Blog

Life isn’t something you can plan for. No matter how hard you try, unexpected things can crop up at the drop of a hat and money can seemingly just leak away; school trips you hadn’t anticipated, an extra food shop needed this week, births and birthdays, growing feet, slate off the roof? Family life throws unexpected money curve balls all the time. So how can you manage your money and manage family life? I think the key to staying on budget within a family is good planning. Let me explain. Food A clear meal plan will mean you can budget...

Just because you’re saving money, that doesn’t mean you can’t afford to improve your home – you just might have to be a bit more creative! While new furniture, new flooring, extensions and total redecoration will certainly have a dramatic impact, they’ll also have a dramatic impact on your purse as well as your house. There really is no need to spend a fortune on home improvements when there is so much you can achieve on a budget. Before you start thinking about any major changes, decluttering is my number one top tip to improving your home on a budget; it...

Budgeting is difficult at any time in your life – but when you’re getting ready for a new arrival, it can seem even more stressful. Having a baby does not only change your figure, your friendships, plans for holidays, possibly your career but also in many ways becoming pregnant affects your finances too. Forever. Does that sound frightening? It isn’t meant to, it just means from now on in you will have another person to factor into your financial life. The sooner you start the better. Here’s some advice for any readers who are looking forward to welcoming a new...

What would you do if I told you that turning off your TV at the wall instead of leaving it on Standby would save you around £5 a year? Probably not very much because £5 a year isn’t a great deal is it?  But if you combine that with turning off your Sky at the wall and your games consoles, you could turn that saving into an amount closer to £30. Still not a huge saving but for the second it takes you to flick the power switch, then it’s an easy to make saving that doesn’t involve you having...

We have all said it. I just don’t have time. We use this as a throw away excuse for not getting our finances in order. Since becoming debt free, every penny I earn and every penny I have is mine. You might think that would make me spend comfortably and not worry about money. You’d be wrong, debt changed us. It made us thrifty and resourceful even after we’d paid our debt off. Now we can have fun without spending money but enjoying our time instead. Once, we never made time for creating a budget, planning or organising and the consequence...

So you’ve sold your old mobile phone and rooted through your gadgets to see if you can spare anything techy to sell. Your winter wardrobe has been ruthlessly taken apart and distributed to all four corners of the earth. You’ve dusted off your DVD, CD and book collections and have gone through the tedious task of listing the ones you no longer want on eBay (despite knowing you’ll get pennies for them). You’re convinced: there’s NOTHING else left in your home to sell on eBay to make money! Right? You might be surprised then to learn that there are some...