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

Deep_In_Debt

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

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.

You're lucky you can dry it on the radiators. I've never had a drier and don't even have central heating so drying on radiators for me is not an option. Washing line at every opportunity or just clothes airers and that's it.

SOMam

Deep_In_Debt wrote: »

You're lucky you can dry it on the radiators. I've never had a drier and don't even have central heating so drying on radiators for me is not an option. Washing line at every opportunity or just clothes airers and that's it.

Oh the endless nightmare that is dodging airers full of drying washing... :doh: It is one of the reasons why I hate winter!

Admittedly I have used a hairdryer in the past (borrowed from my sister) to dry items I needed dried quickly!

I actually miss the Laundrette I used to use but they closed due to lack of custom a longgg time ago shortly after I moved

Deep_In_Debt

SOMam wrote: »

Oh the endless nightmare that is dodging airers full of drying washing... :doh: It is one of the reasons why I hate winter!

Admittedly I have used a hairdryer in the past (borrowed from my sister) to dry items I needed dried quickly!

I actually miss the Laundrette I used to use but they closed due to lack of custom a longgg time ago shortly after I moved

I don't think that I've ever been in the position that I needed to dry stuff quickly.

However, I do know about constantly dodging close airers!

My local Laundrette is expensive but I used to save up and then just use a washer and take stuff home to dry.

theresamum2

Hi everyone i just wanted to tell you about my view of brighthouse. I started using brighouse about 6 years now when my cooker broke and they is me my fiance and my daughter who was a year old i couldn't afford to buy another cooker and i saw in the window a cooker in brighouse and was only so much a week thats what sucked me in. I have had a few more things out of brighthouse but now paying it all off and not going back cause you do pay over the odds. Its so much easier paying weekly for an item but you pay loads more than what you should. I do regret going in some ways cause do pay more but at the time i needed stuff and i have 2 daughters as well to think of its easy to go there cause you pay weekly.

SavingPennies_2

HappyMJ wrote: »

If she has the ability to spend £50 per month then if she has any sense she should be putting that £50 she's saved by buying second hand aside for the next 11 months and it'll be £550 and she can upgrade that cheap old second hand to brand new then she'll be saving £50 per month forever.

Completely agree, but this is the methodology of someone who is quite savvy with money. So many people don't have the common sense or capability to work this out, or they can but then they can't stick to saving up the £50 for 11 months. For many people they want (need?) the quick and easy fix of buying a new one from these shops.

HappyMJ

SavingPennies wrote: »

Completely agree, but this is the methodology of someone who is quite savvy with money. So many people don't have the common sense or capability to work this out, or they can but then they can't stick to saving up the £50 for 11 months. For many people they want (need?) the quick and easy fix of buying a new one from these shops.

Shops need to bring back lay-by also known as lay-away I remember years ago buying things on lay-by where you paid a weekly sum to the store and once it was paid off you could take the item home. No extra cost was involved and you could buy the item at the sale price if you couldn't afford to pay for it all in the week it was on sale. If you didn't pay one week all you did was delay getting the item by a week.

Also similar to christmas savings clubs where you pay each week and if you made all the payments (as long as it wasn't farepak) you get a christmas hamper just before christmas. Why put christmas on credit and pay twice as much over the next year when you could be making small weekly payments all year and have everything you need and not owe a penny.

Sorry I have to much financial sense about me and find it difficult to understand why people take out payday loans for a much needed night out and other very high interest rate credit cards for unnecessary items which effectively keep them in poverty for longer when all they have to do is wait until they've saved the money to get what they want. I've lived off JSA before and had plenty of money left over at the end of each week after all essential expenditure has been sorted just by minimizing wasteful spends.

SavingPennies_2

GwylimT wrote: »

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.

Maybe 50 years ago they were! Many of these things are actually - relatively speaking - a lot cheaper nowadays. So yes you can get a cheap tv (if you are happy with a small, basic model), and unless you have a lot of time on your hands (i.e. not out work for 10 hours a day) a washer, drier and freezer is essential.

[Deleted User]

SavingPennies wrote: »

and unless you have a lot of time on your hands (i.e. not out work for 10 hours a day) a washer, drier and freezer is essential.

I disagree.

I've never had a drier, and managed for a good 3 years without a freezer.

ChopinonaBudget

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I disagree.

I've never had a drier, and managed for a good 3 years without a freezer.

I've never had a drier either but can't cope without a freezer, it's essential for my daughter's specialised dietary foods, and for keeping my costs low by being able to batch cook and store the stuff I make. I've coped without a washing machine before, but I'd really struggle now, with the hours I work, to find the time or the energy to hand wash everything

Ashingtonian

Part of the reason Brighthouse etc charge such high rates is because a sizeable minority of their punters will stop paying after a few weeks and sell the item to raise money for other "stuff" (you can guess what), therefore the regular payers more than make up for the defaulters.

As has been mentioned, £200 buys perfectly good brand new washer. It would probably even be cheaper to get a PDL to pay for one than use the likes of Brighthouse if it were to be paid back within six months.