Saving for appliances and household items

MrGreen

After reading this article I thought I'd harness the power of Debt-Free wannabe board/MSE to help work out essential and non essential appliances and how much should be put aside to replace to items when they come to the end of their life, so when the time comes you can go out and get a replacement without too much trouble, rather than using places like Brighthouse or payday loans.

I did put away £12.50 a month for two years to replace my laptop so I'd have the money if/when it needed replacing, but decided to put it towards my debt. It's not essential but a regularly used item at home and life would not be the same if we didn't have it. As I'm near my debt free journey I'm looking at ways to change my behaviour so I don't ever end up in the same place I've been in for the last few years!

I realise there's not set price for any item as it depends on brands as well as whether you buy new or second hand, but I was wondering how much people put aside and for what items.

What things would you say are essential or not really essential you'd save would save for?

Here's what I've thought of so far.
Essential:
Washing machine
Cooker
Fridge freezer
Boiler

Not essential but wanted:
Computer/Laptop
Microwave
TV

rising_from_the_ashes

Have you got a figure in the Emergency Fund bit of your SOA?

I'm currently putting £25 / month into a savings account for a new boiler & £30 / month for other things.

I've never really thought about them in terms of essential / non essential - maybe as I'm already down to the essential ones!:D

I'd really struggle to be without a microwave though!

And a TV .... but you'd be able to pick one up on Free*cycle or similar to keep you going.

MrGreen

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Have you got a figure in the Emergency Fund bit of your SOA?

I didn't have an emergency fund until recently, now I nearly have £1,000.

FireWyrm

Hmmm

I've just set up a new current account with Natwest. It is bog standard, simple and has no overdraft facility. Into it, I will be paying (via DD) from the main house account, £400 a month for running costs. The idea is to separate my 'running costs' of food and petrol from my main bill paying account and to never touch the billpaying account again. I'm hoping that by budgeting, I will in fact almost never use all of that money in Natwest and since it doesnt have an overdraft, it cannot be overdrawn either. I'm going to put the excess away each month into a linked savings account and zero the natwest account on the last day of each month. Essentially, THAT ought to cover most emergencies I believe.

Why dont you do something similar? There's no reason why you cant have multiple basic accounts for different purposes.

Essentially, I intend to leave my household card at home...I cant use it if it isnt in my purse.

rising_from_the_ashes

FireWyrm wrote: »

I've just set up a new current account with Natwest. It is bog standard, simple and has no overdraft facility. Into it, I will be paying (via DD) from the main house account, £400 a month for running costs. The idea is to separate my 'running costs' of food and petrol from my main bill paying account and to never touch the billpaying account again.

Very quickly as cooking dinner:o

I have a separate account which all my d/debits bills come out of and I can honestly say it's the best bit of advice that I have ever been given - thanks DF:T

I put a set amount in each month and never, ever touch it for anything else - it also has no OD and although I have a card for it, I tore up the PIN when I got it so I can't be tempted!

It did start off with around £50 / month extra going into it (which was meant to be the emergency fund) but this has since been eaten away with new things being set up - so I do need to revisit this soon!


I also have 3 "budgeting pot" accounts - House & Car, Pets & Others (last one has fallen by the wayside a bit - too hard to get them all up & going & "in advance" IYKWIM at once so will be working on that next year!:))

I am terrible at budgeting it's always been my downfall and always why I've ended up in debt ...... again ... and again ... determined to crack it!

Tabatha_Kitten

I have just replaced my tv, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge freezer & microwave.
Dishwasher was 5yrs old, but the rest were 18 years old so I think Ive done rather well out of them.
Total cost was £2300.
I expect them all to last at least 5 years so I have divided that by 60months and I am putting away £40 per month to cover their replacements.

FireWyrm

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I have a separate account which all my d/debits bills come out of and I can honestly say it's the best bit of advice that I have ever been given - thanks DF:T

Really? I've always thought about it but could never quite get my !!!!! in gear and make it happen until now. Common sense says it should work better than a single account into which salary flows and bills go out, which is certainly the way the parents did it. In fact, the main HSBC account into which my salary goes IS actually my parents old account (long story). I've just never run like this before because it's as close to true cash only as I care to get.

Many people prefer cash and I can understand that, but I dont like the idea of carrying wads of notes around.

Back to the OP though, it seems to me that the way RFA and I have described *should* end up with a viable budgeting system which inherently has slack for 'emergencies' if you run a concurrent Savings Account and zero the balance the day before payday.

rising_from_the_ashes

FireWyrm wrote: »

Really? I've always thought about it but could never quite get my !!!!! in gear and make it happen until now.

Yup!

No worrying about d/debits coming out a few days before the month end or that there might not be enough there & they'll either bounce or you'll be charged loads. Love it!:T

McGreen it sounds as if you're doing pretty well on the emergency fund front. I'm aiming for £1500 for the boiler (based on what service engineer told me but it may bit more) so that's the really expensive one - how much depends on the pipework / sizes etc.

FireWyrm

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

McGreen it sounds as if you're doing pretty well on the emergency fund front. I'm aiming for £1500 for the boiler (based on what service engineer told me but it may bit more) so that's the really expensive one - how much depends on the pipework / sizes etc.

Its worth noting that you can buy a boiler yourself, you dont need to rely on what a service engineer will supply. The law only requires that extraction and fitting of a boiler is undertaken by a Corgi registered/Gas Safe certified engineer. You can usually engage one from the yellow pages and they only charge for their labour. The labour involved is (depending on rerouting of pipes etc) about a days work. You can buy a Valiant Boiler from Wicks for around £850 and have it fitted for you.

The likes of British Gas et al charge extorionately for what is really a pretty simple operation. I've seen it done and honestly, BG would have you think it's an archane art when it really isnt.

StressedSteph

FireWyrm wrote: »

Hmmm

I've just set up a new current account with Natwest. It is bog standard, simple and has no overdraft facility. Into it, I will be paying (via DD) from the main house account, £400 a month for running costs. The idea is to separate my 'running costs' of food and petrol from my main bill paying account and to never touch the billpaying account again. I'm hoping that by budgeting, I will in fact almost never use all of that money in Natwest and since it doesnt have an overdraft, it cannot be overdrawn either. I'm going to put the excess away each month into a linked savings account and zero the natwest account on the last day of each month. Essentially, THAT ought to cover most emergencies I believe.

Why dont you do something similar? There's no reason why you cant have multiple basic accounts for different purposes.

Essentially, I intend to leave my household card at home...I cant use it if it isnt in my purse.

Hmmm I REALLY like that idea. It would be nice to hide the card that pays the bills and just operate from online to pay bills etc.

Then use the basic account to hold any budgeted spare money for fuel, food etc. Fantastic idea.

Might try to sort that out for myself.

Thanks