How to save money

April 26th, 2010 No comments »

Money SavingMany people are looking for ways to save money due to the difficult financial times that we’re all suffering through at the moment.  Luckily, there are many ways to save money that should help make a difference to everyone’s pockets and below are a few ideas to help get you started…

Compare prices and find the best deals – It’s important that you find the best deals on the items you’re buying before just purchasing the first one you come to. Different stores have different deals and you’ll be surprised by how much money you could save by simply shopping around. There are many ways to do this but traipsing around the shops in the high street can be tiring and take up a lot of time, the best way to compare prices is by visiting a price comparison site such as moneysupermarket.com and let them to do the hard work for you. The other great thing about checking for deals online is that there are often money off vouchers for the products you’re after and with moneysupermarket.com making sure that they “Search thousands of UK offers for the latest voucher codes and discount vouchers”, you’ll always be sure to get the best deals available.

Clear your credit card debt – One of the best things you can do to help your financial planning along the way is to clear your most expensive debts first, which usually means your credit cards. Now, credit cards offer a very convenient way to pay for goods and services but if you know you’re unable to pay off the whole balance every month then it might be worth considering a low-cost loan as an alternative. Compare the credit card offers online to make sure you know the best deal you’ll get and then decide which option would better suit you and your financial situation.

Consider a pay-as-you go mobile – If you consider your mobile phone a necessity then perhaps ask yourself whether the calls and texts to get with the package are all needed. You could buy a pay-as-you-go phone for as little as £30 and then you’d only have to pay for the odd calls and texts that you need to make.

Make a shopping list – Shopping for food is a huge part of our monthly spending, so it’s worth trying out different strategies and ideas that could help you save money. Many stores spend large amounts of money on researching what makes us buy the things we do and spend more of our hard earned money. Every effort is put into what music is playing in the background and even how fast the music is- you’d probably be surprised if you knew how much these seemingly small things can make a huge difference to what you buy and how much you spend. The best way to make sure you’re only buying the things you need is to simply make a shopping list. By planning what you need for the week ahead, you’ll make sure you don’t go buying things that take your fancy or seem like a ‘good deal’ at the time, but simply the essentials. This should mean you soon start seeing the savings mount up in no time.

A savings article brought to you by the Vouchers team at moneysupermarket.com.

Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinish/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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Bargain Baby Supplies

January 22nd, 2010 1 comment »

Its time again for one of Asda’s Baby and Toddler Events - these popular events bring together some great savings for mums.
The event runs in store and online from the 19th Jan – 6th Feb 2010 but is usually repeated later in the year.

Some of the best buys include:

Johnson’s baby toiletries from only £1 each, Nappies from £8.00 f0r a mega box and deals on baby wipes.  There are some great deals on baby essential buys such as a microwave bottle steriliser, car seats and dummies.  There are even potties for toilet training at only £1 so you can buy one for each bathroom and an extra for grandmas too !

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Bank’s Savings Compensation Scheme

December 30th, 2009 No comments »

piggybankFollowing the collapse of the Icelandic banks Kaupthing and Landsbanki, the Government raised the amount of savings protection for individual savers from £35,000 to £50,000 in October last year, which would be paid through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Instability has racked the UK banking industry since September 2007 with the nationalisation of Northern Rock, part-nationalisation of Lloyds Banking Group (including HBOS) and RBS, the collapse of Bradford & Bingley and the bailout of Alliance & Leicester by Spanish bank Santander.

Maximum compensation limits (and how to make the most of it)

All of your savings are covered up to £50,000 by the FSCS as long as they are not all held with the same savings compensation licence (see link at the top of the page). The limit on joint accounts is £100,000. These limits do not apply to money held with National Savings & Investments or Northern Rock where all of your money is 100% guaranteed by the Government.

Foreign banks compensation limits

These limits do not apply if your bank is a foreign bank operating in the UK with a higher compensation limit in its home country. For example, as of September 2008, the deposits of the Post Office and Irish banks operating in the UK such as Anglo-Irish Bank, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland, are 100% covered following an increase in compensation from the Irish government.

