Santa to blame for the credit crunch?
December 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Netmums.com surveyed 1,000 parents this year and found that around 40% are saying that Santa has had to tighten his belt too this year. Around 5% were planning to have a frank conversation with their kids and shattering the myth of Santa so that their kids don’t build false expectations.
However, nearly half of respondants claimed they would do whatever it took to ensure that their children still has a good Christmas and would deal with the consequences later. It is precisely this attitude that has caused hundreds of thousands of people to ratchet up inappropriate levels of debt in order to live out some form of ideal of being able to instantly buy the things they and their family want perceiving is as a need. “I need to get my child present X or Y (or even X and Y) for Christmas” is the refrain whilst putting the cost onto the plastic and facing the mounting debts later. Dare I suggest that the most valuable gift that we can give out children this Christmas is love, quality time and humble gifts teaching them the true value of the season as well as the importance of being financially responsible?
Plan Ahead to Save Money on Food Bills - Part One
October 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Frugal food shopping is a rapidly returning art as we all start to feel the pinch of recession. However, whilst our parents may have been well versed in this art, there are many who are not because they have never needed to be whilst cheap and plentiful food was available alongside cheap credit if the cash was not available for that week’s needs.
Top Tips for Saving Money on Shopping
- Plan your shopping list for the week ahead. Only buy the items that you need to deliver this menu. This will save money on those impulse buys that bump up your food bill and are not really necessities.
- Get to know your local butcher and fishmonger. Seeking advice on preparation methods and recipies will build a relationship that may mean a few extras get thrown into your parcel as well.
- If you have room to freeze meat or fish this can be a great way of saving money due to discount for larger quantities.
- A slow cooker can be a great investment if you are planning to buy the cheaper cuts of meat to save money. These cuts typically need long, slow cooking to make them tender and bring out the flavours.
- If it is possible to get to your supermarket in the early evening, you will find a lot of bargains on display. The store will need space for the next day’s delivery so they will mark down the price on a lot of food so as to clear the old stock. Trial and error will be needed with your local store to see what time the best bargains are put out….but the payoff is significant savings on all sorts of produce - much of which you will be able to freeze or use up within the next couple of days.
More money saving tips on shopping will follow soon….
Saving Money on Shopping
October 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Rising prices of food and the financial squeeze of higher fuel prices and increased interest rates the credit crunch are making the challenge of feeding the family on a budget increasingly challenging. None of us want to increase debt or reduce savings any more than we have to when dealing with the day to day costs of running a home …..so where do we start with meeting this challenge?
Top Tips to Save Money on Shopping
- Don’t take the kids with you when doing the daily shop. Chances are they will slip all sorts that you don’t need into the shopping basket or pester you to add unnecessary items costing you more.
- Once you have decided what you can afford for that week’s food etc, remove your debit and credit cards from your wallet and take the cash with you instead. It will keep you focussed as you walk around and you can’t spend money you don’t have with you. It is also a good way to raise awareness of how much you are spending each week.
- If the store you use has a loyalty card system, make use of it. many of these schemes give you cash back for groceries…giving you a chance to save up vouchers for Christmas or other special occasions.
- Evaluate buy one get one free deals. Will you consume all of the items before they expire or go off? The life of some fresh products can be extended by using correct storage in your fridge or Stayfresh Longer Bags. If you can get through all of the items in the deal without wastage, they can be good value for money.
- Supermarkets place the most profitable items at eye level to encourage quick sale due to convenience. Train yourself to find the item you need then look down to lower shelves and find the cheaper alternatives. Often these are just as good at a fraction of the price.
- Supermarket own brands are often just as good as the famous brand names. Items like baked beans, sweetcorn, tins of tomatoes etc are not discernably better if you buy a well known brand….sometimes the own brand item is even nicer! Try one or two own brand items per week on your family and see if they can tell the difference.
Please post your own observations on ways to save money on shopping and share them with our readers.
Saving Money on Subscriptions
October 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Ramit Sethi in his post explaining the “A la Carte method of saving money” claims that we often overspend on services that we subscribe to as, after an initial blaze of enthusiasm, usage often tapers off. At this stage it is possible to save money by paying for these services a la carte (or as we use them).
Why are subscriptions so popular?
