Half Price Home Insurance....

At the moment Tescos have a brilliant offer on at the moment for Home Insurance. They are offering new customers 50% off the annual cost of your policy.

Get a quote here.

I think that the quotes are valid for 90 days as well so you don't even have to buy the policy straight away to benefit from the savings.

Free Orange Sim card with £5 credit....

Affordable mobiles are giving away a free orange SIM card with £5.00 credit on it.

Even if you already have a SIM card, you could get this one and only use it for Orange Wednesdays at the cinema.

Free SIM

Save £££'s on your mortgage....

We have only recently bought our new build house, we knew at the time that it was a really bad time to sell but we couldn't wait to get out of our old house. It had a leaky roof, mould on one of the downstairs walls due to the fact that the house was so poorly heated, electric storage heaters as we had no gas and loads more things that meant we could not wait to get out of there.

Anyway, we were able to part exchange and now we live in an area that I am happy to bring my kids up in and we have a house that I love coming home to every night.

The only problem with this is the fact that in order to move, we accepted a lower than expected offer on our old house and now have a higher mortgage that is fixed, so we haven't benefitted from the lowering interest rates.

We aren't in a negative equity situation at the moment and I hope that it won't come to that but just in case I want to start overpaying our mortgage as soon as we are in a position to do so. Which definately is not at the moment due to our other debt.

I can dream though can't I.... I like to look at this mortgage overpayment calculater and see how much quicker I could pay my mortgage off if I paid just £50.00 extra a month. I could save thousands in interest and reduce my mortgage term by about 3 years.

Have a look at how much you could save here, I think you will be surprised and I hope it motivates you to pay a bit extra each month.

Special Offer - Eurostar tickets to Brussels or Amsterdam....

The Daily Times are running a brilliant promotion at the moment - Return to Brussels - £90.00 for two and Return to Amsterdam - £130.00 for two tickets. You can travel between the 4th August and the 30th November this year.

In order to qualify for the special offer price, you need to have four passwords from the Daily Times or the Sunday Times. I know that yesterday's password was Explore and the Sunday Times published two passwords today, Destination and Connections. So all you need is one more password from tomorrow's newspaper. I will try and get one and let you know what it is if I do.

You can find more details about the special offer here.

Have a moneysaving break this summer!


EDIT: The remaining word that you need is chocolate.

£5.00 off when you spend £15.00 at WHSmiths

WHSmiths have a printable voucher on their website at the moment for £5.00 off when you spend £15.00 on Kids books, arts and crafts or outdoor activities.

Valid next week so its just in time for the summer holidays....

Click here for voucher.

There's also one on the same link that gives you 20% off back to school stationery but its a bit early for me to be that organised.

Save Money - Pay by Direct Debit....

I pay all of my bills by Direct Debit as I am too forgetful to remember to pay everything on time but there is one other advantage if you choose to pay your bills this way - It actually saves you money.

In fact, according to research recently completed by Bacs Payment Schemes, if you opt to pay your utility, telephone and television bills by Direct Debit rather than other methods you could save up to £230 a year.
Their findings confirm that by using the same company for your gas and electricity and making your payments by Direct Debit, you will save almost £100.00 compared to someone using different companies for their energy and paying by a different method.

The same thing applies if you get your digital TV and broadband from the same company. If you do this and pay by Direct Debit you could save around £60.00.

By paying a landline phone bill by debit, you could get an £18 yearly saving and paying a magazine subscription by Direct debit could lead to savings of up to £16 a year.

Some mobile phone companies include an extra charge on your bill if you don't pay by Direct Debit which means that you couls save a further £36 by setting up a Direct Debit to pay this bill.

Direct Debits also help you to budget as they are generally taken monthly so you know exactly how much will be coming out of your account each month and it is easier to budget for the bills as you can spread the cost.

So not only will you be more organised, you will also save money.

Make some easy extra money....

I registered with a company called Saros a few months back and they have just sent me an e mail link to a survey that they asked me to fill in for them. It took me about 20 minutes and they have just deposited £5.00 in to my Pay pal account.

You need to register with them and you will get the occasional e mail asking you to complete a quick questionnaire, usually for a £5.00 payment.

They also register your details in case they have any focus groups taking place in your area, these involve a bit more time and the payments are between £30.00 and £100.00 for this.

You can register here.

Free Cinema Tickets....

I love going to the cinema and I have posted before about cheap ways to take the kids to the pictures but I have also found a way to get some free tickets for more grown up films

Some websites offer you the opportunity to get free tickets for new releases by registering with websites such as http://www.seefilmfirst.com/ and http://www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/.


You could even get tickets for films before they’re even released as they also do show previews. Tickets are usually allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you are a Sky customer, they offer their customers free tickets to preview screenings of new movies. I haven't tried this yet but I have been told that you need to go to the sky perks area of their website and the details of the latest film offers are in there.

