How to cut household bills and avoid inflation

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 142011
 

Cut the weekly shopping bill

Those that shop online can potentially make the biggest savings. Not only are prices often cheaper, but it’s easier to resist the temptation to put extra items in your trolley. Brand loyalty doesn’t count.

Don’t forget discount shops such as Poundland. Not everything in these shops is cheap, but if you buy branded goods such as shower gel, shampoo and toothpaste they are usually cheaper than the supermarket. For example you can regularly pick up 100ml pumps of Aquafresh toothpaste for £1, compared with £2.36 at Tesco.

Cut the cost at the pumps

Try using the website www.petrolprices.com to find the cheapest stations in your area, and take basic steps to reduce your car’s petrol consumption. The lighter the car the more efficient it is to drive, so remove top-boxes, clear out the boot and drive around with the tank as empty as your dare. (A full tank is almost as much of a burden as a hundredweight of coal).

Switch your gas and electricity

If you’re on an ordinary standard tariff, paying your bills quarterly and by cheque you could make savings of up to £250 a year simply by moving onto an online tariff and paying by monthly direct debit. Talk to your current provider about what their cheapest deals are, or better still scour the market for the best rates using one of the price comparison sites, such as www.confused.com,

Join a cashback site

Using sites like Quidco  can help save you money when shopping online. These sites pay a percentage of the commission they earn for referring you to websites – and if you are buying big-ticket financial items such as insurance, breakdown cover or a mobile phone contract, you could get back hundreds of pounds.

Look at how you pay

Cashback credit cards can reduce your overall spend – but only if you clear the balance in full each month. Avoid paying interest charges, as this will far outweigh the benefit of any “cashback”. Likewise exploit the loyalty cards offered by various retailers. Don’t simply redeem points though on the shopping at the till, look to see whether you can get more value by using them against special deals

 Posted by admin at 5:21 pm  Tagged with:

Haggle to save money

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 142011
 

It might be easy to haggle over prices when on holiday overseas, but most of us are reluctant to quibble about the cost of goods and services back home.

Research by the online shopping company InvisibleHand shows that three quarters of us are too shy to haggle for a better price in the UK, and this is costing us an average of £220 a year.

The benefit of haggling

Figures from Standard Life show that most adults have 11 financial commitments to be paid each month. Haggling on everything from insurance premiums to the cost of mobile, broadband and energy bills could, therefore, soon add up to hundreds
of pounds in savings.

Some companies are more likely to negotiate on price than others. Research from has  revealed that almost 80 per cent of Sky TV, broadband or home phone customers who tried to barter down costs secured a better deal, while 72 per cent of those who had tried to get a better deal from Virgin Media reported that they were successful.

Similarly, 73 per cent of AA customers who had haggled said they ended up with a cheaper deal on their breakdown cover.

Haggling on the high street

A number of retailers have a “price-beater promise”, which means they will match or beat any price from a competitor, an example of this would be John Lewis who has …”never knowingly undersold”.

B&Q and Comet, for example, offer to beat prices at any shop within a 10-mile radius by 10 per cent. PC World offers the same price-beating policy, but covers a 30-mile radius.

For example, if you searched for a Siemens washing machine (model WM12P360GB) while shopping at Comet, where it is priced at £542, a Kelkoo search would show it on offer at John Lewis for just £499. As Comet promises to beat the price of shops nearby by 10 per cent, it would then offer the washing machine at the relevant discount and you would save £48.

Alternatively, if you were shopping for a Sony Vaio 15.5in laptop at PC World, priced at £479, a browse through Kelkoo would show it on offer at John Lewis for just £419. As PC World promises to beat the price of high street competitors, the saving would be at least £60.

For shoppers who do not have internet access on their mobile phone, Sccope (www.sccope.com) provides a text message price comparison service. This is free of charge: the only fee comes from your service provider for sending the text.

 Posted by admin at 5:09 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Money off back to school

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 142011
 

Parents worried about the financial strain that buying a new school uniforms and kit,  can relax as the high street start their school uniform price war.

 If your one of the lucky parents who can get away with buying blazers and skirts from your local outlet, then make sure you do not leave it too late – as the size ranges can run out pretty quickly.  It is not always possible to source blazers and skirts from supermarkets and chain stores because some schools may have a very particular uniform you can only get from one shop, but you may still be able to buy suitable shirts and blouses or gym kit items cheaply in the high street.

ASDA is offering to kit your child out with a whole uniform for a flat price of £7 – so that’s a 2-pack of shirts/polos, one jumper, one skirt or pair of trousers. Sainsburys is doing a similar deal. Morrisons is offering any 2 school uniform items for £5.

Online money-saving voucher website www.Vouchercloud.com provides help for parents below.

  • 10pc off orders at School Uniform Shop (www.schooluniformshop.co.uk) with the code: vouchercloud
  • Exclusive deals at Clarks when you click through from the Vouchercloud.com website
  • 60pc off at WHSmith sale, click through Vouchercloud.com website
  • 80pc off back to school supplies at Staples click through Vouchercloud.com website
  • 50pc off stationery at Vistaprint plus free UK delivery on orders over £20 when you click through Vouchercloud.com website
  • 30pc off at Argos when you click through Vouchercloud.com website
 Posted by admin at 5:01 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Use those Money Off Vouchers

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 132011
 

From cut-price weekend breaks, to cheap theatre tickets and discounts on meals the use of discount coupons is becoming more and more widespread.