Essential advice: spread your savings

Due to the rule on different savings accounts with one provider, it is best to spread your savings over as many savings institutions as possible. Yet a series of mergers, takeovers, joint ventures and subsidiaries has created a confusing web for savers to negotiate. And this would have huge implications were your savings provider to go bust. If you had three accounts with the same banking group – which does not have separate compensation licences for each of its brands – instead of getting three compensation claims of £50,000, totalling £150,000, you would only get back £50,000. However, if the bank is separately authorised by the Financial Services Authority then you would get a separate compensation limit.

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Last Minute Christmas Gifts on a Budget

December 13th, 2009 No comments »

If you are a little more creative or have some time you could think about making some homemade presents. These are great for children to give to teachers, friends, grandparents etc The site Santas Postbag has a whole range of ideas for homemade festive gifts from pot plants, knitting projects and toys.

gingerbread houseEdible Christmas Gifts are always a big hit – there is a great selection of ideas at Net Mums including cakes and biscuits, savoury ideas and chocolate and sweets. Remember to have some lovely ribbon and a gift tag to make it special. Below is a simple recipe for some Gourmet Mint Chocolates.

Gourmet mint chocolates

300g white chocolate, finely chopped
½ tsp peppermint essence
50ml whipping cream
75g plain chocolate
100g clear peppermint sweets, crushed

 Arrange approximately 36 foil or paper sweet cases on a baking sheet. Place the cream and 225g of the white chocolate in a bowl set over hot water and allow to melt, mix well. Do not allow to overheat. Add the crushed peppermints and stir until melted. Place the mixture in a piping bag with a plain nozzle, and three-quarter fill the cases. Flatten the top with a wet finger. Chill until set.

 Place the remaining white chocolate in a bowl over hot water and stir until smooth. Pour into a greaseproof-paper piping bag. Melt the plain chocolate in a bowl over hot water and stir until smooth. Pour into a greaseproof-paper piping bag. Cover the tops of half of the mint sweets with white chocolate, put a blob of dark chocolate on the top and draw a cocktail stick through to give a heart shape. Cover the remaining half of the chocolates in the same way but with reversed coloured chocolates. Leave to set.

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Christmas on a budget

December 9th, 2009 2 comments »

Christmas is never an easy time of year to be saving money however we have some great ideas to help you save a few ££s this year.   Feel free to add your ideas in the comments.

pompom_christmas_tree1) Homemade Christmas cards are lovely especially if you have children, they can draw a picture, stick on some stickers and cover everything in glitter.  Try ebay for blank cards from only 10p each.  There are lots of ideas for you to try at Activity Village or have a look around the house for craft bits and pieces to use up.

2)  Christmas decorations can also be fun to make, an old favourite that is easy to make is Paper Snowflakes.  The site  Paper Snowflakes  has all the information you could ever need about making your own snowflakes with hundreds of patterns – take a look and you could have a great display in no time.

paper lanterns3)  Paper Lanterns are another fun make for the house.  You can make two lanterns out of one A4-sized sheet of paper. You could use coloured paper, but it is much more fun to take white paper and decorate your own.   Next cut the paper in half lengthways and cut a strip off the end and put it aside to make the handle. Fold in half again lengthways and make evenly spaced cuts in the paper along the folded edge to about 1cm or ½” form the edge, then unfold the paper.

cutting paper lanterns

If you want to decorate your lanterns with glitter, sequins or shiny stickers this would be the time to go for it!  Finally roll it into a cylinder. You can staple, glue or sticky tape it in place, and finally attach the handle to either side. The finished lanterns could be hung on a Christmas tree separately or stapled to a string to form a garland.

gift tags4)  Gift tags are another thing you can make quite cheaply and give the  personal touch.  There are lots of examples to download here and some home-made examples here.

What ever you decide to create have a very Merry Christmas!

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Simple Rice Pudding

November 16th, 2009 1 comment »

rice-puddingThis is one of the simplest recipes every and gets a great response everytime I make it.  It is economical as pudding rice is cheap to buy.  You can substitute cream or evaporated milk for some of the milk if you wish to make it more grown up!

Ingredients

100g pudding rice
50g sugar (you may prefer to use slightly less and add fruit or jam at end)
700ml semi-skimmed milk
pinch grated nutmeg

  • Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.
  • Wash the rice and drain well.
  • Butter an 850ml heatproof baking dish, then tip in the rice and sugar and stir through the milk.
  • Sprinkle the nutmeg over.
  • Cook for 2 hrs, stirring every 1/2 hour or so until the pudding wobbles ever so slightly when shaken.
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