30 ways to save £1!

To celebrate the 30th birthday of the £1 coin, Money Supermarket is holding a giveaway for bloggers. For each money saving tip you write they will pay you £1 (to a maximum of £30). I've been away the past few days, so I e-mailed them to check that the contest was still going on. They said they still have plenty of money to give away, so if you haven't yet, get writing your entry! Click here for more information.

Anyway, on to my favourite money saving tips!

Home
1. First of all, look after your stuff! By taking care of things, you prolong their life and prevent spending money! (Case in point: me ruining my old laptop through careless tea drinking!)
2. Check you're on the best deal for your utilities!
3. Make things from what you have rather than running out and buying a new item. I made a snazzy draught excluder from an old pair of jeans and some pants!
4. Keep an eye on your meter readings. Water leaks can be very expensive!

Garden
5. Make your own fertiliser from stinging nettles!
6. Make compost using vegetable peelings, grass cuttings and cardboard!
7. Grow from seed rather than buying plants - you'll get SO MUCH more for your money!
8. Recycle old egg boxes and toilet tubes as bio-degradable plant pots. 
9. Save water from the shower or washing up to use on thirsty plants.

Travel
10. If you spend more than £100 a year on train tickets, check if you are eligible for a railcard. For £20-£28 a year you can save 1/3 on all fares.
11. Ditch the car. Maybe you could sell a car, maybe you could just walk more
. Either way, you're saving fuel, money and the environment.
12. Learn simple car maintenance methods. Looking after your car will save you a lot of money in the long run!
13. Drive efficiently. Don't leave your car idling, don't carry around weight you don't need, don't brake and accelerate sharply.

Food
14. Cooking and freezing a large batch of food in advance will save you time and money!
15. Don't run out of food! You'll be much less tempted to go out to eat if you have food in the house.
16. Eat vegetarian foods. Meat is REALLY expensive, whereas lentils and beans are a cheap source of protein.
17. Take a packed lunch to work. Stop the daily money leak.

Entertainment
18. Ditch the hotel - go camping! A decent campsite costs a tenner a night, with fresh air and birdsong thrown in for free! :)
19. Use your local library. As well as books, many libraries stock the latest magazines and DVDs.
20. Exercise for free. Have a look on Youtube for your favourite exercise, or try jogging or walking around your local area.

Other stuff
21. Try making a gift for someone. The Boyfriend's mum is a big fan of homemade chocolates!
22. Turn clutter into money by selling it on eBay or at a carboot sale.
23. Many colleges offer extremely cheap haircuts and beauty treatments performed by trainees. Everything is checked by a professional before they are allowed to proceed.
24. If you have a tax refund on the way, stick it into an ISA in case of emergencies. If something happens, you have money on hand and will avoid paying credit card interest. You might even earn a few quid!

25. Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposables. They cost about twice as much, but will last you years.
26. When buying something online, you can often find a discount code for free shipping or money off by five minutes of Googling.
27. Make (and stick to) a shopping list! Shops use all sorts of tricks to make you spend more than you'd planned, so avoid the impulse buys!
28. Draw a line on your kettle marking exactly how much water you need. Don't waste energy!
29. Use white vinegar as a degreaser and anti-bacterial spray.
30. Have a No Spend Day. Challenge yourself to forego your morning coffee and popping to the shop to get something for dinner. Make do with what you have and keep your money in your pocket.

What do you do to look after the pounds? :)

10 ways shops trick you into spending money

A silk worm cocoon - made of a 500m long strand of silk!

Hello all!

I just got back from a fab week in Turkey. It was a really cheap trip because the flights and accommodation were subsidised by three Turkish companies. In return, the group had to visit these establishments (a jeweller, a carpet-weaving co-operative and a leather shop - vegan Mum was not amused!). Their aim was to sell enough of their beautifully crafted but ridiculously expensive products to make it worth their while.

Unfortunately for the salespeople, I don't have a budget of several thousand pounds for a necklace, rug or jacket! Still it was interesting to watch their sales techniques.

In each of the three locations, their first aim was to split up the tour group. People are much easier to influence on their own! They all described their wares as an investment, which would hold their value over the years (only if you can find someone to BUY them off you though!). They also insisted that you touch/try on the product, which even I know makes a person more likely to identify with and purchase an object.

