Postal Strike - things to do

1. Ebay - Ebayers will be badly hit, if you are a seller ensure that you offer a proof of posting (a free receipt) or a special delivery option to buyers. Keep lines of communication open to ensure that you do not get reported if an item has not been received, if it is not your fault.
2. Paying Bills - If you usually pay your bills by writing out and then posting a cheque, pay over the phone by debit card or over the counter at your bank or a Post office to ensure you don't get late payment charges.
3. Xmas Cards and Presents - Post overseas Xmas cards now. Deliver local cards by hand and send National cards as early as possible.
4. Online Shopping and Catalogue returns - return as early as possible, don't wait until your 28 days etc are almost up. Obtain proof of return from the Post Office.
5. Online Shopping and Catalogue purchases - some companies do use Royal Mail but will hopefully use Couriers if and when necessary. For your own peace of mind, keep all order receipts and order numbers.
6. Posting anything of Monetary Value or something you need to track - use special delivery or courier.
7. Post any mail via the post office do not stick anything in an overflowing or nearly full post box, for your own security.
8. Check if you have any local courier companies who do not require you to have a business account.

Tis the Season to be Jolly

I have been thinking about doing this post for the last few weeks and now I really must take the "Bull by the Horns" and talk about Christmas. The key to a successful Christmas is careful planning and spending and the more Frugal your Christmas needs to be, the more you will have to stick to these rules.

Xmas Cards & Wrapping Paper

I always buy these in the sale straight after Xmas. Boots is the best place for me, but last year I got my Christmas crackers from the local co-op, so I already have what I need, but if you don't, write down everybody you send cards to, family friends, colleagues etc
Do you send special cards to Mums and Dads and for overseas family?
Buy Cards, wrapping paper and tags from a supermarket or anywhere you have a loyalty card for i.e. Boots so that you get something back for your spend.
Buy 2nd class stamps, posting cards early means you won't need to pay out for 1st class postage making a saving of 9p per card sent.
Aim to write them out now and post on 1st December. Check postage dates for overseas and send within plenty of time.

Presents

Make a list of people you usually buy for and next to each name enter an amount you think is reasonable to spend on the person concerned i.e Mum £20, Friend £10 and stick to the budget! Once you have your total you will need to divide this over the amount of paydays you have left before Xmas i.e. a total present list of £150 would mean you having to find £50 each month for presents if you have no savings or Christmas Club money to take care of this. Certain items will become harder to get hold of, the closer you get to Christmas, remember the Wii Fit last year? well you couldn't get one for love nor money past mid November, so prioritise your list. You won't have any problems getting Grandad a jumper from M&S on Xmas Eve but may have trouble getting Little Johnny the lastest Game from Toys r us.

Once you have your list and know roughly the amount you wish to spend, don't be afraid to ask the person concerned if there is something specific they would like, within your budget. We are all grateful to recieve something we really want rather than the usual "old Tat", so to cheer yourself up, make a list of what you would like as well! My list usually consists of things like Ren Otto Rose Body Wash at £16, a reasonable price for a pressie but in my eyes a luxury, as I wouldn't spend that amount on a shower gel for myself! I always write next to the item, the place it can be bought, either a shop, online or both and then leave to my husband to sort out who is buying what.

Clothes

Need a party dress - how much would you like to spend? If on a tight budget check out asos.com click on women and then click on clearance and check out dresses or click on their outlet tab and click on dresses. I picked up a bargain party dress last week from the womens clearance section for £9! Buying now is one less pressure closer to the time. You may want something more casual for Xmas Day, jeans and a new blouse, a knitted dress? think about what you will be doing on the day, are you cooking? going out to eat? pick your outfit accordingly but if you are cooking, do invest in a cheap apron to save any fat splashes on your new clothes!

Food & Drink

Make another list!
First make a note of Dry goods i.e. tins of sweets, Xmas puddings,things that can be bought in advance then a separate list of fresh foods such as cheese, cream, dips etc.
Many supermarkets already have offers on tin sweets such as Roses or Quality Street, if they are on "buy one get free" or half price, then buy them now, I can guarantee that the special offers on these kinds of Xmas goodies will not be available come December, the same goes for Wines & Spirits. If you don't have provision for your food shopping then the best way to deal with this is to buy a few things each week on top of your usual weekly shop. Although it will make your shopping more expensive each week, it will be far easier than buying nothing and trying to scrape up £100 the week before Christmas!

I have been busy making notes and speaking to various friends and family so that I can show you some case studies for Christmas Budgeting. By doing this, I think we can all see how other people cope and what good advice we can take from other peoples situations. To finalise these case studies I will be offering Recessionista advice on how they can make any cut backs if necessary. I am also in the process of collating information on some good shopping websites so please keep checking back as I am hoping to get this all on the Blog this week if possible. If you have any great ideas of your own, please let me know!

