£5 of petrol

[danjama]

jamieduff1981 said:

My goodness some Londoners can really get on my nerves...

I consider myself very fortunate to have rid myself of most money worries as much by luck as judgement, but I've been there and remember it all too well.

You've only got options if you have the capital up front.

Save money on car insurance? Pay several hundred up front.
Save money on TV license? Pay it all up front.
Move closer to work? Find deposit for rent & pay for removals.

There are countless ways one can optimise their spending, but the vast majority of them involve having a degree of flexibility to make the change in the first place.

Painfully true.

I'll be putting in a fiver today as i'm skint and don't get paid until Friday, but I only need to drive a short distance this week luckily. If you see me at the pump in my mr2 give me a wave and i'll be out of the way as quick as I can.

And yes, I pay my bills, tv license, rent, insurance etc all in one go. It saves me struggling down the line.

[northwest monkey]

MarkPhillipson said:

Good point but if someone is really that hard up so that the difference between putting say £20 rather than a fiver meant they may not be able to eat, then why are they trying to run a car at all?

But they are running a car? The car needs some petrol, so they put £5 in which may do for a few days. It doesn't need a full tank of petrol, so there is no point putting £50 in - you don't get anything extra for spending more.

Before I became self-employed, I used to do around 800 miles a week. Every couple of days, I would fill up the car as it saved me time.

I'm now self employed & work mainly from home. I now do less than 800 miles a month - probably half that most months. When I need petrol now, I will put in about £30 worth as I don't see the point in brimming the tank. I'm not going to save any money by "buying in bulk" so what's the point?

For a lot of people, it's about cashflow more than anything else. I'll spend about £1200 in plastic mailer bags in 2014, however I won't be ordering £1200 worth of bags in January - I'll buy them as & when I need them - this helps my cashflow you see.

[B17NNS]

jamieduff1981 has hit the nail on the head.

I think some people on here have no comprehension some times.

[zoom star]

I'm glad I put in my £20 worth of diesel every six weeks, I didn't think I might be judged if put in £3.33 a week...
I also watch motor racing, and was under the impression that to carry extra fuel was bad for speed, and also uneconomical, one of the reasons why they put little fuel tanks in?.

[northwest monkey]

zoom star said:

I'm glad I put in my £20 worth of diesel every six weeks, I didn't think I might be judged if put in £3.33 a week...

I bet you've only just got out of bed you benefit cheating uninsured peasant. Well I've got news for you.

You've missed Jeremy Kyle this morning & it was a good one.

[northwest monkey]

Stu247 said:

I used to put a fiver in the 5GT Turbo to keep it light... It was 1992 and 40p a litre back then though!

You must be one of those rich kids I used to read about. I remember putting about 80p into a Honda Melody back in 1989 & then arguing with the bloke about their "Minimum £1" rule as (a) it wouldn't take any more, and (b) I didn't have a quid.

[M3DGE]

I agree with most of the comments that this is a daft thread, the usual reasons are obvious. However...

I am on a manufacturer's 'staff/ affiliates' scheme which means I get a new car every few months. When I drop it off I always try to do so with the minimum possible amount of fuel - which often needs a miserly final purchase to get to the handover centre.

Why so tight?

The handover centre delivers the car with fumes in it. A few years ago I failed to make the nearest petrol station - the AA had to rescue me, with 8 (!) miles on the clock!

[Engineer1]

jamieduff1981 said:

If you know you always finish the month well in the black you don't even think about it - but it's not that care free for everyone.

It's not even well in the black it's at a point where you have available funds be it in the black or well off your overdraft limit.

[jamieduff1981]

Engineer1 said:

jamieduff1981 said:

If you know you always finish the month well in the black you don't even think about it - but it's not that care free for everyone.

It's not even well in the black it's at a point where you have available funds be it in the black or well off your overdraft limit.

Well yes but that doesn't change the point. I remember finishing most months within my agreed overdraft limit but half a month's salary in the red - always half wondering what I could possibly do if for any reason the bank called in the debts.

[northwest monkey]

jamieduff1981 said:

Well yes but that doesn't change the point. I remember finishing most months within my agreed overdraft limit but half a month's salary in the red - always half wondering what I could possibly do if for any reason the bank called in the debts.

I think there are a lot of people in that situation right now - just surviving from month to month.

The recession may well technically be over, but for an awful lot of people it isn't & won't be for a long time.

[T16OLE]

Skint
Hired Car
Filling a Jerry can
Courtesy Car
Expensive (motorway) prices
Wanting to get points elsewhere

etc, etc, etc

[Engineer1]

northwest monkey said:

I think there are a lot of people in that situation right now - just surviving from month to month.

The recession may well technically be over, but for an awful lot of people it isn't & won't be for a long time.

It takes years of low inflation (and I mean real inflation not the massaged lets ignore fuel and housing bs) or some damn good payrises to climb back from that, I bet a good percentage of the population have taken pay freezes (real world cuts) or below inflation payrises (real world cuts)which means if cash flow was tight it is getting tighter, fortunately the job market seems to be picking up a bit so there is a better chance of getting a role paying significantly more.

[aka_kerrly]

Weight saving?!

If you only do short journeys what is the point in carrying around 50+ Kg of extra unnecessary weight which only serves to reduce the cars fuel efficiency.

It's like arguing why do people only buy one pint at a time when they know they will drink 6, because no wants to stand holding 6 pints...

[RemyMartin]

B17NNS said:

It's the mutterings in the queue that worry me.

[whispers]insurance dodger[/whispers]

Don't forget the mutterings under the breath if you're filling it from the wrong side....this and £5 filled into car = rage attack.

[NumberoftheBeast]

jonah35 said:

Just seems like a rhetorical willy waving thread, no?

Because theyre skint
Returning a hire car
Topping up fuel theyve used in a mates car or family members car
Because they need change
So they can get off the motorway to a cheaper supermarket fuel station
Because theyve forgot their wallet so theyre using any change they have in the car

We all know the answers so its a bit of a stupid thread!!

What he said.

More PH snobbery.

[londonbabe]

Chrisba said:

Please enlighten us as to how you would manage as a single mother to get your child to a crèche and yourself to work on a scooter or pushbike?

Maybe get on 6 busses costing you £10 a day?

Not my situation I might add but one I'm sure hundreds are in.

God there's some rediculous people on here.

A child seat?
A trailer?
A cargo bike?