Archive for the ‘Savings’ Category
Reading – A cheap hobby or an expensive one?
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Reading – a hobby that we can all enjoy pretty much anywhere. Something that lets us indulge in many passions and experiences just by delving into the pages of a book, and we can be swept off to a palace full of dancing or an island with palm trees, or even up amongst the stars. I am an avid reader, I have a wall of books at home in my study, and you know I once sat and worked out how much my reading habit would cost me if I bought all the books I read new – trust me, it was an absolute fortune!
I’m lucky though, I have an excellent library here in Milton Keynes where I can borrow books for free, and even CD’s and films as well. There are various other ways you can read cheaply too though. For example, you could raid your friends bookcases and swap books with them. Or there are many charity shops which will sell you second hand books for anything from 10p each up to around half the price you’d pay new. (I was lucky enough to find the latest book by my favourite author in my local charity shop a few months ago – and it only cost me 50p too!), if you’re lucky you might even find you have a second hand book shop in your area – I have one near me called Daeron’s Books which specialises in second hand sci-fi and fantasy books.
If you were feeling really adventurous, you could host a book swapping party. Invite a few friends or even a lot of friends, have a drink and discuss your favourite books and swap with other people. It makes for a different and fun evening.
There are also websites for swapping books such as readitswapit.co.uk where you can choose who to swap with by looking through what they have and what they want. These can be great if your bookshelves are overflowing a bit too.
Tags: books, charity shop, money savings, reading, second hand book
Posted in Savings | 3 Comments »
Save Money While You Work
Monday, June 1st, 2009
So many of us go out to work to earn money, and we spend a lot of time at work as well as getting there and back. We think of the time we spend at work as where we’re earning money, but if you’re clever, you can make that time a time when you are saving money too.
Think about what you eat when you’re at work, and instead of buying food from the store there, or eating in a local pub or restaurant, try buying some extra bits when you go shopping and taking a packed lunch with you – it doesn’t have to add to the time you spend getting ready each day as you can always make up 5 days worth of sandwiches and freeze them ready to grab in the morning. If you prefer, you could invest in a few Tupperware containers and take yourself along a nice fresh salad or if your work provides a microwave that you can use, then there are many things from flavoured rice to ready meals that you can take along to eat for lunch often at a fraction of the cost of buying lunch at or near work each day. You could even take your lunch out and get a breath of fresh air at a local park and watch the birds or squirrels while you do so.
Clothes for work can cost a fortune, especially for women as men often just wear a shirt and black trousers. Well women, don’t forget you could just do similar, invest in a couple of decent skirts or pairs of trousers in black, and then dress them differently each day with a variety of differently coloured blouses and scarves. Your look will stay fresh, and your pocket won’t be as empty as it would if you went for full outfits each time. Sites like undertenpounds.com are well worth keeping an eye on too as they often have special offers of items which can save you money (for example, I once bought a ¾ length leather coat from this site for £9.99!)
The cost of getting to and from work each day is for many people the largest cost of the working week. So why not send out an e-mail to all your colleagues and see if anyone would like to car share. The cost of transport can be cut right down this way as there is only one car to fuel up and one to park instead of 2, 3 or even 4. You can then take it in turns to do the driving as well.
Tags: eating out, packed lunch, save money, shopping, work
Posted in Savings | 1 Comment »
Cutting communications costs
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Most people in the UK have a mobile phone, in fact there are more mobiles in the UK than there are people with over 75 million handsets but less than 62 million people.
Mobile communication is important to us and therefore the networks have great market control with charges for calls, contracts, text messages, internet use and a million and one other ways to extract our hard earned cash.
Being of the bargain hunting persona I was less than impressed when my 2 year old mobile phone began with a series of strange glitches which rendered it useless, so the great bargain phone hunt began.
The most important thing is to determine what kind of user you are before anything else. I actually don’t use my mobile that much, a few calls here and there and a few more texts. There’s little point in buying a package which gives you 500 free minutes if you are a text fanatic, or something with 100 free minutes and endless free texts if you are a prolific caller.
