Do you have any views on rent-to-buy stores such as Brighthouse?

Kimberley

Well to be honest a Washing Machine is NOT essential. My mum does not have one and she washes her clothes, bed sheets etc by hand. When my old Washing Machine broke down I hand washed until I had the money for a new one.

SOMam

I have never used one of these kids of stores before and personally I don't like the sound of them. While I see the advantages in the cases of washing machines, cookers, etc, I don't think a

Sony 60" Wedge 3D Smart TV
From only £27.00
Representative
64.7% APR

is the right thing to provide financing for, for those with tight finances and certainly not when you end up paying DOUBLE or more to get it! If I want a TV bigger than my wall I would look at saving double the payment these companies want a week/month until I could pay it in cash and avoid the extortionate interest.

Kimberley I have done the same thing...even getting DS in to stomp on the washing in the bath for the more stubborn loads But that alone taught me to plan ahead for when appliances I rely on unexpectedly decide they don't want to play any more. My last 2 white goods have been paid for in cash within days of the original dying on me. And I must admit it is much less stressful!

GwylimT

ChopinonaBudget wrote: »

Round here, you're lucky to find a second hand washing machine for under £100, plus £35 delivery, then you have to pay for fitting.
Or from gumtree maybe you can source one for £65, but then you have to find a way of transporting it (man and van, £35 minimum?) and fitting, plus disposal of the old one)

All up front.

I would hope most people are capable of turning turn taps, otherwise they are going to be very confused by all the functions on a washing machine!

GwylimT

Someone willing to spend £1000 on a washing machine isn't hard up. If you can pay the monthly instalments you can buy one outright. Things like washing machines, tumble driers, freezers and televisions are luxuries.

sourcrates

GwylimT wrote: »

Things like washing machines, tumble driers, freezers and televisions are luxuries.

Luxuries ? really ? Wow !!!! then I must beg to differ, I would class them as essentials, maybe not the telly, but certainly the rest.
This is 2014, not 1914, my washer is 10 yrs old, if it breaks down, I repair it, likewise the dryer.
The freezer and tv however, are not built to be repaired, there are very few repairable parts on them nowadays, so if they breakdown, then the only cost effective option is replacement, but you can get a 40" Tv for less than £200, likewise a freezer for less than £100.
Yes you can live without them, but why should you ?
some people take this moneysaving lark far too far sometimes, perhaps you`d prefer us all to live in caves, and be hunter/gatherers again ????

Bonniepurple

I am lucky, as when my washing machine broke down (again) I was given one as an early birthday present by my parents. I have washed my own clothes by hand before now, but that was as a single student. I am now married and have 2 children - and am out of the house 11 hours a day due to work. Handwashing is not feasible.

I can think of many companies which prey on the poor. There is one company near me which sells "Grade Bs" - but they are only a few quid cheaper than the standard grade. Charity shops are now overpricing stuff (broken wardrobe for £90 anyone?). If you NEED (as opposed to want) something, what are the options?

FWIW, my parents still rent their TV through Radio Rentals, they used to rent their landline phone (actual handset!) through BT. Same idea.

[Deleted User]

GwylimT wrote: »

Things like washing machines, tumble driers, freezers and televisions are luxuries.

sourcrates wrote: »

Luxuries ? really ? Wow !!!! then I must beg to differ, I would class them as essentials, maybe not the telly, but certainly the rest.

While I've got a washing machine, I don't have (and never have had) a tumble drier.

If the weather is dry, my laundry goes on the washing line.

If it's raining, I hang it over the bah to dry, unless I need it urgently, in which case I fire up the CH and dry it on the radiators.

gemnomnom

ChopinonaBudget wrote: »

Round here, you're lucky to find a second hand washing machine for under £100, plus £35 delivery, then you have to pay for fitting.
Or from gumtree maybe you can source one for £65, but then you have to find a way of transporting it (man and van, £35 minimum?) and fitting, plus disposal of the old one)

All up front.

My washing machine is a second hand Bosch and it cost us £85. It was free delivery. We bought it through Gumtree, where it seemed to be such a competitive market that a few sellers were offering free delivery. We did not plan to pay for fitting as my OH was completely capable of fitting it himself. However, the delivery man fitted it for us. For the record, we live in Leeds.

I do not condone the use of hire purchase. Our council offers a welfare support scheme to replace crisis loans and through it things like beds, sofas, washing machines and fridges can be obtained.

Failing that, there are budgeting loans and short term benefit advances for those on benefits. If you are not, then there are three charities that I know of in my area (off the top of my head) that help with things like furniture and white goods. I do not imagine they are unique to our part of the world.

But even failing that, there is the last resort of washing the clothes in the bathtub and the launderette - two suggestions I have seen below and two things we did for seven months before eventually moving into a place with a washing machine.

In those same seven months we also did not have a tumble drier, freezer or television. I would not go so far as to call them luxuries but neither would I call them essential. Not having one was a lot more bearable than having one through a credit agreement with an excruciating APR. Even today, our TV is secondhand (£50) and so is our fridge freezer (£80).

When helping a homeless man set himself up, I despaired at the trap of debt he was accustomed to - constantly pawning his phone for £5 and then buying-back it back for £6. As my OH pointed out, he was effectively paying someone to have a phone.

He would blow his £140 bi-weekly JSA by day 5, latest. If there is a change that is going to come about, then I hope it takes the form of helping the worst-off to budget their money. It is a skill like any other. I know there is an auto-recorded message about the Money Advice Service whilst you ring the dole, but in cases like his where there is chronic mismanagement of money and possible mental illness... Then I almost think it should be a compulsory component of signing on... Well that's what I wished for him, anyway.

BillJones

sourcrates wrote: »

Luxuries ? really ? Wow !!!! then I must beg to differ, I would class them as essentials, maybe not the telly, but certainly the rest.

This is genuinely a problem nowadays, with people thinking that luxuries are essential. People have such a distorted sense of self-entitlement that they will object at the dry thought that they might be expected to go without things that they really have no right to expect.

What next, mobile phones, a camera, sky television?

Of course, once someone's decided that it'd be just unthinkable to not have a tumble drier, the next step will be that they justify buying one from Brighthouse, as of course, you can't wait when an essential is being missed...

sourcrates

BillJones wrote: »

This is genuinely a problem nowadays, with people thinking that luxuries are essential. People have such a distorted sense of self-entitlement that they will object at the dry thought that they might be expected to go without things that they really have no right to expect.

What next, mobile phones, a camera, sky television?

Of course, once someone's decided that it'd be just unthinkable to not have a tumble drier, the next step will be that they justify buying one from Brighthouse, as of course, you can't wait when an essential is being missed...

Ha ha ha !!!!!


This fish aint biting Billy boy :rotfl: