Tag Archives: jasmine birtles

National Clear Your Clutter Day Launches in March 2016

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Jasmine Birtles to launch the UK's first National Clear Your ClutterThousands more will be booking extra holidays this summer with the riches they acquire thanks to the first national Clear Your Clutter Day on March 19.

Hoarders will be encouraged to dig out their stash of unused items and to sell them at car boot sales, on classified and free local selling sites, and even at auction houses. They will also be urged to bin useless junk and to donate knick-knacks and clothes to charity shops and the homeless. Collectors will even be shown how to upcycle other curios to make free presents for family and friends.

It is hoped that the annual scheme, called ‘Clear Your Clutter Day’, will reduce the UK’s bulging mountain of unwanted stuff and give consumers a huge financial boost so they can afford an extra fun holiday this summer.

Organiser Jasmine Birtles, the consumer finance expert, said it will also help the one-in-five UK households in “bric-a-brac bother”.

She said: “Britain has long been a nation of hoarders, with 20 per cent of households admitting to having enough clutter to fill a whole room. Most people would like to de-clutter but either don’t have the time or are overwhelmed by the task at hand.“Clear Your Clutter Day is the long-awaited catalyst to  help people live stress and clutter-free lives. It is a time when hoarders can rid themselves of useless items once and for all.”

Jasmine, the founder of Moneymagpie.com and a regular guest on BBC Breakfast, Sky News and Channel 5 News, added: “The initiative benefits every one – the hoarder, bargain hunters, and UK charities.” which takes place on Saturday, March 19, a selection of how-to articles will be added to Moneymagpie.com.

A free ebook will also be available to anyone taking part in the Clear Your Clutter Challenge. On the day itself Birtles, dubbed the ‘Queen of Cash’, will be joined by a team of experts who will host live webinars on Google+ and Periscope.

To celebrate the inaugural launch of Clear Your Clutter Day,

Jasmine’s Top Five De-Cluttering Tips:

1. Make a bid for freedom. Look on de-cluttering as gaining space and freedom rather than having to get rid of things. If you see it as gaining something you’re much more likely to throw out things you know you don’t love or need.

2. Do it space by space. Don’t try and do your whole home in one go. Do it drawer by drawer and cupboard by cupboard. Start with the easiest room in the house (probably the bathroom) and once you’ve cleared that room, give yourself a quick break and then start on the next easiest room. Once you’ve done two whole rooms you will already have more of a sense of satisfaction and control over your life which should spur you on to do more cluttered parts of the house.

3. Do it with a friend. Get a friend or family member round to help you. It will make it more fun and help you sort more of your home than you would on your own. If you’re a natural hoarder, bring in someone who loves throwing things out, so that you’re not tempted to just keep everything.

4. Use the four box rule. Get four boxes which are marked ‘throw away’, ‘charity shop’, ‘sell’ and ‘recycle’. Everything you decide not to keep should go into one of those boxes. The ‘throw away’ one is easy (although even some broken electronic items could be given away through

 

 

Twelve Top Tips To Cut Household Costs. {Money}

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January is always the cruellest month. After the Christmas blow out, funds are short and everything is more expensive. This week is supposed to be the financially toughest with Christmas credit card bills plopping through the door and just another two weeks to go till payday. Then there are the long nights and the cold weather to add to our joys!

To help, Frost has got financial expert, Jasmine Birtles, bringing you 12 practical tips on how to manage your finances and cut down your motoring costs by spending less and making a few simple changes to your routine.

So, fight back at the seasonal and economic gloom and use these tips to make the most of your money this month and for the rest of the year.

1. Save on motoring costs. Motorists are really feeling the pinch at the moment. Swap your current car for a smaller, cheaper, more fuel-efficient version. If it has very low emissions, you will also save on insurance, car tax and some residents parking schemes. Keep the tyres pumped up at all times and try to drive at a smooth, constant speed as this reduces your fuel consumption. For more information on smarter driving tips visit www.shell.co.uk/fuelsave. Making the right fuel choice can lead to significant savings each year. Shell FuelSave Unleaded & Diesel are formulated to save you up to 1 litre per tank* at no extra cost, helping you to save fuel and money every time you fill up.

2. Get as much as you can for free. Use freebie sites (wisely – there’s a lot of rubbish to sift through!) for free samples of all kinds of things. Also, get into mystery shopping for free restaurant visits and supermarket shopping trips – make sure they are legit, though, like TNS-Global.com or JKSMysteryshopping.co.uk. Get a holiday nearly free by swapping your house with someone in another country. Try the website Homeexchange.com for an amazing selection of homes all round the world.

