MSE News: Dump Sky and iPhones, struggling homeowners told

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  • patchwork_cat
    patchwork_cat Posts: 5,874 Forumite
    Percy1983 wrote: »
    What a well balanced adult reply... I do stand by my comment of your posting style is very much that of an angry teenager.

    With that if I took that kind of cut in pay I would be rather bitter too so I will forgive your tantrum.

    Just try deep breaths before posting.



    Damage control, reduce tariffs/plans where possible until you can get out of said contract. In the case of Iphones etc they can fetch a fair bit on ebay and you can get decent phones for less than £10.

    I do agree he sounds more like child of the Thatcher era, I want it so I'll have it, rather than a 50 something! If you are 50+ you will remember previous recessions and if you survived that unscathed then you should have learnt that you cut your suit according to your cloth. I stand by my believe that it is logical, sky and iphones are luxuries not essentials.

    Any one on good money should have a decent rainy day fund as you should be aware that the economy has ups and downs. Perhaps when you were earnign £125K you should have put away a decent amount so that you can ride the lows with little disruption to lifestyle?
  • gitw
    gitw Posts: 133 Forumite
    I had a good job inthe City, and earnt good money which meant I could afford, sky, tv's, phone contracts, several holidays a year and spent more than enough on myself on clothing, haircuts and nights out.

    Last November I got made redundant.

    The first thing to go was the sky and phone contract. My holiday this year was staying with a friend in the New Forest for a week and next week we're off to stay with friends by the coast in Kent. My clothing purchases stopped immedaitely (although it was probably the hardest for me) and I discovered the joy of charity shops and the amazing bargains you can get. Haircuts come courtesy of freebies at training saloons which i was able to take up because I didnt have a job. my food bill has gone from god knows what (popping into M&S on the way home and grabbing what I fancied) to less than £30 a week for me and my 14 y/o niece and our cats. My gas and electric are now on meters so that has cut sinful wastefulness. I 'treat' myself occassioanlly with a deal that I find on MSE, and occassionally a managed to get out for dinner with friends using deals on booking websites and my drinking has gone down to zero.

    I've now got a job, pay is not as good, but it is still above average. My niece wants sky and a phone contract again but I'm standing my ground. We did without and I realised how much money I was wasting every week and to be honest was ashamed of myself for it.

    So my answer is yes, people should be made to cut back to essentials only if they are struggling to pay the debt that they theirselves chose to take on. Hopefully they will manage to gain an income again in the future and they may chose to pick up where they left off with their spending but hopefully like me they will see the light and realise that just because the media say we should have it actually we dont actually have to listen to them, or the jones's !
  • wotsthat wrote: »
    Dumping Sky & iPhones sounds like good advice for anyone - not just homeowners.

    Definitely agree....infact SKY should be nominated for a Green or Environmental award, after all most of their stuff is recycled from channel to channel month to month :rotfl: Ditched mine two years ago and dont miss it one bit and am £60 a month better off.
    Dont wait for your boat to come in 'Swim out and meet the bloody thing' ;)
  • FATBALLZ
    FATBALLZ Posts: 5,146 Forumite
    Although most people realise the s**t they can get into if they can't pay their mortgage, I think a lot of younger people believe it is necessary to have Sky subscription, huge TVs and iphones etc.

    And I think a lot of older people believe it is necessary to have the latest German luxury cars on finance and foreign City break holidays several times a year.
  • What a brilliant idea. I think I will cancel my landline and sell my basic PAYG mobile. Then they can't phone me :D .
    I hardly need a phone call to tell me that a rise in interest rates could make things trickier for me. I have contingency plans. One of these is to rent out the spare room. I value my privacy so I won't do that unless I really have to though.
    My mortgage sneaks up quarter by quarter anyway without base rates rising. With the recent concerns over sovereign debt and banks' liquidity, LIBOR is on a steeper rise than it has been for some time. It's not desperate yet by any means but base rates for such a mortgage are pretty meaningless if the banks are too worried to lend to each other because they don't know who is holding high levels of toxic debt. The quarterly rate is nearing 0.4% above base rate. Quarterly LIBOR is how my mortgage is calculated. Therefore, quarterly LIBOR + 2% (lender's margin) will probably be 2.9% or 3% at the next review. Hardly a high rate but +0.1% = about £6.50 on the mortgage. Fortunately I am self-employed so can usually adjust my income as needed - but there are limits to this.
  • auto-man
    auto-man Posts: 346 Forumite
    Percy1983 wrote: »
    So people should pay for Iphones and sky before there mortgage?

