Budgeting, am I doing it right?

IamZlatan

FireWyrm wrote: »

Why is your TV license only £7. Last I looked it was £12.12 per month. I also dont see council tax, or water for that matter on the list.

What do you get for your 'tenants insurance' exactly and is it the best value for money?

£145.50 / 2 = £72.75 / 12 = £6 ish, i round it up to £7.

I should point out that I live in NI, not mainland UK, so no water tax and council tax (rates over here) are the responsibility of the landlord, probably included in the rent.

Tenants insurance covers our possessions up to a certain value if there is a break in / fire etc. It also covers for accidental damage to the Landlords possessions in the house.

IamZlatan

grumbler wrote: »

144.50/12/2=£6

I don't think you meant nitpicking £1 difference.

Indeed, contents insurance for £12 p.m. is a ripoff. My building+contents costs me less than £10 p.a. after the cashback.

This could be something that I look into. We took out this policy whenever we moved into the property (coming into our 3rd year) and we just let it renew automatically. The letting agents advised we went with that company and we didnt bother looking around. For us £6 isnt such a big expense but it sounds like it could be worthwhile looking around...

FireWyrm

IamZlatan wrote: »

This could be something that I look into. We took out this policy whenever we moved into the property (coming into our 3rd year) and we just let it renew automatically. The letting agents advised we went with that company and we didnt bother looking around. For us £6 isnt such a big expense but it sounds like it could be worthwhile looking around...

It's £72 a year and probably bears some interest cost as well since you will be extended credit for the privilege of paying monthly. I know it doesnt sound much, but little expenses like that contribute to bigger problems later down the line. People keep adding little expenses like that and over time, they forget what they are for, dont check the premiums are still good value etc, which is precisely what they are counting on.

IamZlatan

FireWyrm wrote: »

It's £72 a year and probably bears some interest cost as well since you will be extended credit for the privilege of paying monthly. I know it doesnt sound much, but little expenses like that contribute to bigger problems later down the line. People keep adding little expenses like that and over time, they forget what they are for, dont check the premiums are still good value etc, which is precisely what they are counting on.

Good point. The thing is I don't remember there being an option to pay annually, we had to pick a monthly option. Knowing me I definitely would have picked the annual option, because I know it works out better. Im definitely going to have to do some investigating on this now lol

FireWyrm

IamZlatan wrote: »

Good point. The thing is I don't remember there being an option to pay annually, we had to pick a monthly option. Knowing me I definitely would have picked the annual option, because I know it works out better. Im definitely going to have to do some investigating on this now lol

There usually is but like 'free' current accounts, you have to ask for it. There is no reason why you cant pay any bill up front for a year if that entails a 'contract' of some sort. If you are tied into an insurance on a rolling year 'contract', then I would ask for the option to pay up front and I would point out that you dont 'do' credit which is what they are (usually) attempting to force on you if you pay monthly. It's a classic insurance wheeze...typically, interest on insurance is 34% which is positively userous.