23, and trying to clear off debts and wipe the slate clean.

truthseeker said:
Ask to physically see the paper copy of the electricity bill. I strongly suspect you are paying someones elses arrears. ESB should only be costing you 50 or 60 quid a month.
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We see the physical copy each month. Bills come to our address, we pin it on fridge, quarter the total and mark off when we've each paid our quarter. Then it gets filed away in drawer. We're definately only paying for us...it's just a big, cold house!
 
i agree but that usually is against the landlord and he/she won't let that happen and neither will the others in the house who will be out of pocket if its a bad landlord.
 
PaddyW said:
Ok, put it like this then. Say you decide to move out March 1st. So you pay your last rent on February 1st. You now have until March 1st, without anymore rent. Save your 550 though, as if you were getting ready to pay rent March 1st. So you have the 550 in hand. The day you are moving out, is the day the new person is moving in so as you're heading out the door, you get the 550 in your hand, you now have 1100 in hand. Your new deposit and month's rent is covered. Does that make sense to you?
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Not really... because I would have to pay out the new deposit and rent before moving in. They usually ask for it to secure it. So i'd have to pay that out in Feb before moving out, along with the 550 rent for Feb. So i'd be out of pocket for a month. I'd get it all back, the next month, granted. But i'd still need it available in the first place!
 
Really? I didn't pay my deposit and month's rent until the day I moved in. I'm sure if you asked, they might accommodate you on it.
 
PaddyW said:
should only be 60 euro every two months in all honesty, truthseeker. I share with three others and our last bill was 249 for two months.
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Youre dead right PaddyW - I forgot about the number of people in the place.

Lilee - you say its a big cold house - if youre not heating it by gas then what the hell is the 60 a month gas bill for - you couldnt possibly be using that amount just for cooking.

If no one is using the eircom and its just line rental then why not just stand together and refuse to pay it.
 
PaddyW said:
Really? I didn't pay my deposit and month's rent until the day I moved in. I'm sure if you asked, they might accommodate you on it.
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It's worth a shot, I guess! But yeah - i've lived in 4 places over here and always had to pay the deposit and rent in advance.
 
You can cut off the phone line and agree to pay the reconnection charge so the landlord is not out of pocket. In any case I don't understand why the landlord wants to keep it connected other than this and the new tenants in any case could pay the reconnection charge.

If your ESB bill an estimate? Did you yourself check the meter when you moved in.

Contrary to the others viewpoint I would stick with the gym if you are losing weight and it is working for you.
You say you are switching to a 0% credit card, why do you have two cards? In any case a spendaholic should cut up her credit cards to prevent impulse buys and have no cash or bank card when shopping. You will have to re educate yourself in relation to impulse buys or you will regret it in later years. Best of luck.
 
Lilee - on the figures you posted, the bi-monthly bills for ESB come to 880 euro and for Gas come to 480 euro.

There is something seriously wrong with this.
 
truthseeker said:
Youre dead right PaddyW - I forgot about the number of people in the place.

Lilee - you say its a big cold house - if youre not heating it by gas then what the hell is the 60 a month gas bill for - you couldnt possibly be using that amount just for cooking.

If no one is using the eircom and its just line rental then why not just stand together and refuse to pay it.
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I'll defo get onto the electrician/plumber about the high bills when they're in...like I say, I didn't realise the bills were higher than they should be until now!

I don't know quite what the gas bill counts for...since I don't even think we have a gas cooker. I know the hob part is defo electric, anyway. I think possibly the showers run from the gas? There are 2 en-suites and 1 main bathroom and I think mine in the attic room is pumped up from the 2nd floor bathroom. I know it's an additional add-on to the plumping, and runs differently to the others. Ah I don't know! No idea what the gas bill includes.

Eircom I think includes the broadband for the house. We were looking at getting rid of the telephone part of it and just keeping the broadband but the landlord said no. That the phone is how she contacts us in the house. We offered to give her mobile numbers but no...she needs the phone to be kept. We
 
truthseeker said:
Lilee - on the figures you posted, the bi-monthly bills for ESB come to 880 euro and for Gas come to 480 euro.

There is something seriously wrong with this.
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Yeah that's about right. That's only from the last few months bills...when I moved in last July the bills were much cheaper. But then the heat wasn't on much (if at all) then. So i'd anticipate they'll be coming down from this point on, anyway, as it gets warmer.
 
Lilee, are you writing down everything you spend in a month - i.e. beauty products, clothes, shoes etc. you must live within your means and if your friends can afford the expensive stuff don't try to copy them just to keep up with them if you know what I mean.....
 
Bronte said:
You say you are switching to a 0% credit card, why do you have two cards? In any case a spendaholic should cut up her credit cards to prevent impulse buys and have no cash or bank card when shopping. You will have to re educate yourself in relation to impulse buys or you will regret it in later years. Best of luck.
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I'd one from when I first moved over here that I no longer have the card for (the €700, one) that i'm just working on clearing off, and the €500 one I got late last year for ongoing medical expences I was needing to pay for. Ended up paying off more than I could afford, though, and needing to dip into it again. Became a bit of a sipral!

I agree with re-education though. I find if I just don't go shopping, I don't miss it! And if I DO need to go shopping, only go into those shops that I need, and not to go with a friend! Bad influences!
 
If the landlord insists on having the phone line, then let her pay for it. Check out if it says anything about the phone line in your lease?
 
PaddyW said:
If the landlord insists on having the phone line, then let her pay for it. Check out if it says anything about the phone line in your lease?
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There is no lease. It's all done on good faith. Never even met the landlord!

I think if I can just get the main ESB bill down and save back the money I save from that for a month or two and just REEALLY watch my spending for a month, i'll be able to afford a deposit and rent on a cheaper place so I can move out and forget about all the hassle with expensive/silly bills in this place!
 
I'd still refuse to pay so much for heating and leccy, especially if you're not using it that much.

But best of luck with everything
 
Just checked out our gas bill too Lilee,between 4 of us it was €188.00 for two months. So, it looks to me that the person who is working from home is leaving the gas on all day, as well as every other appliance in the house and maybe allowing the neighbours to hook up to your electricity as well. That really is absolutely scandalous.
 
Lilee did you read the meters for the Gas and ESB when you started renting, are the bills estimates? I don't understand how you don't know what the gas is used for.
 
Lilee - for the immediate situation, go home today and ask the other people you live with (or ring the landlord):
What does the electricity cover? Does it include heat? Shower pumps? Any commercial appliances running off it?
What does the gas cover - are you cooking by gas? Heating something by gas?

For the future, dont sign up to renting without a lease. Id imagine your landlord is not registered either in that case. You need to protect yourself and renting on 'good faith' while being forced to pay for a landline that no one uses and cover someone elses heating bills is not protecting yourself.

The bills you are quoting for esb and gas are astronomical - and you need to find out why. You could save yourself a fortune per month if you moved elsewhere and paid lower rent and normal bills.

In short - you are being totally ripped off.
 
Sorry guys - I went home and spoke with housemates last night - i'd got the bills round the wrong way! It was the Bord Gais that is the high one - ESB is the lower one. The gas runs the heating and two of the showers. One of them is electric.

PaddyW - yeah, i'm claming the rent allowance.
 
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