    I never implied any such thing. You're usually good at adding words in people's mouths, not mine. I said over general debts not a mortgage. According to all the banks that agreed to the common financial statement trigger figures, a reasonable allowance for sky, mobile and internet is allowed. Maybe you forget what century we are in.

    Go learn what you try and preach before you look any sillier. Thanks for showing MSE to be the bullying forum it is.
  • auto-man
    auto-man Posts: 346 Forumite
    I do agree he sounds more like child of the Thatcher era, I want it so I'll have it, rather than a 50 something! If you are 50+ you will remember previous recessions and if you survived that unscathed then you should have learnt that you cut your suit according to your cloth. I stand by my believe that it is logical, sky and iphones are luxuries not essentials.

    Any one on good money should have a decent rainy day fund as you should be aware that the economy has ups and downs. Perhaps when you were earnign £125K you should have put away a decent amount so that you can ride the lows with little disruption to lifestyle?

    Oh sorry. The main redundancy was in 1998. I've used my savings and had to take a loss of £47000 on a rental so yes I've done all that.

    How dare you all preach like this. It's disgusting. You do not know anything about me, all your presumptions are misguided by your own self pity. Because you're a failure you think we all are.

    I had it all, lost it all, used all my savings snd sold a flat at a huge loss to pay my debts. I now have less than £35k to show for it.

    Now, from someone that has seen it (twice) and been affected twice, I stand by my debate that the actual money advice trust and the banks agreed that entertainment, phones and Internet is allowed snd acceptable before debt repayment is assessed.

    So try again. Please though, be so kind and ask before presuming.
  • Triggles
    Triggles Posts: 2,281 Forumite
    I can see their point somewhat. But I think everyone's situation is a little different. We are dealing with debt, but we still have Virgin media (phone, internet, cable tv) and DH & I both have mobiles (although they are contract, it is £20-25 total for both generally - unless we have unexpected extra calls). We need to have the mobiles in case DS2 has a medical problem - either when out with us or when we're out and he's at school. otherwise we're trapped at home - can't take DS3 to the park or for a walk or even go grocery shopping. We don't go out (like to the movies or the pub or whatever), we don't smoke, drink occasionally, but generally something inexpensive at home.

    The internet and phone package is important as my family lives in the states, and it's the cheapest and easiest way for me to keep in contact with them (including my elderly mother who lives alone now that my father has recently passed away). It is important that I can affordably ring her regularly, as she has just gone through cancer treatment and has some other health problems - she needs the contact, and I need to be sure she is okay. I also use the internet to keep in contact with DS2's paed, OT, and speech therapist for appointments and progress reports. The cable tv is really our only entertainment, other than a Wii console and games (which I won online a month or so ago - so we didn't pay for that, or we wouldn't have that either!).

    I would be quite resistant to us cancelling our mobiles or our virgin services, simply because it's all the luxury we have. And it's relatively inexpensive entertainment costs for the cable tv when you figure the costs of someone going out maybe once a week or smoking.

    As I said, I can understand their reasoning, but at the same time, I can see where this is going to leave a bad feeling among people as well - the banks are paying out these huge funds to their own people, yet telling customers to cut back more. Not exactly leading by example, are they? (and yes, I know they're not required to, but let's face it - it's going to upset some)

    ETA: although I should point out that we don't have a mortgage, we're renting, and the rent and council tax bill ALWAYS gets paid first.
    MSE mum of DS(7), and DS(4) (and 2 adult DCs as well!)
    DFW Long haul supporters No 210
    :snow_grin Christmas 2013 is coming soon!!! :xmastree:
  • RecoveringAlcoholic
    RecoveringAlcoholic Posts: 936 Forumite
    edited 31 August 2011 at 8:45PM
    I stand by my debate that the actual money advice trust and the banks agreed that entertainment, phones and Internet is allowed snd acceptable before debt repayment is assessed.
    The April 2011 Money Advice Trust trigger figures do not have a specific allowance for entertainment. It would be included under the allowance for "Other Expenditure"

    And The Fat Cats just get Fatter.
    Living Sober.

    Some methods A.A. members have used for not drinking.

    "A simple book for complicated people"
  • anewman
    anewman Posts: 9,200
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
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    I'm always kind of amused by the fact people, no matter how much they earn, always seem to think they're not well off. The universal thing seems to be their money is actually being spent and they're over-stretching themselves when they don't need to. Often they are on things not really needed like cigarettes, booze, Sky TV, iPhones, loans for a brand new car to "keep up with the Jones's" because an 8 year old second hand car paid for outright doesn't cut it.

    Freesat and Freeview offer an acceptable number of channels to watch for me. Never been tempted with a Sky subscription as seems very expensive for what you get out of it.
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