My monthly use on a pay as you go sim card was between £5 and £10 a month. I was determined still not to exceed that and maintain my outgoings, if I couldn’t reduce them.
So, the first thing is to find a suitable network and check the tariffs. In the ever evolving market you can choose from Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile, Orange and O2. Then there are virtual networks, like Tesco and T-Mobile, who each actually go through the primary networks, T-Mobile and O2 respectively.
You can choose from PAYG, a contract or a SIM only contract, so you really need to analyse your phone use to decide what might work out for you. If you already have one or another, check out the alternatives and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each. If you are on PAYG, check the charges packages to be sure you’re on the one which suits you best and consider ‘bolt ons’ to make best use of your money.
I searched the internet for the best deal I could get to suit my use. I needed a new handset and since I have text mad friends I thought it might be an idea to find a way to access unlimited texts. Eventually I found a deal on Quidco which would enable me to go through their site and buy a SIM only deal at £10 per month but with £60 cashback if bought online. The deal includes 500 free texts per month and 100 free call minutes, exceeding my use requirements but staying within my financial rein. In fact, using Quidco I’m saving money as the cash back means the actual outgoing is £5 per month for a year rather than £10.
You might like to take the opportunity to join Orange and make use of the cinema deal on Wednesdays, all at the price of a text.
Since I needed a new phone too I made a similar search for phone deals. After some searching I found an LG KS 360 which suited my needs and was on long term offers with Argos, Carphone Warehouse and Orange. I’d already decided I wanted to use Vodafone and bought my SIM pack, I engaged in a little legwork to play the three companies off against each other, checking who would give me the best offer. Both offers with Orange and Argos were tied into Orange so eventually I chose to buy the phone via Carphone Warehouse, therefore entirely unlocked to all networks and available to put my new card in immediately. It even came with £10 credit on a T-Mobile SIM card.
So, I can text myself silly on my new phone and I never run out, all my calls come into my 100 minutes and all for £5 per month, not a bad deal at all!
Check out the local offers on BView to make the most of your shopping opportunities.
Tags: 3, call costs, mobile phones, o2, orange, saving money, tariffs, tmobile, vodafone
Posted in General, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »
Buying reduced food at the supermarket
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Shopping for food is an expensive task, and a fairly thankless one because you have to do it over again every week. It’s especially tedious when money is tight.
There is however one way you can sometimes cut your costs substantially, but it does mean being prepared to spend some extra time and effort on things.
Every fresh food item in the UK has to have a sell by date on it. This is the date after which the supermarkets aren’t allowed to sell it. (This only applies to fresh foods, items in tins and which have best before dates work rather differently). Every day the supermarkets will have a staff member who will go round and find all the fresh food items which are going to go out of date that day, and reduce the price on them. This is to help stop wastage. If they have to throw the item away they get nothing for it. If they can sell it – even at a reduced price – then they will get something.
You can take advantage of this knowledge by watching in the various supermarkets near you to find out when they make their reductions. Most supermarkets will have two times. The first time is normally when they reduce the items down by a percentage – this varies from place to place, some will be halved, some will only reduce by 10%. This first reduction is normally done fairly early in the day. The second reduction is normally done late in the afternoon or early in the evening, and at this time they will reduce the already reduced items down some more, generally to a really low price, and if you’re around when this happens, you can take advantage and buy a lot of food very cheaply. So take the time to get to know when your local supermarkets make their reductions.
Things like bread, milk, cold meat, and much more can be frozen – if you freeze it on the day of purchase, and it’s use by date is tomorrow, then when you defrost it you will have 24 hours to use it up exactly the same as you would if you just used it when you bought it from the supermarket. The same thing applies to most products that can be frozen, check to see how long they have between the sell by and the use by date… if it’s the same date, then if you freeze it, when you defrost it you will need to eat it the same day. If it’s three days difference then you will have three days when you defrost it and so on.
