Money Saving March: Stay in (with friends)! St. Piran's Day Edition!

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

Dydh Sen Pyran lowen! It's St. Piran's Day, a day for all us Cornish folk to celebrate our heritage in honour of the patron saint of Cornwall. A lot of people go out today (or in a couple of weeks on St. Patrick's Day...) and spend too many pennies on cider! I say, stay home with friends, eat (pasties), drink (cider) and be merry!

Even if you're not celebrating today, you know how it is. Maybe you spend too many Saturday evenings in the cinema or the pub, emptying your wallet for an evening that'll soon be forgotten!

Invite your friends over for dinner or a DVD night and see how much you could save! £20 on a meal out or £5 on a homecooked meal? £3 a pint or £4 for four beers? :)

Challenge 3 of Money Saving March is to invite friends over instead of going out!

I've already completed this challenge! :D We invited our fellow Cornish-in-Bristol friends over for an evening of pasty making today! It's good fun to lay out all the ingredients and let people assemble and crimp their own pasty (no forks allowed)!

Here they are before going in! What absolute bewties! Luckily, the more mess you make in the kitchen, the more fun you've had! :)

I used Ann's recipe for making the perfect steak pasty. (Best pasties in Cornwall! I'm not getting paid to say that, I just think Ann is awesome!)

I also made vegetarian cheese and onion pasties for myself and my friend. (I know, I know, it's just not the same!) To make these, you'll need to substitute the beef in the recipe for cheese and extra onion (about 40g cheese and a double portion of onion). 

The meat was expensive, but we got beer and wine on offer and made a nice evening of it! We definitely saved money compared to the four of us eating out!

HAPPY ST. PIRAN'S DAY! :D

Money Saving March: Packed Lunches

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

Hello and welcome to Money Saving March! I will be taking on various money saving ideas and challenges; some lasting a day, some all month!

One of the common frugal tips is to bring your own lunch to work. I do generally do this, however the numbers are in and last month I bought lunch five times! Granted, the £3 supermarket meal deal isn't likely to break the bank, but that would still be almost £200 a year wasted on me being too lazy to make lunch in the morning!

So, challenge 1 for Money Saving March is to bring lunch from home, every single day, NO EXCUSES!

What makes a good lunch?
I take simple lunches to Uni. I tend to make it late the night before, or in the morning while I'm waiting for coffeeeeeeee, so it has to be quick and easy. Examples include:

• Cheese and pickle sandwiches, a tomato and an apple.
• Couscous mixed with pesto and a roughly chopped tomato, and a banana.
• Leftovers, such as lentil soup.

Yep, you won't find me chopping up 100 ingredients for the world's greatest salad or something in the mornings, but I still manage to eat relatively healthily for a fraction of the cost of a supermarket meal deal!

Back-up plan!
I know me. I know there are days when I sleep through my alarm and wake up with seconds to get ready and go! These are the days when I'd say, "Screw it, I'll buy lunch later". I need a back-up plan.

My solution? Keep emergency food at Uni! I've got cheap-o super-noodles, instant soup, bananas and apples that I can store under my desk. If I forget to take lunch, I won't have to resort to going to the shop!

Savings
If a homemade lunch costs about £1 a day, I should save £10 compared to last month's supermarket meal deals, and eat more healthily to boot!

Anyone else want to take on this easy challenge? How much do you think you'd save?

Cheap Hair and Beauty!

Hello all! Sorry I've been AWOL lately. Uni's been crazy and the past few weekends I have been ill / in London! Hopefully things have calmed down a bit now.

The good news is that I've got some great ideas for saving money! February's been an expensive month, so I'm planning on locking down spending now and having a true Money Saving March! :) Who's with me?


Cheap Haircut!
I got a headstart on saving! My hair was getting annoyingly long and I spent a long time trying to find a frugal place to get it cut in Bristol. I could barely find anywhere for under £20, even with student discount!

I decided to check out the local colleges for hair stylists looking for cheap models! It's not as scary as you might think. A hairdressing student cuts your hair, with lots of advice and help from their supervisor. It does take a little longer because they have to get their work checked, but it's kind of interesting to learn the techniques yourself!

The best part is the price! My local college washed, cut and finished my hair for £6.50! (If you go to the right place, you can sometimes get a completely free haircut!) A full head colour is £20, a man's haircut is just £2.50, and they even do full body massages for £12!

I am really pleased with the value for money would definitely recommend college haircuts! To find your local hair and beauty college, Google "college haircut <your local area>".

Have you ever used the local college for a haircut? Have you ever cut your own hair? I once made my housemate cut my hair. She was terrified even though I didn't really mind how it turned out. She actually ended up doing a better job than my last visit to the hairdresser!

How to Survive on a Student Budget

Are you the typical bean-eating student or are you living large on your student overdraft? (Or both? :D)

The cost of living away from home as a student is estimated at £9250 a year. This includes a rather expensive-sounding £346 a month on rent and £51 on utility bills, with around £120 on food. It is also £500 more than the maximum student loan and grant (£8750 when living away from home, outside of London), so it's no wonder people end up skint!

My flatmate in Halls spent his entire student loan payment within a month, looking cool at expensive bars in his brand new clothes. Unfortunately he spent the next two months scrounging bread and pasta from the rest of us! How can you avoid this mess??


Budget
First of all, you HAVE to make a budget! Work out how much you have left after rent, bills and travel that you could use for food and leisure (beer). Do this BEFORE you get that lump sum paid into your bank account! See if you can put a small amount aside each month for unexpected costs.


Housing
After living in Halls of Residence in the first year most students move into a shared house or flat. Top tip: the ones closest to the University are often the most expensive and the most grotty! If you're willing to walk a bit further you'll get a much better deal.

See if your Union can recommend a good landlord. When I lived in London the landlord's mate fixed a giant hole in the roof by taping a plastic bag over it...


In Case of Emergency
Many student bank accounts come with an interest free overdraft.This is both a blessing and a curse to most students! Often a student overdraft is abused as "free money", with the student loans bumping the balance back up to zero. On the other hand, if you need to make an emergency trip home you don't have to rely on expensive credit cards. Use it as a buffer against going overdrawn (not to pay for trips to Kenya...).


Don't buy textbooks!
Ooo-errr, controversial! No, I don't want you to fail, but new textbooks are really not necessary! Your University's library will have dozens of copies of the recommended textbooks that you can check out almost indefinitely. If you really must own it, other students will likely sell theirs at a discount at the start of the next semester. Make sure you look after them and you could sell them on again!


Be a Guinea Pig
Back at Cardiff University, if you felt yourself coming down with a cold you could go to the Common Cold Research Centre and get paid to try various over-the-counter medicines to see how effective they are. If you are brave/foolhardy you could also earn hundreds of pounds from pharmaceutical companies to test new drugs for side effects (but be warned, there really can be serious side effects!)

Alternatively, you can sign up to your University's psychology department mailing list. Researchers need to test their theories on willing volunteers. For example, this week I earned £15.65 by spending an hour sat at a computer looking at coloured squares and photographs!


Travel
Students spend an average of £483 a year on travel. If you travel long distances by train, a Young Person's Railcard will pay for itself in no time! Railcards cost £28 for a year or £65 for three years and will save you a third on most train journeys (and they are available for all full time students, not just under 25s!).

Secondly, do you REALLY need a car at Uni? Most Universities are restricting undergraduates from taking their cars to campus anyway. You might think that the fuel home costs less than a train ticket, but have you factored in all the other costs? Insurance, road tax, maintenance and breakdown recovery costs can eat up massive hunks of money over time, especially for younger drivers who typically have high insurance premiums and less reliable cars!


Jobs
 Most student financial advice tells you to buck up and get a job. I disagree. Students should be focussing on their education; you're spending A LOT of money to be there so make it count! You can get away with working during the first year, but make sure you focus all your attention on your studies during your final year because it makes up the majority of your final grade. 

Remember, you really do need a 2:1 or a first class degree to get a graduate-level job these days. It costs too much to go to Uni for you to not get a good job at the end of it!!