If you're anything like me, you hate being tricked into buying anything. Here are some things to look out for closer to home:

• Items placed near the entrance to a shop are there to encourage impulse buying whilst you're still in the mood to shop!

• Similarly, fresh fruit, veg and bread are often located near the front of the store to give you the impression of a "fresh" shop - and because they are high-profit items!

• The things you want are usually located at the back of the shop, to encourage impulse buys of additional products that the customer passes.

• Shops regularly rotate their stock so people spend more time searching for the things they need.

• There are very few windows or clocks to prevent people from realising how long they have been shopping.

• Special offers make you think you're getting a great deal, but did you actually want three jars of pickled eggs? Or any??

• Popular items are placed in the middle of the aisle, so customers are forced past other items to tempt them.

• The most expensive items are at eye level. 

• Inexpensive, small items are placed next to the tills, likely to be grabbed by bored people in the queue.

• And online? Shoppers are more likely to buy from a website that already has their details stored.

It's a good idea to plan what you're going to buy before you get there to avoid being tricked into spending money you don't want to part with! Whether you're shopping for a new car, shoes or just a pint of milk, make sure you do your research and get the best deal for you!

How many of the above list do you recognise? Do you know of any other sneaky tricks? Let us know in the comments below!

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!

Hello 2013!

Happy new year! I hope you all had a lovely night! We went to Truro to watch the fireworks, surrounded by bananas in pyjamas and lego men! :)

C'mon then, let's hear 'em! What're your goals/ambitions/resolutions for 2013?

I really feel like 2013 is my year. Everything came together last year and The Boyfriend and I set up our own little flat as a base for new beginnings in Bristol. I miss my family and Cornwall every day but I know that we are working towards a better future (because there are so very few jobs in Cornwall).


Work/Uni Goals

I've started becoming involved in the wider scientific community as well as my own research. This year I will enter science writing contests, teach school children about the wonders of Biology, go to a scientific conference, and I am tempted to start writing science communication articles for the wider public too. :)


Since starting my PhD, I've been setting myself mini-deadlines so that I complete work at a decent rate and well ahead of the true deadline. It's a great practise, and really takes the stress out of life! I will definitely keep using mini-deadlines in 2013!


Finance Goals

The Boyfriend and I have been chatting and we're inspired to cut out unnecessary spending in order to bulk up the savings for possibly buying a house when I've finished Uni (in 2016), or even just so that we can afford to choose where we want to live and what we want to do.

This year I'm planning on saving more than ever! I can see friends for free, make lunches at home and entertain myself for free with gardening, blogging, baking, sewing, 4oD, walking, reading, writing, even Uni work! :D

So, I'll increase the number of No Spend Days to... 200 this year! 

Don't know how feasible this will be but we're not moving this year so that cuts out about a month of spending compared to last year! I think a major challenge like this is just what we need! Under the same rules as last year, rent, bills and the like don't count, but food shopping, eating out, parking, even buying a drink on a day out does count.

We will also be chipping away at the water, energy and food bills throughout the year.

Another successful goal of 2012 was to track my spending. This helps you to know exactly where your money is going, whilst also keeping you accountable for purchases. I hate writing down £1 for a coke on an otherwise spend-free day! It only takes seconds each day to record your spending if you fancy doing this too.



Health goals

I failed horribly at one goal last year: losing a little bit of weight each week. I am still the same as last year! Don't worry though, I'm back on track for eating healthily and dancing more in 2013! :)


So what have you got lined up for 2013? I don't have many set plans yet but I'm definitely looking forward to a happy new year! :)

Becoming Frugal

Thanks for your recent comments. Sorry I haven't been around - we still don't have the internet and I have been writing at home to post at the coffee shop down the road!

It's been about a year since I started this blog.

I had just finished University and once the graduation ceremony was out of the way I was faced with the stark reality of my bank balance. I was pushing the limits of my overdraft, I was carrying a (small) balance on my student credit card and I was just about to borrow a few hundred pounds to replace my car, which I needed to get to work.

I used a budget at University, which worked well when the going was good, but it had no room for error. When anything unexpected came up (car repairs, dental work, a night out, a trip home etc.), I didn't have a back up. The money came out of next week's/month's budget, which of course sent me into a downward spiral of not having enough money at the end of each student loan instalment!

