u/-scottishsunshine

Apologies if this is a little off-topic for the sub... but I'm interested to hear your opinions/advice.

I earn a decent (but not huge) salary. My partner and I have a modest house with a mortgage. We don't have kids yet, but hopefully will soon.

I've always been a saver and between us we have a decent amount of savings. That's come from years of being careful with money (rather than earning loads): cooking from scratch, buying second hand or only when needed, taking budget holidays, having an older car outright, and generally just not spending for the sake of it. A big factor has been not having lifestyle creep - I was on £18k a few years ago and I still live a similar life despite now having a better (pretty much double) wage and more savings.

We still enjoy ourselves though—nice meals occasionally, the odd spend on clothes if I really want it... I don't feel deprived... The only major expenses we can see ahead are converting our garage into another bedroom and getting a family car. Beyond that, I'm not really sure what I'm saving for...

When I was younger, I imagined I'd go on luxury holidays or have a flashy car. Now what matters most is having things like financial security, a happy relationship, and time with family and friends, and I have that. I also like my job, so even retiring early isn't a goal right now - aware that might change.

So I'm curious - if you've built up savings through being frugal, what are you actually saving for? If you're like me and maybe too frugal for your own good, please help me out!

About three years ago, after repeated missing cat posts on the local Facebook group, someone in my area got a tracker for their cat because it kept going missing. Ever since then, the tracker always shows the cat as being somewhere in our house or garden.

At first I was more than happy to help so every time she knocked, we would check the garden. It soon changed to her asking to check the garden for herself, which we let her do.

Our garden is big, but it's basically grass with a patio, and two small-ish trees. We don't have sheds, a greenhouse, a summer house, any flowers - anywhere a cat could realistically hide. The gardens all around us have loads of sheds, big areas of flowers and bushes, big trees, overgrown corners - loads of hiding places.

Now some weeks she'll come round two or three times asking to search because the tracker says the cat is around. We both work and go away a fair bit, and if we don't answer she'll just let herself into the garden to check for herself. It's just a little short gate we have, so she'll unlock it herself and make her way our garden, I'm sure she's been peering in the windows of our house too (Aware I could get a taller gate, but it's a nice pretty decorative iron gate!)

Despite all the times she's searched, the cat has never once been found around ours.

If the cat isn't found after a few days, she has been asking to come inside the house and garage - we have always said no and said it's 100% not in the house or garage - we use the garage all the time as that's where the utility is.

To add to it all...I'm really allergic to cats. I'd know if it was around because I'd be rushing for antihistamines. I literally can't go to my friends house who has cats, I even try to not hug her because of the hair on her clothes! I don't dislike cats at all, but it's not like I want them around me.

To add more to it... we hardly ever even see the cat. It's dark grey and has a huge tracker and bell attached to it, so it's very distinctive. We probably see it once every few months, but regularly see our direct neighbour's light grey cat and another ginger cat almost daily.

She knows all this info. We've got her number, know where she lives, can message her on Facebook when she posts about 3 bloody times a week! We've said we'll let her know if we do ever see it. Once we did see it in a completely different part of the area when we were on a walk and she was looking for it, so we gave her a phone to say.

To make things worse, she's posted screenshots of the tracker in our local Facebook group showing it over my garden and house and saying things like, "They're saying it's not in their garden." Almost like she's trying to imply we're hiding something... other people around us have made comments to us like 'she's on the witchhunt for you!'...

After three years of repeated false alarms, no kind of thankfulness for constantly checking, I feel irritated because of what seems to be an inaccurate tracker and a cat which obviously wants to escape this mad woman.

I'm at the point where I want to tell her that she's no longer welcome to keep searching my garden, house or garage. It's making me late for work when I have to supervise her around the garden for 15 minutes in the mornings, she's interrupting us in the evenings etc. I feel like I'm at the end of my patience with this, but I also don't want to be someone everyone thinks is an AH - although after her Facebook posts they probably already do!

WIBTAH?

edit:

I didn’t expect this to blow up so much. But thanks for all your comments, it’s thoroughly made my day off more exciting. I’ve tried to reply to as many questions as possible, but my eyes are sore from looking at my screen so much so will have to retire for the day.

I’m UK based (username does check out) - cats are commonly outdoor free roaming cats. Just usually if a cat does go missing so frequently the owner does make it house bound, but in all honesty I don’t think this cats’ movements are uncommon.

The cat hasn’t been missing for 3 years - it just doesn’t go back to hers everyday so she thinks it goes missing.

I have told her the tracker she’s using must be faulty Or a heap of shite. I say this pretty much everytime she’s around.

I do believe she has some MH issues, so wanting to tread carefully to keep respectful.

Just glad everyone agrees I shouldn’t have let it go this far and for so long, and that I’m right to stop what is basically now harassment.

I’ll get a lock for my gate, tell her to not come unless the cat has been gone for 4 days and not moved from the one location, and come at a time that’s most convenient to me. If she posts accusations on Facebook i’ll comment from my partners account telling everyone what lengths we’ve gone to - so I can keep my private Facebook for my job!

I hope one day this woman will get a cat that loves her enough to stay home.

We visited Corfu in 2023 and loved it - we have always wanted to come back. We did get a good last minute deal at the time - mid September, for the two of us flights were £300 return, accommodation was a steal at £250 for the week. After airport transfer, food, drinks (not big drinkers), day trip back to Corfu town, we were just under £1k for the whole week.

Yes it was basic accommodation, but it was a studio so had a small kitchen with breakfast bar, and you couldn't complain at somewhere to sleep for £250 a week.

This year, I've found bargain flights to Corfu at £250 return, albeit it mid August, so realise this is more prime time for accommodation... Went to check the accommodation price... £775 for the week!!! And this seems to still be pretty cheap - some what I would call 'basic accommodation' is around £1100 for the week!

Now as I've said above, £250 was a steal, and I realise it's a few weeks earlier taking me into the prime time with school holidays... but other accommodations were around the same price, and things like 1/2 the lights weren't working, the shower didn't drain for hours after using it, there was no washing up liquid or sponge or dish cloth provided, one 1/2 used toilet roll, most of the tiles everywhere cracked, broken chairs by the sunbathing area, no cleaning service, when the grass sprinklers were on outside in the morning you couldn't use your balcony because it was getting sprayed by water (including the clothes you'd left outside to dry overnight!)... judging by reviews, it hasn't improved and may have even got worse than when we were there.

Am I just getting caught out for booking at the wrong time (not very last minute, but quite last minute), and for the wrong time? Even for the same week mid September the price is £700... Should I book the flights and keep checking accommodation to get a better deal, or is this the normal?

Also to note this is not intended to be derogatory in any way, I realise costs for everything has gone up in 3 years, but quite shocked it would go up around 3x! and wondering if I'm just being caught out by high dynamic prices???

We live on a street where every house has a driveway (typically 2 cars). Ours fits 4 cars, but we only have 2.

The road is just residential and narrow (around 5m).

When we moved in, the neighbours opposite had space for 2 cars but chose to park 1 on the road. They without us asking, said they’d park to the side so we could access our drive—but over time, they reduced and then fully removed their driveway, turning it into a garden. They now park directly opposite our drive with a large car, which makes it difficult for us to get in and out. Even with just 2 cars, we often have to manoeuvre repeatedly or move cars around to park.

They now have an additional car, meaning they have 3 cars so have just made things worse.

Would I be an asshole to ask them not to park opposite our drive so we can access it more easily?

Edit: I should add that if they don't park there then one car would have to park on a different street since the road is so short...