Subscribing to a service such as cell phone, the gym, cable television, book clubs etc is often a lazy way of ensuring that, as the subscription fee whizzes out of the bank account each month, these services we enjoy using are available throughout the month so there are no worries about using them when money becomes in short supply at the end of the month. Why else would the favourite day for standing orders and direct debits be the first day of the month?
Have you thought about how subscriptions will be saving businesses money too? Think about it. They set the price of your monthly fee knowing what average use is made of the service they provide.They have reliable regular income coming in and save money on posting an invoice to you, paying clerical staff to open mail, process the payment received and chase up money owed. There is usually a 28 day cancelletion period as a minimum. It is so easy to miss that deadline …. so the business ends up entitled to extra payments from you and you are out of pocket for a service that you no longer want. Trust me…subscription systems are set up entirely to benefit the service provider whilst, on the surface, being offered as a special deal and favour to you, the customer.
How can I check the value for money that I am getting from subscriptions?
Ramit Sethi recommends cancelling all subscriptions then keeping a careful log of exactly what you have spent on each service on a pay as you go/a la carte basis.
This may be a bit extreme for some of us. You will already intuitively know which subscriptions you are not using as much as you thought you would. These are the ones to start saving money on.
A good way to start is, if your memory is good, to look back on the last month and list:
1) How many films you watched on your dvd rental scheme (by the time you posted them back and forth).
2) How many visits to the gym you made after you felt under the weather on a couple of days and the boss had you working all the hours available on some major project.
3) How many minutes of call time did you use out of that cell phone contract? If you get free calls to family would you do better on a lower contract?
If you cannot remember, make a list over the coming month. Once you have this information, find out the unit cost of each service you use if you were paying per item. Compare this with your subscription rate and, if your usage for the month being looked at was typical, you have your answer as to whether you should go a la carte or subscribe to that service.
Other ways to save money on subscriptions
1) Do you need your subscription to be at its current level or could you save money on a cheaper level? Do you, infact only watch 2 dvds per week instead of the expected 3 - 5? Could you get away with pay as you go and free family numbers instead of a contract on your cell phone?
2) A few months ago I was looking to save money on all household bills and rang around suppliers to get cheaper deals. When I contacted my suppliers and said I was considering changing, I got 20% off cable television and 33% off my cell phone contract if I stayed with my current suppliers. All businesses are eager to avoid losing custom as a result of the credit crunch and recession. Now is the time when, as a customer, you have more negotiating power. If you do your homework you can often negotiate significant savings on subscriptions and household bills….which can only help household finances.
Enjoying the Good Things in Life on a Budget
September 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The word “budgeting” is one that makes many a heart sink. It smacks of being frugal, going without the things we enjoy, possibly even missing out completely….!
It doesn’t have to be that way though. Undoubtably the rogue bill that comes in for the car or the sudden hike up in interest rates, fuel bills, food prices etc can cause a blip in household finances. However, it is still possible to enjoy the good things in life without having to completely surrender them in order to pay the bills.
“Okay, so how do I do it?”
Today’s tip suggests that you write down everything that you spend money on over the month from household bills, loans and mortgages through to the takeaway coffee grabbed on the way to the office.
That $2 dollar coffee on the way to work each day could be costing you $520 per annum. Just cutting back on that treat for 2 days a week could save money ($208 per annum).
Taking your own sandwiches and a piece of fruit to work at an approximate average daily cost of $2.32 instead of an average cost of $4.47 per day will save a total of $559 per annum.
That DVD or CD habit can really mount up….a lot of them collecting dust on the shelf and rarely being watched or listened to again. At an average cost of $14.99, choosing to buy second hand at an average price of $5.99 (if you really must own it) or renting instead at an average price of $16.99 for an unlimited rental monthly contract scheme, can give you wider options saving between $155 and $216 per annum.
Just think what you could spend just these 3 savings on alone!
Don’t even get me started on how much cutting back on a chocolate habit can save in a year! You get the picture of how it’s done……
At the end of the day, everything that we choose to spend money on is a choice….especially after basic household bills have been covered.
Tell us what you think are the best money savers in your budget and how you go about doing it. There’s a whole wealth of experience out there during the credit crunch that we can all benefit from.