You do need to be careful when doing this is to make sure you can use the item before it goes out of date, OR that it’s suitable for freezing and you have the space to store it. If you buy ten loaves of bread because they’re 10p each but only have space to freeze four of them, you’ll find yourself wasting the rest.
Tags: discounts, money saving, shelf life, smart shopping, supermarket
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Cheap days out
Monday, May 11th, 2009
We all need to take time off from the mundane sometimes, and a day out with the family often fits the bill quite well. It can get really expensive though, and when money is tight – which it is for many of us at the moment – we often cut out these trips because we think we can’t afford them. There are, however, places which are cheap or free, and often getting away even for a few hours can really revitalise us all so it’s worth doing.
One thing I like to do is to keep a list on the fridge of all the places we’d like to go that aren’t too expensive and are close enough for a day trip. I always list the price, along with opening hours, then when we want to go somewhere, I have a ready made list of places to choose from without all the hassle of having to look up to see if we can afford it.
Some places you may find which are free or cheap, are museums. All the national museums and art galleries in England are free of charge now, although if you can afford a donation this is greatly appreciated.
The government have just introduced a system so that for people over 60, and those under 16, many public swimming pools which are run by the local authority are now free entry. A trip to the swimming pool can make quite a good morning or afternoon trip. Contact your local council to find out if there’s a pool near you offering this.
Across the country there are many places from parks, to rivers and many other green areas where you can enjoy a nice walk and a picnic. Why not pack a ball and bats and invite a few friends to join you, this can make a really pleasant day out for everyone.
Most towns these days have a website with information about what’s on in that area do a search, and once you’ve found some places, look up and see what they cost. Then try looking online for discounts for them. Not everywhere will offer a discount, but you may find the odd one or two, and if you can find somewhere offering 2 for 1 on a pub lunch nearby you could even make that part of your day out.
Keep an eye open for places where a single entry fee allows you return access. Bletchley park in Milton Keynes works this way, when you have bought your ticket, you can return as many times as you like within the year without having to pay again. Also look out for places which offer reciprocal discounts. This means that if you visit one place in the group, and then visit another, if you take your ticket from the first place, you will get a discount at the second one.
Tags: art gallery, cheap day out, days out, family, museum, park
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Saving money on your holiday
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
We all enjoy a good holiday, it’s a time to relax and unwind. A time to forget the everyday cares and worries of work and home life. The problems come when paying for the holiday causes more stresses and money worries. So, with the economy the way it is currently, how can we cut the costs of travelling so we can still enjoy a holiday?
Taking a ‘discount holiday’ is one option that you could look a. This is a cheap holiday because it’s taken out of season, or at very short notice usually. Most of the larger companies like Thomas Cook, Thomson’s etc. all offer things like this, but they don’t generally advertise them in their brochures, for this sort of thing, you’ll often need to pop into a branch on the high street, or look online at their website to find what’s available. As well as these more obvious holiday companies, there are some online companies that specialise in this sort of thing, so it’s worth putting things like ‘cheap holiday’, ‘cheap holiday in Spain’ or ‘cheap holiday in USA’ into the search engines and seeing what it throws up at you, then having a good look around to see what you can find that might suit you.
Another way to do it, is to change the location of your holiday. If you normally go abroad, what about trying a holiday here in the UK instead. After all, when the weather is good here, it’s often just as nice as you’d get in France or Spain, and we have some lovely places around the country that are well worth exploring – from Cornwall and Devon in the south, to Wales in the west, Norfolk in the East and on upwards to places like the Lake District, and into Scotland.
If you want to keep it really cheap you could look at an option such as caravanning or camping. In the UK and across Europe there are many sites where you can stay for as little as £10 a night for a whole caravan or tent full of people. Obviously then you have to sort your own food out on top of this, and you’ll pay a little more if you want a site with a few more amenities, but it can prove to be a seriously cheap method of taking a break.
