The Going Rate

Budgets are the theme of the day at Simone Towers. The thoughts have been brought about predominantly by my local garage (who, it appears, are becoming increasingly inept), who have just charged me The Going Rate for a new clutch. The going rate seems to be £450. 

Cue intake of breath, especially when I go to pick up the car and it’s pointed out to me that I need new front springs for the car as well, to the tune of £240. Although it doesn’t negate the fact that it’s an expensive job and would have had to be paid at some point anyway, the springs – at the least – should have been picked up in the service the car has just had, and more pertinently the three MoT tests that the same garage has run my little Peugeot through.

Therefore, I grumble about The Going Rate for a replacement clutch, even though I know I’ve probably gotten off lightly. So I’ve plugged myself into Martin Lewis’ Budget Planner to calculate my living expenses. According to Mr L I’m in the green (that sounds even better than in the black!), earning marginally more than I earn each month. It doesn’t make a £450 pill any easier to swallow – in actual fact, it just causes me to wonder what exactly I’ve missed off.

I plan to follow the advice about shifting my savings to pay off my overdraft – I need to check statements etc., but unless I earn more than £15 a month interest then I’m losing out overall. I also need to stop snacking, stop buying so, so many books in charity shops, and probably stop paying any utility bills. 

It also probably means goodbye to second undergraduate degree, hello to a Masters – with the government’s new ELQ legislation, I’d be looking at paying something like £6k a year for tuition fees, even at a lower-end university, which to be frank is an inefficient use of money. Especially when, as I am discovering, I may actually be qualified for a Masters in the subject in which I wish to study anyway. The nice lady on the phone at Queen Marys yesterday mentioned that I wouldn’t be missing out on any study skills, or anything like that, if I wished to go straight onto a postgrad qualification in this field…

So I’m on the case, woo!