"Do you do student discount?"If your University is a member of the National Union of Students (NUS) then you can get discounts anywhere from a huge variety of companies; clothes shops, cinemas, restaurants, night clubs, mobile phones, travel companies and more! Get the full list here. Ask for discount wherever you go!



So you see, it's definitely possible to live within the bounds of your student funding without having to eat baked beans everyday. (Another top tip: Tesco own brand baked beans are infinitely better than their Value ones!). 

Students: how do you avoid the dreaded overdraft limit? Anyone have any top tips for living on a student budget?

Five Ways to Get Motivated to Save

For me, 2012 was all about getting rid of my debt and saving up enough to move to Bristol and start my PhD.

In 2013 I want to keep that momentum going. I noticed that after I paid off my student overdraft I started to spend more. It's hard to stay motivated once you are out of the debt emergency.

This year we are back on the horse in a big way. We have already dramatically reduced our food costs for the month, we're trying to sell the car and we're aiming for 200 No Spend Days this year.

So how do you stay motivated to save money once you are debt free?

1. Set a big goal with a deadline
When you were in debt, your goal was to get out. Now you are free, determine what you are saving for. Think BIG!

Our goal is to save up a 25% deposit for a house in the next five years. I will be a graduate student for another 3.5 years, but once The Boyfriend has graduated next year he will enter the workforce. The key will be to avoid lifestyle inflation and live like students for a little while longer! I have done the maths and I think we can do this! 

2. Make it acheivable
Unrealistic goals aren't motivational. If you don't meet your goal you will feel disappointed and may well give up. Make a budget, give yourself a buffer in case anything unexpected comes up and THEN plan how much you can save! 

We've broken down our goal into yearly chunks. Obviously we will save more once we are not students (and hopefully have real jobs!), so have planned accordingly.

3. What would you do if you were still in debt?
If you've paid off a credit card or overdraft, think about how you did it! Could you replicate this to boost savings? Avoid expensive luxuries until you reach your target.

When I was paying off debts last year, I used No Spend Days as a way to motivate myself. This year I have DOUBLED my goal to aim for 200 No Spend Days in 2013. If you aren't spending money, you must be saving it!

4. Follow your progress
 Track your progress by calculating your net worth or even making a chart and colouring in a square for every £100 or £1000 saved. I used to do this with my University revision (but I had awesome star stickers! :D)

5. Reward yourself
If your goal is particularly long term, you might want to use a reward system to keep yourself motivated. Maybe you could enjoy a (cheap!) meal out for every £1000 saved, or go for a walk in the mountains, or plan a frugal holiday for when you reach your goal. You can camp most places in the UK for about £10 a night, for example.



Don't worry if you fall off the wagon from time to time. If you spend too much one week, maybe you could cut back the next. If not, it won't affect you too badly unless it starts being a regular problem, which could be a sign that your budget is too restrictive.

What's your biggest saving goal for 2013? You can do it!

Is It Worth Selling Your Car?

I once recommended that new graduates should go car-free if at all possible. It's time to take my own advice.

When we first moved to Bristol we decided to keep Jools the Peugeot. We thought that the high cost of train fares home would go a long way towards balancing out the cost of insurance and road tax.

Jools is an old car (T reg/1999), so we have been saving a fair amount each month towards repairs or replacement. He had been doing quite well lately, but his power steering system was an expensive repair in December and his clutch cable had to replaced this month too! (The Boyfriend was driving, not me!!)

Here is a breakdown of what we budgeted for the car:

• Insurance - £420 - likely to go down this year, but not by very much.
• Road tax - £220 
• Fuel - £570 - £60 each time we go home to Cornwall (estimated four times) and another £20 or so of fuel each time we are there, plus another £50 to visit The Boyfriend's family in Coventry, plus a miscellaneous £200 per year (supermarket trip, travel to friend's, trip to Cardiff, etc.)
• Maintenance and replacement - £1000 - this is the biggie. I have spent a lot on repairing this car in the past year, so we set a large budget to cover any repairs whilst hopefully saving for a replacement car.

Annual total = 2210. Monthly total = £184.


Of course, if you have a newer car then the cost of repairs would be less, but you may have higher insurance, car payments, and of course, you would have to save more to buy another car of the same quality when your car dies.

As you can imagine, £184 is a massive chunk of our postgrad student budget! I decided to work out how much it would cost us to get by without the car.

Annual costs of car-free living:

• Young Person Rail Cards - £56 (for two) - These would save us a third off most rail travel, which is reflected in the prices below.
• Trips to Cornwall - £480 - four trips budgeted at £120 for a return ticket for two people in case we need to travel home at short notice, however the price is £93.10 for both of us if booked in advance.
• Insurance whilst in Cornwall - £120 - It costs £30 to insure myself on my Mum's car for a week. I can then proceed to steal her car in the evenings if she doesn't want it! :)
• Fuel while in Cornwall - £80 - same as before, £20 per trip.
• Train to Coventry - £100 - budgeted at the expensive short-notice price, however a ticket for two is £62 when booked in advance.
• Food shopping - £150 - this is £3 per week get Tesco to deliver groceries. We might only need to order food once a fortnight, so it could be only £75.
• Bus fare to Portishead - £150 - our good friends live in nearby Portishead. The bus costs us £24 for both of us, because we tend to travel back the next day and would have to buy another ticket.

Annual total - £1136 (or as little as £915). Monthly cost - £95 (or as little as £76)


So by getting rid of the car we could save £90 a month or over £1000 a year! But is it worth it?

Pros and Cons of Cars
Initially The Boyfriend was dead against the idea of getting rid of the car. He said it was a luxury worth keeping. With over 31 million cars on the road in the UK, maybe the general public agrees with him.

Advantages of owning a car

• Extremely convenient - don't have to rely on timetabled public transport so can travel whenever you are ready.
• Easier shopping - you can buy in bulk and take it all home with ease (although you can also get this delivered when shopping online).
• Faster than public transport - inter-city travel usually takes longer by bus or train.
• Able to reach remote areas - this is a big one living in Cornwall, where public transport is sporadic at best. Many people live miles from the nearest bus stop.
• Groups can travel more cheaply - a group train ticket costs more than a road trip where fuel costs are shared.

Disadvantages of owning a car 

• Expensive - insurance, road tax, fuel, maintenance, MOT, breakdown cover and eventual replacement. As you can imagine, it all adds up to a massive amount.
• Source of worry -  I have to worry about when my car will next break down. You might worry about your nice new car getting stolen or dented.
• Bad for the environment - I'm a biologist, and I worry about the effect we are having on the planet. Cars are a source of pollution and greenhouse gases. Of course, buses and trains pollute too, but per traveller the emissions are much lower.
• Dangerous - You are much more likely to be killed in a car than a bus/plane/train. On the other hand, cycling is even more dangerous.
•  Driving is stressful - As you know, I'm a country girl at heart. I don't like driving in cities and especially not at rush hour. Reading a book on a train is a far better way to get around!

I eventually persuaded The Boyfriend that we really don't need a car while we're living in Bristol. We live a 20 minute walk (or 5 minute bus ride) away from the train station and neither of us use the car to get to University anyway!

I think the biggest factor for me was that Jools is an old car and eventually he will need to be replaced. Would we get a newer car? (But why, when we rarely use it?) Or would we get another old banger? (Another hole to throw away money on repairs!)

I've mentioned before that savings are really only savings until you spend them. It didn't seem right to me to be spending so much on a car whilst we are at Uni instead of saving for our futures (for example, a deposit on a home when we graduate).

I am currently in the process of trying to sell my car. It's not worth much, but it will stop the drip drip drip of unnecessary spending!

Take home message for students and new graduates: work out the cost of car vs car-free living. Is the hassle worth the cost-benefit of going carless in your case?

What about you? Do you need a car for your work? Do you cycle miles each day? Do you get the bus? Have you compared the costs?

The True Cost of Bottled Water

Convenient, environmentally-damaging, expensive?

In 2009, the Australian town of Bundanoon voted to ban the sale of bottled water in an effort to reduce the use of resources and amount of plastic ending up in landfill.

On the 1^st January, 2013, a new law came into place in Concord, Massachusetts which banned the sale of bottles of water smaller than 1 litre. 

Some of the locals have declared the ban pointless because they can buy water in the neighbouring town.

I disagree.

The media impact of the Bundanoon ban in 2009 meant that GLOBAL bottled water sales dropped 10% that year. It brought the wastefulness of bottled water to the attention of people around the world.

The Environmental Issue

The environmental impact of bottled water is astonishing. The majority of water bottles can be recycled, however more than 75% of them end up in landfill. The UK is set to run out of space in landfills by 2018, but clearly recycling is still not used frequently enough to allow 13 billion plastic bottles of water to enter the waste chain each year.

One small (1 litre) plastic bottle is made of 162g of oil (from petroleum products) and SEVEN litres of water! This means the carbon footprint of one litre bottle of water is 100g of carbon dioxide (CO²), which is unacceptably high compared to 0.3g of CO² produced by the production of a litre of tap water.

The Financial Issue

Bottled water costs up to 500 times as much as water from a tap. The World Health Organisation has stated that it is not aware of any potential health benefits of drinking bottled water, so why do people buy it?

Thirsty? Bring a refillable water bottle when you go out. 

 

Marketing? Stop being such a consumer sucka (as Mr. Money Mustache would say!)

Don't let companies take you for a ride. In 2012, supermarkets admitted to selling “filtered” bottled tap water at a massive profit, something Coca-Cola received a massive amount of flak for back in 2004.

The Bottom Line

There's nothing wrong with UK tap water! Think yourself lucky to live in a country where hygienic, healthy water can be obtained freely in your own home for less than a third of a penny per litre!

And yes, I do live in an area with hard water!

So what do you think? Would the planet benefit from a ban on small bottles of water (allowing larger ones for storing water for emergencies)? It might not be possible in countries with poor sanitation, but surely if safe tap water exists it is ridiculous to pay for a plastic bottle of the stuff!

Check this out if you fancy a laugh:

Say No to Payday Loans this Christmas!

Christmas is coming. Shops are looking to drain every last penny from their customers, and payday loan companies are happy to provide you with a boost of money to spend... for a price. 

A new report from the Office of Fair Trading says most payday lenders do not follow rules put in place to protect customers. A payday loan is a short-term loan, with the money often provided within an hour of applying for it. The APR interest rates can be as high as 4248%, leaving customers paying through the nose when repayment day comes. According to a study by R3, an estimated 5 million Brits are considering taking out a payday loan in the next six months.

Last year the average cost of Christmas in the UK was estimated to be around £600, with poorer families spending nearly £200. An estimated one in three people went into debt to pay for it. Getting a case of the January bills blues isn't unheard of, but what if you'd funded Christmas on payday loans alone? The absolute lowest estimated gift budget for an “acceptable Christmas” was £113.43 (of course many people spend hundreds of pounds more than that!). Wonga.com proudly proclaims that it could lend you that sum in 20 minutes. Come January 1^st however, you would have to repay £166, an increase of 46% over 40 days. 

There is a huge amount of pressure on people to buy the best Christmas presents, especially for parents. If you don't have a lot of money for gifts this year, try to find a way to minimise your costs and avoid going into debt at all costs. If you can't afford something now, how will you afford it next year?

A couple of ideas to reduce the costs of Christmas:

• Talk to family and friends about your gift budget. Everyone is feeling the strain of the recession, so they might be grateful you brought it up! 
• Have a chat with older kids about trying to save money. They might even have some ideas to help you out!
• Buy cheap crafting supplies for younger children and spend time with them making Christmas decorations or art for your walls!
• Shop second hand. Always a bit controversial, but consider a quality second hand gift from ebay or even a charity shop. You might find the perfect board game for the kids or handbag for mum. Just make sure there are no stains, it doesn't smell weird, etc.!
• Homemade gifts are brilliant! There are thousands of websites full of ideas to pick from, such as this one or this one. Why not make a big batch of truffles or try the fake Ferrero Rocher I made last year? 

The most important thing you can do is spend time with your loved ones. Focus on your traditions and festive-but-free activities that will keep the kids entertained! Give yourself the best possible start to 2013!