British Gas Customers get a free Swimming Voucher

If you are still a British Gas customer (and to be honest I doubt there are many who are!), then you are eligible to get a free swimming voucher for you and the family or a friend, just click here for details.

Free Tea or Coffee at Debenhams plus money off vouchers!

Grab todays Sun (20p) for £7.64 worth of shopping coupons inc a free tea/coffee at Debenhams rests/cafes worth £1.90, valid 'til 30 Sept.

Free Clinique Lipstick at Selfridges London tomorrow only (17th Sept)

For all you London based beauties, get down to Selfridges tomorrow, where you can collect a free Lipstick from Clinique! Spend some time at the counter to receive a Lipstick consultation to qualify for your freebie in a choice of 3 colours! Offer runs throughout the day until stock runs out, so get there early! A full size Clinique Lipstick retails at £14.

Korres Cosmetic Kit originally £52 now £6.99 - great xmas gift!

Get this fantastic Korres Cosmetic Kit originally £29 (or £52 on Korres website) from halfprice perfumes for an amazing £6.99! here. This would make a great present, so start that Xmas Gift box now! Set contains Mascara, 2 eye pencils, lipgloss and eyshadow.

Freebies worth over £16 and reduced postage on Skincare at Origins

As Origins is one of my favourite skincare brands, I am always excited at their special offers and use these as an opportunity to either stock up on my own skincare favourites or to stock pile gifts for others. Origins are offering a free cleanser, serum and scrub, worth up to £20 depending on which range you choose on any purchase over £25. They have also lowered the rate of their standard delivery by £1 from £4.95 to £3.95. www.origins.co.uk

Off to Uni? get your student union card to get great discounts from selected retailers

To get discounts from a large range of retailers including Superdrug (10%), Amazon (5%), Warehouse (10%) and Miss Selfridge online (10%) apply for your student union card now at www.nus.org.uk. The card costs £10 so you will need a credit or debit card to hand, along with a picture that you can download from your computer or a webcam.

Free Digi-Box & £20 off Shopping at Tesco

The Daily Mail are back again today with their £20 off shopping at Tesco and in addition to this, are offering readers a free Digi-Box. With the Digital Switchover about to take place, every Daily Mail reader should be collecting their 60 Tokens to grab this great freebie. Don't discard the offer if you have Sky, as you may have a television in another room that you won't be able to watch once the switch over takes place or an older relative or friend that doesn't have a clue what to do regarding Digital Television and would be grateful of your unwanted Box. You need to collect 60 tokens, so if you are not already a Daily Mail reader it would be false economy to buy the paper for the next two months as you may aswell just go out and buy a Box, worth buying it today though for the £20 off groceries. Happy Shopping!

£20 off a £50 spend at very.co.uk

very.co.uk is the new name for Littlewoods Direct and they are currently offering £20 off a £50 spend on a fantastic range of Fashion including designs by Fearne Cotton and well known brands such as Yumi and Elise Ryan (see pic). Enter promo code ZQ427 at the basket page. With winter fast approaching there is no better time to take advantage of one of the best savings around and grab yourself a key piece for your winter wardrobe (chunky knit, jeans, coat, boots) or a bit of forward thinking could have you buying that Christmas Party dress now, before the financial strain of present buying and nights out take their toll!

Back to School

I must admit I have always steered away from printed name labels to put in school uniform, because of the cost. School uniform shops can be quite costly so I normally just use a biro, although have to frequently check, after washing, that the writing hasn't faded. I have also in the past used the iron labels, I used to get these from Woolworths but have no idea where I would get them now and they weren't that effective anyway!
So you can imagine my joy when I picked up the Laptop and the first thing I saw was printed name labels on ebay for £1.20 for 72 labels with only 99p postage, next day despatch and you can choose from four different colours and four different fonts, check out the link here

5 Things to help Women boost their financial position in Retirement and other information regarding pensions, mortgages etc at any age"

According to The Times, Money Central, here are five things women can do to boost their financial position in retirement, although I would have put "Secure a Fair Divorce" and "never give up your rights to half of your ex husbands pension, if he has one", at the top of the list!

1) Ensure entitlement to the full state pension

From April 6, 2010 both men and women will need to have 30 qualifying years to claim the full basic state pension. It makes sense to get as near as possible to the minimum figure, so as to be entitled to a full basic state pension, currently £95.25 per week for a single person.