What if your creditors won't accept your offer....

If your creditors won't accept your proposals, contact one of the following nationally recognised debt counselling services:

• Consumer Credit Counselling Service
• The Citizens Advice Bureau

These companies are free of charge and will offer expert, unbiased assistance to help you with your financial problems. They may even contact your creditors on your behalf to arrange a reduced repayment plan.

If you are still unable to resolve your situation and have debts that are getting out of control, there are still options available to you. You could consider an IVA or Bankruptcy.

What is an IVA?

An IVA is a proposal to repay a portion of your debt, and is made to your creditors through an Insolvency Practitioner. The proposed payment will be less than the full amount of the debt owed, but if the IVA is agreed your creditors are legally bound to accept this as full and final settlement of their claim. An IVA will typically involve a monthly payment, a lump sum or a combination of the two, and can take account of irregular income such as overtime or bonuses.

How does an IVA work?

The process begins with a review of your financial situation with a debt advisor from the IVA company that is representing you. If the advisor believes that an IVA is right for you, a formal written proposal will be drafted. Your creditors will vote on this proposal, and as long as 75% (by value) of the responding creditors agree, the proposal becomes legally binding. You must then maintain your monthly payments for the length of time agreed (normally 5 years), but once these and any other terms of your arrangement have been fulfilled you will be debt-free, and any outstanding balance will be written off.

What is Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy is a way of dealing with debts that you are unable to repay. It can free you from overwhelming debt, allowing you to make a fresh start, and ensure that your assets are shared fairly among your creditors.

How does Bankruptcy work?

The process begins with a petition which details your income, outgoings, debts and assets. Your petition will be examined by the local County Court, and the court will decide whether to make a Bankruptcy Order. You may be interviewed by the Official Receiver, a civil servant who will deal with the creditors and decide what to do with assets such as vehicles and property. Your assets are usually sold: the proceeds of the sale are used to pay your creditors, and any remaining shortfall will be written off. You will be subject to certain restrictions during and after the Bankruptcy proceedings.

How much does Bankruptcy cost?

Bankruptcy costs £495, including a court fee of £150 and the Official Receiver’s fee of £345. This fee is payable when you take your petition to the court.

The pros and cons: IVA or Bankruptcy?

If you have unsecured debts of more than £12,000, and can afford a monthly payment of at least £180, an IVA can help you to be debt-free within 5 years. All interest and late payment charges will be frozen, and telephone calls and payment demands from your creditors will stop.

An IVA requires you to repay a significant amount of your debt, whereas bankruptcy requires you to repay a minimum amount (or nothing at all), and an IVA will last longer than bankruptcy (typically 5 years compared to 3). However, an IVA has less impact on your credit rating than bankruptcy, your name will not appear in the local papers, and there will be no adverse consequences for your job, regardless of your professional position.

A sample letter to send to your creditors....

If you need to contact any of your creditors to let them know that you are having trouble meeting your repayments, you could use the following letter example and just adapt it to your own situation:



Dear Sirs.

Re: Account Number - xxxx

I regret that since entering into the above agreement with you, my circumstances have changed and I am now experiencing financial difficulties. Unfortunately, I am unable to meet the agreed monthly payment because (explain difficulty e.g. lost job).

I enclose a copy of my Financial Statement. As you can see, after my essential outgoings are deducted from my monthly income, I have

Choose one of the following options:

no funds left to pay my creditors. Under the circumstances, would you please accept a token offer of payment of £1.00 per month until my situation has changed?

Or

only (Insert total amount available to pay creditors) to pay my creditors of which the pro rata offer to you will be £(Insert monthly payment amount for this creditor).

I would be grateful if you could freeze the interest charges on my account during this difficult time. It would also assist me in making my payments to you if you could arrange to send me a paying in book.

I hope that you will accept my offer and I would like to reassure you that I am making every effort to increase my income and I will contact you again as soon as my circumstances improve.

I would like to thank you for your time in considering my offer of repayment and I look forward to hearing from you shortly,

Yours faithfully

What to do if you are in financial difficulty....

Almost everyone in the UK has some sort of debt, whether it's money owed on a credit card, a bank loan or overdraft, a mortgage, or even a loan from family or friends. If you are struggling to meet your monthly repayments, and if your completed budget sheet shows that your monthly expenditure exceeds your income then you need to take action - NOW.

You will need to send each company a copy of your budget sheet along with a list of any other creditors and the amounts owed to them.

To work out how much you can afford to pay each month, calculate how much you can afford to repay overall each month and pro rata that amount for each debt.

In my next blog post, I will show you a letter you can use to contact each of your creditors. This letter details how much you can afford to pay them and lets them know that you will increase your repayments if your situation changes.