When I got my first job after Uni (a chambermaid in a hotel – top graduate employment!), I wanted to learn how to budget properly. I spent hours learning why my Uni budgets never worked and how to fix it (answer: no wiggle room). I eventually came across some of the Frugal Living websites and blogs. I had never really stopped before to think about HOW to save money, just that I knew I should! (My frugality at University stretched to Tesco Value everything, but that was about my limit!)

When I first began work last summer I was still determined to live away from home as soon as I could afford it. I figured since I was earning I could afford to do pretty much as I pleased. Once I had read up on frugality I swung the other way and entered extreme frugal mode! Have you ever read Mr. Money Moustache's post about how debt is an emergency? He says if you're in debt then you should buy food and fuel to get to work, and the next penny you earn should be put towards debt. Well I was almost that extreme. I felt guilty spending money on ANYTHING that wasn't absolutely essential. I was constantly saying no to invites and learned how to make do and mend instead of buying things.

It did work though and I quickly paid back my debt, despite working for minimum wage all year. Since then I guess I've become a bit more extravagant (if I want a coffee, I'll buy a coffee), but I tend to keep myself out of situations where I am likely to buy unnecessary things. I enjoy reading new tips for frugal living, recipes and avoiding wasting money.

It's easy to slip back into old habits even now. I would like to take a step back up the frugality ladder. Life is much more expensive living away from home, even if it's on a student budget. We're settling into a routine now, and we've got the basic essentials we need (sofa's arriving on Tuesday!). Now the new truly frugal budget starts. Let's see how low we can go!

What about you? Are you frugal or a spend-a-holic? Have you always been like that, or is there a turning point story you'd like to share? :D

Coupons Don't Save Me Money!

I've heard a lot about that Extreme Couponing programme in America. It sounds like these people save themselves a fortune by spending a lot of time searching out the best deals, but what about the average person?

I don't buy newspapers and no-one delivers circulars to this neck of the woods, but I do get sent the occasional coupon stash from the supermarkets. I like to think that I would not be tricked into buying something I didn't need just because I had a voucher for 50p off, but recent events have suggested I am prone to it!

I was walking through Tesco the other day and had a nose to see if my favourite cider was on offer - no such luck and it's £2.20 for a pint bottle. Then I remembered that I had a Clubcard voucher for 30p off a bottle, so I went back and got one! Now it's not the end of the world but that's £1.80 that I didn't need to spend (I only usually buy it when it's buy-one-get-one-free!), just because a coupon promised me free money!

Coupons are almost always for branded items. They're a form of advertising, designed to promote brand loyalty. They can save you money, of course, but do they work out cheaper in the long run? People spend longer in the shops looking for the right item and are more likely to buy more luxury items with the money they've "saved"!

I have also been carrying around a 50p off voucher for a bottle of Starbucks Frappuccino. This coupon is designed specifically to make you try their new product, decide you like it and then continue to buy it at full price! I wouldn't have bought it before, so why do I want to fall victim to their evil schemes? I need to act more like Ilona (aka the MeanQueen) and beat the shops at their own game – get in, get what you need, get out!

Do you "coupon"? Why is that a verb? I'd be interested to hear if any fellow Brits hunt coupons in a US-style way!

When Are Your Savings NOT Savings?

I've been thinking a lot about saving lately. How much should you save? Do sinking funds count, ie. saving money for planned future expenses? Or are only things like emergency funds or retirement funds included? All money will be spent eventually, so how far in the future counts as “savings” and what is just “set aside”?

One of the most common pieces of advice is to save 20% of your income (or use it to pay down debt if you have any). This follows the 50-30-20 budget made famous by Elizabeth Warren, which states that you should allow up to 50% or your after-tax income for needs (housing, insurance, food, utilities), 30% for wants (meals out, new clothes, books, music etc.), and 20% should be saved.

The problem is, what counts as 'savings'?

I am currently saving a large chunk of my wages for:

• Moving to Bristol – just completed funding this.
• Car repairs (£80/month)
• Gifts (£20-30/month)
• Emergency fund (£100/month)
• Future travel (£40/month)
• Eventual laptop replacement (£25/month)

Most of my 'savings' are earmarked for emergencies and moving to Bristol, and I don't have a retirement account yet although it is something I am starting to think about. Of course, a lot of the Bristol savings fund will be spent in a few months, leaving me with my Emergency fund as my only true “savings”, which even then could be accessed at any point if needed.

