Posts filed under 'advice'
The BBC have reported this week that the average food bill has now increased by £15 a month for a family of four. Coming from a family of four I can completely agree with these statistics.
According to the report, a basket full of staple items costs 15% more now then it did 12 months ago, staple items would include bread, milk and tea bags. The increase in costs has not be put down to the rising food prices internationally. The price of wheat as an example has risen sharply in 2008 which has pushed up the price of wheat based products like Bread. Corn prices have surged due to bad weather and flooding in the US and now farmers are having to pay more to feed their livestock which is compounding on the price of meat and dairy products.
A report by ASDA shows that although people are receiving reasonable pay rises they actually have less money each week to spend due to the increasing cost of bills. It is also evident that people are feeling the pinch as less people are paying their credit cards off in full each month. One of the problems with this is that people will be charged interest if they do not pay for purchases in full in the credit-free period. Paying part of the bill is not good enough.
A case study detailed in The Guardian found that someone had left 62p on their credit card by mistake, having paid off over £5,000 of the cost of some flights, but because there was this remaining balance he was charged £61.40 interest. Unbelievable. So make sure that you don’t over spend on your credit card so that you don’t have to worry about escalating interest charges.
One good piece of news today is that Gordon Brown may not go ahead with the 2p a litre increase in fuel duty this autumn. It isn’t confirmed yet but that would be one less thing to worry about, for now!
July 3rd, 2008
Planning your holiday can be a very exciting time as you decide where and when you want to go. To most of us our holidays are the highlight of our year and what we look forward to. So you need to make sure that you are healthy on holiday so that you can really enjoy yourself.
With all the running around beforehand it is quite easy to forget some very important things, e.g. making sure you have had any necessary vaccinations and ensuring that you have enough of your usual medication. I remember panicking one year because I had forgotten to get more ventolin from my doctor. The BBC has some really useful tips on their website on how to avoid jet lag, tips for those travelling who may have special requirements and what to take.
I think that we tend to worry so much about getting everything in order at home and making sure that we have bought everything that we need that we tend to forget about our health. We worry more about what could go wrong in terms of thefts on holiday or luggage going missing and less on ensuring that we are well enough to enjoy ourselves.
Another website I found called www.travellingwell.com has some golden rules for healthy travel. They recommend that you have a medical and dental check up before you go, take malaria pills regularly with food and take out the all important travel insurance.
When you are planning your holiday it is a good idea to read reviews from other travellers, sometimes you can get some great tips on where to go and what to eat (or not to eat). The Observer has a great section dedicated to such reviews.
So make sure that you are physically ready for your holiday and hope that you stay healthy so that you can enjoy your well deserved holiday.
July 2nd, 2008
Did you know that this week is Child Safety Week?
This is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s flagship community education campaign and the aim is to raise awareness about child safety issues. It highlights the importance of making sure that your home and car are as safe as possible. It suggests that we should all make some time to have a look around our homes and see if we can spot anything that may be a danger to our children. For example;
* Ensure that any unused plug sockets are covered to stop little fingers from exploring them
* Make sure that cords for blinds/curtains are not at a height that a child could get caught up in them
* Keep all sharp objects, e.g. knives, scissors, skewers, out of reach
* When using the hob make sure that saucepan handles are turned away so that they can’t be grabbed
* If you are chopping food move the knife out of reach when not being used
* Use stair gates at the top and bottom of the stairs to reduce the risk of a fall
* If your child can reach the front door handle, make sure that it is locked so that they can’t wander out (you will need to keep the key handy incase of an emergency)
As well as the home, your car also needs to be a safe haven for your children. New regulations came into effect on the 18th September 2006 relating to the use of child car seats. There are now strict guidelines in place as to the type of car seat your child should be using depending on their age and height. These guidelines exist to make sure that our children are as safe as possible in the event of an accident. The insurance industry is also trying to help with many car insurers offering to replace childrens car seats if they are in the car at the time of an accident. It makes me really cross when I see people driving around with children in their car that aren’t restrained in any way. Do these people not understand the importance of car seats and seat belts? I don’t think that these people understand the danger that they are putting their children in.
Unfortunately I don’t think that Child Safety Week has had the recognition it deserves in the news, hopefully this blog will go some way to help.
June 27th, 2008
In such a competitive market car insurance providers are constantly looking to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and there seems to be a growing number of companies that claim to offer the best prices for lady drivers. But do they really?
According to an article in The Telegraph they do not. Statistics have proven that women tend to be the safer driver behind the wheel. 2006 government statistics revealed that 88% of all motoring offences were committed by men and of all the dangerous driving cases, a huge 97% were by men. This month The Association of British Insurers has published statistics for car claims and they show that the cost of claims made by women are considerably less then those made by men. For example, the cost of a claim made by a woman aged between 31-35 is on average around 26% cheaper than a man of the same age.
So in theory car insurance should be cheaper for women. However, according to an article by MSN women are more likely to get a better deal on their car insurance if they deal with mainstream motor insurers. This is backed up in an article by The Telegraph. They have published a table that shows what women would pay for their insurance at companies that advertise as being ‘female-friendly’ compared to other insurance companies, and the results are quite surprising. The table shows that if you use a female-friendly car insurer you could be paying on average almost £200 more on your car insurance and that’s an extra cost we could really do without. Insurance company Swiftcover have carried out their own research which also shows that women could be paying above the odd with some female-friendly car insurers.
So if you are a lady make sure that when your car insurance is due for renewal you shop around, you’ll probably be surprised at how much you will save.
June 24th, 2008
I love a bit of glitz and glamour and this time of year is a fantastic time for it. The warmer weather always seems to bring the more daring side of us out as we dare to bare a bit more flesh and wear bolder, brighter colours.
Ladies day at Ascot is one of those events that you can be as outlandish and daring as you possibly can - at least as far as hats and colours are concerned as you can see from the picture above. But I wonder just how much betting takes place at this event. Do people have much money to gamble away?
We all know about the growing cost of petrol and the decreasing value of property but now Malcom Wicks, Energy Minister, has warned that a significant increase in gas and electricity prices is ‘very likely’. He blames the increased cost of oil, gas and coal, and estimated that the increase could be as much as 40%.
The one area that seemed to buck the trend was that retail sales in May unexpectedly surged with sales up by 3.5%. According to The Times this is the fastest pace of growth since the 1986. However, this may prompt The Bank of England to raise the UK interest rate in an attempt to control inflation.
So it looks like we all need to continue to keep those belts well and truly tight, but it doesn’t mean we can’t try and enjoy ourselves at the same time. As long as we plan and budget how to spend our money carefully we should all be able to enjoy a little flutter on the horses.
June 19th, 2008
Shell and its tanker drivers have finally come to an agreement over pay and Shell have agreed to a 14% pay rise over two years according to BBC news. This should take a little bit of strain off of us drivers as Shell garages should now be back to normal with full supplies at least for the next two years.
However, there is still the very real issue of petrol prices which now stand at 118p a litre across many garages. A debt charity called Elizabeth Finn Care helps professionals who have fallen on hard times and give financial support to those that are struggling including those with long-term physical or mental illness and family breakdown. Rebecca Ward from the charity says that “The rise in the amount we have paid out in the past month is entirely to do with the increase in cost of fuel”.
Unfortunately we aren’t able to influence this but there are ways in which we can make our petrol go that bit further.
The Telegraph and car insurer swiftcover.com have come up with their top tips for driving more economically.
The top tips include:
Lightening the load - The more weight your car carries the harder it has to work, so lose any unnecessary weight. For example, remove roof racks that aren’t being used and make sure that the car doesn’t contain too much clutter.
Pressure - driving on under-inflated tyres requires more engine power so keep you tyres at their recommended pressure level.
Smooth driving - according to Swiftcover, driving smoothly and intelligently can save up to 30% on fuel consumption.
Be speed efficient - the most fuel efficient speed for driving is 55-65mph so try not to exceed this.
One of the top tips is - if you don’t need to drive then don’t! For short distances it may be worth forgetting about the car and walking instead. Not only will you save on fuel consumption but you will also feel better for the exercise. Also, driving less miles can have a positive effect on your car insurance premium so that could reduce your costs even further.
June 18th, 2008
There has been great concern of late as to the content of some websites that are targetting children and young adults. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for parents to monitor exactly what their children are accessing on the web.
New guidelines introduced in February 2008 now requires content providers to ’signpost’ material that may be deemed as unsuitable for children, i.e. using a pop up warning box. The guidelines have been endorsed by the BBC, Channel 4, Bebo, Google and Yahoo, but personally I’m not sure how effective this will be. Parents can’t supervise their children 100% of the time they are on the internet and surely children will just ignore the pop up box.