Have you ever been a victim to what MP Stella Creasy has dubbed "legal loan sharks"? How do you plan on saving money this Christmas?

Challenge Updates: Bills, No Spend and Christmas!

Christmas Completed by December

SFT asked whether everyone was winning at the Christmas Done by December challenge. Just to recap, my targets were to get Christmas gifts completely finished, to buy one Christmas decoration each, to finish my Advent calendar and to make some decorations to send to family members.

Well, here's how it stands now:

• Finish Christmas gifts - Over halfway! I started the month with just one person (my sister) crossed off my list. Halfway through, I now have nine more people crossed off (actually eleven if you split "the kids" category up!). I have ideas and half-presents for another five people, which just leaves a couple of very awkward people causing me trouble! (Looking at you, Dad!)
•  Buy a Christmas decoration - Complete! It is a bit of a family tradition of ours to visit Trelawney garden centre in Cornwall each year to marvel at the Christmas displays and get a bauble/Christmas decoration. Well, this year we went a bit earlier than usual and even let The Boyfriend tag along. I bought a beautiful glass bauble with hand-painted swirls, whilst The Boyfriend got a glass robin with mistletoe painted on its flanks!
• Finish Advent calendar - Nearly there! On Friday I posted part three of how to make an Advent calendar, but over the weekend I finished the stockings for part four too (will be posted on Friday!). Now I just have to sort out the numbers and bits and bobs to put inside them! :)
• Make Christmas decorations for family - Gathering materials! I am still in the early stages of this one! I want to post them at the start of December so I need to get cracking! I want to make star or heart fabric decorations from some leftover gingham. 

No Spend Week

Last  week I challenged myself to a No Spend Week, with the caveat that if I saw some good Christmas present deals I would be allowed to snap them up. I have to be honest guys, I failed the challenge. I managed five of seven days as No Spend.

I do have some excuses if you want to hear them? :) On Thursday I had to give a presentation about Physics in Biology. Now if you know anything about biologists, you'll know that they gave up physics as soon as they possibly could at school then ran away, avoiding all talk of the subject ever after! After a week of stressing about my presentation, on Thursday evening I did knowingly go to the pub with everyone else and have half a pint of lager!

My second excuse is slightly better; I bought some red card and red buttons to complete the Advent calendar and Christmas decorations respectively.

Still, overall most days were a success, right? :)



Lowering the Bills

Last month I wrote about how The Boyfriend and I planned on lowering our bills. Between 5th September and 5th October we spent £36.07 on energy (including £34.01 on electricity) and £26.55 on water. Following the plan of shorter showers and turning things off at the wall, I'm pleased to announce that between October and November (31 day period) we spent £34.15 on energy and £24.70 on water, a decrease of 5% and 7% respectively. 

I want to keep this up and hopefully report even lower costs next month! :)



SFT asked if we are winning. I think I have had some success in these challenges. How are you getting on? :)

No Spend Week

I have just returned from a weekend visiting my family in Cornwall. It was lovely to see everyone and spend some time away from the buses, people and street art that make up Bristol. 

I now have a busy week of Uni work and when I get busy, I get spendy! With this in mind, I decided (and persuaded The Boyfriend to agree) to have a No Spend Week this week. I get free coffee every morning, we have food in the flat, what more do I need? It's not really as exciting as Frugal Queen's Stoptober, but it's my birthday next week so I may well need to buy a couple of beers! :)

One caveat is that if I see a really good deal on a Christmas present, I will grab it when I can. After all, I need to finish by the end of the month!

Following what I learned earlier in the year about No Spend Days, I will leave my money at home, bring a packed lunch (including a chocolate biscuit for that 3pm lag in energy!), stay in and work on my presentation in the evenings and have a quiet weekend working on my Advent calendar!

Feel free to join me! :)

Cheap Meals: Lentil Soup

I recently tried a brilliant recipe I found on Not Delia. It's really simple, easy to cook, very cheap and pretty nutritious. (It is also vegan if you use either vegan margarine or oil to soften the veg.)