If you’re planning on being out and about in the cities across Europe and need somewhere to lay your head, but can’t afford to stay in expensive hotels, try looking at hostels as an option. These are a much undervalued resource these days, and many of them cater to couples and some to families too. The rooms are generally pretty basic, and unless you book a family room, you may be sharing with others, but when you can book a bed for the night from less than £10 in London, it’s something worth considering.
Tags: camping, caravan, cheap holiday, discount, holiday, hostel, Savings
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Online Discounts – Getting the best deal possible
Monday, May 4th, 2009
I don’t know about you, but when I find a discount code for something I’m planning on buying it gives me a nice warm feeling as I know I’m going to be saving some money. Sometimes though there are more than one code available because of the way some companies design things, and in order to get the best deal possible you have to calculate how much you’ll get off with each code to work out which is going to be best for you.
The other day I had one where I was buying an item online and there were two codes available. One offered me 10% off anything in the store, and free delivery, the other offered me £20 off if I was spending £100 or more. The item I was buying was £120 so I knew I could use either code. At first glance, I thought that the 10% off and free delivery was going to give me the best deal, but just to be certain I did have to do a bit of working out to see which worked out best. Here’s how I did my workings out:
Basic Price £120.
Delivery £5.95.
First Code – 10% off + Free Delivery = (£120-10%=£108) – Total Cost after Code: £108.
Second Code – £20 off = (£120-£20+£5.95) – Total cost £105.95
Not a lot in it as you can see, but if I’d used the first code – the one I’d thought would save me the most - I wouldn’t have saved quite so much money, and I do always like to save as much as possible. It’s nice having multiple discounts available, specially at the moment when we’re all trying to save as much as we can, but do make sure you do your maths carefully or you could miss out on the best deal.#
Tags: BView, discount, internet shopping, money off, money saving, online, voucher
Posted in Announcements, General, Savings, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Saving Money on doing up your home
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
…discounts, coupons & grants you can get to help you.
Decorating is an expensive business, and it can be even more expensive if you’re trying to make improvements to the house that are environmentally friendly. Don’t panic though, there are way’s you can cut the costs of all that DIY.
Government Grants
Did you know that the government wants people to put in things like cavity wall insulation, efficient water heating, and loft insulation? They do. So much so that they actually offer grants that are available to everyone to help them with the costs of installing some of these things. There are two schemes available, one is for people who are in receipt of certain benefits, and it gives a full grant to do certain things – this means that if you qualify, you could have your cavity walls filled, your loft insulated, and even a new sleeve fitted on your boiler completely free of charge! The other grant which is available is for the same sorts of items, but is available to anyone regardless of if they are on benefits or not, and could give you a discount of between 50% and 70%. You can find out about both here.
Coupons
BView has a section called ‘home and garden’ which is always worth keeping an eye on, there are coupons here for places like B&Q, Warrington Fire Surrounds, and ABC Carpets and Beds, as well as loads more places that do everything from lighting to flooring and kitchens. There’s another section on B-View which lists discounts offered by trades people too, so if you need a specialist it’s worth giving it a look, they’re not always national chains either, as BView encourages local trades people and stores to offer discounts through their site too.
Discounts
Lots of DIY shops want you to use their stores at the moment, so they’re all competing for your custom. What this means is that you will find most of them are running special weekend events where they offer discounts on one or more areas within the store, so plan your DIY with plenty of time, and you’ll be able to take advantage of these. Make sure you ask in the stores (the customer service desk is best) as well to see if there are any other discounts you can take advantage of. Some stores offer a percentage off to pensioners on a certain day of the week, and others offer a discount to people who’ve just moved home in the last few months.
Tags: BView, coupons, discounts, grants, home improvment, Savings, vouchers
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Discount Supermarkets
Monday, April 27th, 2009
When people talk about supermarkets, generally they’re talking about places like Tesco, Asda or Sainsburys (the big three). But there are lots of others, some of which are known as discount supermarkets. These discount supermarkets are stores such as Aldi, Netto and Lidl. The thing is, are they any cheaper, and if they are, does the quality of the products hold up?