Do savings only count if you will keep them for a set period? Over 5 years? Until retirement? What about people saving for a house, or saving to pay for their child's university education? Eventually ALL savings will be spent!

What do you think? What counts as savings and what is just cash set aside for a short term future purchase?

When are savings not savings? When they are spent!

SFT's Challenge: Find an Extra £50 in May!

Saving For Travel has a new challenge over on her blog. To compensate for an increase in monthly living costs, she has decided to find an extra £50 in May and challenges everyone else to do the same!

The money can be from additional wages, ebay sales, savings (using coupons instead of cash, for example); anything that raises £50 more than you would otherwise have.

This challenge ties in nicely with one I set myself back in February. When I went from two jobs to one, I decided to make sure I had extra money coming in each month to supplement my wages. An extra £50 will be a nice addition to May's budget!

Ways I Might Raise an Extra £50

• Extra shifts at work – This seems like the most likely option, although I hope to use a variety of methods!
• Selling unwanted stuff on ebay – I sold a few things in April with some successes. This will encourage me to do some more decluttering! :)
• Collecting change – I stash away any 1p, 2p and 5p coins I find in my bag at the end of the day. If I can collect £1 of coppers or £5 of 5ps then I can deposit them into the bank. I don't use cash often though so this will be difficult!
• Using loyalty points instead of cash – I have Nectar points, Tesco points and fuel points all likely to give me a voucher this month. If I use these I can bank the savings.
  
  

Saving For Travel said she will be putting her £50 towards her trip to Japan next year. I will allocate any extra money I make to my Moving to Bristol fund.

Anyone else signing up for this challenge? What will you put your money towards?

Growing Your Own Tomatoes – The Pros and Cons of Seeds

Totally missed my 100th post. I'm a centenarian now! :)

Growing your own veg is a brilliant thing to do. You save money, reduce waste and food miles, and it is immensely rewarding too!

Tomatoes are a favourite of many gardeners because they are fairly simple to grow (light + warmth + water + fertiliser = yummy tomatoes), but in my family at least there is a big debate over whether to grow the plants from seeds or pick up young plants from the garden centre.

The PROS of growing from seed

Cost – The obvious benefit of growing tomatoes (and most plants) from seed is that they are MUCH cheaper. Most seed packets (around 50 seeds) retail for around £1 to £1.50, whereas small plants in my local garden centre were 85p each. Even if you buy top quality seeds (F1 hybrids that are pretty much guaranteed to germinate, survive and produce a lot of fruit) for £3 a packet, you will get 15-20 good plants that will produce a lot of fruit.

Greater selection – If you look in a garden centre, they will probably be selling one variety of regular tomato plant and maybe a cherry tomato variety. In contrast, there are 5+ varieties of tomato seeds in my local garden centre. If you look online you will be truly spoilt for choice, with a massive array of seeds available for £1 plus a few pence postage.

Sense of pride – I love the excitement of seeing the first little seedling poking up through the soil. If you raise a plant from germination to fruition you get far more of a sense of pride than planting a tomato from the shop and collecting the fruits later on.

The CONS of growing from seed

Need a propagator – I said that tomatoes were fairly easy to grow, but they are quite fussy blighters. The seeds will not germinate if they don't get the conditions they like. They need to be kept at ~20°C, which at this time of year means that you will probably need a propagator. They also like to be not too wet, not too dry, with lots of light once the seedlings are up.

More susceptible to disease – Tomatoes are susceptible to “damping off”, a generic term for fungal rot which can affect both seeds and young seedlings. You can prevent this by storing seeds in dry conditions until ready to plant and by not over-watering them once planted. You should also ensure seedlings get a lot of light and the air is not excessively humid.

Require fairly constant care – Seedlings generally require a lot more looking after because they are not yet established. This means you will need to check if they need watering every 1-2 days and make sure you move them to a warm location if it will be really cold overnight. You also have to keep an eye out for disease because they are growing at such close proximity to each other and it will spread quickly through the young plants.

Do you prefer growing your tomatoes from a stock plant or from seed? Anyone tried both methods and can compare their yields from the two? For now I'll just watch my tiny seedlings grow in the window. :)

I'm Debt Free

That's right, I'm debt free! :) (Excluding student debts – more on that later!)

