Saving money in the great 21st century recession.

[iGaz]

Well my 2 year old commuter hack cost me £289.99p reduced form £399.99p (Old year model) Spent £200 upgrading it, Indenti Rebate steel rigid forks, Deore shifters, Sora rear mech, XT front mech, Deore Hollowtech 2 crank set, Schwalbe Big Apple tyres.

My Van, a 2.5ltr VW T4 Transporter, last time I filled up it was £110, now that I do my commute etc by bike I hardly use it, the last time any fuel went in was 3 weeks ago and that was just a tenner and I still have that tenner in the tank!! Do about 5 miles a week in the van (Tescos, Farmshop and the odd day to work and back!!)

Forgive me if this don't make sense, I found an unopened wine box in the fridge!!!

 

[BentMikey]

*cough* wiggle platinum, and I don't only buy from there. Oh dear...

 

[HLaB]

*cough* wiggle platinum, and I don't only buy from there. Oh dear...

You must spend a fair bit; I'm wiggle gold but I doubt I'll be when the renew thing most things I have bought lately over the net have been from CRC.

 

[Brahan]

I'm cycling in to work every day now and we have just moved to a new office which has a shower! Brilliant! I used it for the first time today to find out that it has no hot water. I have just found out that the hot water won't be reconnected either due to a mess up that was made when they converted these offices. I'm gutted. Really really gutted. But for some reason I writing this with a big (typical, this could only happen to me) smile on my face. The last thing I needed after the rain today was a freezing cold shower. I was so excited when I first saw those showers you know. On the money side however, I'm saving (well I say saving, but its more like 'not spending on my car') About £250 odd quid a month and more if there are repairs needed. We are now a 1 car family.

 

[Jonny]

Doing a quick cash flow analysis, the purchase of my Brompton six years ago has been worth a net saving of £1,600, taking into account:

Purchase price
Gadgets, clothing etc
Maintenance, replaced parts, damage
Replacement of clothes when I fell off once
Public transport savings.

In a currency I understand better, that's around 650 pints of beer. And despite (probably) drinking those 650 pints, I lost 2 stone in weight and feel considerably better for my daily cycling.

 

[saty]

My annual travelcard costs around £1200, so even with the purchase of a new £300 bike this week and the new gloves and hat, over the year I think i will have saved around £600 and also saving £600 on gym membership

 

[Downward]

I'm cycling in to work every day now and we have just moved to a new office which has a shower! Brilliant! I used it for the first time today to find out that it has no hot water. I have just found out that the hot water won't be reconnected either due to a mess up that was made when they converted these offices. I'm gutted. Really really gutted. But for some reason I writing this with a big (typical, this could only happen to me) smile on my face. The last thing I needed after the rain today was a freezing cold shower. I was so excited when I first saw those showers you know. On the money side however, I'm saving (well I say saving, but its more like 'not spending on my car') About £250 odd quid a month and more if there are repairs needed. We are now a 1 car family.

Haha done that on my 2nd commute in ever.
There are 2 showers. One was occupied I went in the other. It wasn't a cold day but you still needed a hot shower but you get to the point of no return with shampoo/shower gel so you have to go through the cold !!

Oh and add in the cost of Electric/Gas by having a shower at work instead that must be worth a fair few ££

 

[HLaB]

I'm cycling in to work every day now and we have just moved to a new office which has a shower! Brilliant! I used it for the first time today to find out that it has no hot water. I have just found out that the hot water won't be reconnected either due to a mess up that was made when they converted these offices. I'm gutted. Really really gutted. But for some reason I writing this with a big (typical, this could only happen to me) smile on my face. The last thing I needed after the rain today was a freezing cold shower. I was so excited when I first saw those showers you know. On the money side however, I'm saving (well I say saving, but its more like 'not spending on my car') About £250 odd quid a month and more if there are repairs needed. We are now a 1 car family.

Shame about the shower. How much of a factor were the showers in your decision to start cycling commuting? A lot of my colleagues give the lack of showers as an excuse not to cycle.

 

[Downward]

Shame about the shower. How much of a factor were the showers in your decision to start cycling commuting? A lot of my colleagues give the lack of showers as an excuse not to cycle.

I think to start with I felt them a necessity but in the colder weather I sometimes don't bother.
But saying that if the showers were n't 1/4 mile away I would probably use them all the time.

 

[Emu]

I don't save any money cycling. Last year I gave up my season ticket and kept a record of all that I gave Southern Rail. I cycled the 26 miles per day maybe on average twice a week or cycled to work and then put my Brompton on the train on the way home. Southern were £118 worse off, I was about half a stone lighter, and my Brompton needed a £200 service, not to mention the odd puncture needing to be paid for (I physically can't remove my tyres) and cables needing replacing. If I cycle on my Brompton I know I can get on a train if needs be but I also know that if there is trouble on the trains I can cycle home. I don't have to pay gym fees either.

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Just done a bit of adding up, peddling to work is saving me approx. £800 a year presently.

 

[Wigsie]

As discussed on a previous thread, before i bought the bike i created a Bike V's Car cost analysis spreadsheet to look at mileage, fuel consumption, cost of fuel, insurance (if applicable) etc then compared to the cost of bike repayments on the cycle to work scheme for various values of bikes.

As mine is a 18 mile each way commute and I have a company car and thus sometimes i have to drive for meetings etc I worked out I had to ride three journeys a week (one and a half commutes) before I broke even. I can handle that, unfortunately that was based on a £500 C2W spend, after searching I settle on a £1000 bike so I have to ride 3 full journeys a week to break even, without even looking at possible upgrades that no doubt will happen.

Its not really 100% about the cost saving for me and sre its not for most others, although it may start out like that i have not ridden in 15 or so years and getting back into it again i feel like a kid on my shiny new spesh!

 

[HJ]

Cycle commuting is a lot cheaper than gym membership and a lot more fun than a stationary bike... then again there were those lights I just bought...

 

[surfgurl]

I've been cycle commuting for two years and a couple of months. I've spent about £600 on bikes, kit etc in that time.
To run a second car would be £1000 minimum a year.
The bus is £3.00 each journey into work and it doesn't run in the evening so I would still need a lift home.

 

[Brahan]

Shame about the shower. How much of a factor were the showers in your decision to start cycling commuting? A lot of my colleagues give the lack of showers as an excuse not to cycle.

The showers were not the reason but they made my decision to cycle a lot easier. Now that I'm committed to cycling, it makes no difference whether there are showers or not. Funny that. I have learned that you just need to take your time to get to work in the morning so you don't arrive as a hot sweaty mess! Then you can just spank it on the way home!!