Is there a way out of this?

KxMx

I'm never convinced by the theory that dishwashers are more economical. Many rinse before putting things into dishwasher but this water use doesn't seem to be included in the calculations!

Washing up liquid also costs less than fancy dishwasher products too. 

TheAble

Touch wood but I've been quite fortunate with our dishwasher. Bought new 8 years ago for £300 and only one repair in that time which cost £150. Use it every day overnight on the cheap rate electricity, the cheapest tablets (£1.50 for 30), keep the salt and rinse aid topped up and it does a sterling job.

I do have boiler cover on the other hand which has been worth its weight in gold over the years as I've had to have the pump replaced any number of times - no idea why. It does include a service as well.

I guess it's a case of trying to calculate if the odds are in your favour. You seem to have a temperamental appliance so could be worth keeping the insurance - or maybe cancel and start saving the premiums up for a new appliance for when it breaks the next time.

kimwp

KxMx said:

I'm never convinced by the theory that dishwashers are more economical. Many rinse before putting things into dishwasher but this water use doesn't seem to be included in the calculations!

Washing up liquid also costs less than fancy dishwasher products too. 

I scrape the food off into the bin - it's never made sense to me to put food bits down the sink or into the dishwasher.

sourcrates

The OP`s debts will require action much more far reaching than the cost of using a dishwasher I should imagine.

TheAble

sourcrates said:

The OP`s debts will require action much more far reaching than the cost of using a dishwasher I should imagine.

True enough, but the problems often accrue through long-time neglect of particulars. We could always point out again that the op shouldn't be spending £600/month on horse riding, cheerleading, petrol and mobile phones but I think that's kind of obvious.

strawb_shortcake

But the dishwasher is already costing £20 a month to maintain it via the insurance. My earlier point was the dishwasher can go rather than justifying £20 to keep fixing it. 

The most economical way of cleaning your dishes isn't really the point here

fatbelly

fatbelly said:

Familyofseven said:

@fatbelly - i’ve read through other posts about defaulting - but what actually happens? Would that mean not being able to remortgage in a year’s time? I’m looking for a full time job and might have to ask parents to do some childcare if needed - my husband is also looking for a second job so I don’t want to jump to defaulting but not sure of any other options as jobs etc take time. 

Thanks for replying! 

I understand the reluctance. You will have to see how sustainable this is with some extra income and help from parents.

Your credit rating (not score) will be being affected anyway by all the minimum payments and you will eventually fall foul of persistant debt rules. The 0% deals will dry up.

Defaults are registered after 3-6 months of missed payments and that means the whole entry drops off 6 years later.

You will always get some remortgage deal from your current lender. It will not be 2.something percent though.

Finally have you kept a record of food/housekeeping expenses? I suspect 600 is an underestimate.

You need to get this situation on to a war basis and involve everyone - partner, kids and parents.

Give a fixed period to see if you can get the indebtedness decreasing. One debt going down s no use if another is increasing at the same or greater rate.

The impending increase in mortgage rate may force your hand. Try to lock in 6 months ahead of the old rate finishing to give yourself time to plan.

Review no later than 6 months, i.e.30 June. If no progress then you need to default and choose the most suitable debt management strategy. likely to be dmp or IVA

EssexHebridean

Without wishing to get bogged down in a relatively small point, my suggestion would be to minimise waste food going in to the dishwasher, be scrupulous about running a cleaner through it once a month and ensuring that salt and rinse aid are kept topped up, and perhaps experiment with using higher quality tablets for a while to see if that makes a difference to its reliability. I would still be getting that white goods insurance cancelled though I think - and ensuring that the money gets saved into your emergency fund. Bear in mind that dishwashers are also seemingly able to be self-repaired - we had an old indesit machine for years which we several times managed to get going again thanks to YouTube tutorials and parts from the internet. Ended up keeping it running for far longer than it’s expected lifespan! 

Good work on deciding against the holiday - now your challenge is to come up with fun things to do for free that week to minimise the feeling of missing out on things. 

I’m going to - to a degree at least - defend the OP spending on the horse riding/cheerleading. Horse riding is amazing for confidence- and I would think cheerleading while being a great team environment is also good for the confidence aspect too. Once children transition into teens all too often - and particularly in the case of girls - sport goes by the wayside, and if there are sports which are being enjoyed and also have a social aspect then trying every effort to ensure they are kept up is important. I made suggestions earlier on how the riding costs may be reduced, cheerleading may we tougher, but perhaps this is where things like survey earnings could come in, to help with these “luxury” spends.  I think there was swimming costs in there too? On those, I’d say only stop swimming lessons when each child can swim competently as that really is a vital life skill. View it as that, rather than a hobby though, perhaps unless any of the children show a real aptitude for it? 

MrFrugalFever

sourcrates said:

The OP`s debts will require action much more far reaching than the cost of using a dishwasher I should imagine.

Naturally but as the old saying goes, look after your pennies and the pounds take care of themselves. When you are faced with what feels like a forced climb of mount everest worth of debt, saving £20-£30pm by finding a more efficient way to wash-up dishes plays a significant part in the journey to debt busting success.

When I was in my IVA I had to consider all aspects as trivial as this. I had a dishwasher which I found wasn't very economical (it was there when I moved in) and I was spending more on salt/tablets/electricity and water than I was on just doing a quick, measured wash in the sink. By reducing this cost, I calculated I was able to pay for my car MOT with this saving - for example.

I even cancelled my broadband package (£25pm) with TalkTalk and TV licence (£13 odd at the time), I kept swapping/upgrading my O2 mobile monthly contract to the cheapest but highest Data allowance and used my 4g network phone hotspot to stream tv/films on my £5.99pm Netflix account. Seems all very silly and trivial but needs must.

[Deleted User]

annabanana82 said:

Familyofseven said:

Thanks for all the replies. 

I’m making time to read them all and take on board suggestions! 

I’m just about to go through all the statements to see what we have been spending on. 

Decision made not to have a holiday - we had one booked for Feb but thankfully can cancel and receive a refund on the deposit. 

Our eldest daughter is only 15 but has a little part time job as pocket money for herself and to contribute towards her phone contract - I think that contribution is enough for now given her age - thankfully she seems pretty savvy with money already and is building her own savings!  

Whilst i’d been toying with cancelling the white good insurance our dishwasher had to be repaired 3 times this year which was all covered by the insurance. But something to think about going forward. 

I think someone mentioned about the children making their own way to school but unfortunately the bus is too expensive - 3 are in secondary school but the bus is around £800 per year per child for a student ticket so I take them on my way to work and pick them up when I finish - so it works for now. 

I appreciate you've got a big family and time is limited, but you can do without a dishwasher if yours were to break again. We are a family of 5 and never owned a dishwasher. 

Not owning a dishwasher is a false economy in terms of time and water. A dishwasher can use up to 10 times less water than washing things by hand.