I've been hovering around 89% debt paid off for the past couple of months now. The reason is that I've been putting away any “spare” money to pay for what I thought would be expensive dental work (I get paranoid about my teeth as I neglected them as a teen). Fortunately I didn't need any treatment at all, so I now have an extra £750 of saved cash!

The first thing I did was top up my Emergency Fund. I've now got a £500 buffer to fall back on, which is around two months rent, car and living costs for me while living at home (not including saving for annual expenses), or the cost of a particularly expensive car repair (I'm looking at you, Jools!).

I put the rest of this “spare” money into my current account. It wiped out my remaining overdraft! I am finally debt free! (Click here to read my original entry about my debt). I won't say that I'll never have debt because I'll probably want to buy a house one day, but I hope that I'll never have consumer debt again.

As I mentioned before, I still have my student debts, but these are not consumer debt, don't affect your credit rating, and are at such a low interest rate that it is better to hold onto any extra money in a savings account. I'm also not eligible to start repayments until the next tax year.

What's next for the Frugal Graduate? Time to go out and splash the cash? Well, the advice on frugal living I have received and learning to waste-not-want-not have not been wasted. I'm still growing my own veg (a tomato seedling came up today!! :D), cycling, re-using and thrifting. My new target is to save £800 to pay for a deposit, first month's rent and moving to Bristol in September.

:)

Sowing the Seeds!

Phase one of growing your own (digging the plot) already having been achieved, I moved merrily into phase two; planting stuff! :D

Planting stuff is the fun bit of growing veggies. It's full of hope and distinctly lacking in caterpillars and mosaic viruses. It might be second to harvesting and eating your crops, but there are a lot of unknowns between then and now!

At our local garden centre, we topped up our seed collection with 89p packets of swedes (plant in May), cabbage, sweet peppers and spinach beet. We also got some onion sets for 90p for ~100! Looooads of potential veggies for £4.46!

Back at home, we whipped out the John Innes and started filling up seed trays. (Side note: I love the John Innes song by Can You Dig It?, a comic duo who write songs about growing your own!)

We sowed cabbages and leeks in one tray. You can plant them directly in your plot but Dad said he likes to keep an eye on them til they're a bit bigger.

In true frugal spirit, the plant labels are made of a cut up margarine tub. :)

In the other tray, Dad planted his beloved hot chilli plants. (Whilst complaining that the seeds were burning his hands!) These have to be germinated in a heated propagator. There are SEVEN varieties in here, plus one line of sweet peppers. He is so excited because he ordered four new "really cool" varieties online, including Fairy Lights and Stumpy! They have some fun names!

As well as the trays, I got stuck into my vegetable patch by planting a couple of rows of onion sets. You plant them so that the tip is just poking out enough to grow a shoot. Apparently pigeons and blackbirds like to pull them up, so if they start getting mutilated we will string cotton above them to stop them being able to land.

Anyone else been making use of the sunny March weather? Let's get chitting some potatoes! :D

Things You Will Never Need to Buy

There are some things that just sit in your house gathering dust and taking up space. If you've got good neighbours/relatives/friends, stop buying these once-a-month/year/decade items and borrow when needed!

Suitcases – One third of my wardrobe is taken up by a suitcase, which in turn contains holdalls and a hiking rucksack! The person you borrow it off will be glad to get theirs out of the way for a week!

Lawnmowers – Save yourself some shed space and borrow next door's mower when your lawn starts looking like a jungle.

Books and DVDs – You can borrow books and films from the library or friends. I don't know about you, but my bookshelf is stuffed to the brim already! No more room for new purchases!

DIY stuff – No-one needs instant access to a cordless drill or wallpapering table. Borrow as required. (The Boyfriend is already accumulating a lot of random power tools. I would like to put a stop to this before we live together!)

Canning or preserve making stuff – A lot of people have this equipment burrowed away in the back of a cupboard. Ask around and someone will probably be happy to get some use out of their stuff!

Gardening tools – Many a part-time gardener is not going to need their fork and spade all day every weekend. Ask them when they'll be doing their work, then borrow their stuff in the down time.

