s not for the reason you’d think. It’s not so much about the traditional Waiting for the Man who Never Came as this: they have lived lives based on their ideals, and forgot to include the sexiness of including a solid investment portfolio in the package.

They have pursued their dreams, things like travelling the world to do good, working for causes at low pay, or pursuing passions that didn’t pay off.

Erm, check, check and check.

I don’t mind that I’ll be turning 30 in a few months’ time, but it does mean that 50 doesn’t seem as far away as it used to. I used to presume that people got richer as they got older; now, the idea that I could be skint as retirement approaches terrifies me.

I have decided that one of my aims, over the next year, is to smash the likelihood of fiftysomething pauperdom into smithereens.