2) Pay into a private pension

Even if you have no income a husband or civil partner can pay up to £2,880 into a pension for you each year. With basic rate tax relief, the contribution is worth £3,600.

3) Make the most of Individual Savings Accounts (Isas).

Contribute as much as you can to stocks and shares Isas. If you invested your full annual Isa allowance, soon to be boosted to £10,200, for the next 25 years, this would build up to a nest-egg of £511,157, assuming real growth of 5 per cent. You can cash Isas in at any time and also take an income from them. Your savings build up in a tax-privileged environment.

4) Secure a fair divorce

Ensure that any husband's pension is properly valued when splitting assets and consider splitting a pension rather than giving up all rights to it in exchange for the matrimonial home.

5) Make the most of tax breaks

Women who are higher-rate taxpayers should make the most of the higher rate tax relief that applies to pension contributions. This means that every £1,000 put into your pension costs you only £600.

Recessionista advice in addition to this: be careful if you have a private pension. I can only quote from experience of a relative of mine, who lives in a Council Property, is in receipt of a State Pension and a small NHS pension. When disabilty meant that the person concerned could no longer bath, they went through a lengthy process of trying to get the Council to put in, a walk in shower. Eventually the work was done, a couple of years back now, but they had to pay £1,000 of their own money towards it. It seems the more money you have, the less you are entitled to from the State, a real catch twenty two situation, as they still have to pay towards their Council Rent and still pay Council Tax, although they do get a reduction. So unless you have a big pension and real financial security set up for old age, I wouldn't bother trying to do anything on a small scale, as you will dip out when you reach retirement age. I also know another elderly person who at 76 years of age, still pays her own mortgage, because once, many years ago (37 in fact) she split up with her husband who had once remortgaged the property and Income Support does not pay anything towards a re-mortgage, they only pay interest on the original amount borrowed to purchase the property, so if you borrowed 20,000, 10 years ago to get a new kitchen and a conservatory for example, they would never pay the interest on that amount. Also, don't be fooled into thinking if you don't fit the above criteria, you won't get a full state pension, all that will happen is your money will get topped up with Income Support so that you will still get the same amount to live on.

Creamy Mushroom Pasta - Simple money saving supper that can use up leftovers

Cook 200g of spagetti according to packet instructions. When pasta is cooked, drain well and set aside. Put the pan back on the heat and add 5 or 6 chopped button or any mushrooms. After a few minutes add 150g of diced ham, 150ml of cream, 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese and warm through. Return pasta to the pan, stir and season. Sprinkle with chopped chives or parsley if you have them or more parmesan if you don't. Serves 2. A quick, easy and delicious supper that can use up a few left over mushrooms and any ham you have nearing its use by date.

A womans right to shoes

Lots of Fashionista's and Fashion Blogs I read, were going crazy for the Christian Louboutin sale at The Outnet yesterday and if you missed my shout out on Twitter, then you will be pleased to know that there are still some styles left in stock, but be quick they won't last much longer! As the Recessionista has mentioned before, if you only buy one pair of evening shoes, go for black or a metallic colour, like these fab silver ones, Original Price £415 Now £166 60% off! They will be a fab wardrobe staple and last you for years - investment dressing at its best!

Feeling Richer for being poorer

Have a read of this article from the mail online

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1206073/Why-Im-richer-poorer.html

5 Things to be grateful for this weekend

Now I don't normally do posts like this, but I dropped by at a new blog I have found www.apieceofwood.co.uk and liked her post on 5 things to be grateful for this weekend and decided I would participate!

1. In light of yesterdays post regarding food shopping, I logged on last night to check my email and had a £10 voucher from Sainsburys off of my next online shopping spend over £50! So I am really grateful for that!

2. I am grateful for the Alex Curran wedges I have ordered off Amazon for £24 (although they haven't arrived yet). See post from earlier this week.

3. I too, am grateful for the weather, the lack of a holiday this year was getting me down, but if the sun is shining I don't feel quite so bad about it (still want one though).