A report by the National Consumer Council reviewed 40 websites that are popular with children and found that users were being exposed to more than 200 ads. It covered activity across sites like CBeebies, Neopets, YouTube, Bebo, MySpace, eBay and Lime Wire. Many of the ads were advertising dating and gambling and other products or services prohibited to children under 16. However, many of the sites are not specifically aimed at children so it is very hard to regulate this activity.
On the back of this The Telegraph have listed their top 20 websites for children and families. Some of the sites like CBeebies, Mr Men, and Nickelodeon are aimed at younger children whilst other sites like How Stuff Works, Guinness World Records, Cool Reads and Funology are aimed at older children and are educational and fun.
One really useful website for parents is Travelling with Children which has some great tips on where to holiday, how to travel and some very useful products.
June 4th, 2008
Do you have any guilty secrets when driving? Do you do anything when you drive that you know you shouldn’t be doing?
I think one good indicator as to whether you are doing something you shouldn’t is how you react when you see a police car coming. For example do you quickly put your mobile phone or sandwich down in a panic?
Did you know that in 2007 a new edition of The Highway Code was published containing 29 new codes. It now includes rules on adjusting your satellite navigation system and eating and talking when driving. Although sucking a sweet may be ok, it is how you get the sweet in to your mouth that is the problem. Similarly with talking. Talking is fine but having a full blown argument can be very dangerous
According to Easier Motoring our top 10 guilty secrets include eating at the wheel, chatting on the mobile, damaging another car and not owning up to it, reading a newspaper or magazine and checking out good-looking drivers. Apparently 8% of people will even go as far as using a ‘Dr on call’ sign when they are not doctors.
The research carried out by the organisers of The British International Motor Show also showed that we know relatively little about the basics of maintaining a car. 43% of people interviewed don’t know how to change a tyre, a third don’t know where the dipstick is and a quarter don’t even know how to check the tyre pressure. I guess that it is so easy now to call out one of the breakdown services that people don’t need to worry about getting their hands dirty.
Do you know how to maintain your car? We would love to hear your views on this and about your driving confessions. Send us a comment for publishing on our blog.
May 28th, 2008
Over the past 12 months Moneysupermarket.com have analysed 12 million quotes and has announced that Kwik Fit and Swiftcover are the most competitive companies for car insurance in the UK.
According to the London Stock Exchange, Kwik Fit and Swiftcover were tied for the top spot with average premiums on car insurance of just £276.74.
Peter Gerrard, head of insurance research at moneysupermarket.com said that smaller online insurers who have lower overheads are being very nimble on price.
Swiftcover.com for example have no call centres so they can pass these savings on to their customers. Make sure that you aren’t paying over the odds on your car insurance.
At a time when we are all trying to reduce our expenditure as petrol prices soar, it is well worth visiting the Kwik Fit and Swiftcover websites to see if you can save on your car insurance.
May 27th, 2008
We all resent having to buy car insurance and spend our time hunting around for the best deals, but what do we look for when choosing which car insurer to use and exactly what are we covered for?
I think that a lot of people take into account the reputation of the insurance company but the vast majority of people make a decision based on price first and foremost. But do we really know what the price actually gives us.
Recent research carried out on behalf of swiftcover.com found that we are all very confused about what is and isn’t covered. Here are some common misunderstandings when it comes to car insurance:
Some people think that their insurance policy automatically covers them for driving other people’s cars but in reality you are not always covered and if you are it is normally for third party cover only;
Have you ever put petrol in a diesel car? I know a friend who did this, twice. Luckily the car was fine but they may not have been covered under their car insurance policy. 10% of people from the research wrongly assumed it would be covered;
Apparently 36% of drivers smoke whilst driving and a staggering 65% of us eat. If you ever have an accident whilst smoking, drinking or eating you could be caught for negligence even if you weren’t to blame.
I found quite a funny article called The 10 most dangerous foods to eat while driving. It’s number one offender was ‘coffee’. Not technically a food but a real distraction due to its dripability. People tend to be more prone to accidents when trying to clear up coffee that has dripped on to clothes, especially on the way to work. Foods that made the top 10 included Tacos and chilli (why would you?), hamburgers, fried chicken and chocolate (don’t even try eating a flake when driving).
So make sure that you read the policy details before you buy to make sure that everything you need for your car insurance is included and when you have bought your insurance, don’t eat and drive.
May 21st, 2008
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