The recipe can be found here and uses some seriously cheap ingredients:

• 250g split red lentils - £2 for 2kg, so can be as cheap as 25p. 60p buys a 250g pack.
• One onion - 19p
• One carrot - 9p
• 1.5 litres of vegetable stock – Can be free if you use water used to boil veg, or if you use stock cubes like I did then 10p for a pack of 10 stock cubes, of which you will need 3, so 3p.
• Margarine/oil – probably freely available in your kitchen.

Total cost = 56p (or up to 98p to buy the full packages of lentils and stock cubes), which is 14p per portion.

(Prices from Tesco's website, so could be even cheaper elsewhere!)

Nutrition

The recipe analyser on Calorie Count shows that this soup is pretty good for you (grade A). It's low in calories, high in vitamin A and super-dee-duper high in fibre. 

The biggest problem with it is the sodium content, which pretty much all comes from the stock cubes. If you have homemade stock yours should be even better!

Simplicity

I love the simplicity of the recipe. You basically just soften the chopped vegetables in the oil/margarine and then boil everything in stock for half an hour. I didn't even need to blend it; it was a nice thick soup but not too chunky!

One tip I will add is to slice the carrots as thinly as you can. This will let them break down in the soup more easily. I could nearly see the chopping board through mine!

There are only two of us, but I made the full four-person's worth. You can either freeze or refrigerate the leftovers for a homemade ready meal another day. The Not Delia website has a few different ways to jazz this soup up with other ingredients too. 

For 14p a portion I would definitely make this soup again. It was one of the nicest soups I've had!

Anyone got a suggestion for more ways to jazz this soup up? I think meat-eaters might want to try adding some bacon pieces to it; apparently lentils and bacon is a brilliant combination. Let me know if you try the soup!

What NOT to Buy for University

I'm writing this whilst “packing” for our big move to Bristol and post-graduate studies. (This has involved several hours of surfing the net and very little putting stuff in boxes!) We're moving on Thursday so by the time you read this I'll be up to my eyeballs in cardboard. Wish us luck!

Going to University for the first time can be very expensive. People keep reminding you of things you will need, like duvet covers and shampoo. Most are things you've probably never bought before and the cost of buying the furnishings of a complete new life might be quickly mounting up!

Good news: you don't need to buy most of this stuff!

People go crazy buying hundreds of pounds worth of kitchen stuff equipment they'll never actually use and all the latest gadgets! Don't do it!

Here's a handy list of stuff you probably WON'T need to shell out for:

• Pens and stationery – You will get A LOT of free pens during the first weeks of Uni. Hundreds of companies line the walls of the Freshers Fayre, eager to give you pens as a way for you to remember them. (Barclays bank also give out free pens in their branches – jus' sayin'!) You can easily hoard enough pens/erasers/calendars etc. to last the year. Get anything else you need from a cheap supermarket when you get there. Don't buy fancy stuff - it'll just get slung into your bag anyway!
  
  
• Kitchen stuff – If you are in self-catered accommodation, wait until you get there before buying pots and pans! I found that EVERYONE turns up with 3 saucepans, a frying pan and enough cutlery to sink a ship. There's usually not even enough storage for it all! Check to see what you all have, then share the use of the equipment. Offer to cook them a meal for use of their saucepan! I would say to bring your own tupperware though, because people seem to be incapable of washing it properly.
  
  
• Laptop – Most people arrive at Uni with a shiny new laptop. If you don't have one, don't spend £400 of your student loan before you even arrive! (DON'T get a tablet - it's just asking to be nicked/dropped/beer spilled over). All universities have multiple computer labs dotted around campus, or you could pick up a second hand one very cheaply on eBay or even fairly often on Freecycle. You'll probably only need an old-ish one for using the internet, typing essays and the odd spreadsheet. (If you are studying any intensive-graphics course, for example The Boyfriend's architecture course, you will probably need a more up-to-date computer).
  
  
• Clothes – Don't be tempted to rush out on a spending spree with your new 10% student discount! People generally turn up to lectures wearing comfy clothes like hoodies and even jogging bottoms. I've seen a LOT of people wear pyjamas to lectures, so don't feel you need to be the trendiest kid on campus!
  
