Bartering and swapping

I was getting my hair cut earlier, and we were discussing the hairdresser's holiday plans.  She mentioned that to get to her holiday location, she needed another vehicle, ideally a people-carrier to fit six people.  Apparently, in August, at school-holiday time, hiring a people carrier costs a massive £400 for a week!  We discussed whether she could borrow one from someone, and we thought it would be great if she could barter for it, maybe offering some free haircuts plus use of her small car, in exchange for the use of their large car for a week.  I guess such an arrangement would only work in a fairly small community - you would want to either know the other party, or know a friend of theirs - as it would involve quite a bit of trust.  But it would be great if such an arrangement could work.  I think I might ask the person who runs the local oil-buying group - which we have now joined - if he knows of any bartering groups in my area.  If not, maybe we could set something up.   In the meantime, the hairdresser is going to sound people out via Facebook.

Anyone else have any experience of bartering, and if so, how did it work out??

Could I manage without my car?

Thanks to some idiotic behaviour by my insurance company – for the sake of my blood pressure I will not go into the details - I do not have a car at the moment.  Anyway, I’ve decided to use the opportunity to see how I get on without a car for a little while.  We live in a fairly rural area, and I had, until recently, never seriously considered whether we might be able to get by on one car long term.

My husband needs his car for work – he has to make visits to patients during the day – so my dropping him off and collecting him in the evening won’t work.  I work from home several days’ a week.  At least once a week, I get the train to London from the station about 10 minutes’ drive, and 4 miles, from where I live.  On at least one other day, I need to get to a nearby town in the morning. 

Until yesterday, I thought that there was perhaps one bus a day in each direction to my nearest town. However,  I have discovered that there are three buses a day each way, and they go first to my nearest small town – where the station, dentist, supermarket, public library etc are – and then on to the much bigger town. The bus even stops a few minutes’ walk from where my sister lives! 

So I am considering reasonably seriously whether we could sell my car, and get by pretty well on one car.  

My thoughts so far are as follows:

• On days that I go to London,  J. already usually drops me off at the station and collects me in the evening.  (This saves us about £6 a day in parking costs, and is reasonably convenient for him.) So not much change would be needed there, except that he would always need to collect me, or I would have to take a taxi home if he were not available.
• On days that I go to other places to work, I would need to plan my journey ahead, and either a) get J. to drop me at the station or bus station b) take a taxi part or all of the way, c) get the bus into my local town and take a bus or train from there, or d) for major expeditions, maybe hire a car for a day.
• If I were working at home and either needed or wanted to make an expedition into town, I would need to time my outing to catch the bus either both ways, or bus one way and taxi back.
• We might occasionally have to make use of online supermarket shopping, something we have not really done so far. 
• For holidays, evening or weekend outings, we already generally use J's car as it is more comfortable than mine anyway, so no change would be needed there.
• The main difficulty I see is in my going on a spontaneous outing during the day, or in getting to certain work locations if they are far from a station or bus, but perhaps I just need to become used to taking the bus, or using taxis.    
  

It is very nice having my own transportation, but I am not sure whether that comfort and convenience is worth the nearly £3000 a year I estimate that my car is costing me.  (I do not have a car loan, but that figure takes account of car tax, insurance, servicing costs, petrol, and an estimate for depreciation.) 

I wonder if it is mad of me to think that I can manage without a vehicle, living where I do, or whether this could actually work?  Further consideration is definitely needed, but advice or comments from others would be welcome....

A weekend away

Last weekend, I met a friend for the weekend. We met halfway between our respective homes, which are very many miles apart. We had both decided that we did not want to spend too much money, while having as good a time as possible, and did the following, to this end:

-My friend found a hotel with good reviews and a reasonable two night with one night's dinner deal, and booked us in for that. (It was a very nice hotel, and the food, especially breakfast, was excellent.)

-She also suggested a book-swapping arrangement; we each bought some extra books with us, so got to read some different things from usual, without needing to buy them.

-I had initially planned to take the train, but discovering that even by booking ahead the cost would be double that of my petrol, I reluctantly decided to drive. (I realise this is not ideal from an environmental point of view, though my car is at least small and pretty fuel-efficent.)

-Driving would mean of course that I wouldn't be able to drive or listen to my ipod, so I rented the audio book of ' The Small Bachelor' a P.G Wodehouse novel, from the library. This was excellently well read and entertained me for very nearly all my journey there and back, and my husband is now listening to it on his commute. £1.50 well-spent.

-For once, I planned ahead and took sandwiches and some extra apples for the journey so that I would not need to stop for food.

-While at the hotel, we took full advantage of the very good English breakfast, which it suited us to eat late, meaning we did not need lunch.

