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Got a mix-match post today:
First up, Mrs Scot and I went to Wembly Arena in London on Saturday night to a concert. One of my pet-hates is getting stuck in traffic, especially when it is expected. Therefore parking at the arena was out of the question – especially at a cost of £25 ($40). I trawled through Google for alternative car parks and off-ro
ad parking, but to no avail – until I came across ParkatmyHouse.com – it is essentially a classified ads space for people to rent their own parking spaces. I found a listing for a space that was about a miles walk from the arena, but on the right side for getting out without being stuck in traffic. At £15 ($24) it was a resounding success! 🙂 We didn’t get stuck in any traffic and the walk was quite refreshing! How cool is that? Maybe some of my readers in other countries could look into setting something similar up if there is an opportunity!
Second thing is Petrol Prices (Gas Prices 😉 ) – How do prices vary in the US/Canada/Europe/ROW? In London, prices are pretty volatile! Our local garage’s petrol price varies from 134.9 (pence per litre) to 139.9 – other garages of the main highways are up to 142.9. I have seen 132.9 in some places further outside London. That is a deviation of 10p (almost 8%). I found another website petrolprices.com which tracks the day rates of your local stations – quite useful if you spend as much on commuting as we do!
For updates on the 14 Week Fitness Challenge – Head over to the Diary Page.
For further reading check out my friend Broke Elizabeth’s post on Body Image. Really great writing and quite thought provoking. 🙂
I wanted to thank you for expanding your posts in Google reader! See? I do come back and comment anyway. 🙂
I have to get my diary page up for the fitness challenge on my website, hopefully this weekend.
Kris @ BalancingMoneyandLife recently posted..Calculating Our Net Worth – March 2012
Hey Kris! – That’s great you took some time to comment – Thanks. And See? I do listen to my readers 🙂 I will be watching your site for the diary 😉
Thanks for the link love 🙂
And your parking and petrol tales make me *so* happy that I don’t need to drive… it seems very expensive and stressful with parking.
BrokeElizabeth recently posted..The Cost of Losing Weight Part 4: Buying a New Wardrobe
Any time! Yes – it would make me so happy not to have a car too. We spend on average £600 a month on fuel/insurance/tax/maintenance. RIDIC!
Gas here fluctuates between $1.10 and $1.30 per litre. I just googled and see that 1# sterling is $1.55ish Canadian. Down in the states is much cheaper. Despite the fact that Canada (Alberta) has the largest oil reserve outside of Saudi Arabia, we don’t see much of the benefit. Our taxes are outrageous, and then the Ontario government tacks on the HST (our VAT) of 13%! No wonder people are always going across the border to load up on cheap liquor, gasoline, and milk products (the latter is excrutiatingly expensive because, in Canada, we have a communist Milk Marketing Board that dictates national supply)
Joe recently posted..Steps to Personal Finance Success #1 – Build an Emergency Fund, Part 1
I know all about Canada’s oil reserves but did not realise the Milk Marketing scandal! That is outrageous!!! What sort of prices do you pay for dairy? And Liquor?
4L of milk (the generic, cheap not “pur filtered” stuff) is $4.49. I used to buy it for $3.99 when I lived in Peterborough but now, in Toronto, it’s always $4.49 with rare exceptions. Only benefit is that there’s no VAT on it. I don’t recall a direct comparison with the States, but down there you can pick up a gallon for much less.
For a cheap 750ml bottle of wine, about $11. For a cheap 750mL of liquor, like $20ish. In the States, those prices are halved. What you’d pay for a beer in a restaurant varies wildly, but $4 for a “pint” (not even a real pint!) + HST is on the cheap side.
In a land of such plenty as Canada (even more ‘plenty’ than America, and only 11% of the population) it is exceptionally offensive that we pay such exorbitant prices for things.
Joe recently posted..Steps to Personal Finance Success #1 – Build an Emergency Fund, Part 2
That is pretty extortionate! Are there any items that are considerably cheaper in Canada than the US? Canada has been added to my bucket list! 🙂
That parkatmyhouse service sounds great. There is an arena here that always has people out on the street selling parking spots in their driveways. It’s always much cheaper than paying for a parking lot space. So it would be good to be able to use a similar service in other areas of town.
Jeremy @ Modest Money recently posted..The Mistake Of Buying An Expensive Car
Hey Jeremy!
That is interesting to hear that you have people on the streets selling spaces. Like a ticket tout but a ‘space tout’! Maybe this could be your big break to set up a website similar to parkatmyhouse?! I bet the founders are making a fortune!! And the business model is brilliant – essentially users do all the work by managing their listing and organising parking – they just cream off the top 🙂
I live here in the US and gas prices are ridiculous. They raise almost daily. Currently $3.69/gallon, I’m not sure as to how that compares to the London prices.
Unfortunately the London prices are considerably worse. Approx 3.8L in a gallon = £5.30 a gallon = $8 a gallon. Think you got it bad?? 😛
Here in Norway gas prices are high too: US$2.6/£1.66 per liter (US$ 9.88 per gallon)
I am glad I can do without a car because we live fairly close to the city centre and the public transportation network is more than good enough. 🙂