It's time to attack the mortgage!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi MG, I wonder whether there is something in the air as I feel quite low today.

On the dress front, forget the money and look at the dress. Do you really like the dress, will you wear it and feel great? If its a yes, then enjoy it.

On the phone front, I am exploring GiffGaff that so many people on here have recommended them. Good deals in their web site, so maybe worth a go.

Enjoy your lunch and it's a new week today so let's both take a deep breath and start again.

Best wishes Tilly

macgirl

Ok, Sky via Quidco is £30.25 per month for HD channels and broadband. Q are giving £100 cashback and £25 M&S vouchers to sign up.
When I delved into it, it's £37 per month, plus calls and they didn't clarify the broadband package...

Virgin via Q reaps £61.75 cashback and after filling in our requirements (DH wants 100mb BB, free weekend calls and 75 channels - bit of a waste as we already have freeview), would be £16.90 for 1st 3 months, the £58.90 per month after that....

Might ring BT and see what they can offer first.

macgirl

Sorry posted before I saw yours!

Thanks Yukki, if we get sky, then I'm tempted by the box to record and of course Mad Men BUT...we survive ok now without it. The kids watch TV too much as it is and we don't really watch that much, so I'd rather hold off as long as poss.

The idea is to make it cheaper per month, so I don't want to get carried away over one series. Will need to spend time exploring all options.

Tilly I've not heard of GiffGaff, but will look into that, thanks. As for the dress, well yes I do love and will wear it for years to come, but I'm so full of justifications and really on our salaries, we should not be in debt and should have far more surplus income per month AND savings....

Sorry feeling a bit down in the dumps today (kept typing dmps, as my "u" key is playing up - hope that's not an omen! :eek:)
Right, off to give myself a good talking to, thanks for the input it's a great help

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

We are certainly in the same boat today - I know exactly what you mean about salaries, savings etc but as you have said to me in the past, at least we have woken up now.

Your post on my diary really helped me so a HUGE thank you.

In terms of keeping costs down, my DH and I are thinking of moving back to Sky for phone/broadband once our fix with BT has finished. We have uumed and aared but with their call and broadband service, it does work out cheaper. I agree though, they are all invasive, and my feelings towards them are the same as those towards tesc@.

Not sure whether this will help any of our discussions at the moment, but I worked out how many weekends I have left until my DD leaves for Uni, and it seems too few to me that we have booked a massive adventure for later in the year. She will have her GCSE results by then and we thought bugg&& it, let's just book it. So I guess what I am saying is, the same as you to me, we have to live our life as well as want to be MF. One day those incomes will actually be ours to spend :beer::j

Sending you a big hug too.

Tilly x

macgirl

Thanks Tilly :kisses3:

Yes, we have to not lose sight of our children's fleeting childhood and enjoy every second. The adventure holiday sounds fantastic :T

I've just finished a little flylady-esque whirl around the house and feel much better! I've sorted some filing (one of my February Missions) and cleared a notice board of out of date party invites (the kid's not mine sadly!) and done some washing, tumbling and sorting.

Now time to get showered and dressed and end my morning of self pity.
Onwards and thanks again for your kind words x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Yep, enough wallowing, I need to get cracking, off to prepare stuff for dinner, my ironing is complete and then I am dog walking so a pat on the back to us both, for getting stuff done, when neither of us felt up to it.

Tilly x

museumworker

Have a great day, sounds like you've had a busy and productive morning already researching various tv/broadband costs.

One thing to consider is how much it would cost to buy the things which are swinging it for you i.e. season 5 of madmen - buy it from amazon, watch it, and then resell, you would only pay a few quid that way (just noticed its not been released yet, but the principle remains!!). Or the box, you can buy a freeview+ box for around £100. So if you end up paying more to get these benefits, which over a year to 18 months would only cost a few quid a month, is that a good investment?

If you're going to save money on the basics that you do need which you could buy separately - line rental and broadband - then good on you!

ps. re: the dress, I thought there was a cooling off period for online shopping? And if it looks good and you like it, enjoy wearing it lots and make it your last purchase for a little while. 55 euros is definitely £20 quid

macgirl

I bought it abroad MW, so could take it back here - but only for a credit note. I've made my peace with that one now though, it's something I will get loads of wear from, so the cost per wear is cheap (ish).

Regarding Sky, well I'm with you. Initially I had decided to buy the box set and re-sell as I refused to get sky just for one series. Yes, we wold probably watch some of the other channels too - but do we *need* it? The answer is no. We already have freeview and that's plenty.

I am going to keep the BT line and try and get cheaper broadband. Then next stop is my mobile. I'm toying with PAYG, but I've not had that for years so weigh it up or will try and get a rocket bottom tariff and at least shave a few £'s off that.

Sepa74

HI,

Threaten to leave Or@nge, and you won't believe the deals they will offer you, especially if you are willing to pay a little towards a new phone rather than just take a free one. I've started threatening to leave each time the contract is up, and the deals just get better. I have been with them over 10 years, and I feel that they really want to keep me. It's just a pity that I have to threaten to leave to get them to do their best by me.

No deal on the open market comes anything near what they give me when I'm talking to retentions.

I'm also reassessing my televisual and other options. B7 Essentials seems like an excellent package, with Freeview, Catch up TV, hard drive to record programmes, and broadband for £20 after the introductory period. Line rental is £100 on top of that if paid up front.

The only problem is the TV and broadband contracts are for 12 months, but the land line is for 18 months which is a cunning plan to make it hard for you to leave as if you change landline at 18 months you will have paid the extra 6 months up front.

I'm currently with V1rgin and will try and get them to do me a deal that matches it. If they can't I will leave, but the problem is that although I get freeview fine, I live on a road with lots of buses and the engines interfere with the reception. V1rgin have solved that problem, but at a price.

V1rgin tried to play a dirty trick on me, but luckily I saw through it. They were going to install something for me, but got the date wrong. As an apology they offered to upgrade my TV for free for three months. I was going to accept it, when I said 'hang on, will it automatically cancel after the three months?' ... Oh said the lady, it's really easy to cancel, you just have to ring us up... :mad:

I was fuming, as you can imagine... an 'apology' that could easily have ended up costing me money had I not thought to cancel in time.

I politely told them that I would rather not accept their kind offer, but was left with a very bad taste in the mouth and would happily leave V1rgin in the dust, except for the freeview problem.

I hope you don't mind the long post!

macgirl

Not at all Sepa - thanks!

Yes, I've played the "I'm leaving" game before with Orange, so will do that again - though a friend tried it and they said "Ok"
Still I've been slack as other things have been a priority, but the phones and broadband will be tackled this week!

Thanks again for your input