Top tips for borrowing

• LOOK AFTER IT! You'll remain friends and be more likely to receive a favour again in the future.
• Never borrow anything that you can't afford to replace if you do break it.
• Borrow it for a set period of time. (“I'll get it back to you by Friday”) Even if you haven't finished with it, ring/visit your friend and ask if you can continue using it.
• Don't forget to give it back! The whole point is to reduce clutter, so you don't want someone else's kayak taking up room in your garage!
  
  

One more tip, for future students; if you're going into a Halls of Residence, DON'T TAKE SAUCEPANS OR KITCHEN UTENSILS. Everyone buys a new set for their first time living away from home, which means you end up with six sets of everything!

Anyone got any more suggestions? Do you borrow anything expensive from relatives?

Budget: Percentages of income

Have you sat and thought about how much of your wages you spend on different things?

I'm sure most people interested in reducing debt and living frugally have a budget. What I was wondering is what percentage of your pay do you allocate to various things?

There are many different alternatives and of course what works well for some people might not work well for others. In my opinion it also depends how much income you bring home to start with; for example, a third of your wages for rent/mortgage payments might sound reasonable, but the average rent in Cornwall (£699 per month) is around 50% of the average take home pay (£1385 net per month).

Last month I spent:

19% on housing (set rate)

12% on bills (set rate)

10% on basic living costs like fuel and some food (fairly set)

15% on wants like entertainment and non-vital purchases (have been spending more than my target lately :-/)

and 44% was savings, both for an emergency fund and for annual expenses like car maintenance.

I am living with my parents for a year after graduating university. It's not glamorous, but it is allowing me to spend that third of my wages on both rent AND bills combined. I'm sure this report would look a lot different this time next year, when I will hopefully be back at Uni!

Have you taken a look at how well you matched your budget with your spending? I have been monitoring my spending for the past month. It has really helped me to see what I'm doing well and what I need to cut back on. Top priority: use some free entertainment ideas this month!!

Decluttering: Getting Money Back for Old Textbooks

Textbooks at University cost an absolute fortune! Before you start your first year you are sent a reading list of epic proportions, so as the dedicated undergraduate you now are, you take yourself down to the University bookshop, Amazon or Ebay and buy the lot!

First of all, let me tell you that if you haven't yet started University and haven't got your books, don't buy them! “But then how will I succeed??” Every good University has a VERY well stocked library. They have 15-30 copies of the core textbooks! I promise you that with very little planning, you'll be able to have all the access you need to the textbooks. This won't help if you're still up at 3am cramming for an exam, but as a dedicated student that won't be the case.. right?

Even if you do decide later that you'd like your own copy of the textbook, you won't be losing anything by waiting until you know you need it before draining that new student loan of yours. 

If you've already bought the books (like me!), then don't worry, I have tips about recouping your losses once you're done with them.

1. Keep the books in a good condition – To ensure that you get the most back from your books when you re-sell them, you need to keep them as pristine as possible. If you must make notes in them (something I've never understood), then write lightly in pencil. DON'T highlight text, but underline it if necessary.
2. Target other students first – If you put posters up in the toilets, café and noticeboards of your building at the start of the new academic year, other people on the same degree scheme as you will see them. These are the most likely candidates to buy the books – they have the same reading list you had! Check the going rate of the books at the University bookshop and Amazon, then set your price £5 to £10 lower than that. Put your mobile phone number at the bottom and wait for the messages to flood in!
3. Re-sell to the bookstore – Our University bookshop, Blackwells, guaranteed to pay you 40% of the price you paid for the book if you bought it from them. You must keep your receipt and the book must be in a good condition.
4. Sell on Amazon – If you didn't have any luck with the above, it's time to sell to further afield. I currently have two textbooks listed on Amazon. You just search for the book and click “Sell on Amazon”. There is a 15% of sale price + 43p fee on all sales. The postage is pre-set to £2.75; now I don't know about you, but most of my textbooks weigh around 3kg, making the true postage over £7.00. You'll be losing money here, so make sure the value of the book will exceed the cost of postage combined with fees! It's the first time I've done this, so I don't know how long it takes! You can also trade the book in for an Amazon gift voucher if you prefer.
5. Sell on Ebay - I've never sold anything on Ebay, but you can list your book on there too. :D

The income from your textbooks will likely be a valuable source of money in the next few years of your degree. It's much more expensive to live in a shared house than it is to live in halls in the first year. Buy only the books you need, preferably second hand, and look after them!