4. I am grateful that August is a busy month for me workwise, as come September things will really die down.

5. I am grateful, as ever, for the health of my family and for my beautiful children.

Changing the way we do Food Shopping

I had already made a decision about the weekly shop this morning before friend S rang and said she was going to Aldi today. I had been thinking back to when I was a child and my Mother used to go to the Butcher, the Baker and the Greengrocer for her shopping each week. As we are all aware, when the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys started to pitch up in every town the whole idea behind the concept of Super or Hypermarket shopping was being able to buy everything under one roof, to save time but sometimes at a premium. OK, all these stores have great special offers at any one time, but to make real savings if you are on a tight budget, you really need to reconsider how to Shop.
My first change in Supermarket shopping habits, when I started this Blog, was to shop online at Sainsburys rather than visit Tesco each week. The reason for the switch in loyalty was that Sainsburys are always synomous with good quality and what I was happy to eat in their basic range I wouldn't touch with a barge pole in the Tesco Value Department. Shopping online also means you are not tempted to buy things just because they are on special offer and end up throwing them away at a later date and with Sainsburys, another major factor was the tempting "feed your family for a fiver" recipes/adverts on T.V.. By switching Supermarkets and shopping online, I save at least £30 per week.
Another thing I began to do was to buy toiletries, washing powder, loo roll and medicine from Savers, something I have told you many times before.
So this morning my decision for this weeks shopping was that I wouldn't really need to do a Sainsburys shop this week as I have quite a lot in the freezer and the plan was to pop to Aldi for a few bits, but also to visit Iceland. I never go in Iceland, don't ask me why, but when I saw a 4 pint carton of milk advertised in the window for £1, decision was made to give them a visit.
So friend S picked me up and we hot footed it into town. First Stop Aldi. Lettuce, Toms and Cue at 29p each and a Savoy Cabbage for 49p. Their equivalent of Coco Pops for 99p, a pack of Gouda slices for £1.15 and a pack of 4 bagels for 89p along with a pack of marinated Smoked Salmon slices for £1.99. A few other bits and my total came to £12.28. These were all things that would be required this week and would have been a part of my normal weekly shop so I wasn't tempted by anything I didn't want or need.
Then on to Iceland. 4 pint cartons of milk for £1, I bought 2 to freeze. I picked up an Iceland Pizza then moved along the freezer and saw a Chicago Town stuffed crust, which was bigger for the same price, only £1.50. A pack of 18 ice lollies for £2. 6 chicken kievs for £2.50. 2 packs of Willow butter for £1 (now that has to be the deal of week). Buy 2 loaves of Kingsmill for £1.50, bargain, where can you get branded bread for that price? the cheapest is normally £1 when its on offer, if you are lucky! A few other bits and pieces and the total spent in Iceland was £15.
All I need to do now is pop into Savers and buy Loo Roll £1.89 for 6 rolls of Kleenex (it was £2 in Iceland!) and my Aerial liquigel washing powder and my total spent this week will be approx £32 for a family of 5.

So if you want to make real savings there is no doubt you need to shop around and you have to be a savvy shopper as some things in Aldi were cheaper in Iceland and vice versa, but with a little time and effort, it can be done. Next week I will be going to the cheaper shops first and then buy the remainder of what I need at the Supermarket, but you won't do better than the salad stuff in Aldi at 29p or the milk and butter at Iceland. If you sign up for the Iceland Bonus card and spend over £25 instore, they will deliver your shopping for free, storing it in their freezers until your scheduled delivery time. Having a bonus card also means you will recieve money offer coupons throughout the year and get entered in regular competitions to win free shopping - can't be bad can it? I might even spend £25 once a month and get it delivered, making life even easier!

40% off at Yo! Sushi

Get 40% off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until 26th August. You will need one voucher per person, per visit, and you can use it on up to 10 plates. Print off your vouchers here.

Alex Gerrards Wedge Sandals by Steve Madden for £24 and Designer wedges from Matches for £38!

I was totally gobsmacked when I saw Alex Gerrards column in todays edition of New magazine, showing her wearing a pair of Steve Madden studded wedges and looking as great, as always, I had to buy it! Even more surprising was the fact that these funky shoes are currently on sale at Amazon for only £24 if you get them in black! I just couldn't resist such a bargain and you can get them here.
I didn't buy a thing all last winter and was no better off for it, just ended up feeling totally depressed about my drab and boring winter wardrobe, so if you are feeling down in the dumps a bit of £24 retail therapy didn't hurt anyone right? especially if you actually have an item owned and worn by a WAG!

PLEASE NOTE, BLACK AT £24 HAVE SOLD OUT AND APPEAR TO BE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. THE OTHER COLOURS ARE REDUCED BUT NOT BY AS MUCH, SO KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR FURTHER REDUCTIONS.







Looking for something more understated and still have a holiday to look forward to? even if you don't, these fab Castaner raffia wedges will serve as a great wardrobe staple for many summers to come, so are well worth the £38 investment (down from £108!). Wear them with white summer dresses, capri pants, flared jeans and a red vest for a nautical appeal, the list is endless as they are such a versatile sandal. Get them at Matches.com here.

Free Kids workshops at Covent Garden

Planning a day out in London? then consider taking the little ones to the free Kids workshops at Covent Garden. There are also special offers on family meals at various restaurants all running now, until 23rd August. Get full details here.