Biting the bullet (soa)

the_cat

The car is costing you about £1000 a year - thats a lot to pay for independance! You could be independant whenever you really wanted to by taking the occasional (non OH!) taxi and be quids in overall

My boiler service costs £65 a year. The guy will come out within a day of me phoning if it has packed in. In total over the 5 years I have had it I think it has cost about £200 in repairs. Work out how many times yours has broken down and what it would have cost...... unless it would have been over £1084 in repair bills then you have paid over the odds

Niv

FatVonD wrote: »

It's about 4 years old but they come and service it once a year and turn up if it's not working etc.

Costs about £70 for an annual service of my boiler which is less than what you pay every three months. What do they do for the other 9 months of money you give them? Its very kind of you to fund their christmas do!

Niv

HappyMJ

FatVonD wrote: »

It's about 4 years old but they come and service it once a year and turn up if it's not working etc.

A service is worth about £70 (£99 according to Npower). Any engineer will turn up if it isn't working. The failure rate for boilers is about once every 3-4 years and failure beyond economical repair requiring replacement about 15 years.

If you like the peace of mind that insurance offers then Npower offers a better deal at £15 per month with an annual gas safety check and if it fails then the most you would pay is £50 towards the call out fee.

FatVonD

Okay, boiler insurance has to go, I will book this year's annual check and then do it or at least change to the cheaper one. To be honest I just hate the thought of an independent tradesman standing there tutting and saying it's past fixing when it's something I know nothing whatsoever about but if it has to be done...

FatVonD

the_cat wrote: »

The car is costing you about £1000 a year - thats a lot to pay for independance! You could be independant whenever you really wanted to by taking the occasional (non OH!) taxi and be quids in overall

That sounds a lot as a percentage of my annual salary. I don't relish the trip to collect DS from his dad's by train during the winter (plus my car is a soft top so likely to sell better in the summer) but worth bearing in mind come spring.

Unless DH gets a different job and needs it to get to work, I've just found him a job he could apply for online, fingers crossed

harrys_dad

If you read that article I linked to earlier you will find it is the boiler insurance repair people who are much more likely to tut and say it is past fixing than an independent tradesman

RAS

FatVonD wrote: »

That sounds a lot as a percentage of my annual salary. I don't relish the trip to collect DS from his dad's by train during the winter (plus my car is a soft top so likely to sell better in the summer) but worth bearing in mind come spring.

Unless DH gets a different job and needs it to get to work, I've just found him a job he could apply for online, fingers crossed

Do you have a car club near you? Might be worth a thought?

And I agree with cat, your OH needs to start looking for part-timne salaried employment. You cannot afford him.

HappyMJ

FatVonD wrote: »

Okay, boiler insurance has to go, I will book this year's annual check and then do it or at least change to the cheaper one. To be honest I just hate the thought of an independent tradesman standing there tutting and saying it's past fixing when it's something I know nothing whatsoever about but if it has to be done...

It's actually more likely they'll do anything to get it going again. Nothing better than repeat business. If they replace it then the manufacturer warranty takes over and they can send anyone out to fix it and that will most likely not be the original RGI who fitted it therefore he'll lose business. If they fix it for you cheap you will be happy and will call them out again the next time it fails. You do need to budget for failures and repairs and should have at least £250 set aside for that whether that's in savings or available credit on a credit card or overdraft.

the_cat

FatVonD wrote: »

That sounds a lot as a percentage of my annual salary. I don't relish the trip to collect DS from his dad's by train during the winter (plus my car is a soft top so likely to sell better in the summer) but worth bearing in mind come spring.

Is there any reason why your ex can't pick up or drop off DS. Seems like something else you have got a bit too used to doing for the benefit of others. Apologies if I've got it wrong but it reads that you are the one doing ALL the to-ing and fro-ing

FatVonD

Just a quick update for those who offered advice.

I've just been accepted for a 22 month 0% deal for £7,500 which should be enough to cover the balance transfer and then I should also be able to put the tax bill on the original card and then make a second transfer. I'm then going to divide the total by 22 and make sure I am debt free by the end of it!

I had a serious chat with DH about him having to get a job so he can contribute, he wasn't happy, refused but eventually agreed to do more hours in his current job and gave me £70 that week towards bills and I plan to transfer the council tax bill to his account in the New Year.

I looked into changing to Tesco phone and internet but they don't have equipment in our area. We have discovered that we can get a picture at the front of our house with an ariel (but not the back where it cuts out every time a train goes past), the picture isn't as good as with cable but needs must so we are cancelling the TV part of our package with Virgin.

I've located our nearest Aldi and will be going there tomorrow for the first time. We also went to our nearest Morrisons the other night but it was a 7 mile drive and we had to pay for parking so we won't be doing that again!

I've not cancelled the boiler thingy yet though I will, I seem to have it sorted in my head but haven't yet taken the action. I've been pretty much frozen in indecision about whether to go down the balance transfer/loan route but hopefully now I've taken the plunge I hope I can actually be more productive.

the_cat, I do the drive to collect DS from his dad's because it was me that moved out of the area but I am a bit of a people pleaser (which is quite odd really because I don't think any of the people I'm trying to please would ever think of me like that as I can be a stroppy cow :rotfl: )