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Big Outlay This Week

March 20th, 2015 at 07:04 am

Well we got B's car serviced and looked at after the electrics failed for the second time. They couldn't give an explanation why it happened but it was time to adjust the V-drive belt (like a timing belt I guess). $450 it all came to, so we knew it would be more this time so we're ok with that.

My car insurance bill came in last week- payable April 7. My car's now 12yrs old so when the insurance was higher than last year (only by $20 but it is the principle- the car is ageing and dropping in value, so really should insurance be going up?) B decided to shop around. While I deal with the financial side of things, B deals with anything to do with the cars.

So he called up another company and looked into prices for both of our policies. Because it is our first time with this company they offered a 15% discount for both cars. The net result works out to be $333 less than what we normally pay, so we agreed to move over to them. The only thing is they are all due and payable in full so we are getting $2142 withdrawn from our accounts today.....

I looked at our finances the night before and realised we can do afford to do it. Need to slow down the outpouring of money after this though!

While it is a lot of money (thank goodness for high season!) it solves a continuing problem we have. My car is generally $700-$800 which we usually pay outright. B's car being newer however (4yrs old this yr) is generally around $1300-$1500 which is too much for us to pay outright so then we have to resort to direct debit monthly which incurs an $145 administration fee (highway robbery).

Even though we have saved money I'm not going to count this in Banking the Difference (I think we have outlaid enough at the moment), but instead starting next month I will save a monthly instalment (what we just paid divided by 12) into our mortgage offset account. So one year later we will have the full insurance amount and goodbye sky high direct debit fees, hello mortgage interest reduction!

5 Responses to “Big Outlay This Week”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1426859992

    Good plan to have the full amount for next years insurance. I do this for our vehicles which we pay every six months.

  2. chloe Says:
    1426864469

    Congrats on getting out from under the administration fee!

  3. VS_ozgirl Says:
    1426880897

    Thanks guys Smile

  4. PauletteGoddard Says:
    1426882672

    I habitually save up for semi-monthly vehicle instalments to beat the monthly fee. It is one of the few things right I do with our money. It beats having the expense sneaking up on us! Good job having the funds available for the big outlay.

  5. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1426910774

    I do the same thing - set aside money each month for paying the 6 month premium (don't have the yearly option.)

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