It’s a good question really – after all why would they be considered discount if they weren’t cheap? Well in fact the reason that places like this can get away with charging less for some of their products isn’t just to do with the quality of the products. In fact, it’s got a lot to do with the layout and look of the store. Large well known places like Tesco make everything nice and neat and tidy, they take items from the storage rooms and transfer them from crates onto the shelves in nice neat stacks. Discount supermarkets often don’t make things quite so pretty, they take the crate and stack that on the shelf rather than taking the products from the crate first, or even just put a stack of crates in a gap on the floor and don’t even bother with shelves. This helps them to keep some of their overheads down and means that they can then pass the saving on to the customer.
Another factor that can contribute to keeping the prices lower, is that although generally they will always have certain key items, they won’t always have the same brands of everything, opting to buy whichever is cheapest at the time, and meaning you may have to opt for a brand you don’t normally buy if you want that product.
So, in conclusion if you don’t mind the store layout being a little shabbier, and you’re not too picky about brand names, then it’s probably worth giving places like this a try and seeing how you like their products. Many of them are of just as high quality, and the financial saving can make it well worth while. One thing it is worth noting though is that most of these discount supermarkets also make another big saving by charging for their carrier bags, so if you don’t want to waste money having to buy a few bits of plastic to carry everything in, make sure you pop a few of your own bags in the boot of the car to use instead.
One thing worth keeping your eye open for in this sort of store is oddball items that one wouldn’t normally expect to find here – from tents to computers, power tools to pushchairs. If a deal is good, the discount supermarket may buy a one off job lot of a product and once it’s gone, it’s gone, but while it is there, it’s often a lot cheaper than it could be bought elsewhere.
Tags: aldi, asda, BView, discount, lidl, money saving, netto, sainsburys, save, shopping, supermarket, tesco, voucher
Posted in General, Savings | 2 Comments »
Where can I get coupons from?
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Coupons are great aren’t they! Little bits of paper that let us have money off the things we’re buying. I like to keep a stock of them in the house so that I can keep my shopping bills as low as possible, but sometimes it can be quite hard to find them, so I thought I’d share with you a few of my ideas on where you can find them.
Magazines
This is a great place to start looking, especially if you already buy the magazines. Lots of manufacturers advertise in magazines and sometimes they slip in a coupon for the product as well. If you find a magazine with a lot of coupons in it that you’ll use, it can even work out that you’ve saved more money than the magazine costs, in which case why not buy an extra mag and give it to a friend (after you’ve cut the coupons out of course!).
Newspapers
I don’t know about where you live, but where I am we get three free local newspapers each week, and quite often there are leaflets inside them. To be honest most of the leaflets don’t interest me and I throw them in the bin, but do make sure you check the leaflets carefully for coupons before you ditch the bits of paper, it’s ever so easy to miss them.
Online
Some manufacturers put coupons on their website sometimes, offering money off a particular product – especially new products, or savings when you eat at their restaurant at a certain time of day, it’s well worth keeping an eye on these sites, and if they have an e-mail newsletter try signing up to that too, as some of them send coupons to registered members. There are also sites like BView who have a whole range of money off coupons listed on the site – some are ones you can print off, others are codes which can be used online, these sites are always worth bookmarking so you can come back to them if you’re buying something to check and see if you can save money.
Supermarket leaflets & products
Keep your eyes on the shelves in stores, occasionally you’ll find a product with a coupon on it – Nestle did this with their cereals a while back and had several coupons on each box. Also look out for leaflets on counters in stores too, these sometimes have discount offers in them as well.
Sharing with friends
If you have friends who like to clip coupons too, try storing up everything whether you can use it or not, and then inviting all your friends over for a cuppa and have a little swapping session.
Tags: BView, coupons, money saving, shopping, supermarkets, vouchers
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