The Insurance.

I have home insurance; I have home contents insurance. There is only one single item in our home that I insure on its own, and that is the washing machine!

I have kept it with the same insurance company, and that is the only thing that I insure with them, even when they ask me to insure other things, like my freezer, I always say, “No just the washing machine, thank you.”

The payment is taken out direct debit, every month, year in year out. At first it was cheap and it slowly crept up. I faithfully paid it, even when we had little or no money.

I have washed clothes in the bath by hand, it is not nice and vary hard work. Everything is wet, even trying to get it outside. Soaking clothes is really very heavy and tying to drip dry them outside, unless it is a heatwave, it would not dry.

About ten years ago, the washing machine broke down and the engineer took it apart, and declared, “It is broke, you will need a new one.” So, a new one was given to us.

When it broke down, recently they said, “It will be four days, then we will be with you.” That is a long time for a family to be without a washing machine. The lady at Customer Service said to me over the phone, “Does it say ‘error’ on the machine?” I replied, “No our machine is too old for any words to be on it.”

The engineer came, he was unable to fix it, he said, “It’s your drum, you need a new one.” He then booked for an engineer to arrive seven days later, by then they will have the part.

While I was waiting for the machine to be fixed, I mentioned it to a few people, about the insurance I pay each month for the machine. Most didn’t say anything, but the one person who did, he gave me food for thought, it was my brother William.

I had told all who would listen, “I now pay £17 a month, I remember when it was £12 a month.” William said, “There is no need for you to waste all that money on the insurance, what you need to do, is to stop the direct debit and instead, put aside ten pounds a month, then after a year, should your machine break down, you will have over two hundred pounds, to pay for the repair and if your machine don’t break down after two years, you will have enough to buy a new.”

I heard what he said, and he added, “You won’t do it, as you never listen.” I felt very insecure, like I had no safety net, for that is what that direct debit payment was, a safety net. And What is wrong with me taking care of my family and their wellbeing? I just wanted to make sure when the washing machine broke down, it would be one less thing for me to worry about, for the running of the house to continue to run smoothly…….

I spoke to my husband Paul about it, he agreed with William. The bills are all my responsibility, but I was glad I had Paul’s approval and backing.

It was very good to have the machine up and running again, it took the engineer an hour and twenty minutes to put the new drum in. I asked him, “How much would all this had cost if I didn’t have insurance?” He replied, “I wouldn’t know, us engineers, don’t get paid for the jobs like this, our payment is different.” I understood, but I knew it would have been Very expensive, for the two visits.

I will be back home on Tuesday, and I am off so I will leave him fabulous feedback and then I will go to the bank and stop the direct debit payments and save myself £204 a year. x