How much do you OWE?

[zefarelly]

sadly few things bought today will last 20 years.

I have a solution for that . . .buy things that are 20 years old already, if they've been kept and/or survived well that long already they're probably worth having and where good quality to start with.

I'm specifically thinking guitars and vehicles

a good example is a 1967 Gibson semi acoustic bass, 1994 cost me £700 which was a lot, currently worth approx 1200-1800, new ones which are crap by comparisson are £1200.

likewise old houses tend to be worth more than new ones, because they're well made!

 

[Cian]

I would. And I'd WALK there once a week, not every day.

Guess it depends where you live and if you have a family and stuff

Most blokes don't actually have a weeks clothing, though, or they have a weeks work clothes but not a weeks non-work clothes. Either way, the majority of men need to have a wash done more than once a week. And clothes are heavy, so unless you wear really dodgy light cotton everything all year around a weeks clothes aren't going to be carry-able. Those that do are going to need more than one wash a week...

And you'd still pay for a cheap washing machine and some form of airing rack in a year anyway with a theorethical single wash, single dry a week. Washer and dryer, two years.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I owe £1.80 to the Polish sandwich van man, as I didn't have any cash on me yesterday, and he let me have a cheese and pickle barm and a double-decker on tick.

Its EXACTLY that kind of CRAZY high-risk lending, from unscrupulous companies that is encouraging people to live beyond their means. He'll be round soon in his little van, and I didn't remember to get cash last night. No doubt he'll let me have a nice Ham and Brie granary baguette anyway, cos he's a nice guy, but where will it all end?

 

[WATFORD zero]

Its only a small step from a cheese and pickle Barm to Nick Leeson

 

[zefarelly]

Most blokes don't actually have a weeks clothing, though, .

hmm, last count I could have 2 fresh shirts a day for a month without requiring Laundering assistance

so Hans you could be the first to have CCJ arrears due to an excess consumption of bread based sustenance

 

[Bozza]

Most blokes don't actually have a weeks clothing, though, or they have a weeks work clothes but not a weeks non-work clothes. Either way, the majority of men need to have a wash done more than once a week. And clothes are heavy, so unless you wear really dodgy light cotton everything all year around a weeks clothes aren't going to be carry-able. Those that do are going to need more than one wash a week...

Seems you have successfully highlighted yet another difference between Oireland and the UK.

If I wore a different top every day and went through them all, one by one, I reckon I wouldn't need to do any washing for 6 weeks, probably more. I'd wear trousers more than once, of course, but I'd probably run out of underwear sometime in weeks 3 - 4.

(I would need to wash my gym kit though as I only have 5 sets and, on a good week, I'll use them all)

 

[Gwylan]

hmm, last count I could have 2 fresh shirts a day for a month without requiring Laundering assistance

Are you David Beckham in disguise?

As a matter of interest, where do you store them? I have about 15 or 16 shirts and can't even hang all those up. Although I suppose I could make room for them if I didn't have a 1000+ books and 1000+ LPs.

 

[zefarelly]

we have a music room for records and CD's . . .and another for clothes (which also doubles up as a spare bedroom)

I think I have a suitcase of vintage shirts in the loft as well, for special occaisions and 'skinny' days.

we won't start on 6 cars, a camper, a trailer, 20 engines and 2 scooters storage !

 

[Cian]

Seems you have successfully highlighted yet another difference between Oireland and the UK.

If I wore a different top every day and went through them all, one by one, I reckon I wouldn't need to do any washing for 6 weeks, probably more. I'd wear trousers more than once, of course, but I'd probably run out of underwear sometime in weeks 3 - 4.

(I would need to wash my gym kit though as I only have 5 sets and, on a good week, I'll use them all)

Yeah, but you're a METRO.

I've enough clothes for about 6 weeks also, but a quick straw poll here shows that only my boss has about the same - and he's an Abercrombie & Fitch wearing, shopping-trip-to-Dubai taking sort... some of the coders appear to have about three changes of clothes but they're the ones too scary to consider talking to. It gets worse the older they are too, my similarly aged colleagues would have a load more than the 30+ year olds.