3. Share and swap with friends and neighbours. Get together with your friends and neighbours to save money. Have a swap shop every now and then where you and your friends swap clothes, accessories and even unwanted gifts. Also, share lawnmowers, power tools and other big-ticket items with neighbours. Bulk-buy food and household goods at the Cash and Carry and share them out with neighbours so that you all end up paying less.

4. Sign up to bargains. There are loads of voucher sites and bargain newsletters that will send money-off deals and vouchers into your inbox every week. Just be discerning about which deals you go for. Sign up for free to the Moneymagpie free weekly newsletter for exclusive deals you can’t get anywhere else [http://www.moneymagpie.com/newsletter-subscription/]

5. Use loyalty cards. If you’re going to spend money you might as well get something back for it. If you use loyalty cards like the Boots Advantage card, make sure you get the most out of them. Boots commonly has ‘mega weekends’, either online or in-store where you get 1,000 extra points (worth £10). When one hits, it’s worth collecting together everything you were planning to buy in Boots to grab the excess. With fuel prices increasing, it’s worth looking at how you can save money on fuel. Shell runs a loyalty scheme, Shell Driver’s Club – you’ll receive 50 bonus points on first registration online and additional points every time you fill up at Shell. Points can be exchanged for money off Shell fuel vouchers – 500 points gets you £2.50 of vouchers.

6. Be clever with your credit cards. If you have a nasty Christmas debt on your credit cards, switch to a 0% deal such as the 17-month offer from Barclaycard or a low lifetime balance transfer card such as MBNA’s card which offers 5.9%. Or, if you pay off your debt each month, get a card that rewards you for spending. Try Barclaycard Freedom where you can earn up to 1% ‘Reward Money’ of your purchase price at over 20,000 participating retailers. You can then redeem it at participating retailers for money off at restaurants and high street retailers. Visit barclaycardfreedom.co.uk for a full list of retailers

7. Do a budget and stick to it. It sounds boring, but a budget is your family’s weapon against the money monster. You can even do it on the back of an envelope. Just add up the money that comes in each month then take away from that all the bills you have to pay to keep the roof over your head, and body and soul together. Once you know what you’ve got left over, you just divide that amount by four and make sure you don’t spend more than that each week. That will keep you out of expensive and miserable debt.

8. Make your home pay for itself. If you’re struggling to keep up with the mortgage, bring in extra cash by renting out a spare room. You can make up to £4,250 a year tax-free by doing this. Or just rent out your driveway by putting it on Parkatmyhouse.com. You could even make megabucks by offering it as a film set. Try registering with Lavishlocations.com.

9. Save on food bills. There are loads of ways of cutting down your food bill each week. Switch one meat dish per week to a vegetarian one that is cheaper. Get tips from Lovefoodhatewaste.com on how to make the most of what you’ve got. Shop at street markets as they are generally 30% cheaper than supermarkets. Go down a brand with food in tins and jars – you won’t notice the difference with most of them.

10. Shop around to save. It goes without saying that you could save £100s on your insurance, utilities and other bills by using comparison sites before you sign-up. Also, though, use sites like Pricerunner and Kelkoo to research gadgets like washing machines, TVs and lawnmowers. You can even save on removal costs by using the website Anyvan.com where ‘man-with-van’ operations and removals firms bid for your job. Find bookkeepers, lawyers and household helpers through Peopleperhour where all kinds of professionals bid for your work

11. Buy secondhand. Now that VAT is at 20%, the best way to avoid the hike is to buy things secondhand, particularly big-ticket items like cars, furniture and electronics. Use eBay, Gumtree, your local paper and family forums such as Mumsnet to buy things secondhand. Quite often, items just a few months old can be half price.

12. Be green. Get into green living and you will definitely save money. Mend clothes and gadgets where you can rather than buying new ones. Cut down on electricity, and your carbon footprint, by avoiding the tumble dryer and hanging clothes out to dry instead, using the ‘off’ switch when you’re not using electronic equipment and keeping the lid on pans when you cook.

* Based on a minimum tank size and fill up of 50 litres. Comparison between a standard gasoline and that same standard gasoline containing our instantaneous fuel economy formula; urban cycle comparison between a standard diesel and that same standard diesel containing our instantaneous fuel economy formula. Actual savings may vary according to vehicle, driving conditions and driving style.