As you are being open and honest, the majority of creditors will empathise with your situation and will accept your proposals. If they don't you need to take further advice from a nationally recognised debt counslling service. There are numerous companies that will do this for you but a lot of them charge a fee - don't waste your money as companies like the CCCS or the Citizens Advice Bureau offer you advice free of charge.

Tesco - £10 off a £50 shop...

Tesco have a brilliant offer at the moment whereby new customers will get £10 off their shopping if they spend more than £50 in a single grocery shop online.

All you need to do is enter the code XX-PD96 when you complete the online checkout process.

The offer code can be used on deliveries made up until Sunday 9 August, and even taking into account the delivery charge that they will add to your bill, it will still save you.

I am a big fan of online shopping as it avoids the temptation of impulse buy.... and I need all the help I can get to avoid the many supermarket ploys to part me from my money!

www.tesco.com

Calculate your monthly budget....

Before you know which area of your budget you need to cut back on, you need to actually work out what your monthly budget is, taking into account all your income and all of your outgoings.

To do this you need to spend a quiet half hour with you recent bank statements and your bills to fill in a budget sheet. This will show all of your income and expenditure details and will help you to understand any areas of improvement.

I have made up a budget sheet here, that you are more than welcome to print out and fill in or there are stacks of different versions on line if you would rather download one to save.

When you have worked out your budget you may be surprised at the amount it says that you have left over each month - I know I was as I never have anywhere near the amount I should have! This means that you are probably spending unnecessarily, l didn't factor in what I was spending at the shop on the way to work or the treats that I was buying the kids. If this sounds like you, you should write down everything that you spend in a month or even a week and you will soon see where your money is going.

If, when its all on paper you have more going out than you have coming in then you need to take action NOW. Don't ignore it because it won't go away, in fact it will get worse.

I will post some information about financial difficulties later on this afternoon.

You don't get if you don't ask....

Do you ever get the feeling that all special offers and reduced rates are for 'new customers only'?

This may be the case with some companies but a lot of firms have special retention departments that have the authority to give existing customers comparable if not better deals.

* Ring your cable provider and tell them that you are considering cancelling and switching to an alternate provider. Tell them its because you can't afford the current price or that you can get a better deal elsewhere and you should be offered something to tempt you to stay. When I called Sky to cancel, I was offered Sky half price for 6 months!

* Speak to your internet provider and tell them that you have been offered a similar service for cheaper. I contacted AOL and my monthly package was reduced by £7.00 a month.

* Tell your credit card provider that you are thinking of balance transferring your balance elsewhere and see if they will reduce your interest rate to keep your custom.

* Mobile Phone companies offer some fantastic deals to customers who are nearing the end of their contracts. Research the best offers available and then contact them to tell them you will be cancelling when your contract expires, if they try and retain you, tell them about the best offer you have seen elsewhere and ask if they can better it.

A couple of phone calls could do wonders for your monthly budget

RAC breakdown cover for just £8.00

At the moment Quidco have a special offer on of £20 cash back on an RAC brakdown policy. Their basis cover starts at £28.00 a year so that means that you will be gettings a years breakdown cover for just £8.00!

Surely you can't get a cheaper policy than that anywhere, let alone with a reputable company like the RAC.

Check out Quidco for this and other cashback offers.

For those of you that don't know about using cashback websites, have a look through my earlier posts about it....

Reduce your phone bills....

If you need to contact a large company to make a complaint or enquiry, you may find that you have to dial an expensive 0844 or 0870 number. But there are other options that could save you lots.

Check the 'alternative number' database on the http://www.saynoto0870.com/ website: you may find a number that will connect you to the same place more cheaply.

Sales lines tend to be cheaper than enquiry or complaint lines and may even be free. Call the sales number and ask to be put through to the relevant department.

Many companies list standard numbers as an alternative that maybe dialled when you're overseas. Use these numbers from the UK simply by replacing the 44 prefix with a 0 (eg 4420 7123 XXXX becomes 020 7123 XXXX).

Buy one get one free at Pizza Express

Between now and 19 July, you can use the voucher below to get one main meal free when you buy one. You can use it at any time so its even valid on weekends!

Voucher

Enjoy

Check your purse....

An error at the Royal Mint means that a batch of 20p coins being issued without a date on.

The new 20 pence pieces are now considered to be collectors' items, with one dealer, the London Mint Office, offering £50 to anyone who finds one of these coints in their spare change.

The mistake follows the introduction of new coins bearing a fragmented image of the royal coat of arms on the reverse - or "tails" - side and a new profile of the Queen on the front. In order to accommodate the new design the date had moved to the "heads" side on 20p pieces. But one batch was produced with the new back and the old front, meaning that there was no date on one batch of coins.

They probably won't be as rare as you might think as between 50,000 and 200,000 coins were issued.

The London Mint company are offering £50 per coin but if you have a look on e bay they are selling for loads more than that and I bet if you hung on to one for a while till the furor dies down, it will be worth even more!