 

[Cian]

Its only a small step from a cheese and pickle Barm to Nick Leeson

Well, who wouldn't want to be a managing director of a financially secure top flight football club? Nick Leeson - yes, that one - is in charge of Galway United now...

 

[Lady Bracknell]

My spending habits range from the wildly extravagant to the ludicrously parsimonious. On holiday, for example, I can spend €150 on a hand-woven cashmere garment but refuse to frequent the pavement cafe that charges €3 for a coffee! What I won't do, however, is borrow money for spending sprees and I'm really not interested in replacing perfectly good stuff just because it might not be the latest model or colour. On the other hand, I'm not very interested in saving money just for the sake of it. Only I have a friend who is so obsessed about savings that she's lost sight of just how well off she is and watching her agonise over whether to spend £20 more on a better version of something she wants to buy is painful. We work on the "you can't take it with you" principle and have no qualms about enjoying the things we want to do even if they do cost money!

I'm not against debt, as such, but I'm keen to avoid it especially as self-employment is precarious enough without routinely spending more than you earn. So I refuse any offers of loans or additional credit cards and carry on, rather boringly, keeping a close eye on my bank balance!

 

[dwayne]

This is an old skool dwayne thread if ever I saw one....

No debt and living the life of luxury.

 

[Marshy]

This is an old skool dwayne thread if ever I saw one....

No debt and living the life of luxury.

Snap

 

[Rangdo]

£300 of that was the cat's vet bill

Did you not have it insured?

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Considerably less than last time we had a thread on this, but that's only because i remortgaged last month. Now owe 130,000 on house, plus about 15,000 on other general debts.

 

[Clothes Peg]

300 quid washing machine + whatever electricity it uses + 6 quid a week on washing powder vs. 25 quid a week launderette (or whatever it costs these days) = buying the washing machine is substantially cheaper over a year even.

I don't know what laundrette you've been using, but I pay £1.50 for a regular wash and then dry my stuff on a rack in the hall way. So it's a maximum of £3 a week on washing plus the cost of powder and conditioner.

 

[tedebear]

I don't know what laundrette you've been using, but I pay £1.50 for a regular wash and then dry my stuff on a rack in the hall way. So it's a maximum of £3 a week on washing plus the cost of powder and conditioner.

I guess when you only do a couple of loads a week its certainly cheaper than buying a washing machine. But we're in the realms of about 7 loads a week so in the long term the more you wash the more cost effective buying a machine is..

 

[Cian]

I don't know what laundrette you've been using, but I pay £1.50 for a regular wash and then dry my stuff on a rack in the hall way. So it's a maximum of £3 a week on washing plus the cost of powder and conditioner.

I haven't, thats the point. I also suspect thats a uni-provided setup? I do drive past one every morning that has a price list in the window and its €6 (about £4.50) for a wash and dry though.

 

[Clothes Peg]

I guess when you only do a couple of loads a week its certainly cheaper than buying a washing machine. But we're in the realms of about 7 loads a week so in the long term the more you wash the more cost effective buying a machine is..

Yeah, I have a lot of clothes, so only do a couple of loads a week.

I haven't, thats the point. I also suspect thats a uni-provided setup? I do drive past one every morning that has a price list in the window and its €6 (about £4.50) for a wash and dry though.

It's in the halls, but it's run by an outside company. I do know that the same company charges different prices at different unis though.

 

[Cian]

It's in the halls, but it's run by an outside company. I do know that the same company charges different prices at different unis though.

Would without a doubt be more expensive if it was in the outside world.

Personally I'd usually go through 4 loads a week, at we'll say £3.50 = 15 quid, 15*52 = 780 quid. That'd buy one of those hyper Dyson washer dryers let alone a bog standard washing machine... even if it was only £2, unlikely, its £400 a year.