Debt Free 2017

Chandelier.

Hi...

In regards to the sky bill.. I understand how hard it may be to give it up however with much haggling I reckon you could knock it down (I did this for a family member). We currently have the full package (sports,movies etc), internet and phone line for around £53 a month on a rolling contract for 12 months. We managed to get it down to this amount through haggling and reading a thread/guide on h0tukd3als and also got £50 credit. It may be worth thinking about if so reluctant to give up. It can be a bit time consuming and you do it over the live chat but it's worth it. We didn't back down until we got what we were looking for and went through about 3 different chat advisors lol.

Just thought I'd share our experience.

X

Mrs_Hainsworth

Thanks for the ideas - I think I'll be giving the skint dad challenge a go (although I will probably use a savings account as I never have cash).

Definitely going to haggle with sky!

Yesterday turned a bit spendy as I also got flights for our trip away with friends in May - £164 on the credit card :eek:

Telling myself it's OK because it was anticipated and budgeted for but I still feel pretty bad as it's more spending this month when I'm already much further into the OD than I would like

Chandelier.

Definitely take a look at the page... People were haggling for 50/60% off their bills. It's worked for me two years in a row.

EssexHebridean

Another trick with Sky is to find out who their hot competition is in your area at any given time, and then look what that supplier would offer you as a new customer. For a while round our way it was Tesco and you only had to get as far as "Te..." and they were falling over themselves to give you a deal! :rotfl:

Bear in mind also, the person on the end of the phone has no CLUE what your set up is - so even if, for example, you're in an area where you can't have a "normal" aerial, as we are, they don;t know this, so you can still use deals that require one to bargain with.

I've haggled ours down regularly over the past few years just by calling them and saying how much we like their service, and how much we don't want to leave, but that they're too expensive... Initially they go down the line of all the "extra" things they would offer to increase the value, but I just keep repeating that we wouldn't watch those things, so it wouldn't increase the value for us, at all!

Chandelier.

EH,

I've always found talking to them over livechat online got me the best offers... probably because I just leave the conversation when I'm not interested and I can think before I type where as on the phone I feel pressure lol!

Another thing as well look at what you're actually paying for .. we were paying for HD and we watch nothing in HD ha ha! Also as well as the landlines rental. We do not use it no more, only to answer incoming phone calls. If it were kept I'd be rid of it but we need it for the broad band.

EssexHebridean

Yes the landline is something we definitely can't ditch. Mobile signal where we are is not particularly reliable so it's a must for emergencies if nothing else. Agree to looking at what you're paying for with Sky and similar too!

Mrs_Hainsworth

So OH has promised me on Saturday he will haggle with sky (and potentially change provider), arrange for the car to be scrapped, cancel the car insurance and cancel his Sunday times subscription.

He's also agreed to my Christmas budget.

Mrs_Hainsworth

Happy weekend folks!

So I've just spent the last hour on the phone to Sky. I didn't go for the hard haggle but I think we got to where we want to be (as we don't really want to give up Sky). So we're keeping our existing package minus the F1 channel, 1571 voicemail and McAfee for £51.34 a month (which I reckon is about £316 per year saving).

I admit that we might have got a better deal if I'd gone in harder but the deal we've got is cheaper than the closest equivalent in our area (BT).

Now I just need to get the OH to sort out the car!

Update: After reading about lots of customers being offered bigger discounts I went on the live chat and got the price further reduced to about £45pm

Mrs_Hainsworth

OH was in charge of the meal planning this week (with instructions to try to use up what we already have as much as possible):

Saturday - Coq au vin
Sunday - Celeriac dauphinoise and greens
Monday - Parsnip molly parkin
Tuesday - Steak with roast carrots, honey and fennel
Wednesday - Butternut squash, red onion and pumpkin seed salad
Thursday - Quinoa with leeks and squash
Friday - Chickpea curry

We'll bulk out the leftover coq au vin with orzo pasta for lunches.

Total food spend this week £15.21

in_need_of_direction

You seem to be doing well so far. Getting rid of your first debt will really spur you on.