Coupon collection and use is fast becoming a national obsession. As with all national obsessions it can soon creep up on you with articles in the press and friends telling you about recent deals they managed to secure.  We have all heard about the Beauty Salon that offered 80% off manicures and was inundated with a queue down the High Street.

The popularity of websites like  www.groupon.co.uk is growing with their heavily discounted offers are triggered if a sufficient number of people log on and give their credit card details. If 1,000 people sign up for a discounted massage, everyone gets the reduced rate. If fewer than 1,000 sign up, no one gets it and no money is debited.

I was recently in Pizza Hut with my family and partly paid for the meal with a discount voucher and the Waitress told me that about 80% of customers that day had partly paid that day using Money Off vouchers.  So I think the people are becoming less and less reluctant in using these vouchers.

The way I see it is that the vouchers are the latest in a long list of money off schemes that have included Green Shield Stamps, the Co-op Divi and Luncheon Vouchers, so don’t be afraid to use them to save money.

 Posted by admin at 5:24 pm  Tagged with: ,

How to avoid those Christmas Debts

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 132011
 

Every year Christmas sees a boom in consumer spending on presents, food and drink. For some people, paying for the annual celebrations means getting into debt.

It is claimed that six million people will have borrowed money to pay for last Christmas .

They estimate it will take one million people more than six months to pay off their debts.

We asked for your questions on dealing with Christmas debt.

Children today expect all the most up-to date-gadgets for presents at Christmas time, and it can be difficult to say no especially when their friends are boasting about their latest gizmos. However, if we do succumb to their demands, then it can leave us over-committed and struggling to make ends meet after Christmas.

First of all it is important to keep up with your priority payments. Things like rent, mortgage, council tax, utility bills and food should all be paid first.

Put together a budget showing your income and expenditure. Whatever is left after paying your priorities is the amount you can offer to pay.

If the amount is less than the required minimum amount they are asking, send a copy of your budget, a list of any other creditors, and your offer of payment. Include a covering letter asking them to consider stopping all interest and charges until your circumstances improve. If they refuse your offer, send it anyway: you cannot give them money you do not have.

Avoid getting overcommitted next Christmas, try to set aside something each month to save for next year’s presents. Then set an amount you are going to spend and stick to it. Do not be pressured into spending more!

Try to set aside a Christmas budget each month, even if it is only a small amount of £40 or £50. This will help your confidence gong into the Christmas season and also help you to have the money available to pick up the Christmas gifts early if you see them at a good price, where we all know that retailers push prices up just before Christmas.  So if you see the gift that your Children want in September, buy it as the price is likely to rise.

 Posted by admin at 4:03 pm  Tagged with: ,

How to teach your children about money

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Sep 122011
 

According to the Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG), over half of British teenagers have been in debt by the time they are seventeen. There are plenty of things you can do now to make sure their finances don’t go off the rails the second that they control their own cash.

1. Give them pocket money. The average weekly pocket money received by children is £6.32. This teaches them about budgeting – as long as you don’t bail them out every time their pocket money runs out.

2. Encourage your Children to save, they can have a bank account from the age of seven, and some children’s regular savers are suitable up to 18.  If you are encouraging your children in the savings habit, you could even offer to match their savings as they put funds away for big ticket items. Make sure you fill in an R85 form so that tax is not automatically deducted from their savings.

3. Explain the different types of borrowing. If you are applying for financial products, explain to your children how they work. The sooner they understand how interest racks up if you only pay the minimum payment on a credit card, for example, the better it will be. Tell them about store card offers when you are offered them when out shopping and explain the huge %age pitfalls that come with an attractive first-purchase discount.

4. Show them how to shop around internet sites are a great place to teach teenagers about money. If you shop online for groceries, show them how to use MySupermarket to check where the cheapest deals are.

 Posted by admin at 10:18 pm  Tagged with: ,

Less saving because of higher bills

 Family Money Saving  No Responses »
Aug 012011
 

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has said that some people are saving less because they are having to pay higher household bills, figures have suggested.  The BBA said that bank deposits and savings have declined from £15.9bn, in the first 6 months of 2010 to £6.1bn in the first 6 months of 2011. 

The BBA said that various aspects of household bills have been rising during 2011, such as drivers’ fuel costs and the cost of heating the home.

Three of the big six energy suppliers have announced price rises to come into effect in the coming weeks, which could add to this trend.

However, interest rates are keeping returns for savers at relative low levels at present.  The mortgage market is also regarded as ‘weak by the BBA.

The number of home loans approved by High Street banks for house purchases in June stood at 31,747. This was up sightly on the previous month but 6% lower than in June 2010.

“Banks continue to lend for house purchase but the weak mortgage market is self-evident, although some growth is coming from the buy-to-let sector to meet demand for rental properties,” Mr Dooks said.

There was a slight pick-up in remortgaging in June compared with the previous month, the figures show.

 Posted by admin at 4:00 pm  Tagged with: , ,
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