Also, should I just jump on 1999-train and start using Ebay?

Decluttering: My First Freecycle

Today I entered the wonderful world of Freecycle. I can't imagine there are many frugal people who've never heard of it, but just in case...

Freecycle is a global network of local groups, where members post items to giveaway to others. Basically the idea is to get out of the consumer cycle and reduce waste. It's a way of recycling. Things offered on my local group today included a wardrobe, working dishwasher, top soil, lots of baby clothes, a small TV, a trampoline and a 3-piece suit of sofa and chairs.

Honestly, my post wasn't all that exciting compared to that stuff!

I've been having a bit of a declutter. I advertised that I wanted to be rid of a big folder full of plastic wallets that I used to keep my Uni work neat. I would never use them again; they are expensive, environmentally damaging, and you have to keep pulling the sheets of paper out to be able to write on them!!

Within a few minutes of the post going live I had four e-mails from people desperate for my second-hand plastic wallets!

I decided I wasn't too keen on the idea of someone coming to my house to collect them, so I asked the first replier to meet me outside the pub in the village. It must've looked a strange exchange; two cars pulling into a dark carpark, exchanging an unmarked bag with few words exchanged, then each driving off in a separate direction.. Hee hee!

Have you ever got anything exciting from Freecycle? There is certainly a lot I would've liked today but the point is to REDUCE my clutter, not add to it! The Boyfriend once got a load of educational books he needed for free, which I thought was amazing at the time, considering the cost of them.

Would you list your things on Freecycle? Would you let someone come to your house to collect them, or am I just paranoid? :)

Mobile Packages: Five Minutes, £60 A Year Better Off

How much do you spend on being easily contactable?

The vast majority of people in the UK have a mobile phone. In fact, there are 1.3 phones per person! There are a whopping 5.9 billion phones worldwide.

How many of us are paying over the odds?

I was on a £15.50 a month SIM only contract, which could be cancelled at any time and gave me 600 minutes and unlimited texts. Yesterday I realised that since I've finished Uni I'm only using 100 minutes or so a month!

It took me five minutes to go online and changed my tariff to a 300 minute, unlimited texts plan for £10.50, a saving of £5 a month or £60 a year! I looked into pay-as-you-go tariffs, but it would've worked out slightly more expensive for me. 

 

Are you on the best deal for you?

• Check your bill! - I realised that since I've been home from Uni I've slashed the number of minutes I've needed. Keeping in contact with my family and The Boyfriend used most of my 600 minutes a month contract, but now I see them all the time. Has your situation changed?
• Would a SIM only contract be better? - When I first had a contract I paid £30 for a 600 minute plan and a lovely touch-screen phone. I broke the phone twice during the contract and gave up fixing it, resorting to a £10 robust mobile that bounced when I dropped it, rather than breaking into tiny pieces... AGAIN! I'm happy with a bog-standard model!
• What happens if you go over your tariff allowance? - The trick of a mobile phone is to work out exactly what you need it for, how much you use it, and what costs are involved. There can be excessive charges if you go over the allowance in a contract, whereas pay-as-you-go is a standard charge no matter how much or little you use it!
• Would you be better off on pay-as-you-go? - I still use about 100 minutes a month and a lot of texts, so it would cost me more to be on pay as you go. Work yours out by checking out both contracts AND pay-as-you-go tariffs? Generally if you use more than around 70-100 minutes a month you'd be better off on a contract.
• Will there be a cancellation charge if you change? - If you find a better deal, you need to consider whether you'll be charged a fee for cancelling your current contract. Depending on how much you'll be saving, it might still be worth it!
• CUT THE INSURANCE! - I used to pay an extra £9.99 a month on a £30 contract – that's an extra 25% to get it fixed if I drop it. It covers you if someone steals the phone and racks up a huge bill, but you can freeze the phone as soon as you realise it's lost, so chances are this isn't worth the £120 a year.
• Check your data usage – I don't have a clue what sort of things use data, I just know that you can rack up some hefty charges if you go over your plan. I'll leave you to Google that one for yourself if necessary! :D

I recommend you all go and do this if you haven't looked at your bill in a couple of months. You could save yourself a lot of money, especially if you've had the same contract for many years. Don't pay over the odds – mobile phone companies don't need any more money!!