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[Squealey]

Evening all

Some of you may remember me from a couple of years ago when I had TBs tractor off him.

I was in a pretty bad place financially then and tbh if anything I'm worse off now as I have been unemployed since January.

But this has got me thinking about how well I've done lately with bargains, some car related some not. Let me give you a brief rundown.

Due to circumstances beyond my control I found myself driving a 52 plate Laguna 2.2dci initiale at the end of last year. This was by far the biggest pile of poo I have ever driven. It had every toy imaginable, but non of them bloody worked. The suspension was shot to shit and it had about 160k miles on it but you would swear it had been clocked from 400k. Then an injector decided to die, cutting out the engine as I was half way past a 40 footer. So I decided to get shot. I paid £495 for it and sold it as spares or repairs for £425 witch I was more than happy about.

I then stumbled across the mondeo I'm in now. Up for £400, I paid £360. One owner, full and complete history, zero rust, 4 months tax and 6 months MOT. I'm not being funny but it's bloody brilliant. It's an auto so is smooth as silk and the engine runs like new. It's no omega admittedly but it's not a bad compromise.

It's had a couple of faults in the past month though, but you have to expect this when having such a cheap car. First the Bosch abs/tcs pump sprung a leak, which is very rare as its normally the built in ecu that goes kaput. Only ones on eBay were £149.99+ and ford wanted £2200, but I went onto the talk ford forum and found a bloke on there who had a good pump with a knackered ecu which I got for the price of postage, £6.40! Works brilliantly! Then the law of the sod struck and the day it went back on the road the flipping alternator died, but eBay to the rescue and I had one the following day for just £19 delivered.

I've also been lucky with household stuff. 8ft trampoline for £10. Proper wooden kids swing set (2 swings and a see saw type thing) plus a really nice wooden kids playhouse for just £1 the pair. It was a woman on eBay who just wanted rid as her kids had outgrown them. The house retails for £475 and the swings for £275 new!!!

Then my daughter recently got a council house but had nothing to go in it but thanks to Facebook buy it sell it page she got : sofa, 1 yr old, £35. Upright freezer, free. Fridge, 1yr old, £18. Beko washing machine, £35 delivered and a spotless hardly used oven for £10.

Oh and today I got two never used garden reclining chairs for £2.50 each and two almost brand new really good quality moon chairs for £7.50 each.

So, by having no money I've actually saved myself a fortune, if you see what I mean

What bargains have you picked up lately?

Wayne.

[albitz]

Its amazing how cheaply you can get things you really need when you've got no money.It just requires application and a bit of imagination,which most of us don't really bother doing if we have plenty in the bank.
Mrs A is more the bargain hunter in our house.It staggering what she gets sometimes for a lot less then RRP.

[TheBoy]

I think that if you are prepared to wait for bargains to come along, rather than must-have as soon as you see them, you can make respectable savings, esp with 2nd hand items.

Obviously, there are instances where you can't afford to wait - eg, your alternator - but a bit of shopping around...


So far, the rebuild of the front end of TBE has cost a whisper over £300, with the bulk of that being a windscreen replacement and a bumper repair/respray, both things I cannot do myself. Admittedly, its not complete yet, still looks like something from downtown Beirut in the 1980s.

[Varche]

No Bargains to be had in Spain, if anything prices have gone up to compensate for the crisis.

My brother in England is always getting bargains. Never a week goes by.  Two recent ones were :

A free retired racehorse with a free horsebox. ( The horse he kept for two days before giving to a neighbour who is over the moon at getting a free horse). He put two tyres on the horsebox, cleaned it up and sold it.

He got a SAAB free off gumtree. Broke it on Ebay and then scrapped the rest for hard cash.

My brother is just a shadow of my uncle though. He collects stuff with a passion. Big stuff. For example he always has about 20 Drotts kicking about for spares or scrap. He works every day of the week from dawn to beyond dusk and is in his late seventies. I thought he had a lot of stuff till I saw Countryfile last night with the chap with 350 combine harvesters.

If you have the time (things like a regular job and being too tired at the end of each day) then there are opportunities.

[Sir Tigger KC]

For example he always has about 20 Drotts kicking about for spares or scrap.

'Scuse my ignorance Snr, but what are these?   

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

A delivery mileage Veyron.

The guy owed the mafia  a shit load of money. It was either pay up or die.

 Being a Gentleman .....I helped him out by giving him £5,000 for the Veyron. Honest .

[martin42]

Just changing Internet provider at the moment,had a look on topcashback site and ee are doing £121 cashback if you go with them,and also being a t mobile customer I get £5 pm of the broadband package,so will be paying £17 pm for landline and unlimited broadband and also the cashback so not a bad deal

[Seth]

For example he always has about 20 Drotts kicking about for spares or scrap.

'Scuse my ignorance Snr, but what are these?   

Bulldozers ... really!

[andrew-v8]

untill i find a decent omega td i paid £600 for my 2 owner 2002 saab 95 3.0tid with over 7k of receipts with it

[Marks DTM Calib]

For example he always has about 20 Drotts kicking about for spares or scrap.

'Scuse my ignorance Snr, but what are these?   

Bulldozers ... really!

Dozers, loaders, excavators the works, ex US (Wisconisn?) and long since swallowed up by Case

[Varche]

For example he always has about 20 Drotts kicking about for spares or scrap.

'Scuse my ignorance Snr, but what are these?   

http://www.freewebs.com/internationaldrottclub/  for some pictures. He also has sheds and sheds full of more modern earth shifters he is repairing, stripping for parts or just weighing in. He has three daughters and I just cannot imagine how they will sort out his estate when he dies.