-Instead, we had afternoon tea back at the hotel which took us through to late evening and a plate of cheese and bottle of wine. (I realise that from a nutritional point of view, this sounds pretty poor, but one can't have everything, and this was part of the fun.)

-We were staying a little way out of town, but walked in rather than driving, so as to save the bother and expense of parking, as well as getting some exercise and seeing the sights.

Wasting money on a taxi

Last week, on fireworks night, we arranged to go to the fireworks display in our village with my sister and brother-in-law. As I was due to be in London that day, and had a fairly late meeting, we arranged that I would catch up with the others later, if I missed the train home which would get me back in time to see the fireworks. My meeting did, as expected, end late, but instead of accepting this, and settling for catching a later train, I asked a taxi driver how long it would take him, and how much it would cost, to get me to the station from which my train left. (I usually take the tube.) His answer suggested that we could make it, so I decided to make the attempt. In fact, the traffic was so bad that I ended up missing the train I was aiming for, and catching exactly the same train I would have caught if I had taken the tube as usual. And the cost was several pounds more than the driver's estimate.

I thought later about what I could learn from this, and decided that my mistake had been my unrealistic expectations of the time and cost involved in getting to where I needed to be. I should, had I been sensible, have accepted that I could not make it home in time, and carried on on that basis, but I had attempted to solve my problem with money, and had ended up just wasting it.

Is National Trust membership worthwhile?

I was taken to many National Trust houses and gardens during my childhood, and have had my own National Trust membership for most years of my adult life. Looking through my list of direct debits recently, I briefly considered the value of my National Trust membership, and concluded that this is thoroughly worthwhile. First, the National Trust is an organisation which does a great deal to preserve the English countryside, including many historic houses and much beautiful scenery. Therefore, even if I didn't not use my membership fully, this would feel like a useful charitable donation. Secondly, if I make even a few visits to National Trust houses or gardens each year I will soon save myself more than the cost of membership. Thirdly, because I can visit houses for nothing, if I want to make a flying visit somewhere, or go repeatedly to the same house or garden it is possible to do so without feeling that I am wasting money on entrance fees. (I was taken to a National Trust place near my grandparents dozens of times during my childhood, and never tired of it, and I quite often visit my nearest National Trust garden for a walk.) Fourthly, I find it educational to visit National Trust houses and gardens, always learning something in the process, whether about the history of the family involved, or the plants in the garden or the china or furniture or paintings.

National Trust membership also makes a sense for holidaying in the UK - English membership was, last I heard, recognised by the National Trust of Scotland - as wherever you are staying, you are likely to have some places to visit nearby. In the Lake District recently we found that some car parks were National Trust ones, helpfully saving members a few pounds here and there on parking fees. Alternatively, if you are staying at home for your holidays, you can use your membership for some inexpensive day trips.

Finally, many of the National Trust properties have cafes and restaurants, with good and reasonably-priced lunches and very nice cakes and ice-creams, with an apparent recent emphasis on local produce.

Business travel, and money

I went to Germany for work this week, and while away gave some thought to my rules on business travel and money. (The day I set off was also the day that the next phase of the MP expenses scandal began!) I find it quite easy to fritter away money while travelling; here are my thoughts about how to avoid doing so.

1) Keep a container of miscellaneous currency, and make a habit of checking it, and taking relevant currency, when you go away.
2) Designate a wallet or envelope for expenses for your trip when you set out, so that you have all your receipts in one place.
3) Try to avoid spending money on anything that while potentially justifiable, you won't feel comfortable claiming back on expenses. (E.g extra snacks, slightly expensive lunches, or taxis, if the policy is to use public transport.)
4) Make sure you get receipts for anything that you do intend to claim back. (I felt slightly embarrassed reminding the air steward about the receipt for my airline bottle of water this week, but it was a very expensive bottle of water, and I had this article in mind!) If you are in danger of forgetting why you have kept the receipt, write on it.
5) Be prepared for time waiting around by taking plenty of reading matter, so you will be less tempted to succumb to airport newsagents and book shops.
6) Be careful about phone calls home from abroad; if you are entitled to claim the costs of a phone call home, keep the appropriate records; be aware of the hotel or mobile phone company's charges for overseas calls.
7) If you are expected to use your own credit cards for large items, e.g hotel bills, take the opportunity to pick up reward points, or airmiles.
8) If you have the opportunity to do any personal shopping, take advantage of this to buy things that may be cheaper, or better, than at home, if you have decided you can afford to do so. However, do make sure you are up-to-date on the exchange rate, and watch out for hidden sales tax, not marked on goods in shops, in some places.
9) When you get home, return any unused currency to your miscellaneous box, and fill in and submit your expenses claim as soon a possible.