Make sure you have the best deal available to you....With the ever rising cost of gas and electricity, we should all be making sure that we're not only getting the best deals available to us but also that we're only using what we need to use and making the best of what we do use.It sounds like a lot of work but it's really not and to be fair, you're probably already doing a lot of it and the Summer is a great time to make sure that you're doing as much as you can so you're ready for when the cold weather kicks in.The first step is to make sure you're paying as little as possible … [Read more...]
How we make room in our budget for fun….
As I've said before, my main reason for being frugal is so that I can afford to work part time and spend more time with the kids.But (there's always a but).... It's also really important to me that, as a family, we have lots of fun together and even though I know there are plenty of things we can do together that don't cost a penny, there are also lots of things we like to do together that do cost money.We allow a set amount of money each month in our budget for fun things, which could include anything from going to the pictures or bowling (doesn't happen often as it costs so much … [Read more...]
Are you paying too much Council Tax….
Council Tax makes up a large part of your monthly expenditure so wouldn't it be great if you could reduce the amount you pay, and even better if you could get a nice fat cheque at the same time?Well, maybe you can. Apparently up to 400,000 houses in the UK have been assigned to the wrong council tax band and it's really easy to check if your house is one of them. If it is, you could have your future Council Tax payments reduced and get a rebate for any past overpayments.It's basically due to the fact that when Council Tax was first introduced, the government needed every house in the … [Read more...]
Change the way you shop – savings at the supermarket….
Tonight I got some very odd looks while I was doing my shopping - It may have been because my trolley was filled with this little lot:It's for a community project at work where we're donating toiletries to some local homeless charities. We've all been asked to take in a few things and encouraged to buy value products so we get more for our money, which ultimately means that we're donating more to the charities. I bought 5 cans of shaving foam, 10 tubes of toothpaste, 5 packs of 4 toothbrushes, 8 bottles of deodorant and 8 packs of 10 razors - all things we've been told are … [Read more...]
Earn money while you spend….
To me, being frugal isn't all about saving money (although that's a definite plus ;-)), it's about maximising what we already have and increasing our income by making a bit of extra money wherever we can. There are lots of ways to do this but one of my favourite ways, and quite possibly the easiest is by earning cashback on a website called Quidco. Quidco is an online company who work with over 3000 retailers to give you the opportunity to earn cashback on your spending. It works because when you click through to a retailers website from Quidco, they earn a commission, based on the amount … [Read more...]
Pay Day Loans – No Thanks….
I must have done something bad to someone in a former life because I seem to have been placed at the top of some sort of mailing list that seems to indicate I have no money and will do anything to acquire some! I receive at least one e mail a day and one text a week from so called pay day loan companies who promise they can lend me some money to get me through to my next pay day.The e mail I've just received promised me that this particular company could make my pay day come early with an instant online approval for up to £1000 of same day cash and has a nice big green button for me to … [Read more...]
