Tag Archives: save money

Cheap and Easy Ways To Be Greener

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Doing your bit for the environment needn’t be boring and expensive. Here are Frost’s top tips.

1) Always turn lights off when you leave the room.
2) Don’t leave appliances on standby and don’t leave things plugged in when not in use. A TV on standby uses 40% of the energy it does when it’s switched on.
3) Only boil as much water as you need.
4) Have a bag for life. Always refuse plastic bags when shopping. They are not just bad for the environment, they also kill animals and wreck ocean life.
5) Turn the thermostat down. You can cut your heating bills by up to 10% by turning the thermostat down by 1C.
6) Fix leaking taps and don’t leave the water running when brushing your teeth.
7) Replace old light bulbs with new, energy-efficient ones. This will save you around £37 a year on your bill. The old ones are being phased out anyway.
8) Buy less stuff. Really, consuming less is the best thing you can do for the environment. I always get depressed when I walk past somewhere like Primark and see all their cheap clothes that will last for a few months and then go to a landfill site. Make a stand.
9) Invest in draught excluders, get your heating checked by a professional and fit a central heating thermostat so you can only heat rooms that you are in. Any expense will quickly be recouped.
10) Use eco-friendly paints when decorating. There is a range of natural paint free from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are known to cause allergies. They are non-toxic, made from renewable sources and avoid issues with damp.
11) Subscribe to The Ecologist. It’s cheap, you get a free gift and it will have lots of articles and advice on how to live a green life.

Do you have any tips on being greener? Add them below.

Have Fun On The Cheap

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In this economical climate you would be foolish to pay full price for anything. However, it can be hard to find inexpensive stuff to do now that the recession has kicked in. The answer is to have fun on the cheap. There is still fun to be had, and relatively cheaply if you look around. Frost has done the searching for you and has come up with a number of things to do without breaking your budget.

You can buy Peter Pan Tickets. I have seen it and it is an amazing experience. If you are a sports fan you can get San Diego Chargers Tickets at a reasonable price. There are few things more fun than a night of American football.

If sport is not your thing, music fans can get Celine Dion Tickets
Celine is quite the performer and that will be an experience you will never forget. If Celine is not your cup of tea you can get Rascal Flatts Tickets

If you are feeling more cultured then you can get Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tickets cheaply.

Everyone deserves to have experiences they will never forget, so just buy them at a price you can afford. Have fun!

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.