Alvin Hall gives some great money saving travel tips. Alvin mentions
http://www.bestvaluefares.co.uk/ which is brilliant for getting cheap train fares .
They have an excellent service on the site called "Cheapest fare finder"
How does it work? It shows the cheapest fares for all train operators on all routes. Select your preferred dates and times of travel to see the best value fare you can buy. By being flexible with dates and times and booking well in advance of your travel date you can often find cheaper fares.
British rapper TINCHY STRYDER turned teacher at a school in London on Thursday (04Mar10) in a bid to promote money management amongst U.K. teenagers.
The Number 1 hitmaker has become the spokesperson for the new educational campaign My Money, aimed at teaching youngsters how handle their cash.
And Stryder headed into a classroom at St Matthew Academy in the British capital to teach pupils an important lesson in finances.
He says, “I believe, whatever age you are - even kids with piggy banks - as long as you are aware of money you should understand how saving money is really important in life.
“If you’ve got something saved, as you get older saving can turn into investment.”
Vouchercloud
Cost: Free
Vouchercloud works out where you are via GPS and brings up the offers closest to where you are. 0870
Cost: Free
From 'saynoto0870.com' there's an app which lets you check for an alternative to your 0870/0845/0800 number. MORE TH>N Car Claim
Cost: Free
This app allows you to capture the key information you need when making a car insurance claim. Petrol Prices Pro
Cost: 2.99
The comprehensive app from the people behind petrolprices.com lists prices and locations of the nearest petrol stations. Nosey Parker
Cost: £1.79
Nosey Parker allows you to find the closest free parking zones.
"The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable pre-requisite for success" Brian Tracy
If your computer already has a basic Windows or Linux system pre-installed, you don't have to splash out a further £119.99 for the basic Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student edition – or even £449.99 for the professional edition. Indeed, many computer specialists claim the free OpenOffice software suite is far superior.
OpenOffice is a free office application suite available for a number of different computer operating systems.
The package is designed as a single piece of software comprising five powerful applications: Writer, its word processing software: Calc, its spreadsheet creator: Impress for creating multi-media presentations: Draw for creating simple graphics: and Base which allows you to create and maintain databases.
Draw is a great free equivalent to micrisoft Visio , it is not as good as Visio but it is free and you can do process flow diagrams on it .Visio can be around £300 think of the money you are saving
In an average house up to 20 percent of heat is lost through draughts*. To test an area simply hold the palm of your hand up against a door or window - if you feel cold air coming through, warm air is escaping. This is simple to fix and can save you hundreds on your yearly heating bill.
Fit draught excluders around all exterior doors and interior if need. Fill in any cracks or crevices on window frames, skirting boards or floors with a filler or sealant.
Closing curtains or shutters after dark fall also traps in the warm air and prevents draughts.
2.
Step 2: Turn down the thermostat
Turning your thermostat down by just 1 degree can reduce your energy consumption by over 5 percent*. You won't even notice the difference in room temperature
On the same note, don't heat rooms when you are not using them.
3.
Step 3: Hot water temperature
Your hot water thermostat needn't be higher than 60 degrees centigrade, that's 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Any higher and you will only be mixing it with cold water to cool it back down for use.
Watch the video to see all or Read the full article by clicking here
This is a video which is predominently aimed at an american audience but there is much wisdom in it .It asks a simple question are we wasting money on things that are non-essential for example Jeans? The average american woman owns 8 pairs.I would argue that many british men and women are the same do you really need that many ?
We have all been touched by the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, at the moment 3 Million people are without electricity food and water it is a disaster on an unprecented scale please please help if you can.There are various ways of contributing my belief is that donating to Unicef is an excellent way to do your bit to help the children left homeless and parentless.
"Under 18s make up almost half of Haiti's 10-million population and aid agencies are warning they are at great risk from ongoing physical and psychological trauma.
Already the country faces the highest rates of infant and child mortality in the Western hemisphere with diarrhoea, respiratory infections, tuberculosis among the leading causes of death."(From BBC)
"The earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale in Haiti causing an unfolding humanitarian crisis. Children have been killed and injured — many are in desperate need of clean water, shelter and medical help. Early reports indicate a large number of casualties and widespread damage.
The situation for Haiti was already difficult before the earthquake hit the island. Haiti is the one of the poorest countries in the world and is struggling to recover from years of violence, insecurity and massive natural disasters. More than half of the country's 9.6 million inhabitants are under 21 years of age. All children have rights — these are most at risk of being denied in emergencies. UNICEF is working to ensure that the rights of children affected in Haiti are not forgotten."
"The Chancellor, Alistair Darling recently announced the Government's latest initiative to lower energy use in the UK - the boiler scrappage scheme. Within the new boiler scrappage scheme, the Government will give you £400 towards the cost of a new efficient boiler when you trade in an old G-rated boiler."
Similar to the the car scrappage scheme, this will help households replace costly, inefficient boilers with a grant of £400 to contribute to the replacement costs.
In addition homeowners will save up to aprox £310 a year in fuel bills by replacing a less efficient boiler,
Glowworm has a helpful boiler calculator feature on its site .
People who own their homes and landords who rent homes are eligible. However, social landlords, housing associations and boiler installers are not eligible under this scheme.
The average cost of buying and installing a new boiler according to electric.co.uk is £2500.
It's a central heating calculator, a hot water calculator and a great way to find exactly what you need. Using a domestic heating calculator like this is a good starting point if you don't know too much about boilers. Click here to use the boiler calculator
To read about Glow-worm’s continued support of the scheme visit them at: www.needanewboiler.com
Have you got a bit of a heavy foot? Do you leave the golf clubs in the boot even when you do not have a game planned?
Now is time to change your habits as you can save yourself money immediately.
The new year is here and I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2010 as Edith Lovejoy Pierce said
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
With this in mind,I would like you all to make a resolution along with me to try to save more money why not ?.