  
• Textbooks! - Your parents will kill me for saying this, but DON'T buy new textbooks! They cost anywhere from £30 - £100 EACH! Yes, that's what your student loan is for, but it's also for eating and rent and it barely covers that! You have several free or cheap options:
  1. Use the library (you're paying tuition fees for it)! There are often many copies of the most important textbooks available for loan on a rolling basis (as long as someone doesn't reserve the book, you can keep renewing your loan indefinitely).
  
  
  2. At the start of the year there are often LOTS of second/final year students selling off their first year textbooks very cheaply. Look on student noticeboards, on the intranet, even posters in the toilets! You can offer them less than they are asking too, because they'll be glad to get some money back. 
  
  
  3. Other cheap options are eBay/Amazon! 
  
  

If you do buy them, follow my tips for selling old textbooks when you are done with them.

 

Everyone knows your first few weeks at Uni are the most expensive (going out most nights, going for lunch to get to know your new flatmates, etc. etc.), but be careful with your student loan. I knew a few people in the first year who ran out of money by the end of Octover and had to scrounge food from their flatmates, living on pasta and bread until the next loan instalment in JANUARY!

All in all, have a great time! Make a budget, try to stick to it and DON'T GET A CREDIT CARD! :)

Any other advice for things new students may or may not need? I might be able to use the advice myself! :D

How to Claim Your Uniform Tax Rebate

Do you wear a uniform to work and earn enough to pay income tax? You're probably entitled to a tax refund! :)

If you have to wear a specific uniform to work and wash and repair it yourself, you are entitled to reclaim tax relief for uniform maintenance. This is taken from the income tax you have paid, and HMRC requires that:

• It's a recognisable uniform
• Your employer requires you to wear it
• You have to pay for laundering it yourself (so either wash it at home or pay to wash it at the laundrette)
• There are no facilities provided for you to wash it for free at work
• You have to have paid income tax in the year in which you are claiming for

How much am I entitled to?

The basic tax relief is £60 a year, although some jobs are higher if agreed by their union. If you are reclaiming tax already paid, this means you will probably get a rebate of 20% of £60 (if you pay the 20% basic rate tax), which is £12. Some professions can also claim for tool maintenance if used for their job. 

You can reclaim uniform tax relief from up to four years ago, so if you've never claimed before you have a few quid coming your way! It might not be £100s but it's worth the cost of a stamp!

Please note: you must have paid at least the amount of income tax you are trying to claim back in order to be eligible!

How can I claim my uniform tax rebate?

It's very easy to reclaim your uniform tax allowance and no, you don't have to sit on hold for an hour to do it. All you have to do is write to HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs, Pay As You Earn, PO Box 1970, Liverpool, L75 1WX) stating the following:

• Your name, National Insurance number and address.
• Your occupation(s) and your employer's name and address for the past four years (if applicable)
• What your uniform consists of and why you cannot wear it outside of work (for example, it has a company logo)
• Inform them that there are no laundry services or payment for laundry costs provided by your employer (of course, if you DO have laundry costs reimbursed then you are not eligible for this tax relief).

Template Letter

Here's the letter I sent to reclaim my tax, with places for you to enter your own details:

Your address

Date

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to request a possible work uniform tax rebate. I wore a uniform during the following jobs:

Date - Date : Job title at Employer, employer's address

Date - Date : Job title at Employer, employer's address

Date - Date : Job title at Employer, employer's address

(include all jobs you wore uniforms for within the last four tax years, as well as your current job with a uniform if you have one)

No laundry service or compensation was provided for the cleaning of these uniforms by any employer.

The uniforms were specific to each job and could not be worn outside of work:

• Description of uniform for job one: (eg. black shirt with company logo, black work trousers)
• Description of uniform for job two
• Description of uniform for job three
  Etc. etc.

Many thanks for your time.

Yours Faithfully,

Name

NI number

Date of birth

A Happy Ending

I was sent a cheque for £54 to cover the costs of laundering my uniform in the past! 

 

Give it a try! You have nothing to lose (but the price of a stamp) and you could get a nice bit of cash back for the past few years!

Have you tried this? How did it go?